by ML Gamble
“Stop it!” Elizabeth cried, holding her hand up as if she could deflect his words. “I don’t want to hear any more. Not tonight. Not ever.”
Tommy Lee hugged her closer. “Take me home,”
Elizabeth whispered. She had misunderstood him that night in the hospital. She had misunderstood many things. But she knew she had finally learned what her blessings were in this life. It was time to leave behind the feeling of incompleteness, the nightmares, the doubts about who she was.
She was Elizabeth Monette.
“Take me home, Tommy Lee.”
So he did.
Epilogue
“Dottie Betts, that’s Tommy Lee’s sister, gave birth to twin boys, Raymond and Randall, on February 17. The following month, on March 25, Tommy Lee and Elizabeth were married.
“Miss Lou and Judge Monette held the wedding reception at their home in Fairbreeze, and it was beautiful, I can tell you that, although I was not invited.” The mayor grinned and continued his news summary of the last few weeks, holding the rapt attention of the small gathering sitting in the sunshine on his porch. “India Heywood and her daughter were sent to a private medical facility for the mentally insane down in New Orleans. India will be tried for murdering poor little Marylynn Gibbs, but not Rosellen. She’s much too ill. Dr. Bennett Heywood has sold the hospital to one of them health maintenance organizations and run off to Alabama.”
Paris smiled at Binnie Duval, Patrolman Duval’s sister who worked for the Press Register. “So Elizabeth solved that old mystery of what had happened to poor little Marylynn Gibbs. Enough of a shock to knock someone senseless, I tell you, but not that little gal. You know, when Aspen was named Queen that night, Elizabeth actually found the stamina to call her and wish her all the best.”
“What happened to Tyler Heywood?” Binnie asked.
“No one really knows that,” the mayor had to admit. “But I suspect he went back to wherever it was that he’d been the last twenty years. He saw his baby girl again. Learned that she was safe, and raised well by people who loved her. Hard for him to ask for more, I’d say.”
“He might have asked for Elizabeth to be Queen,” Binnie said sarcastically. “After all, this was the last Pageant that’s ever going to be held. I heard that from three separate sources very close to members of the executive committee. It’s been ruined now forever.”
Paris threw his head back and laughed at Binnie’s naiveté. “Don’t count on that darling, don’t count on that. I think as long as there is a Farquier County, there will be a Queen of Midnight. They are all just going to have to work some to live up to this last ball for excitement.”
As his laughter filled the air, his guests joined in, but most secretly hoped their host was right. For the Queen of Midnight Pageant was Farquier County.
And with things the way they were, who knew but that a child born to Tommy Lee McCall and Elizabeth Gibbs Monette McCall might be the very best thing that ever happened!
eISBN: 978-14592-6170-9
A ONE-WOMAN MAN
Copyright © 1998 by Marsha Nuccio
All rights reserved Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Books by M.L Gamble
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Copyright