That Unforgettable Kiss

by Tamara Ferguson

  After what seemed like forever, he was finally close enough to Kelly to pull her into his arms. It appeared that he’d reached her just in time.

  “It’s okay–I’ve got you, Princess,” he reassured her, as he began treading water. Luckily, she was light as a feather, because it took a few moments to calm her down, while she coughed and spit out water.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, still sputtering. Clinging more tightly, Kelly wrapped her arms over his shoulders. “I’m never supposed to go swimming by myself,” she said, in a shaky voice.

  “Well, at least you’ll probably never do it again,” Luke said calmly. He was beginning to feel light-headed. He’d already been exhausted after biking five miles just to reach Dragonfly Pointe. Plus, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually had something to eat. “I need to get you back to the shore, Princess.” Prying arms loose, that were wrapped like an octopus over his shoulders, he stared into sapphire blue eyes, filled with fear. “You’re gonna have to trust me.”

  Hesitating, she agreed with a jerky nod of her head. Luke was guessing Kelly was beginning to sense the urgency of the situation, when she peeked around him nervously at the shore.

  “You’ll need to let go of me–so you can lie back in the water.”

  She looked ready to panic again, so pulling her more tightly into his arms, Luke rubbed her shoulders with his hand reassuringly.

  Kelly spoke uncertainly into his ear. “Like doing the backstroke?”

  “That’s right. I’ll be sure to stay underneath you, too, while I’m swimming–so that I’m holding up your head.”

  Although she was obviously terrified, she allowed Luke to flatten his hand against her back while she followed his directives. Wrapping an arm around her neck, and holding up her chin, he propped up her body as her feet floated close to the surface of the water. With smooth, rhythmic kicks, Luke swam through the water effortlessly, until they were closer to the beach.

  Luke felt Kelly being lifted from his arms. When he slowly stood up, and his feet touched the ground, he found himself staring into the eyes of Kelly’s older brother, Dan. “You should’ve been watching her,” Luke muttered reproachfully, expecting resentment.

  But, instead, he saw gratitude. “I know. Thanks, man,” Dan said quietly, before returning his attention to his sister.

  Luke was taken aback–he hadn’t expected Dan to agree with him. So he answered Dan with quiet reassurance, “Shit happens.”

  “Not to me it doesn’t. Just because Jeff was hanging around with me, I shouldn’t have assumed Kelly was nearby too. I’ve been off my game lately.” Dan began searching the faces in the crowd. “And, besides, where’s that damned lifeguard, who’s supposed to be on duty?”

  Luke began to notice the slew of curious onlookers lining up alongside the beach. When Kelly continued to remain quiet, he gazed down anxiously to where she sat in the sand, and realized she was staring hard at the bleeding wounds on his back.

  “Oh, Dan,” she finally moaned. “Look how bad he hurt himself, while he was helping me.”

  “I’m fine, Princess,” Luke muttered, still scoping out the beach nervously. “I didn’t get hurt pulling you out from the water.”

  She continued to plead with her brother, “Dan–please–you need to make him better.”

  Luke squirmed, while Dan stared at him grimly.

  “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’m gonna start making him better soon,” Dan reassured Kelly.

  Luke started. But his legs were getting wobbly, and he found himself sinking to the sand.

  “Princess, huh?” Wearing a half-smile, Dan studied Luke keenly before turning back to Kelly. “Are you sure you’re okay, Kel?”

  She nodded.

  “I think that she just swallowed lots of water,” Luke muttered.

  Dan stared at his sister with obvious concern. “Okay, Princess–we’re gonna have to talk this over with Mom and Dad later. Since you don’t appear to be suffering any side effects from nearly being drowned, why don’t you run over to the park with your friends for a little while? One of the moms took Jeff and the rest of the kids over there, when Luke, here, was pulling you out from the water.”

  Just in case Kelly hadn’t been breathing. Dan didn’t need to complete the sentence when his eyes met Luke’s.

  After glancing over at the park, Kelly hesitated, before stepping towards him, and gazing down to where he sat, hunched over in the sand. “Thank you for saving me,” she said, softly.

  At that moment, the sun broke through the clouds. A beam of light shown down brightly on Kelly, leaving her backlit by a smoky-blue haze. But the strange thing about it was, Luke wasn’t seeing her as a pretty little six-year old girl anymore. He was envisioning her as the beautiful woman she’d undoubtedly be someday. Her white-blonde hair was dancing over her shoulders, but her fiery-blue eyes were staring accusingly into his.

  Luke blinked, before shaking his head in disbelief. He was exhausted, and most likely delirious. He swallowed uncomfortably. But maybe it had something to do with the magic that he’d sensed here at Dragonfly Pointe?

  Suddenly, he became aware of the soft, light brush of Kelly’s lips on his shoulder; like the touch of a butterfly, as she kissed him gently on one of his wounds. Luke felt a strange sense of longing. Her kiss made him feel like he’d been blessed–like its power could heal all of his wounds.

  And unexpectedly, his eyes began to fill with tears.

  When Kelly scrambled away, and began skipping along the beach, she was totally unaware that she was making Luke question his sanity. Reaching the bench where she’d left her beach bag and sandals earlier, Kelly dug through her bag for her hat, first, and plopped it onto her head, before covering her eyes with a pair of stylish sunglasses.

  Luke raised a brow, turning to Dan.

  Dan rolled his eyes upward and shrugged. “What can I say? Mom calls Kelly a six-year old fashionista.”

  Luke found himself laughing along with Dan. They watched as Kelly strutted along the path, first glancing left and then glancing right, pulling down and peeking through her sunglasses like a celebrity on public display.

  “I have no I idea where she gets that from,” Dan said dryly. “It must have something to do with those charity fashion shows, she and my other sisters participate in.”

  Luke shook his head dazedly. The resilience of kids was kind of amazing. His little sister had behaved exactly the same way, too. “At least she seems okay.”

  Dan silently nodded his agreement.

  Kelly finally reached the park, and joined the other kids on the swing set, where she and Jeff remained clearly in view.

  Dan suddenly turned grim, as he dropped down to the sand beside him. “Alright, Luke Bryant–I’m gonna stick to you like glue. I owe you, and I owe you big. I wanna know who’s responsible for knifing that nasty cut into the side of your face. The first thing you’re gonna do is tell me about yourself. I’ve been hearing some rumors. I wanna know why that scumbag, that you call your father, has been whipping you so hard, you’re probably gonna be disfigured for life...”

  CHAPTER ONE

  Fourteen years later

  It was the magical wedding of Kelly Callahan’s dreams.

  Too bad it actually wasn’t her wedding.

  If the bride had had her way, the wedding would’ve taken place at sunrise–her most favorite time of the day. So she’d settled for dusk, instead. Luckily, the weather had decided to agree with Kelly’s sister and her sister’s fiancé today–the sun had been bright and the temperature warm.

  Kelly stared out at the sunset overlooking the lake–the backdrop for the wedding was absolutely enchanting. As iridescent light spun down from the slowly descending sun, a shimmering purple haze danced across the lake like fire. Glancing down at the rosy-purple gown that she wore, she noticed that the beading sewn into the bodice glistened, as it was struck by the shimmering light from the sun.

  Out where Kelly stood with the wedding party on the g
azebo, pine tips were displayed in abundance–not only for their beauty and scent–but to disguise what had to be, literally, millions of tiny white lights, that’d been strung up and around the canopy.

  And the flowers were stunning. Huge concrete urns held massive arrangements of lilies, roses, and greens, and had been positioned along the perimeter of the gazebo, so as not to obstruct the breathtaking view. Not only were there multitudes of lovely flower arrangements displayed both inside and outside of the Dragonfly Pointe Inn–but pots of annuals, planted with impatiens in brilliant shades of purples and pinks, bordered the bridal pathway for impact. Stargazer lilies, roses and ferns had been used in the bridal bouquets.

  This wedding was incredible–like a fantasy–and planned with love to the smallest detail by Kelly’s oldest sister Lucy, who’d coordinated the entire event.

  Kelly sighed, glancing over at the bright smiling face of her sister, Kate, as she stood before the priest with her soon-to-be-husband, Murphy. Her sister looked beautiful, in a shimmering, bridal gown of white, while Murphy looked ruggedly handsome in the traditional black tux that he’d insisted on. And, with its sweetheart neckline and slim fitting style, the gowns that matched Kelly’s looked lovely on the other bridesmaids and the maid of honor, too.

  Kelly blinked, when music filled the air. Because just like that, it was done–Kate and Murphy were married, and introduced to the crowd as man and wife.

  Turning about face, Kelly grinned, and began following the couple down the aisle, as she glanced around her at the smiling faces of the guests.

  And then she saw him.

  Kelly stopped in her tracks. Those cool gray eyes met hers as he gave her that old familiar smile. Why hadn’t anyone in her family warned her that Luke Bryant might be here today?

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  Two Hearts Unspoken

  PROLOGUE

  “Marry me, Liz.”

  Elizabeth’s jaw dropped. Just when she was ready to leave town, Jim was finally willing to make a commitment—now—after dating her for nearly five years? For a moment, Beth was tempted. She was so tired of being a single parent.

  But then she remembered—being married to Jim probably wouldn’t be much of a help as far as that was concerned either. But she still found herself asking, “What about Kyle?”

  Jim hesitated. “I’m sure we can find a place for him to live, as long as we both look hard enough?”

  Oh, yeah, Beth thought, as her heart sank. Too little, too late. The offer had just been too good to be true. After all, there was a pretty good reason she’d decided to break it off with Jim, and start over somewhere new. She wouldn’t be leaving much behind. These last few years had been…well—interesting, would probably be about the closest word she could think of, for describing it. Her son, Kyle, would always be her number one concern, though, and she’d been telling Jim that from the beginning.

  When the announcement had been made, that their plant would be shutting down within the next six months, Beth had been devastated. Diamont Motors had been operating for around twenty-five years in the Bloomington area, and Elizabeth Bowen had been the head accountant for the company for almost fifteen of those years. But the state of Illinois was going through a major budgetary crisis, and maybe it was time to take a chance, she’d decided, and follow her dreams. Despite the fact that Kyle was mentally impaired, and required regular medication to control his behavior problems, she’d managed to put away a tiny little nest egg for the future. And even the financial assistance she received, for Kyle’s home services and medication, was in jeopardy of being eliminated if the new governor got his way.

  So she was taking the early retirement package, the company she worked for was offering. Now, hopefully, her house would sell—since she’d purchased a huge fixer-upper in the town of Crystal Rock, located in northwest Wisconsin. Wisconsin was in a little bit better shape financially than Illinois. But the factor that’d swayed her was the new vocational facility that’d been built in Crystal Rock for the mentally and physically impaired. Crystal Visions was getting rave reviews—and Beth had had some pull with the center’s founder. Her cousin, Mike Callahan, was Jake Loughlin’s best friend, and had done all the construction work for the privately owned facility. Jake’s wife, Danielle, had contacted Beth six months ago about beginning the application process for acquiring the funding Kyle needed to enter the program.

  Beth sighed, meeting Jim’s eyes. He appeared to be anxiously awaiting her answer. “I just don’t think it would work for us, Jim,” she said softly.

  Jim looked stunned. “But, Liz?”

  And that was another thing that annoyed her—that stupid nickname of Liz. She couldn’t remember how many times she’d mentioned it to Jim, during the last five years they’d been dating. He never seemed to listen to anything she said. If she hadn’t been such a coward, she would’ve broken it off with him a long time ago. She’d just been lonely, she’d realized, and had wanted some extra companionship, as well as someone to hold her at night sometimes. It was difficult going out with friends because of her situation with her son, but Jim would come over to her house on the weekends to watch baseball or football or basketball, depending on the season. She’d cook and…well—that was about it. Jim would just sit on the couch and watch TV, while he drank a few beers and ate. She and her son would either hang out in the kitchen, since Kyle loved anything to do with food—or go outside, or into the basement, where Kyle would play with his toys.

  Anything, really, to stay out of Jim’s way.

  Inwardly, she sighed. Come to think of it, maybe, she was escaping just in time. “We talked about you moving with me to Wisconsin—remember? You said you weren’t interested.”

  He shrugged. “Well, since I had that job offer from Stan’s Automotive, I thought you’d just like to stay in town, and move in with me.” Jim cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “After we found somewhere for Kyle to live first, that is.”

  No way. She was definitely doing the right thing by starting over. She was almost relieved now, when she said to him, “I know it’s a job, Jim. But you’ll barely be making minimum wage, and you won’t have any benefits or a retirement plan, like you’ve had at the car plant.” And Jim already liked to live above his means. He had an expensive truck and owned his house. But, judging by the thick book of payment stubs she’d seen on his desk, the truck wasn’t even close to being paid off. Beth was pretty sure he wasn’t putting any money back into his house. It definitely needed a new roof. He’d never really let her in on the state of his finances, but she had a sneaking suspicion that Jim was gambling a bunch of his money away, too.

  Beth hesitated. “You know how important it is for me to get Kyle into this vocational program? I have to go north.”

  “Yeah, I guess. But there’s still gotta be a place, you can get him into, around here. Isn’t there?”

  She sighed. Nope, Jim never paid any attention to what she had to say—did he? How many times had she mentioned to him, that the waiting list for a facility equipped to handle someone with Kyle’s disabilities was over twenty years in Illinois? Illinois was at the bottom of the ranks when it came to human services—that’s why the governor’s quest to cut the budget for the most vulnerable and dependent individuals in Illinois was basically pretty heartless, as far as Beth was concerned.

  But enough of that.

  “No, there isn’t anywhere, Jim. Believe me, I’ve looked into it. I don’t want to live in Bloomington anymore, either.” How many businesses had closed their doors over the last few years? When her dad had been transferred to the main branch of his insurance company here in Bloomington, the town had seemed like it was stuck in the middle of a corn field, when she’d been forced to move here in the eighties. The area had grown and prospered, until all of a sudden the economy had declined because of the state budget crisis, that’d been developing over the last ten years. Although she ha
d a lot of friends here, she’d never really liked this town. It was kind of unbelievable to think that she’d remained here, even after her parents had retired and moved away. “I’m still pretty sure you could find a better job, if you moved somewhere else.”

  Jim appeared hesitant when he shook his head no. No doubt about it—he was afraid of change. With dark brown hair that was graying at the temples, and warm hazel eyes, Jim wasn’t a bad looking guy. Maybe he wasn’t as thin as he used to be? But, heck, for someone who was approaching fifty, he still looked pretty damned good.

  But as far as anything special between them?

  Nah, not really. And there hadn’t been any genuine spark between her and Kyle’s father either. Come to think of it, there’d never really been any special guy in her life. Kind of sad, considering she’d just had her forty-fifth birthday the week before. Jim hadn’t even remembered. And what did that say about their, so called, relationship?

  Yes, Beth was even more relieved, now, that Jim had decided he wasn’t coming along with her. It saved her the trouble of having to tell him, that she didn’t really want him moving along with her to Crystal Rock, anyway. It’d probably hurt his feelings if she told him so.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Two weeks later, Beth was pulling off the highway and slowly driving into the town of Crystal Rock in her SUV. At least Kyle had been content on the entire eight-hour drive. They’d made a few pit stops to use the restroom, and after purchasing some fast food, she’d pulled into the parking lot of a scenic rest area, so they could stretch their legs and eat. It’d been years since she’d taken a trip with Kyle, because of his behavior problems. In fact, she’d purchased the SUV immediately after he’d hit her so hard on the head, she’d nearly run the car she was driving off the road. Beth had owned a four door sedan back then, and Kyle had always sat right behind her. Now, at least, he was settled far enough away from her in the backseat, to allow for some reaction time, for her to prepare for the worst.