by Rebecca York
When he spoke it was hard to focus on his words. Finally it registered that he was saying, “I said some awful things to you. Can you forgive me for being a jerk?”
“What?”
He reached for her and pulled her into his arms, folding her close. “Sara, I’m sorry for not believing you.”
She began to shake as tears trickled down her cheeks. He tightened his hold on her, then lifted her and carried her to the sofa, where he sat down and cradled her on his lap, while she struggled to get control of herself.
“You weren’t a jerk. My crazy story was hard to believe,” she finally managed to say. “I know I couldn’t tell you the truth. Then you insisted on charging off to meet Ted, and I was so afraid it was all going to happen again.”
He stroked her back and shoulders. “I know that now.”
“I couldn’t let you do it.”
“I know. I know.” His voice turned gritty. “You could have gotten killed.”
“Dead twice in a week?” She gulped. “What are the odds?”
“Dead twice?” he asked.
“I was trying to tell you what happened to me, but you didn’t want to listen.”
“I was too wound up in my own scenario. Tell it to me now.”
“And you’re going to believe the impossible?”
“Yes. Because I know it has to be true.” He swallowed. “And because I love you. I couldn’t admit that to myself before.”
“Oh, Jack.” She clung to him for long seconds, then slid off his lap so she could watch his face as she spoke. “Last time we met the same way. We got to know each other. We made love. We were together for a month. Then somebody killed you, and I was devastated. After that I found out I was pregnant.”
“What did my parents say?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Give it to me straight up.”
“They thought I was lying about being pregnant. Then when it turned out to be true, they thought I had done it to get your money. They tried to drive me out of the county, but I stayed here. For a few months, I couldn’t get any jobs.”
He reacted with a curse. “I can understand now why you didn’t like them. It must have been hard for you to deal with them this time around.”
“Yes.”
“Finally Pam hired me again, and I started getting more business. I couldn’t raise a baby in a warehouse, so I moved to a little house off 108. A house a lot like the one where MacDonald was holding you and Ted. That’s how I knew the floor plan.”
“Lucky for me.”
“When I went into labor, I was driving myself to the hospital. But it was snowing and icy. The car went into a skid and plowed into a pickup truck. I think I was supposed to die, but two angels were hovering around me, arguing. They said I deserved a second chance. The next thing I knew, I woke up at that house Pam was showing to Ted. I was really disoriented, but I realized it was the day we’d met.” She kept her gaze on him. “Saying all that out loud sounds really weird. Even to me.”
“But it’s the truth.”
“Yes.” She swallowed. “I thought I knew how things were going to happen. Then I saw Tucker Swinton’s picture in the mug book. Last time he wasn’t there. And I knew events were lining up differently.”
“But you didn’t give up.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You must have felt so alone.”
His words almost made her start crying again. “Yes. And I knew I was making you think I was weird because of some of my reactions. Like when I had to make up that crazy fortune-teller story.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“But I should have been—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “You couldn’t change who you are. You have too much integrity. That’s why MacDonald knew he had to get you out of the way.”
“Maybe you should call it inflexibility. And then there’s the fear factor. At least with you. Something I never told you. I had been dating a woman I wasn’t sure I loved. That was one of the reasons I joined the army. When I came back mangled up, it was clear she couldn’t stand the sight of me.”
“Oh, Jack. I didn’t know. No wonder you had so much trouble letting me see your wounds.”
“Yeah. Sorry. You’re not her. But I couldn’t wipe that out of my mind.”
“I know I gave you reasons to think…” She shrugged. “To think I was strange.”
“Yeah. But now I understand where you were coming from.” He laughed. “The future. And thank God you did.”
He pulled her close, kissing her tenderly, then with growing passion.
Caressing her lips with his, he said, “I think we’re headed for the bedroom.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“About that baby. Do you think you’re already pregnant?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe we should be a little cautious, then. So we won’t end up in a snowstorm on the way to the hospital. I mean, let’s plan for a nice safe trip—next spring instead. But if we end up with a winter delivery, you’re not going to be alone.”
“‘We.’ I like that a lot better.”
He helped her up, clasping her hand as they made their slow way to the bedroom, stopping to kiss and caress because it was impossible to keep their hands off each other.
“It’s still sinking in, what you did for me.”
“For us. I didn’t want to go through losing you again. Not if I could help it.”
They undressed each other, kissing as they went. And when they finally fell together onto the bed, they were both totally aroused.
But Jack did stop long enough to get a condom from the bedside table.
She helped him put it on, her hands shaking.
Lying back, she held out her arms, and he came to her.
She guided him inside her, and they moved in a rhythm that quickly became frantic.
She cried out as she climaxed. Seconds later, she felt him follow her.
In the aftermath, he murmured, “Oh, Sara, Sara.”
“Jack.”
He eased to his side, and she snuggled against him.
“Thanks to you, I have a future,” he said.
“And I have the future I want. With you. Whatever you decide to do.”
“Almost getting killed made me realize that I’ve been making a big mistake trying to fit into the company. One thing for sure, I’m not going to work with my brother at Morgan Enterprises.”
“Are you going to press charges against him?”
“Probably not. Why make things worse? And now that he knows I’m watching him, he’s going to have to stick to the straight and narrow.”
“We hope. What about the missing money?”
He shrugged. “I guess it’s gone. I hope there’s enough left so that the company can buy me out. Then I’m going to start making plans for that children’s center.”
“Oh, Jack! I love that. It’s the perfect thing for you. Not a business that you hate.”
“Well, you’ve given me the push I needed to get out and do what I really want.”
“You would have done it on your own.”
“You think?”
“Yes. You wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. You would have realized you weren’t going to do it at Morgan Enterprises.”
She reached for his hand and twined her fingers with his. “I know how lucky I am. My life shouldn’t have turned out this way.”
“Thank the Lord you had the courage to fight for what you wanted.”
“I had to.”
He kept his gaze on her. “I came close to dying today. Last time around, I did. And you’re the only thing that saved me. I’ll remember that every day of our lives.”
Epilogue
A sharp, stabbing pain grabbed Sara Morgan’s middle, and she gripped the edge of the seat.
“A bad one?” Jack asked from behind the wheel of the SUV.
“Yes.”
&n
bsp; The contractions were getting more intense and closer together. But nothing was the same as it had been last time. No backache. Just a gush of fluid between her legs and a call to the doctor reporting that her water had broken.
He’d asked her to come right in.
Now they were on the way to the hospital from their new house on Willow Lane, where Jack could easily supervise the construction of the children’s center.
Sara smiled at her husband, and he smiled back.
She was still marveling at how different her life was from the way it had been the last time around.
She and Jack had eloped within a week of the confrontation at the old house. She’d dreaded going with him to tell his parents about the marriage. But they knew about the part Sara had played in saving the lives of both their sons. And they were likely also relieved that Jack was settling down and wasn’t going to fight his brother for control of Morgan Enterprises. They’d accepted Sara as their daughter-in-law and been delighted when they’d found out she was going to have a baby. A boy again.
And Jack liked the name she’d chosen before. Daniel.
With her in-laws, she’d worked hard to put away the bad feelings from the first time around. In fact, she’d been able to see them in a better light once the tension of their previous dealings had faded.
This time they didn’t think of her as a woman trying to get some of the Morgan money. Instead they saw her commitment to their son.
After a stern lecture to Ted for his reckless disregard for company funds, the elder Morgan had written off the missing money as a bad business investment.
Sara thought Ted had learned his lesson because he seemed to be running Morgan Enterprises without getting into any more trouble.
She was never going to be good friends with him, but at least they weren’t enemies.
Another contraction brought her back to her own immediate situation.
She gritted her teeth until it passed.
“Hang on. We’re almost there,” Jack said, as the SUV approached the hospital.
They’d waited several months to get pregnant, and now it was late spring. A good time to have a baby, Sara thought, as Jack pulled up at the hospital entrance.
“Here we are. Safe and sound.”
She squeezed his hand, more relieved than she wanted to admit. Even though the season was different, she’d still been worried about this trip.
Jack escorted her inside to the lobby, then parked the car and caught up with her in one of the birthing suites.
They’d attended childbirth classes together because he wanted to share every step of the experience. And she knew that he also wanted this time to be as different as possible from the last.
Now he helped her change into the oversize shirt she’d brought to wear instead of a hospital gown.
As she settled down in the bed, he pulled up his chair beside her, and she reached for his hand when another contraction grabbed her.
The doctor examined her and told her it would be a short labor.
Last time she’d wanted to use medication. This time she’d decided to see if natural childbirth would work for her, and she’d practiced breathing exercises. Jack coached her as the labor progressed. He rubbed her back, gave her ice chips, told her how much he loved her. And then when it was time, he was with the doctor at the foot of the bed, ready to welcome his son into the world.
“Push.”
She gave a mighty heave, then another and another.
“I can see his head,” the doctor told her. “One more good push.”
She gathered her strength and bore down, hearing her son cry before he was all the way out of her.
“Perfect,” Jack said.
“Do you want to cut the cord?” the doctor asked.
Jack did the honors, then the nurse washed Daniel, wrapped him in a blanket and handed him to Sara.
As she held her baby in her arms, Jack pulled his chair close, and tears filled her eyes.
“You did good,” he said, emotion thickening his voice, and she knew he was tearing up, too.
“So did you.”
“I think you had a little harder job.”
“Having you here made it a whole lot easier,” she whispered.
He kissed her brow. “I’ll always be here, thanks to what you did.”
She snuggled into his embrace, holding their baby, her happiness overflowing. She had come back to save the man she loved, and she had her reward.
* * * * *
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Chapter One
The knock at the door surprised Zane Chisholm. He’d just spent the warm summer day in the saddle rounding up cattle. All he wanted to do was kick off his boots and hit the hay early. The last thing he wanted was company.
But whoever was knocking didn’t sound as if they were planning to go away anytime soon. Living at the end of a dirt road, he didn’t get uninvited company—other than one of his five brothers. So that narrows it down, he thought as he went to the window and peered out through the curtains.
The car parked outside was a compact, lime-green with Montana State University plates. Definitely not one of his brothers, he thought with a grin. Chisholm men wouldn’t be caught dead driving such a “girlie” car. Especially a lime-green one.
Even more odd was the young, willowy blonde pounding on his door. She must be lost and needing directions. Or she was selling something.
His curiosity piqued, he went to answer her persistent knock. As the door swung open, he saw that her eyes were blue and set wide in a classically gorgeous face. She wore a slinky red dress that fell over her body like water. The woman was a stunner.
She smiled warmly. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He waited, wondering what she wanted, and enjoying the view in the meantime.
Her smile slipped a little as she took in his worn jeans, his even more worn cowboy boots and the dirty Western shirt with a torn sleeve and a missing button.
“I wasn’t expecting company,” he said when he saw her apparent disappointment in his attire.
“Oh?” She looked confused now. “Did I get the night wrong? You’re Zane Chisholm and this is Friday, right?”
“Right.” He frowned. “Did we have a date or something?” He knew he’d never seen this woman before. No red-blooded American male would forget a woman like this.
She reached into her sparkly shoulder bag and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. “Your last email,” she said, handing it to him.
He took the paper, unfolded it and saw his email address. It appeared he had been corresponding with this woman for the past two days.
“If you forgot—”
“No,” he said quickly. “Please, come in and let’s see if we can sort this out.”
She stepped in but looked tentative, as if not so sure about him.
“Why don’t you start with how we met,” he said as he offered her a seat.
Sh
e sat on the edge of the couch. “The Evans rural internet dating service.”
“Arlene’s matchmaking business?” he asked in surprise. Arlene Evans, who was now Arlene Monroe, had started the business a few years ago to bring rural couples together.
“We’ve been visiting by email until you…”
“Asked you out,” he finished for her.
“Are you saying someone else has been using your email?”
“It sure looks that way, since I never signed up with Arlene’s matchmaking service. But,” he added quickly when he saw how upset she was, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Arlene is behind this. It wouldn’t be the first time she took it upon herself to play matchmaker.” Either that or his brothers were behind it as a joke, though that seemed unlikely. This beautiful woman was no joke.
She looked down at her hands in her lap. “I’m so embarrassed.” She quickly rose to her feet. “I should go.”
“No, wait,” he said, unable to shake the feeling that maybe this had been fate and that he would be making the biggest mistake of his life if he let this woman walk out now.
“You know, it wouldn’t take me long to jump in the shower and change if you’re still up for a date,” he said with a grin.
She hesitated. “Really? I mean, you don’t have to—”
“I want to. But you have the advantage over me. I don’t know your name.”
She smiled shyly. “Courtney Baxter.” She held out her hand. As he shook it, Zane thought, This night could change my life.
He had no idea how true that was going to be.
ISBN: 9781459238527
Copyright © 2012 by Ruth Glick
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