by C. C. Coburn
She blinked away tears and he smiled. “I mean it, Megan. You’re the best thing that happened to me fifteen years ago and you are now. I can’t imagine my life without you and Cody in it. I hope you’ll forgive me—”
He was silenced by Megan stretching out her arm and touching her finger to his bottom lip. Then her hand went limp, her eyes closed.
“Megan?”
She didn’t respond. He couldn’t help the fear in his voice as he called up to Jasper. “She’s passed out! Get down here now!”
The words had barely left his mouth when a rescue litter appeared over the side, along with two rescue personnel in harnesses.
Bits of rocks rained down as the men made their way down the cliff face. Luke leaned over Megan to protect her, as much as he could, from the assault. Moments later, the rescuers reached them and Luke moved aside to allow them access to Megan.
They checked her vital signs, placed a cervical collar around her neck, bandaged her head wound, then gently slid her onto the litter and prepared her for transport up the cliff. Luke knew a little about mountain rescue techniques, having been involved in one years before when a hiker had fallen while climbing one of the Fourteeners surrounding the town. Some of the fourteen-thousand-foot peaks were a relatively easy hike, but others were more of a test. Every summer climbers got into difficulty trying to bag one. Thanks to the rescue squad’s efforts, most survived. The titanium litter had a four-point webbing configuration with the main line attached to Megan and the belay line attached to the medic. Ever so slowly, they raised her up the face of the cliff.
Twelve tense minutes later, all of them were back on safe ground. One of the paramedics checked Megan over again before she was settled in the ambulance.
“Gil’s been apprehended and will be charged with attempted murder,” Matt told Luke as he waited impatiently while the medic examined Megan. “The rest of his crimes will be investigated fully and I’ve got a feeling we weren’t the only victims of his embezzling. Gil won’t be seeing the outside of a jail cell for many, many years to come.”
Luke knew Matt’s words were meant to comfort him, but Megan hadn’t regained consciousness. He turned away from Matt, wanting to hide his distress from his brother, and saw Cody waiting by his SUV. He’d never seen anyone look so forlorn in his life. He strode over to his son and hugged him, trying to impart hope and strength.
“Will she…” Cody sobbed against his shoulder.
“She’ll be fine, son. She’s a fighter, remember that.”
“She sure is,” Cody told him, and Luke could hear the pride in his voice.
“I…love you, Cody,” Luke told him, needing his son to know he truly did.
“I love you, too, Dad,” Cody said, his voice breaking with emotion.
They held on to each other until the medic came over to see if Luke had any injuries, but he waved him away.
“Let’s get going,” he said. They climbed in beside Megan, and moments later, they were heading back down the mountain, toward the hospital in Silver Springs.
LUKE HELD MEGAN’S HAND on the ride to the hospital, praying her injuries weren’t severe. She still hadn’t regained consciousness and that bothered him. If only he’d driven faster, he might have gotten to Inspiration Point before Gill pushed her off the cliff.
He felt so impotent, he wanted to find Gil and punch his lights out. With any luck, maybe one of the other inmates down at the county jail would do it for him.
“Luke?”
He glanced down at Megan. “Hey,” he whispered, unable to get more than a single word out of his dry throat.
“You looked so angry,” she said softly.
He stroked her forehead. “Just thinking about what I’d like to do to Gil. None of it pretty.”
She smiled and said, “My hero.” Then she passed out again.
Epilogue
Eight weeks later, Megan and Luke finally got to repeat their wedding vows again, this time in front of their family and friends. That evening, after the guests had departed, Megan sat in the living room with the girls, remembering the past two months as Luke collected their bags.
The guest list had swelled considerably in the ensuing weeks and now included all the rescue and medical personnel involved in Megan’s rescue and her hospital care. She’d been delighted to see them and thank them personally for everything they’d done for her.
She’d suffered from a subdural hematoma as a result of her fall and had been operated on that night. She’d also dislocated her shoulder, grabbing at the rock face as she fell. Had she not done so, she wouldn’t have landed on the ledge—but that had resulted in two broken ankles. However, those injuries were a small price to pay to save her from certain death.
Luke hadn’t left Megan’s side during her hospital stay, but the most surprising visitor was Sasha, who’d insisted on helping with her recovery by reading to her from the newspaper and then, when Megan was up to it, doing crosswords together.
There was a surprise appearance—her parents and brother. Luke admitted, minutes before they were due to walk down the aisle, that he’d invited them. They’d been formal with her but their manner had thawed under the O’Malley charm, mostly Will’s. He’d encouraged them to reconcile with her and get to know their grandson. It remained to be seen if they’d take any further interest in Cody’s life…or Megan’s. Right now, she was too happy to care.
There were still gaps in Megan’s memory, mostly relating to when she’d first confronted Gil. In many ways, she was thankful she couldn’t remember being pushed over the cliff. Whenever Megan thought of it, she felt sick to her stomach.
Apparently, she’d had the wherewithal to give Luke a clue as to where she was, but had no memory of their phone conversation.
She’d also lost a lot of blood from a gash on her temple sustained during her fall. Sasha had apparently been the first to offer her own blood for transfusion. She smiled at the thought and the probable frown on Sasha’s face when she’d been turned down as too young to donate.
“Megan?”
She looked up into Sasha’s eyes and smiled. “I was just thinking about you.” She patted the sofa beside her.
Sasha took a seat and asked, “Are you okay? Today hasn’t been too tiring, has it?”
Megan smiled again and stroked Sasha’s blond hair. “No, honey, it’s been a great day. Thank you for agreeing to be one of my bridesmaids.”
Sasha grinned. “You gotta admit I look better in a dress than Daisy does.”
“Well, as I’ve never seen your sister in a dress, I’ll have to take your word for it. You looked so pretty. Like a princess—”
“Me, too, Mommy!” Celeste shouted. She bounced onto the sofa, earning a glance of reproach from her older sister.
Megan tickled her. “You, my little pumpkin, looked like a fairy princess!”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Too bad Daisy didn’t want to look pretty.”
“She did in her own way, standing up with her father and brother,” Megan assured her.
“That’s just plain weird, a girl wanting to be on the groom’s side of the wedding,” Sasha muttered.
Megan couldn’t help laughing. “I think she looked just right in her new cowboy boots and jeans. She matched her father and her brother and uncles perfectly,” she said. This time around, Luke had forsaken the tuxedos for clothing more suited for the ranch. Megan had already admired the digital photos taken of the wedding party, with the men—and Daisy—attired in cowboy boots, jeans, chambray shirts and cowboy hats, while the bride’s party wore floral summery dresses that drifted in the breeze.
They’d said their vows beside the lake that stretched between the ranch house and the mountains that rose behind it. Megan couldn’t imagine a more idyllic setting.
“You look happy.”
She gazed up into Luke’s warm brown eyes and moved over on the sofa to make room for him.
He squeezed into the space bet
ween Megan and Celeste and placed a noisy kiss on Megan’s lips.
“Gross!” Daisy and Cody both said from the doorway into the living room.
Smiling, Luke repeated it. Megan giggled and Sasha leaped off the sofa. “Old people sex!” she squealed and ran from the room with her hands over her eyes.
“What’s old people sex?” Celeste asked as she watched them curiously.
“Nothing you need to worry about for a very long time,” Luke said, then kissed her forehead.
Always curious, she asked, “How long? Next week?”
“Long after next week, darlin’,” Luke told his youngest daughter as she climbed off the sofa and went to join her siblings.
“Speaking of old people sex,” Luke murmured in Megan’s ear. “Shall we head off on our honeymoon?”
Megan pushed at his chest. “I can’t believe I agreed to go camping on horseback for our honeymoon. I must still be concussed.”
“You’re the one who didn’t want to venture too far from the kids,” he said.
“True. But—”
Luke silenced her protests with another kiss. When they both came up for air, he said, “Remind me what a bad idea it is when I make love to you tonight on a carpet of meadow grass sprinkled with wildflowers beneath a star-studded sky.”
“I’m not sure which will take my breath away more, the scenery—or your lovemaking,” she teased.
Luke stood and pulled her to her feet.” The sooner we leave, the sooner you’ll find out.”
LATER THAT EVENING, satiated and happier than she could have ever dreamed, Megan lay in Luke’s arms looking up at the starry sky.
Luke rolled toward her and nuzzled her ear. “Well?” he asked. “Which took your breath away more?”
Megan turned in his arms. “You know, I can’t quite decide,” she murmured. “I need some time to think about it.”
“Take all the time you want, darlin’,” Luke drawled. “We’ve got the rest of our lives.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7976-0
COLORADO COWBOY
Copyright © 2011 by Catherine Cockburn
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