“It fits you. The diner fits you. But why did you decide to come home and open a diner?”
He leaned against the counter and studied the woman at the table. Some things just didn’t make sense. Like how, all of a sudden, he couldn’t think of a day without her in it.
“When I got home from Afghanistan, I started drinking again. Marty, the housekeeper we’ve had for years, put a stop to that. She said she’d dragged me out of the bottle once, and I wasn’t going back in. So she put me to work in the kitchen with her. Kneading bread. Great therapy.”
“She’s a great lady. I think Joe has taken her out to dinner a few times.”
“I think he has. And I couldn’t agree more that she’s great. After I got sober, I moved into the cottage and started renovating this place. And I baked. I cooked. It helped me sort my thoughts and get my head on straight. It helped me stay sober. That’s why I bought the old diner and opened Duke’s.”
“I understand. I do what I do because when I was a teenager, art and sewing were things I could take with me wherever I went. No matter what kind of crazy existence my mom wanted, I had a refuge in art.”
Duke opened the door to the deck. Heat flowed in. “I’m going to turn the steaks. Baked potatoes and salad are ready. I have a loaf of French bread warmed up.”
“What can I do?”
He shrugged and smiled down at her. Her gray eyes locked with his, wary, unsure. “Keep me company.”
She followed him outside. Duke turned the steaks and glanced at his watch. “Six more minutes.”
Oregon moved to his side. Her gaze flicked to the field and then to him. “Duke, I need to know what’s going on.”
Duke glanced at his watch again. Sometimes things didn’t go the way a man planned. He could time it to perfection, have it all organized, then a string got pulled and everything unraveled.
A month ago he never would have pictured himself in this moment with her.
“Oregon, I want to marry you.” He tipped her chin so that she looked up at him. “I want to have a life with you and with my daughter.”
“I can’t. Duke, I can’t do this.”
He had expected that. He’d planned for it.
“I think you’ve convinced yourself you can’t. I think you have ideas about being a woman, about being whole and about having more children. I understand all of those doubts you’ve bottled up and held on to. But I’m telling you, Oregon Jeffries, I want to marry you.”
She shook her head and walked away.
That was something he hadn’t planned.
Chapter Eighteen
Oregon walked through the house, no longer noticing the pretty furniture, the wonderful aromas or even how her feet moved one in front of the other. Her heart ached and she needed to escape.
Or stay and be the woman that Duke Martin loved. But he hadn’t mentioned love. He’d said they should be together. They should be a family. And she agreed. They would make a wonderful family. But there were so many factors. There were so many doubts.
Past hurts were chasing her down, causing her fear. Insecurity doubled its efforts to keep her from reaching for what she wanted. She wanted Duke in her life. She wanted to wake up every morning knowing that he would be there, loving them and protecting them.
She wanted to believe he would be the man who wouldn’t walk out when things got tough. She wanted to believe in those vows, the ones that promised to have and to hold forever. The little girl in her remembered her mother standing with too many men making those same promises. And each time the girl Oregon had been wished that this time would be real, this time they would stay.
The front door opened. Duke joined her on the porch where she’d stopped, unable to keep running. She wouldn’t run from him anymore, from her feelings or her fears.
She would confront this head-on and tell him why it wouldn’t work.
She closed her eyes and prayed, because God had gotten her through so much. He would get her through this. He would help her face today without holding on to the past and the things she couldn’t change.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you that way.” Duke’s hand was on her shoulder.
“I can’t have more children.” The words weren’t the ones she really meant to say. She’d meant to tell him she couldn’t marry him. Instead, those words that had ached inside her since last year had spilled out. She covered her face with her hands.
Duke’s arms encircled her. He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough few weeks. I know that you would give anything to have more children.”
“I hadn’t ever thought about it before. I had Lilly, and I love her, and she was enough. She is enough.”
“Of course she is. But things change. People change and so do circumstances.”
She nodded, still safe in his arms. A little voice told her to move, to not get too comfortable. But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t stop needing him.
His lips brushed hers, then claimed them in a kiss that stopped her from thinking about doubt and fear. His kiss filled her up and made her feel every bit a woman. His hand slid from her shoulder to the back of her neck. Oregon held on to his arms, needing his strength. She sobbed as the kiss lingered.
“Oh, Duke, don’t do that to me.” She whispered the words against his arm, kissing him on the exposed skin of his forearm.
“Do what? Make you want to say yes?”
She heard the smile in his words, and when she looked up, his blue eyes twinkled with amusement and victory.
“Yes. I mean, no.” She shook her head and burrowed into the comfort of his chest. “I can’t think.”
“That’s my plan. I want you not thinking about anything other than how right this is.”
“Duke, this isn’t enough for a marriage. Yes, we have Lilly, and we have chemistry. But I want more. I want to be loved.” She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from saying more but it couldn’t be held back. “Because I love you.”
Duke cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her again, a long, lingering kiss. After a sweet kiss and then brushing his lips across her cheek, he reached for her hand. Before she could stop him, he dropped to one knee. Still holding her hand, he took his hat off.
“Don’t ever leave me, Oregon Jeffries. I have this problem.” He cleared his throat, and he grinned. “When you’re around, I can’t think straight. You’ve taken away my ability to think like a confirmed bachelor. It’s no longer all about me. It’s about us. It’s about you, me and our daughter. And if she’s it for us, then that’s pretty great because not everyone is as blessed. Thirteen years ago, I messed up. But I wasn’t much of a man back then. I definitely wouldn’t have been man enough to take care of you and our baby.”
“Duke, stand up.”
“No, I’m going to do this right.” He remained on one knee.
“Okay, then, I’m coming down here with you.” Oregon joined him, going down on both knees in front of him. It felt better there, close to him.
He kissed her again. She could get used to those kisses.
“Oregon, we have a second chance. I can’t help but believe that God meant that to happen. I can’t deny it took me by surprise. I definitely had no intentions of falling in love.”
He paused there.
“But?” she prompted, needing the words so desperately that it didn’t make sense.
“I have this strange malady. I can’t stop thinking about the mother of my daughter. I think that’s the way it should be. I can’t sleep at night, and it isn’t because of nightmares. It’s because I’m constantly thinking about when I can see you again, or hold you, or kiss you. I love you, and I want to marry you.”
* * *
Duke gave up leaning on one knee. Oregon sat down in front of him. He pulled her close to h
is side and leaned against the post at the edge of the porch. Once again, so much for his great romantic plans. He hadn’t expected the two of them on their knees on the front porch.
“Oregon?”
She moved, going to her knees next to him. She brushed her hand across his cheek, and he closed his eyes. Man, she was the sweetest thing ever. When she looked at him like that, he’d give her anything she asked for.
“I’m afraid. I want this. I want you. I want marriage and a family. And I’m scared to death it won’t last. As afraid as I am for myself, I’m more afraid for Lilly and what that would do to her.”
“We are not our parents.” He opened his eyes, needing for her to see that truth reflected in his expression. “I have never told a woman I love her. I’ve never thought about asking one to marry me. I’m not a kid, Oregon. I know what I want. I want you.”
“I want you, too.”
“I didn’t think a proposal would feel like a debate.” He smoothed dark hair back from her face. “I’ve seen it done in movies and when the guy asks, the woman generally cries and says yes.”
“The man usually starts with the words I love you, so she knows he’s serious.”
He laughed at that. “You have a point. Should I start over?”
“Maybe.”
“If I do, will you say yes? Because if I’m going to have to eat cold steak, I’d at least like to know that something went right tonight.”
She stood and reached for his hand to pull him to his feet. He found that amusing, that her pint-size self thought she could help him up. He took her hand, though.
This time he did what he should have done from the beginning. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring he’d bought a week ago. It had been Breezy’s idea, to be prepared with a big diamond. Girls love diamonds, even when they say they don’t, she’d told him.
He wasn’t going down on one knee again, though. Instead, he reached for her left hand, and he held it for a minute, studying her beautiful fingers, feeling the pulse in her wrist. He lifted that wrist to his lips and planted a kiss where he could feel the beat of her heart.
“Oregon Jeffries,” he started with a wink, “I love you. I love our daughter. And I would love for you to marry me and be my wife. I promise we’re going to be together and be there for each other and for our daughter.” He leaned toward her. “Was that better?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “That was perfect. Yes, Duke, I’ll marry you.”
“I thought you’d never say yes.” He picked her up and swung her around. And he kissed her as he held her, refusing to let her feet touch the ground.
He said a quiet prayer of thanks, because God had seen exactly what they needed. They had needed each other. Broken hearts, broken lives, and now they were whole.
Epilogue
Christmas, two years later
Oregon left the shop early, flipping the Open sign to Closed. Her heart was almost giddy, as if she was sixteen and going on her first date.
But it wasn’t. It was a Christmas tree she had an appointment with. She drove home as fast as the speed limit and traffic allowed. Duke’s truck was parked in the driveway of their house. He waved from the ladder where he was hanging lights. December first. It had been their tradition since they got married on Christmas two years earlier to hang lights on the first of December.
This year they were starting new traditions. She parked her car and stepped out. Duke came down the ladder and met her. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear. She laughed and kissed him back.
“You are very bad, Duke Martin.”
“Only with you, Mrs. Martin.” He curved an arm around her waist.
The front door opened and banged shut. “Break it up. Break it up.”
Lilly smiled at the two of them. She wore shorts and a T-shirt. Silly Texas weather. Didn’t it know enough to be cold in December? At this rate they wouldn’t even be able to have a fire in the fireplace tonight when they decorated the tree.
“We refuse to break it up,” Duke told her. “But you can give your old dad a hug, then help him string lights.”
Lilly hurried down off the steps. The front porch had been decorated with holly and in honor of the holidays, the cushions on the wicker furniture had been changed to red and green. Lilly gave Daisy and Belle each a quick pat before grabbing lights to hand up to Duke as he climbed the ladder.
“What time will they be here?” Lilly asked.
“Soon, I think.” Oregon looked down the road.
“You’re sure they’re coming?”
“They’re coming. Mrs. Flanders called and said they’d be here at five.”
“So we have an hour to decorate.” Duke hung lights on the plastic holders.
“Yes.” Oregon watched from the safety of the ground. “Did you test to make sure these work?”
“They work.”
She repeated the question. Duke frowned. Because he hadn’t tested the lights. That, too, was a Martin family tradition. Duke never tested the lights unless Oregon reminded him.
“I’ll test them,” Oregon offered.
“That’s why I love you.”
“Enough mush,” Lilly said, unstringing more lights. “I think I included that in the vows at the wedding. No mush, no sweet-talking in front of the kid.”
Oregon plugged in the lights and held her breath. When the red bulbs twinkled along the strand, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, you of little faith,” Duke called down from his perch on the ladder.
“I hear a car.” Lilly turned to watch the drive, and Oregon waited.
“False alarm.”
Duke finished stringing the lights. He’d already wrapped lights around the six support posts on the porch. Oregon finished the posts off with red ribbons. They were standing back, surveying a job well-done, when a car did come down the road and turn into the driveway.
Oregon reached for his hand, and he squeezed. “It’s going to be great, Oregon.”
“I know it is.”
Lilly slid between the two of them, and they wrapped their arms around her as they waited. The front door of the car opened. Mrs. Flanders stepped out. She waved and then opened the back door of her sedan. Duke, Oregon and Lilly went forward.
Mrs. Flanders unbuckled a car seat in the back of her car. She pulled out a sleepy little girl of about two. The child, whose name was Maria, held pudgy arms out to Oregon. Dark hair framed her sleepy face, but her eyes locked on Duke, and she grinned.
“Dute.”
“Yeah, baby, I’m Dute. You can call me whatever you want as long as you look at me with those brown eyes.” Duke held out his arms, and she left Oregon’s embrace for his.
Lilly had taken the next child from Mrs. Flanders. A little boy with chestnut-brown hair and coffee-colored eyes. “And here is Mr. Bobby.” The caseworker smiled as the boy grabbed hold of Lilly, his thumb in his mouth.
“I would have been here sooner, but we had to stop for milk.” Mrs. Flanders tickled the little boy who had gone from Lilly to Oregon. “Didn’t we, bossy man?”
Bobby grinned. His thumb remained in his mouth, but he put his free arm around Oregon’s neck. She cuddled against him, inhaling the sweet scent of baby powder and soap.
“Have they eaten?” Oregon asked.
“We had a late lunch and they had crackers, as you can see, in my car. Bobby is a little underweight, so he’s still on formula. The foster mom sent you letters about their eating and sleeping habits. She also sent photo albums. She’s so thrilled for you all and so thankful that you’ll let her visit.”
“Of course we will. She’ll be a special part of their lives.” Oregon held the little boy that would soon be hers. One more court date, and they would be a family of five. Duke wrapped an arm around h
er and pulled her close. Lilly, thrilled to be a big sister, started grabbing bags and boxes.
“Would you like some coffee?” Duke asked the caseworker as they walked through the front door.
“I’d love a cup of coffee,” Mrs. Flanders answered.
The tree was up in the corner and lit. Duke had piled boxes of decorations nearby. Maria’s eyes lit up, and she patted his cheek.
“Tree,” the little girl whispered.
Duke let her down, and she toddled to the tree, touching the branches and then pulling back. She giggled and turned to look at them. She was theirs. Oregon’s heart filled to overflowing.
God had done this. He’d led them to these children who would have a permanent home with them. It didn’t surprise her. After all, when God made the plan, it was perfect.
She looked from Lilly to Duke, to the two children that were now a part of their lives. Her gaze traveled to the photographs on the wall of Lilly growing up, of a wedding with the three of them together, and soon there would be pictures of five.
Oregon shifted Bobby to her left arm. “I’ll be back with that cup of coffee.”
She carried Bobby to the kitchen and placed him in the new high chair they’d bought.
As she put a cup under the spout of the coffeemaker and pushed a button, a hand slid around her waist and rough whiskers brushed her cheek. Duke leaned in from behind her, pulling her against his chest.
“I love you, Mrs. Martin.”
“I love being Mrs. Martin,” she returned with a grin she tossed back at him.
He laughed and brushed his cheek against hers again. “You’re supposed to say you love me back.”
“I love you back, Duke.”
And then a little voice behind them said “Dute” and giggled.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE DOCTOR’S SECOND CHANCE by Missy Tippens.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoy the second book in the Martin’s Crossing series. I loved Duke and Oregon from the moment they walked onto the pages of A Rancher for Christmas. This couple has learned from experience that life isn’t always perfect. Sometimes it’s messy. People can’t always be who we need them to be. In The Rancher Takes a Bride, Duke and Oregon take a chance and what they find is beautiful. They learn to trust, and they put aside their own fears in order to do what is right for a child who desperately needs them both. In the process they find a love that binds them all together.
Love Inspired May 2015 #1 Page 17