Mystery Bride

by Daniels, B. J.

  WILL LOOKED UP FROM his hospital bed to see Charley Murphy framed in the doorway.

  “Mind if I come in?”

  “Not at all, I could use the company,” he said, and smiled. He hadn’t seen Charley since last night and he hadn’t been in any shape then to thank him. “Thanks for your help.”

  Charley shrugged. “Part of the job. I’m just glad I got Sam’s call and could get there in time. You were the real heroes, though.”

  “Yeah, right,” he said. “How is Cassie?”

  Charley shook his head. “I’m grateful for what you did, helping Sam. And Zack.”

  Will nodded. “Something tells me you didn’t just come by to build up my self-esteem.”

  Charley shook his head. “I need to know how you feel about my cousin.”

  “Yeah, I thought that might be it.” Will took a deep breath. “Twenty-five words or less? I’m crazy about her. I can’t imagine living a day without her. But I also can’t imagine living a day with her working as a private investigator. It scares the hell out of me. I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty progressive kind of guy. But I’m not sure I can be married to a woman who risks her life like that.”

  “That’s kind of what I thought,” Charley said.

  Samantha stuck her head in the door then, almost as if on cue. “Hi,” she said, and smiled at him. “How are you feeling?”

  He nodded. He’d forgotten just how beautiful she was. The bright blue morning and the sunshine streaming in the window gave her a glow that pretty near made him take back everything he’d just told Charley and turn those words into a proposal of marriage. Pretty near.

  But he could also see that she’d been crying. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Cassie. She just passed away,” Sam said.

  He could see her fighting more tears.

  “Mind if I steal Charley for a moment?” she asked, her voice hoarse with emotion.

  He noticed tension then in her eyes, and feared why she’d come to talk to her cousin. He thought of Zack. The boy had lost both his mother and the only father he’d known.

  A nurse stuck her head in the doorway. “Good news! The doctor said you can leave this morning,” she said cheerfully. “By the way,” she said holding up his chart, “happy birthday.”

  “Thanks.” His thirty-sixth birthday. And he could go home. It seemed like eons since the day he’d driven to Wolf Point to bid a job and seen Samantha sitting in the sun in her Firebird. Or one of her cousins’ Firebird. He never had gotten around to asking her just whose car it was. Not that it mattered now.

  He realized he should call his sister. Katherine was probably worried about him. Yeah, right.

  “Where have you been?” she demanded the moment she heard his voice on the phone. “You’ve heard what happened? The commissioner has been arrested. Someone captured him on film exchanging construction bills for cash at my party! In my library!”

  “Really?” He smiled, remembering the beautiful young woman he’d followed to the library terrace with two glasses of cold champagne. “Imagine that.”

  “Where are you? It almost sounds like you’re in a hospital,” Katherine said, obviously overhearing a page for one of the doctors on call. “Will? Will, what’s happened?”

  He didn’t know where to start. But as was his nature, he started from the beginning.

  When he finished, Katherine said, “You risked your life for this woman and child?”

  He guessed he had. He realized he’d do it again.

  “That is so unlike you,” his sister was saying. “Just taking off like that. Tell me more about this woman. Murphy? Samantha Murphy, right?”

  This time when he finished, his sister said, “Oh, Will,” and he realized she was crying. “Jennifer Finley will be so disappointed.”

  SAMANTHA AND CHARLEY WALKED down the hall to one of the hospital atriums. They had the space to themselves and stood for a moment, neither talking.

  “Cassie is gone,” she said after a moment.

  He said nothing, just stared at the floor. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “She signed a paper making me Zack’s legal guardian and asking that I be allowed to adopt him.” Her voice broke with emotion.

  He looked up quickly. “Is that what you want?”

  “More than anything.” She hesitated. “Before she died, she told me who Zack’s father is.”

  Charley’s gaze met hers and held it, gentle and yet solid as a rock. That was Charley. She felt her heart begin to pound and tears welled again in her eyes. “How long have you known?”

  He shook his head. “Not until the day that Cassie came by the house with the court order to pick Zack up. I guess something just clicked. I remembered that one night we’d spent together and suddenly I looked at Zack as she left with him—and realized he was mine. Do you know he’s going to have my big feet? Poor kid,” he added with a laugh.

  “You and Cassie,” she said, shaking her head.

  “It was only one night. I had no idea she had conceived, since we used protection. But nothing is failsafe, huh?”

  “She didn’t realize she was pregnant with your baby until after you met Katie and fell in love with her,” Sam said.

  “She still should have told me,” he said, then shook his head, obviously thinking how that would have changed all of their lives.

  “What about Katie?”

  Charley smiled. “I told her. She says she’s fine with whatever I decide to do.”

  Sam held her breath. “What are you going to do?”

  “Tell Zack the truth. Someday. When he’s older. Right now he’s confused enough. He’s just lost the only father he’s ever known. For now, Lucas was Zack’s father. Let’s leave it at that.”

  “What are you saying?” she asked, her heart in her throat.

  “That it’s time for you to tell Will what happened five years ago,” Charley said. “He loves you and I know you love him. Clean the slate. Tell him everything. Then decide what it is you want and go for it.”

  “I already know what I want.” She held his gaze. “I want Will. And Zack.”

  Charley nodded. “It’s obvious that Zack loves you and Will, and that the two of you feel the same way about him.” He stopped as if overcome with emotion. “I couldn’t bear not to see Zack grow up now that I know about him. But I will be able to, as your son, Sam. And my nephew.”

  She threw her arms around her cousin’s neck.

  He held her for a long moment. “So what are you waiting for?”

  “Courage,” she whispered.

  “Cousin,” he said, holding her at arm’s length. “You have more courage than any woman I’ve ever known. And more love to give. You’re going to make Zack a great mother.”

  She hugged Charley once more, then headed for Will’s room.

  WHEN SAMANTHA PUSHED OPEN the door to Will’s room, her heart fell at the sight of the stripped bed. She’d missed him! He’d already gone home.

  Then she heard him. He was on the phone. She stepped in and saw him sitting in the alcove by the window.

  “It has to be a bright-red boy’s bike,” he was saying. “You have one in stock that size? Great! I’m going to have to get back to you about where to deliver it. No problem.” He hung up, smiling.

  Seeing the happiness in his face, she started to back out of the room. She didn’t want to add any more pain. After all, she’d almost gotten him killed, not to mention everything else she’d put him through the past few days. He must be anxious to get back to his old life. That’s where he belonged.

  But before she could escape, he seemed to sense her, and turned. “Samantha,” he said softly.

  “They’re letting you leave,” she said lamely. “That’s good. I guess you’re all right?”

  He nodded, his gaze intent on her face. “My head’s too hard for something like a gun butt to do much damage,” he said, motioning to the clean white bandage on his temple. “Just a slight concussion.”

  She co
uldn’t go through with this. No matter what Charley said. “I need to tell you something.”

  “I need to tell you something, too,” Will said.

  Oh boy, here we go.

  “You don’t have to say anything,” she said quickly. “I already know.”

  “You do?” He sounded surprised.

  She nodded, unable to speak for a moment. “I want to tell you about Lucas and me.”

  He frowned. “Yes?”

  “Five years ago, after I found out about Cassie and Lucas, I did something really stupid. I was upset, and I got into my car and I started driving.” She stopped for breath. “It was snowing out and the roads were slick and I was crying.”

  “I know you had a car wreck,” he said quietly.

  She nodded and took another breath. “But what you don’t know, that no one but Charley knows, is that—” The tears came in a wave. She choked back a sob.

  Will rushed to her and took her in his arms. “It’s all right, Sam. Whatever it is, it’s all right.”

  “I was pregnant with Lucas’s baby.” The words were out. Finally. “I was pregnant and I killed my baby in the wreck.”

  All the guilt, all the grief, all the pain she’d held inside her for five years came out in a flood.

  “Oh, Sam,” Will whispered as he hugged her. “Oh, Sam.” She cried then for all she’d lost. For the little baby who had ended her dream of motherhood and marriage with Lucas.

  Will held her until her tears waned, then got her a cold washcloth and waited while she pressed it to her face.

  “I’m glad you told me,” he said after a few moments. “I knew something else had happened to you. I thought it was just Lucas.”

  She shook her head.

  “He never knew?”

  She shook her head again. “He was already planning to marry Cassie.” She straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eye. “There’s one more thing.”

  He braced himself.

  “It’s Zack. Cassie told me who his father is.”

  “Charley.”

  She stared at him. “You already knew?”

  “Suspected as much. The resemblance is amazing, added to the fact that you all went to college at the same time.” He grinned at her. “Is it my turn?”

  “Not just yet,” she said, and seemed to fortify herself. “I intend to adopt Zack. Before Cassie died she asked that I be made legal guardian.”

  He nodded, not surprised.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  “What about your private investigator work?”

  “I have quite a bit of money saved. I can keep the agency open and hire investigators and stay at home and raise Zack.”

  He studied her. “Is that what you really want?”

  She seemed to soften. “It’s what I always wanted. I almost had it once, and when I lost it— Well, I told myself I wanted a career, something hard-hitting, even dangerous.”

  “And now?” he asked, afraid he was either dreaming or delirious.

  “I want to make a family for Zack,” she said confidently.

  He raised a brow. “All by yourself?”

  “A lot of single women raise children alone nowadays,” she said, lifting her chin.

  He had to smile. “Yeah, but Zack needs a father. An in-house father. And I need a bride.”

  “Will—”

  He silenced her with a kiss. “I thought I knew exactly what I was looking for in a bride. When I saw you, I knew you were the one. Then I got to know you.” He laughed.

  “If this is your idea of sweeping me off my feet, it isn’t working,” she pointed out.

  He cupped her face in his hands. “I kept telling myself that I couldn’t live with a P.I. for a wife. But I realized something when I was telling my sister about you. You might not be what I planned in a bride, but you are exactly what I want. I’m wildly, passionately, crazy in love with you.”

  “Much better,” she said, smiling up into his eyes.

  “I love you, Samantha Murphy. I want to marry you and adopt Zack and have a dozen more kids. We can live in Butte or Billings or wherever you want. I’ll build us a house, large enough for your whole family. If you want to be a private eye or a mortician or a jet pilot, I don’t care. Whatever you want, Sam, just say you’ll be my bride.”

  She smiled, feeling like Cinderella all over again. With tears in her eyes, she leaned up to kiss her prince. “I love you, too, Will, but are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”

  “With you I never know,” he said, and laughed as he drew her to him. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Let’s go get Zack and tell him the news! Oh yeah, and we have to pick up a bright-red bicycle on the way.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-6165-9

  MYSTERY BRIDE

  Copyright © 2001 by Barbara Heinlein.

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