by Brenda Mott
Derrick gripped his dad’s arm. It felt good to touch him. To breathe in the familiar scent of his cologne. Suddenly, he felt like a kid—the one who used to fish with his dad.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, we do.”
“We could go fishing,” Vernon said, as though reading his thoughts. “It’s been a long time.”
“It has.” Derrick looked straight at his father, taking in the silver of his hair beneath his beat-up old Stetson. The lines on his face…
But he looked great.
Vernon grinned. “Just as long as you bring your bug spray.”
Derrick laughed, and then his dad was pulling him into a hug.
“Damn it, I missed you son. I missed you so much.” He clapped Derrick on the back, squeezed him so hard he could barely breathe.
“I missed you, too, Dad.” Derrick no longer hid his tears. “Hell, what took us so long?”
Over Vernon’s shoulder, Derrick saw his mom and Connor, standing in the doorway—Kara behind them.
And in that moment, he knew he had everything in his life a man could want.
He wasn’t about to let any of it get away.
KARA WENT HOME from the hospital late that night, exhausted but happy. A sense of peacefulness filled her—something she hadn’t felt since Evan’s death. She went out to her backyard and sat with Lady, enjoying the quiet. She thanked God Derrick was fine. That he and his dad had had a change of heart, and that everything, for once, seemed right with her world and those around her.
“Are you watching, Evan?” Kara whispered, looking up at the stars. “Do you understand?”
Did he know she would always love him? But she couldn’t deny herself Derrick’s love and companionship any longer? Was Liz right? Would Evan want her to move on…to be happy?
Kara thought he would.
She went inside, and got a cardboard box from the back bedroom. She went through the house, a tightness in her throat, and packed up the last of Evan’s things. His work boots…his hard hat…his jacket that hung beside it on a peg near the door. In a smaller box, she packed away their wedding photo. The last thing she started to put away was the picture on her nightstand.
Kara sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the framed photo. Evan smiled out at her, his expression full of humor, love. Evan was Evan, and Derrick was Derrick. One had nothing to do with the other, and there was room in her heart for more than one man.
“I love you, Evan. Always.” Kara kissed the photograph, then carefully tucked it away inside her dresser drawer before returning to the packed box. When she taped it shut, her hands were shaking. But the closure made everything all right.
Kara stored the box in the garage, beside one that contained other mementos she couldn’t yet part with. She’d give them to Liz. Soon.
She closed the garage door and went back inside the house.
That night, Kara didn’t have any nightmares. And she woke up feeling like a new woman. One with a brighter future.
SIX DAYS AFTER he’d come home from the hospital, Derrick dressed in his favorite black, western shirt and a new pair of jeans. Tonight was going to change his life, one way or another. And he was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“Hurry up, Dad!” Connor called. “We don’t want to be late.”
“Coming.” Derrick checked his shirt pocket for the hundredth time, patting it for luck.
Family night at the Silver Spur was crowded as usual. He’d made arrangements to meet Kara there, rather than take her with him, using a made-up excuse about having to meet his band early. He didn’t want anything to spoil the surprise, and if he drove her to the Spur himself, he’d never be able to hold back telling her what he had to say.
And he wanted to do it in front of all their friends. Hell, he wanted to shout his love for Kara to the world.
As he looked out over the crowded room, he saw her, sitting at the center table closest to the band—Tina had made sure to reserve it. Danita, Beth and Hannah sat with her, as well as Connor and Lisa. Danita gave him a little wink, and Connor hid his hand beneath the table and gave the thumbs-up sign.
Cripes. Derrick hoped Kara wouldn’t kill him for doing this in front of everyone. He stepped up to the microphone.
“Good evening. How are ya’ll doing tonight?”
The crowd cheered and whistled.
“All right. Well, we’re here to have some fun, so let’s get started.”
Taking his lead, the band struck up a rowdy George Strait tune. Derrick mouthed the words automatically, his mind way ahead of this moment.
When their set was nearly finished, just before the band took a break, Derrick said, “I’ve got one more song before we take a break. I wrote this one for someone special who’s here tonight, and I hope she likes it.” He looked right at Kara.
She smiled as she looked back at him.
Derrick took a breath and began to sing.
“Some years ago I didn’t know that she would be the one….”
As he sang, he watched Kara grow serious, tears filling her eyes. He held her gaze, revealing everything in his heart to her through the words of her song.
“…one thing that I know for sure,
Without you I am lost.
So I’ll ask you just one question,
No matter what the cost….”
Her eyes widened, and he kept right on playing. It felt as if they were the only two in the room.
“I’m hoping one day down the road,
you’ll proudly take my name.
But until and if that day does come,
I’ll wait for you right here…”
Derrick strummed the cords on his guitar, purposely pausing…deliberately switching gears.
“And if you never come around
I’ll sit here crying in my beer.”
The crowd laughed as he finished with a fancy guitar lick.
Then he laid down his Gibson and stepped to the edge of the stage, microphone in hand. He looked out at Kara.
“Kara, I’m trying to make you laugh, because that’s what I’d like to do a whole lot of with you in the future.” She didn’t look away—a good sign. “I’ve never been any good expressing my feelings, except behind a guitar. I’m telling you this in front of our friends, family…our neighbors…because I don’t want to hide my feelings any more.”
He stepped down off the stage, and the spotlight followed him as he walked to her table. The crowd murmured.
“Everybody here knows what you’ve been through, Kara. And I know it’s too soon to ask you the question I’d most like to ask. But—” He reached into his shirt pocket, and the crowd went wild, whistling, calling out encouragement. “It’s not what y’all are thinking,” Derrick said.
He pulled out the necklace he’d bought two days ago—a sterling silver heart on a chain. He dangled it from his free hand, still holding the microphone in the other. “I’m stepping out from behind my guitar to tell you that I love you—” the crowd whooped again “—and that I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
Kara had both hands over her mouth.
He held out the necklace. “I had this heart engraved, and I hope you’ll wear it until I can replace it with a diamond ring…. When and if you’ll have me.”
The women in the bar went wild.
“You go, girl!”
“Woo-hoo! Yeah, baby!”
“I’ll take it if she doesn’t!”
Kara laughed, blinking rapidly. Then she stood and took the microphone from him.
“Oh, I’ll wear it all right,” she said to the crowd. Then she looked into his eyes. “And FYI, cowboy, I love you, too.” She threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips that had everyone in the honky-tonk hooting.
Derrick kissed her back as the roomful of people melted into the background.
His backup singer stepped up to the microphone. “Aw, hell. How do you top that?” Laughter. “I’d say this is the perfect mo
ment for a country love song. Boys.” He turned and spoke to the band, and they began to play.
All around, couples made their way to the dance floor. Some of them paid a hurried congratulations, or threw out a joking word or two as they passed by. But Derrick barely heard them. Barely heard the song, even.
He took Kara in his arms. “Dance with me?”
“Not until you put this on.” She held out the heart necklace.
“Well, all right. But I think it’d look better on you.”
She laughed—the sound full of joy.
He brushed her hair out of the way, and fastened the chain around her neck, then placed a kiss against Kara’s skin where the clasp rested. “Did you read the inscription?”
“I did.” She kissed him again, her eyes saying more than her words.
As they danced, as he pressed his chest to hers, Derrick could practically feel the warmth of the words he’d had engraved on each side of the heart.
Derrick and Kara. Now and forever.
And an eternity beyond.
EPILOGUE
A year and a half later
THE DRIVEWAY TO THE RANCH was almost a mile long…perfect for a young man with a learner’s permit to practice.
Connor grinned as he sat behind the wheel of the Ford he and Kara had once run into a baler. Only now, the truck was equipped with hand controls that enabled him to keep it between the lines.
“Can I drive to town this time?” he asked. “Please?”
From her place in the center of the bench seat, Kara laughed. “Ask your dad. I’m not going to be held responsible for that one.”
She glanced at Derrick, riding shotgun with Lady crammed in between them. He looked as eager as Connor did.
“Well, seeing as how it’s Christmastime,” he said, “I suppose we can let you.”
“We’re only going to the tree lot,” Connor said. “It’s not like it’s a hundred miles away.”
“We’re going to need a big tree,” Kara said. “To put all those presents underneath.”
She knew he’d love the shiny black Takamine guitar they’d gotten him, especially since he hardly bothered with the refurbished laptop he’d paid for himself, unless it was to do homework. Instead, Connor spent most of his time helping Melanie and Lisa at the riding center, and playing guitar and writing music with his dad.
The ranch itself had been made possible because of the success of Derrick’s music. A new country star, recently discovered on a televised reality show, had made their dreams come true when he’d agreed to listen to Derrick’s demo tape of “Heaven.” He’d bought the song for more money than Kara had ever seen.
Six months ago, she’d sold the house she’d shared with Evan. Derrick had put his house on the market as well, and they’d finally gotten an offer on it two months ago.
Kara didn’t need the predicted snow to have a white Christmas.
At the tree lot, they picked out a huge Scotch pine, and Connor razzed Derrick as the two of them attempted to load it into the Ford.
“Hey, Dad, I’m in a wheelchair, and I’m holding up my end better than you are. What’s the matter, are you getting weak in your old age?”
His voice had deepened and matured, and he’d grown and filled out as he approached his sixteenth birthday. He looked more like Derrick every day.
“Old, hell,” Derrick retorted, “you’ve got the light end.”
Standing there, Kara wished she could put the picture father and son made on a Christmas card, and save it forever.
She and Derrick still hadn’t set a date for their wedding, but they weren’t in a hurry. Kara took comfort in knowing that when she did walk down the aisle, Carolyn and Vernon Mertz would be there to wish them well. And Liz, too.
As though her thoughts had conjured her, Liz suddenly appeared, strolling along the sidewalk across the street. Kara opened her mouth to shout a greeting, then did a double take.
Liz wasn’t alone.
Shawn Rutherford walked beside her. And he’d slipped his arm around her waist!
“Well, I’ll be.”
“What?” Derrick looked up. He grinned when he saw Liz and Shawn. “Guess it’s a season of miracles all right.”
“Yeah, and it’ll be a miracle if we get this tree loaded before Christmas is over,” Connor said. “You’d better help the old man, Kara.”
They’d celebrated Derrick’s thirty-third birthday just days ago.
“Hey, watch it,” Derrick said. “Or I’ll take back the saddle Santa brought you for your horse.”
“Derrick!” Kara smacked his arm. “You weren’t supposed to tell!”
“He already saw it. I couldn’t exactly hide it under the bed.”
“You’re too much.” Leaving father and son to their banter, Kara walked across the street.
Liz and Shawn were laughing as they window-shopped the row of old-fashioned stores in Sage Bend’s main block.
“Happy holidays,” Kara said.
Liz whirled around, her cheeks rosy from the cold. She blushed an even deeper shade of red, but her eyes sparkled.
“Kara!” She gave her a hug. “You know Shawn, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Nice to see you, Kara.”
“You, too.” She smiled.
“I was just telling Shawn we need to get something really special for you and Derrick for Christmas.”
Kara leaned in and kissed Liz on the cheek. “You already have,” she whispered. “You look wonderful.” They both knew she wasn’t talking about Liz’s new outfit.
“Thanks.” Liz looked at Shawn with adoration. “Shawn and I bumped into each other at the Silver Spur. He asked me to dance, and well…” She laughed.
Soft, fluffy flakes of snow began to drift down.
Across the street, Derrick called Kara’s name.
“I’d better run. It was good seeing you, Shawn. And you, too, Liz.” Kara hugged her, then lowered her voice. “Looks like Danita missed the boat.”
“Oh, Kara.” But Liz practically glowed.
“See you later.” Kara turned and headed back, glad she hadn’t missed her boat.
Glad she had a family to call her own.
But most of all, she thanked God for the man who made every day worth getting out of bed for—and then some.
It was definitely a white Christmas.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1862-8
MAN FROM MONTANA
Copyright © 2006 by Brenda Mott.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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*Phonetic pronunciation of Cherokee words translated from the Cherokee Syllabary.
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