It was midmorning before Justin worked up the nerve to listen to the voice mail on his cell phone.
No relief there. “Call me.” What the hell did that mean? Did it mean she believed him now? Or did it mean she was going to take out a restraining order against him if he went near her again?
Her second message wasn’t much better, but at least on that one she’d said please.
There was no help for it. If he wanted to know how she was taking his little messages, he would have to go see her, face-to-face. If he could manage to avoid running into anyone he knew. He was going to take a serious ribbing for this, he knew. But if it won him Blaire, it would all be worth it.
But when he pulled in at the feed store, her car wasn’t there. By God, if she’d left town without even seeing what he’d done—
Not possible. She would have seen the signs along her driveway and the note under her wiper blade. If she left town after that, the banner and the water tower wouldn’t have mattered. Her leaving would mean she didn’t care.
Gritting his teeth, he used his cell phone to return her call. When she answered, he asked, “Where are you?”
“Where am I? Where are you? I’ve been calling all over looking for you.”
“And I’m calling you back, aren’t I?”
“You took your own sweet time about it,” she complained.
“Blaire, where are you?”
“I’m working on a landscaping project.”
“Since when are you a landscaper? And what the hell do you plant in February?”
“Well,” she said slowly, “since I’m planting it at your place, you should probably come see for yourself.”
“My place? The house?”
“There’s no house here yet, but I expect there will be before long.”
Justin’s heart gave a giant thud. “Don’t move. You hear me, Blaire? Don’t you move. I’m on my way.”
He made the thirty-minute drive in twenty-two minutes. He found her on the other side of the fence, on her knees in the dirt. When he pulled over onto the shoulder and killed the engine, he was gratified by the way she darted through the fence and ran to greet him.
Perhaps, he thought as she neared, gratified was too tame a word. Overjoyed. Ecstatic. Grateful.
“Justin!”
He held out his arms and she ran into them as though she’d been waiting to do just that for her entire life. “Justin, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
He took her by the shoulders and held her slightly away from him so he could see her face. “Do you believe me now?”
She gave him a smile that wobbled. “How can I not?”
“And what is it that you believe?”
Her lips pursed. “Is this a test?”
“I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
“I believe,” she told him carefully, “that you love me. Maybe as much as I love you.”
That stopped him. He’d thought she loved him, but she’d never said so. “You love me?”
“I love you.”
“Then what are we going to do about it?” he asked.
“Well, first you should kiss me.”
“I can do that.” He kissed her, deeply and slowly, until they were both breathing hard. “Now what?”
“Now, we get married.”
Justin tried to swallow past the sudden, huge knot of emotion in his throat and couldn’t. “Married?” he managed.
“Married. If you’re still willing.”
With his knees turning weak, he leaned back against his pickup and pulled her with him. “I’m more than willing. How fast can we do it?”
Blaire threw her head back and laughed in sheer joy and relief. She hadn’t ruined things with her fears. He still loved her, and she felt her love for him well up inside and fill her to the brim.
“We could elope,” she said, “but our families would never forgive us.”
“You’re right. Two weeks?” he asked. “How does that sound?”
“It sounds like a lifetime,” she told him. “But I doubt we can get it done any faster. Justin?”
He pulled her close and hugged her. “What is it?”
“Will you tell me again?”
“Tell you what?”
“You know.”
“That I love you?” He peered down into her golden brown eyes.
She nodded. “I need to hear it again.”
“You’re going to hear it until you’re sick of it, and then you’re going to hear it some more. For the rest of our lives. I love you, Blaire. I love you.”
“And I love you, Justin. Be my husband, help me raise our child. Help me raise purple pansies.”
“What?” he frowned and blinked.
“Pansies.” With a huge grin Blaire motioned toward the flowerbeds she had been planting with his favorite flowers. “Purple ones.” His favorite color.
Justin swallowed around the huge lump in his throat. “I would be honored to marry you and raise babies—and flowers.”
Epilogue
In the end it was three full weeks before they were able to stand before God and their families and exchange their vows.
The whole county was buzzing about how all three Chisholm men had taken the plunge in a matter of months.
The general consensus seemed to be that when those Chisholms fell, they fell hard and fast.
The Chisholms in question could find nothing in that statement to argue against.
During the three weeks that Blaire spent holding her mother back from putting on a huge production instead of the small ceremony Blaire and Justin wanted, Justin was not idle. He purchased—with Blaire’s approval—a three-bedroom mobile home and had it moved in near the persimmon grove. He’d purposely left the crest of the hill vacant, so the builders could get to work as soon as Blaire and Justin had picked out the plans for the house they wanted.
It also being calving season, Justin was kept more than busy. Since the calves didn’t stop being born just because the youngest Chisholm got married, a honeymoon would have to wait. But Blaire was not disappointed by that. She moved into the mobile home and continued to work at the feed store, but only part-time.
The new house was finished in July, leaving plenty of time for Blaire to outfit the nursery before the baby came.
As summer drew to a close, Blaire, now covered under Justin’s insurance plan, left the bookkeeping at the feed store once again to her mother, for good this time. Blaire had more than enough to do to put the final decorating touches on the house and get ready for the baby. And think about her new teaching job next year.
One of the local elementary teachers just found out she was expecting her first child. Come next February she planned to quit working. The school board offered the mid-year position to Blaire, who snapped it up.
Knowing how much she missed teaching, Justin fully supported her decision to go back to work next winter. By February they might have a handle on this baby business. Maybe.
The baby chose Labor Day weekend to put in an appearance. The entire Chisholm clan, plus Blaire’s parents and cousins, were on hand for the blessed event.
Justin proudly played catch during the birth and got to make the announcement: “It’s a boy!” If there were tears in his eyes, that was okay, as they went with the ones in his voice.
Blaire could barely tell through the sheen of her own tears.
They named him John, after Justin’s grandfather, and Thomas, after his great-grandfather.
Upon learning that her first great-grandson was being named for her husband John and her father, Thomas, Cherokee Rose Chisholm cried.
“Hello, John Thomas Chisholm,” she whispered. “Welcome to the world.”
* * * * *
All the 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 the inc
idents are pure invention.
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This collection is first published in Great Britain 2009.
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THE CHISHOLM BROTHERS: FRIENDS, LOVERS… HUSBANDS? © Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r. l 2009.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works, which have already been published in the UK in single, separate volumes, as follows:
The Daddy Survey © Janis Reams Hudson 2004 The Other Brother © Janis Reams Hudson 2004 The Cowboy on Her Trail © Janis Reams Hudson 2004
ISBN: 978 1 408 91004 7
The Chisholm Brothers:Friends, Lovers... Husbands? Page 57