She nodded, those tears threatening again. “She’s thirteen. I’ve known it was only a matter of time. But...even a few more months with her would be the greatest gift you could ever give me.”
“I don’t know for sure it’s kidney failure. It could be something entirely different, but from the symptoms you describe and the exam, I’m ninety-nine percent certain. If you want me to, I can wait to treat her until I run bloodwork.”
“No. I trust you. Completely.” She paused. “I knew you would be able to help her. When I found her in the barn, all I could think about was bringing her to you.”
He appeared startled at that, then gave her an unreadable look. “I’ll go grab the supplies for an IV, then.”
After he left the room, she knelt down beside the sweet-natured border collie, who had provided her with uncomplicated love and incalculable solace during the darkest moments of her life, when she had been a lost and grieving sixteen-year-old girl.
“Ben will help you,” she told the dog, stroking her head softly. “You’ll feel better soon. We can’t have you missing your Christmas stocking. Here’s a secret. Don’t tell any of the others but I got you a new can of tennis balls. Your favorite.”
Sadie’s tail flapped halfheartedly on the carpet. It was a small sign of enthusiasm, yes, but more than Caidy had seen from the dog since she walked into the barn.
What would have happened if she hadn’t found Sadie in time? The dog would never have made it. She was certain of that. When she and Destry and Ridge went out for chores on Christmas morning, they would have discovered her cold, lifeless body.
Just the thought of it made her stomach clutch. She had found her, though. Something had prompted her to brave the weather so she could find the dog in time and bring her here, to Ben, who knew just what to do.
Why had she gone out to the barn? Yes, she had found peace and solitude in the barn a few times before on Christmas Eve over the years, but it wasn’t as if she made a habit of it.
She had been standing at the window gazing out at the cottage lights flickering in the trees, ready to collapse in her bed after a long day with her family, when some impulse she still didn’t understand had compelled her to slip into her coat and head outside.
Coincidence? Maybe. Somehow she didn’t think so. More like inspiration. Perhaps her own little miracle.
The thought raised chills on her arms as she gazed down at her beloved dog. What else could she call it? She had gone to the barn just in time to save a life. Even more miraculous, a wonderful veterinarian who knew just what to do lived just a quarter mile away—and he had the ready supplies necessary to help her dog.
Yes. A miracle.
A sweet sense of peace and love trickled over her, healing and cleansing, washing away the fear and sadness that had become so much a part of Christmas for her.
The clock on the mantel chimed softly. Midnight. It was Christmas. What better time for miracles, for second chances, for hope and light and life?
She leaned down to Sadie and began to hum one of her favorite Christmas songs, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” After a few bars, the words seemed to crowd through her heart, bursting to break free.
And for the first time in eleven years, she began to sing.
* * *
With the IV bag in his hand, Ben stood outside the room, afraid to move, to breathe, as he listened to the soft strains filling the air. He needed to help her dog quickly but surely he could wait a few more seconds.
Caidy was singing to her dog and her voice was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, clear and pure and sweet.
“The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sings.”
As she finished the song, he forced himself to move into the room and knelt beside her and the dog. She glanced over, color soaking her cheeks.
“You don’t have to stop,” he said as he pulled on surgical gloves and went to work finding a spot for the IV. “In fact, I hope you don’t. It appeared to comfort her.”
She was silent for a moment and then she began to sing “Away in a Manger” in her sweet, lovely soprano. The song seemed to shimmer through the air.
“Your brother is right,” he said when she sang the last note of the third verse. “You do have a beautiful voice. I feel blessed I had the chance to hear it.”
She smiled a little tremulously. “I can’t tell you how strange it feels to sing. Strange and wonderful. All this time, the music has been there, just waiting for me to let it out.”
“I didn’t know them but I can only imagine your parents would be happy you found your voice again.” He knew he was taking a chance reminding her of the sadness that had become so much a part of her holidays.
To his relief, she nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”
Moving forward took tremendous courage. He was consumed with love for her and wanted to tell her so but the moment didn’t seem right, when her beloved dog was struggling for life.
“Is there anything I can do right now for Sadie?”
He turned his full attention back to her dog. “I’m giving her a bolus now—a great deal of fluid in a short amount of time—and then we’ll slowly drip the other bag over the next hour or so. I’ve also given her some medication in the IV that will help perk her up. We should see results fairly quickly. I’m afraid I’ll have to keep her here for the night. Do you mind?”
“Mind?” She gave a rough laugh. “I don’t know what I would have done without you, Ben.”
“I guess it was my turn to ease your burden a little for a change.”
Though she smiled, the Christmas lights from the tree she had given them reflected in green eyes that swam with tears. One dripped free and slid down her cheek and Ben reached his thumb out and brushed it away from her warm, silky skin. “Please don’t cry.”
“They’re happy tears,” she promised him. “Well, maybe a little bittersweet. I know she won’t be here forever. But she’s here now because of you. That’s what matters—she’s here. I don’t think I could be strong enough to endure losing her on Christmas Eve.”
“It’s not Christmas Eve anymore. It’s past midnight. Merry Christmas.”
Her smile took his breath away and she leaned slightly into his hand. “Merry Christmas, Ben.”
He caressed her cheek with his thumb, tenderness and love pulsing through him. Unable to resist, he framed her face with his hands and kissed her gently. She sighed softly and her arms slid around him.
The moment was so perfect there in his borrowed living room with the Christmas tree as a backdrop and he didn’t want to do anything to break the spell, but he knew she couldn’t be comfortable for long on her knees like that. He eased them both back against the armchair and sat there on the floor, pulling her almost onto his lap.
They kissed for a long moment with aching softness and it was more magical than any Christmas morning he had dreamed about when he was a lonely boy. Love poured through him as sweetly as the notes of her song.
He loved this strong, courageous woman and needed her in his life. Jack and Ava did too. All his carefully constructed reasons for taking his time, moving slowly, seemed to fade into insignificance.
Yes, this might present another huge change for all of them, but he knew his children were resilient. They both liked Caidy already. Even Ava had said as much after the pizza night. It wouldn’t take long for them to love her.
Finally she slid away, her eyes glimmering. She opened her mouth to speak and then must have decided she didn’t want to disturb the peace of the moment. She turned slightly in his arms to check on Sadie. He held her as they both listened to the steady pump of the IV and watched the colored lights of the tree reflected in the window and plump snowflakes begin to fall.
After a few moments, Tri hopped in, probably emerging from his favorite sleeping spot at the foot of Ben’s bed to wonder where he was. The little dog wandered over to Sadie, who was lying in front of the fire. Ben was about to call him off but Sad
ie’s tail began to wag and she stirred herself to sniff at the other dog. Tri licked at her muzzle and then settled in next to her.
“Look at her.” Caidy’s laugh was filled with wonder.
“The medication metastasizes in her system fairly quickly. I imagine by the time the kids wake up, she’ll have as much energy as they do.”
“It’s amazing. You’re amazing.”
When she looked at him that way, he felt like the most brilliant veterinarian in the country. She kissed him and though he knew some part of it was motivated by gratitude, he sensed something else in the way her mouth moved across his, the way her arms tightened around his neck.
Finally he knew he couldn’t remain quiet any longer. “Do you think it’s any kind of conflict of interest for a veterinarian to be in love with his patient’s human?”
* * *
Caidy stared at him, certain the stress of the past half hour—coupled with her abject relief—must be playing tricks with her hearing. Did he just say...?
Her heart pounded as if that belligerent bull that had started this whole thing had just caught her in his sights and she couldn’t seem to catch hold of any coherent thought. “Is that a hypothetical question?” she finally said, her voice low and thready.
Ben—wonderful, strong, brilliant Ben—tightened his arms around her, a soft, tender light in his eyes that made her catch her breath.
“I think you know the answer to that. I’ve been fighting this like crazy for a hundred different, stupid reasons. But tonight when I listened to you sing, I realized none of them matter. I love you, Caidy. I wasn’t looking for it. Especially not now, when my life has so much chaos in it. I told myself I didn’t want to take that kind of risk again.”
He smiled at her and she felt as bright and sparkly as that angel on the top of the tree. “But here’s the thing. Somehow, you calm the chaos. I don’t know how you did it, but you burst into my life with your fierce courage and your dogs and your smile and turned everything I thought I wanted spinning into an entirely different direction.”
“Ben,” she said softly, unbelievably touched that the man she thought so taciturn and hard that first day could be saying these words to her.
“I think I started to fall in love with you that day you came to the clinic, so determined to get the very best care for your dog. I knew for sure when you came here to help me wrap the children’s presents the other night, even though you don’t like Christmas.”
“I don’t know. I think my perspective on that is changing a little.”
He laughed and kissed her again. When she slid away a few moments later, Sadie was sitting up, gazing around the room alertly while Tri teased at her ear. Caidy didn’t know how her heart could contain more joy.
“To answer your question,” she said, “I don’t believe there is a conflict of interest at all as long as said veterinarian doesn’t mind that the human in question is also very much in love with him.”
“Is she?”
“Oh, yes. I love you. More than I can say. And Ava and Jack too. I thought I was content with my life here on the ranch helping Ridge, but over the past few weeks, I’ve come to realize something good and right has been missing. You. All this time, I think I’ve just been waiting for you.”
He gazed at her for a long moment, his eyes fiery and bright, then with aching softness he picked up her hand and kissed her palm. “I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere.”
She couldn’t contain the joy bubbling through her. Sadie would be all right, at least for now. It was Christmas morning, the time for miracles and hope, and she had eleven years of Christmases to make up for. What better place to do it than in the arms of the man she loved fiercely?
She wrapped her arms around him and Ben laughed softly, almost as if he couldn’t help himself, then kissed her again while the Christmas tree lights gleamed and the two dogs snuggled by the fire and her heart sang.
Epilogue
“I just love Christmas weddings,” Laura exclaimed as she adjusted one of the pins keeping Caidy’s snowy-white veil in place.
“It’s not Christmas,” Maya said, with irrefutable logic. In the mirror, Caidy had a clear view of the little girl sitting on a bench in the room reserved for brides at the small church in Pine Gulch, carefully holding Trace and Becca’s chubby six-month-old son, who was gumming his fingers.
“Santa doesn’t come for five more days,” Maya pointed out.
“True,” her mother answered with a grin. “I should have said I love Christmastime weddings. Is that better?”
“Yes.” Maya smiled, looking sweet and adorable in her blue-and-silver flower-girl dress.
“The church looks beautiful,” Becca said, hurrying in to scoop little Will out of Maya’s lap with unerring instincts, just as both of the children started to get bored with the arrangement. “It looks like a snowy wonderland with all those silvery snowflakes and the blue ribbons. Such a better choice than the traditional red and green. As lovely as it is out there, it doesn’t hold a candle to our blushing bride here. You look fantastic. Are you happy, Caidy?”
She smiled at her brothers’ wives. She did feel a small pang that her mother wasn’t there on her wedding day, but this was a time for joy, not sadness. She might not have her mother with her, and that would always hurt, but she did have these wonderful women who had become so dear to her.
“Happy doesn’t come close to covering it. I don’t think I have room inside me to hold all the joy.”
“I don’t either,” Ava said, looking lovely in the bridesmaid dress she was so very enthralled to be wearing.
“Same here,” Destry, in a matching dress, added.
Caidy smiled and squeezed both girls’ hands, the daughter of her heart and the daughter she would be gaining officially in a matter of moments.
Sometimes she couldn’t take in the changes in her life from last Christmas. Over the years, she had told herself she was happy living at the ranch, helping her brother with Destry, raising her dogs and her horses. Now she could see how much power she had given one horrible, violent event over her life. She had been hiding out there, slowly suffocating in her fears, afraid to take any chances.
Ben had changed that. This past year had been filled with more happiness than she could ever have imagined. A little sadness too, she had to admit. After her miraculous Christmas recovery, Sadie had made it to springtime. Her last months she had shown more energy than she had in years, but one April morning Caidy had found her under the flowering branches of the crab-apple tree beside the house. Ben had helped her bury her friend on a hillside overlooking the ranch and the river and had held her while she wept.
The two of them had taken their time this past year, moving slowly to give the children time to adjust to the idea of her being a regular part of their lives.
Jack, with his sunny nature, had no problem accepting her. As she might have expected, Ava had been a little more resistant. At first, the girl had fought the idea of anyone wanting to replace her mother in their lives. But now, a year after she and Ben started dating, Caidy believed she and Ava had developed a strong, solid relationship.
A December wedding had been his idea, to give her something joyful to remember—instead of pain and fear—during this time of hope and promise.
Waiting all this time to start their lives together had seemed endless. The day was finally here and she couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.
“I think you’re ready now,” Laura said. “Oh, Caidy. I’m so happy for you.”
Taft’s wife hugged her, though at four months pregnant, she was beginning to bump out a little.
“Same here,” Becca said, kissing her cheek and squeezing her hands. “You deserve a wonderful guy like Ben. I’m really glad he turned out not to be a rude, arrogant, opinionated jerk.”
Caidy cringed, remembering her stupid words about him so long ago. “None of you will let me forget that, will you?”
“Probably not.” Laura smiled.
A knock sounded on the door. When Ava opened it, Ridge poked his head in, looking big and tough and gorgeous in his black Western-cut tuxedo. “Are we ready in here? I know a certain veterinarian who’s a little impatient out there.”
She drew a breath and adjusted her dress. “I think so.”
“Come on, girls. Time to get in your places,” Becca said.
Laura gave Caidy’s veil one more adjustment, then stood back. “Okay. Perfect.”
With a deep breath, Caidy slipped her hand in the crook of her brother’s arm.
Ridge reached his other hand over and squeezed her fingers. “You’re stunning,” he said. “Mom and Dad would have been so proud of the beautiful woman you’ve become. Inside and out.”
“Don’t make me cry,” she said, her throat thick with emotion.
“It’s true. They would have liked Ben too. He’s a good man. The highest praise I can give him is that I think he’s almost good enough for you. I’m so glad you’re happy.”
She gave her brother a tremulous smile. “I am. It took me a while to get here but I really am.”
“Let’s do this, then.”
The small but earnest church choir she now joined on Sundays broke into singing Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” and she drew a deep breath, nerves skittering through her. As she and Ridge started down the aisle behind the bridesmaids, she looked down and saw the gruff, sometimes taciturn veterinarian she loved beyond measure smiling broadly. The best man—Jack—was holding his hand.
Her heart aching with love for him and for his children, Caidy walked down the aisle beside her brother to the beautiful strains of the music toward a future filled with joy and laughter and song.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt of Real Vintage Maverick by Marie Ferrarella!
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Special Edition story.
You know there’s always a new chapter to be written. Harlequin Special Edition stories show that whether it’s an old flame rekindled or a brand-new romance, love knows no timeline.
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