Mangy’s head popped up and he whined. A car pulled into the driveway and Meg dropped her feet to the floor. Rising slowly, she stared at her old rattletrap of a car. Riley had retrieved it from Ogle’s garage and insisted on leaving his truck for her. She had argued but lost when he said he wanted Fiona to be safe and not stranded on the roadside somewhere. The puppy scrambled to his feet and she grabbed his collar, tamping down the hope that was trying to claw its way into her heart.
The car rolled to a stop behind Riley’s truck. The dog barked and wagged his tail as Riley emerged from the driver’s side and approached the porch. He stood for a moment and stared at Meg. The dog whined and lifted his head as if to ask his mistress if the stranger was friend or foe.
“Beats me,” she whispered to the dog.
She tried to think of something to say, but all of the things she’d planned flew right out of her head. She felt sixteen, all awkward and tongue-tied.
Riley removed his sunglasses and slipped them onto the neck of his T-shirt. He rested a foot on the first step and glanced from the dog to her. “You’re not going to sic your dog on me, are you?”
“Depends on why you’re here.” The dog whined and yanked on her arm.
“Where’s Fiona?”
“Vacation bible school at the Methodist church.” She swallowed and rubbed the dog’s silky fur. “You haven’t told me why you’re here.”
“To tell you what an idiot I am, but you already know that.”
“Let me put him inside. I’d like to hear more about this idiot business.” Her hands shook as she tried to get the door open. After shooing the dog back inside and shutting the door, she turned back to Riley, her arms folded across her chest. “Fiona missed your calls the last few nights.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Only Fiona?”
She shrugged nonchalantly, but inside she was quaking. “Why didn’t you call?”
“Several reasons.” He stepped onto the porch. “For one, I went to see Alex Trejo’s parents.”
She blinked. “The marine who saved your life? What happened?”
He shook his head, still in awe over what had happened. “They want to meet you and Fiona.”
Meg jerked her head back. “They do? Why? How did they even know about us?”
“I told them.” This time he shrugged, but the look in his stormy eyes told her this was anything but casual. “I’ll always feel bad over what happened, but his mother made me see I would be disrespecting what her son did if I wasted my second chance at life because of guilt.”
“She sounds like a smart woman.”
“I need to show you something.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He flipped it open and pulled out a small piece of folded paper.
“What is that?” She eyed the piece of battered composition paper. Could that be...?
“I want you to see this.” He opened the paper and smoothed it out across his chest before handing it to her.
Her mouth dropped open. “It’s...it’s my first letter to you.”
He moved closer to her and inhaled deeply.
She kept looking from him to the letter. “You kept it? I... I don’t know what to say. It looks like...like...like it’s been through a war.”
“It has, and as you can see, I read it over and over.” Color rose on his cheeks.
“But I don’t understand. You acted like...like...” Her voice caught on the last word.
He stepped closer. “Aww, Meggie, I’m so sorry. You, through this letter, kept me company the whole time I was over there. Some nights...when things got bad, I read it more than once. I had it with me in the hospital, too.”
She brought her hand to her mouth as she read her words from six years ago. “It was childish. Oh, God, I can’t believe I wrote stuff like this to you.”
He reached over and took her hand away from her mouth and brought it to his. He kissed her fingers. “It may seem childish, but I swear I cherished it. As you can see, I carried it with me the whole time I was over there. It was my good luck charm and...and my reason for making it through the tough times.”
“But why did you return all the others without even opening them? I still don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t and I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hand between both of his. “I can’t begin to explain how I felt. Instead of hating me for seducing you and taking your virginity, you—”
“You didn’t seduce me. I seduced you and I would do it all over again, even knowing what I know now.”
“We can discuss that later, but for now I want to explain.” He cleared his throat and kept his grip on her hand. “Our Humvee was in a mortar attack and we sustained heavy damage... One of the guys bled out on what was supposed to be his last mission. He was going home.”
He rubbed his palm on his thigh. “When we got back to base, word was waiting for him that his wife had gone into early labor and he had a healthy baby boy.”
Her gaze met his. “I can’t begin to imagine what it must’ve been like for you and—”
He put his fingers over her mouth. “Please. Let me finish my explanation before I lose my nerve. I... I need you to understand about everything. All of it. Those words you wrote...the feelings behind them...well, to be honest, they scared me. I was afraid to hope. I thought for sure you’d grow up, come to your senses and realize you could do better. And if I let you get any closer, you would have destroyed me. So I pushed you away. I pushed you away so hard and so cruelly, I knew I didn’t stand a second chance with you...even when it was—and still is—my greatest wish.”
“Maybe if you proposed again, I’d accept.” She poked his shoulder. “I admit I love it here, but I love you more, Riley Cooper, and I just want to be with you...wherever and however I can.”
“I may be crap at showing it, but I love you. I have always loved you...even when you were a pesky kid with braces.” He cupped her face in his hands and smiled when she didn’t pull away. “Then I fell madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with the woman you became. I’ve never been able to make all the pieces inside me fit together without you. Being with you makes all the puzzle pieces fit.”
He caught her tears with his thumbs. “Please don’t cry, Meggie. I don’t want to make you cry ever again.”
“Then don’t,” she choked out. “Just...just love me.”
“I love you, Meggie McBride.” He gulped in air. “I have my marine discharge papers and I’m ready to move on.”
“Discharge? But you love the marines. I would never take that away from you. My refusal of your proposal had nothing to do with you being a marine, but everything to do with what was missing in your proposal.”
“You mean the fact that I love you and can’t stand the thought of living without you?”
“Yeah, that. I—”
He cut her off with a kiss. When he pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers. “I spoke with Jeff and—”
“Who’s Jeff?”
“The cop that came the night I lost Fiona. He’s an Afghanistan vet, too. He said a couple of the guys are reaching retirement age and they’ll be looking to hire soon.”
“Here in Loon Lake?”
“Yup and I’ve enrolled in the next training academy course.” His gray eyes flickered with uncertainty. “If that’s okay with you.”
“I love you no matter what you decide to do. You don’t have to do this for me. You can stay in the marines. I know how much you love it.”
* * *
A car pulled into the driveway before he could respond.
“Fiona’s home,” Meg said, taking a step back.
“Perfect timing.” He squeezed her hand.
Meg glanced at him but the happiness shining in his eyes told her his words were sincere with no hint of sarcasm.
Meg left him to help Fiona, who’d spotted Riley and
was bouncing up and down in her seat, eager to get out of the car. She opened the rear door and greeted her friend Tina and her two kids.
“Mommy, look. Mr. Riley’s back,” Fiona cried out.
“I see that.” Meg retrieved the booster seat Fiona had abandoned and smiled at Tina. “I’ll call you later?”
Tina glanced at Riley and laughed. “I’m guessing much, much later.”
“Tomorrow?” Meg grinned, feeling giddy.
Tina waved her off and Meg followed Fiona to the porch at a more sedate pace.
Fiona squealed and launched herself at Riley, who was hunkering down with his arms outstretched. He caught Fiona and twirled her around.
“Now that’s what I call a homecoming,” Riley said and set Fiona down.
“Are you gonna stay with us some more?” Fiona jumped up and down.
“As a matter of fact, I was just getting to that part.” Riley tugged on a pigtail.
“Huh? What part?” Fiona scrunched her nose.
Meg laughed, but she was thinking the same thing.
“I need both of you to sit. Fiona, you can sit on your mom’s lap.”
Fiona looked up at Meg. “Mommy?”
“Let’s do as he says and we’ll find out,” Meg suggested and sat in the Adirondack chair. Fiona scrambled onto her lap.
Once they were seated, Riley got down on one knee in front of them.
“Mommy, what’s he doing?”
“I’m asking you and your mommy to marry me.” His gaze met Meg’s, love shining in his gray eyes.
“Say yes, Mommy.” Fiona patted Meg’s cheek. “Say yes, puh-leeze.”
He fished into his pants pocket and held out his hand. Meg gasped at the diamond band nestled in his palm.
“Will you marry me, Meghan McBride?”
“Yes, a thousand times, yes,” she whispered and he slid the ring on her finger.
“Do I get a ring, too?” Fiona asked.
“Fiona,” Meg chastised. Seeing the look of panic on Riley’s face, she hurried to reassure him. “It’s really not—”
“How about...” He unbuttoned the front pocket of his desert fatigues and pulled out a cigar. “When I accepted this, I had no clue this would come in handy.”
What was he doing? You couldn’t give... She drew a deep breath. Riley was going to be a great dad, but she was going to have to trust him to do things his way. He slipped the paper band off the cigar.
“Hold out your hand, princess,” he said and slipped the paper ring onto Fiona’s finger. “I promise to be your daddy for the rest of my life and to love you forever.”
“My daddy?” Fiona’s eyes widened. “You’re gonna be my very own daddy?”
“I may not have always been here with you and Mommy, but you, Fiona, have been my daughter from the day you were born and you always will be, no matter what. Now—” He cleared his throat. “Now I’m hoping you’ll let me stay here with you and Mommy so I can be your daddy for the rest of your life.”
“You’ll live with us forever and ever and you won’t go away no more to fight dragons?”
“Forever and ever. I promise.” His gaze shifted to Meg. “I’m home to stay. I’ve slain all my dragons.”
* * *
Riley and Fiona’s voices drifted into the kitchen from the family room and Meg smiled. She’d finished cleaning up after supper, but it had taken her twice as long because she kept stopping to admire her diamond engagement ring. Riley loved her.
“I had planned on helping. You didn’t have to miss the end of the movie,” Riley said from the doorway.
She grinned. “It’s okay. I’ve seen it a few million times already.”
“Well, you’ll be relieved to know E.T. is safely on his way home.” He sauntered in and came up behind to pull her close, nuzzling her neck.
“Thank goodness. I worry about that every time,” she said and angled her head to give him better access. “Because I want everyone—even a three-foot alien—to be as happy as I am right now.”
“Mmm.” He kissed the spot where her neck and shoulder met. “If he has something as wonderful as this waiting for him at home, believe me, he’ll be the second-happiest guy in the universe.”
“Second?”
He kissed his way across her jaw. “He has to get in line behind me.”
It was a good thing Riley’s arms anchored her to the floor, otherwise she’d be floating on the ceiling. “Where’s Fiona?”
“She’s picking out a book for me to read before bed.”
“Are you gonna be okay with giving up the marines for watching kids’ movies and reading bedtime stories?”
“Absolutely.” He kissed his way back to her neck and pulled her earlobe into his mouth and nipped. “There’s only one thing that could make this any better.”
She was having trouble concentrating. “Wha-what would that be?”
“How about a half dozen more redheaded little girls calling me Daddy?” he asked, his gray eyes glinting.
“Six?” she squeaked.
He grinned. “Okay, maybe two or three.”
“I’ll think about it, but I told you before, Riley Cooper, that my hair’s not red, it’s—mmmhhff.”
He cut her off with a kiss.
“Was that a yes to two or three more?” he asked and pulled away to study her face.
She grabbed his shirt, tugging him closer. “Mmm... I guess we’ll need to start working on that part and see what happens.”
“Daddy, I picked out my story,” Fiona called from the other room.
He sighed. “Duty calls.”
Meg gave him one last kiss. “Read fast.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from NO ORDINARY FORTUNE by Judy Duarte.
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No Ordinary Fortune
by Judy Duarte
Chapter One
Schuyler Fortunado had always been a family rebel, and she felt more like one today, as she drove her sporty red BMW down the highway, the back seat loaded down as if she planned to live out of her car for the next several weeks.
Granted, she hadn’t actually packed the dry cleaning that hung from the rear passenger window or the bag of groceries she’d left on the back seat. She’d planned to drop them off at her condo back in Houston before starting out on her latest adventure earlier toda
y. But she’d been so intent upon solving a family mystery that she’d hit the freeway and hadn’t looked back until she’d stopped in the Texas community of Columbus for gas. The clothing would stay in the back seat, but she’d tossed out the almond milk and smoked Gouda that would go bad without refrigeration. Then, armed with a Venti coffee, she’d taken off again.
She glanced at the clock on the dash. It was late afternoon, and the traffic had slowed to an annoying rate. When her cell phone rang, she again looked at the dash, where her father’s name was displayed on the screen. Kenneth Fortunado didn’t take time out of his busy day for small talk, so she assumed he’d gotten wind of her latest escapade and wanted to voice his disapproval.
She was tempted to turn up the volume on the radio and let the call roll over to voice mail, but she answered instead. “Hey, Dad. What’s up?”
“I didn’t call to chat, Schuyler. What in the hell are you up to this time?”
“Not much. Just taking a little road trip and listening to some oldies.”
He paused for several beats, no doubt reminded that she favored the same music her grandmother used to listen to, along with everything else they’d had in common.
“Where are you?” he asked, and not very nicely.
“I’m on a Fortune hunt.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. I told you to let that go.”
“Yes, I know. But I can’t ignore the fact that our family is related to the Fortunes.”
“That’s not a fact, Schuyler. You have no idea who my biological father was, and quite frankly, I could not care less.”
He’d already made that clear, but Schuyler was determined to uncover the truth. And, contrary to what her father might think, she was nearly 99 percent certain that his mother’s married lover had been Julius Fortune. It had been an easy conclusion to reach. The dear, eccentric woman Schuyler had called Glammy, thanks to a childhood speech impediment, had all but spelled it out during the many chats they’d had before her death.
The Marine's Secret Daughter Page 18