A Texan on Her Doorstep
Page 18
Running a hand through his hair, Mac pulled the wooden door open and was instantly stunned to see Ileana standing on the other side of the threshold.
She was wearing a springtime dress of blue and white flowers that showed off her waist and fluttered at her knees. Her cheeks were flushed, and her long auburn hair was flying in the breeze and teasing her face. As Mac looked at her, he was certain he’d never seen anything more beautiful than she was at that moment.
“Ileana! What are you doing here?”
A hesitant smile plucked at the corners of her pink lips. “I’ve been waiting for a Texan to show up on my doorstep. When he didn’t, I thought I’d better show up on his.”
Dazed, his heart pounding, he pushed the door wider. “How did you find this place?”
She stepped past him and into the house. Still stunned, Mac automatically closed the door, then turned to face her.
“I called the sheriff’s office,” she answered. “They were very helpful about giving me directions.”
He watched her glance around the room, and as she did, she spotted the bags sitting a few steps away.
“Oh? Are you going somewhere?” she asked in an awkward rush. “I realize I should have called, but I wanted to surprise you.”
Mac could only look at her in amazement, and then he began to laugh with more joy than he’d ever felt in his life.
“I’m sorry, Mac,” she said with a pained expression. “I guess this…my coming here was a bad idea.”
Seeing that she’d totally misunderstood his reaction, he reached for her. “Oh, Ileana! It was a wonderful idea! I’m laughing because—” He pulled her closer into the circle of his arms and buried his face in her hair. “When you knocked I was about to walk out the door. I was going to the Bar M to see you.”
Levering herself away from his chest, she stared up at him in disbelief. “You were coming to see me?”
Mac nodded as hope began to surge inside him. “Yes. I was hoping—Well, I planned to—Oh, hell, Ileana, I can’t talk straight. I don’t know how else to say it. I love you. I’ve been miserable without you.”
Tears filled her eyes and rolled onto her cheeks. “Mac. I love you, too. I should have told you that before you left the Bar M. But I was afraid you didn’t want to hear me say anything like that.” Her eyes dropped to the middle of his chest. “I’ve been humiliated in the past, Mac. I guess I took it for granted that you would put me off, too.”
Suddenly love began to fill every crack and scar in his heart, to warm each cold, empty spot inside him. “Ileana, Ileana.” His hands delved into her hair, then drew her face up to his. “I couldn’t say anything before now. Because I don’t think I understood how I really felt about you until I got back here and took a long look at my life. It was empty—so, so empty without you.”
More tears flowed down her cheeks, and he awkwardly wiped them away with his fingertips. “Will you marry me, Ileana? I realize our homes are far apart, but I can find a job in New Mexico—”
Her forefinger suddenly pressed against his lips to stop his words. “Does that really matter, Mac?”
A wide smile spread across his face. “No. Nothing matters except that we’re together.”
She brought her lips up to his and after a long, promising kiss, she said, “I’ve always wanted to live where palm trees grow.”
With a finger under her chin, his doubtful gaze met hers. “But your clinic, Ileana, and your beautiful house and—”
“There are other doctors just ready and waiting to run my clinic for me. As for my house, I’m thinking it would be great for a summer vacation place.” Turning in his arms, she gestured to the living room they were standing in. The furnishings didn’t match, the flooring was old and the windows were bare, but to Ileana it was the most beautiful place she’d ever seen. “This house is where we need to raise our children. This little ranch will be our home.”
With his hands on her shoulders, he gently turned her back to face him. “But, darling, what about you being a doctor?”
Happiness bubbled inside Ileana, and for the first time in her life she knew she could dance and laugh and shout. The same way her mother did when one of her Thoroughbreds was first to fly across the finish line.
“I’ve been a doctor, Mac. Now it’s time for me to be a wife. A mother. A lover.”
He studied her and then a smile crept across his face. “In that order?” he teased.
Rising on tiptoes, she brought her lips up to his. “Maybe we could switch them around—just for tonight,” she whispered suggestively.
With a soft chuckle, he brought his arms around her. “This is one time I’m happy to follow the doctor’s orders.”
Epilogue
T wo months later, on a bright spring day, Ileana and Mac entered Sierra General and rode the elevator up to the surgery wing. While they waited for the cubicle to stop and the doors to swish open, Ileana squeezed her husband’s hand.
“Your mother is going to love the roses.”Mac glanced down at the basket of yellow roses cradled in his right arm. He’d particularly chosen the flowers because they’d reminded him of the yellow roses his mother had once grown long ago on the McCleod farm. He doubted she would make the connection, but that no longer mattered to Mac. He’d forgiven Frankie, and their relationship was growing stronger and deeper every day.
Oddly enough, after Frankie’s secret life was out and her four children were finally together, they’d been able to persuade her to have the heart surgery that she’d needed for so long. The procedure had been a complete success, and Frankie would be able to go home to the Chaparral Ranch tomorrow.
“I hope the roses cheer her,” Mac said.
Ileana’s eyes glowed warmly as she looked up at him. “Seeing you will cheer her, Mac. Now that I’ve seen you two together, I get the feeling that you were especially close to each other.”
Smiling wryly, Mac said, “Ripp was always a daddy’s boy. Before she left, I spent a lot of time with Mother. I guess that’s why it was much harder for me to forgive and forget.”
The doors to the elevator slid open, and as they automatically stepped forward, Ileana curled her arm around the back of his waist. “She’s going to be just fine now, Mac. And you’ll have many years to be with her. In fact,” she added as they strolled down the corridor toward Frankie’s room, “I was thinking it might be nice to have her come to Texas for a visit soon. We have plenty of room…for now.”
Stopping in the middle of the hallway, he looked at her with an odd little frown. “What do you mean…for now? Are you trying to tell me—?”
A coy smile touched her lips. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” He looked incredulous and hopeful at the same time. “For God’s sake, Ileana, you’re a doctor! You should know!”
An impish smile dimpled her cheeks. “Okay, darling. I’m trying to tell you that I’m pregnant. I was going to wait until tonight when we were alone, but—” She gestured to the sterile walls around them. “We first met in this hospital, so I guess it’s a fitting place to tell you that you’re going to be a father.”
He shook his head in happy amazement. “A father!” he softly exclaimed. “Me, a father!”
Love glowed in her blue eyes as she watched a myriad of emotions cross his face. “Does that frighten you?”
Curling his free arm around her shoulders, he pulled her close against him. “Maybe it should. But it doesn’t. See, I’ve already learned everything not to do. And I’m going to love you and this baby, and hopefully more babies, for the rest of my life.”
Bending his head, he kissed her until both of them nearly forgot that they were standing in a very public place.
Laughing, Ileana grabbed him by the hand and hurried him toward Frankie’s room. “We’ll take this up tonight,” she promised. “Right now, let’s go give your mother our news!”
Minutes later, after Mac had given Frankie the roses and told her about the coming baby, the woman hugged them both, then dabbed
at the emotional tears blurring her eyes.
“You know, Mac, when you married Ileana I lost a fine doctor. But I gained a wonderful daughter-in-law. And I couldn’t be happier.”
Bending his head, Mac placed a kiss on top of his mother’s head. “We’re all happy, Mom. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2982-6A TEXAN ON HER DOORSTEP
Copyright © 2009 by Stella Bagwell
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*†Also features characters from Twins on the Doorstep
*†Also features characters from Twins on the Doorstep