"Yeah, if someone was going to hurt her, he wanted it to be him." What a great family he'd come from.
"She said that he chased you out of town, that you went and joined the service." Kate skipped another rock. "She said when she came home from the hospital, her father left her in her bed to rot. You sneaked in when you had leave. You took the most dangerous missions so you could have the extra pay, and as soon as you had enough money, you left the service, brought her to the Shriner's Hospital for her surgeries; then when she had recovered, you gave her a job at Ramos Security."
"I owed her."
"Of course you did." Kate turned and walked toward him, right at him, her eyes fixed on his, and now he saw the determination in her. "But you paid the debt. Juanita's not a stupid woman, and she's not some wheelchair-bound saint who sees only the best in you." Kate lashed at him. "She knows what happened. She knows what you owed. She told me you'd more than paid the debt. And she loves you. Do you value her love so little that you believe you're worth nothing?"
"You don't understand. It's not that simple." But it took all his strength of will not to back away from Kate's advance.
"Yes. It is. You did a horrible, stupid thing. So did everyone in those gangs that day. But I doubt any of them have paid as dearly as you have." Before he could answer, she continued, "I've done horrible, stupid things, too. I got a ticket for driving too fast—but I didn't drive off the road or cause an accident."
"That's hardly the same thing."
"It could have been worse, but I was lucky. And I'm a smart woman, but that day I got mad at you for lying to me, so I went to Hobart thinking I could do a simple investigation. Look what happened. I got you and Melissa Cunningham shot, and I came this close"—Kate held out her fingers a centimeter apart—"to being killed myself. What do I owe Melissa? What do I owe you?"
"Nothing." He didn't want Kate to think she owed him. "It's not like that."
"Well, too bad, because I'm going to name my firstborn daughter after Melissa, and I'm going to love you for the rest of my days." Kate's voice grew choked. She shook with suppressed tears. "And there's not a thing you can do about it, Teague Ramos, so don't you ever try to stop me."
He stared at her. At those bright blue eyes, shining with tears of sincerity. At the soft skin, the long throat, and her lips, trembling under the force of her emotions. At the force of her love.
Inside him, something broke. The darkness that had haunted him all his life crumpled into ruin and slid away.
He felt free, lighter and buoyed by love. Kate's love.
In a voice hoarse with devotion, he said, "You don't owe me anything, but if you want to give me something, there's only one thing I would ever want . . . and that is your love."
"Well, good." She fumbled in her pocket, pulled out a Kleenex, and noisily blew her nose.
"Yeah. Good." He had a stupid grin on his face. "This last week has been hell."
"I know." She wiped at her cheeks. "A guy shouldn't propose and then pass out."
"Huh?" Was she serious? She had looked serious. "When . . . ?" Recollection fell on him like a piano out of the sky. He remembered. The pain, the panic, the joy he felt at the sound of her voice. "In the ambulance. I proposed and I said . . ." Oh, God. He'd said he loved her. He had proposed!
He could never remember being so discomfited. He turned away from her, stared out at the lake, raked his fingers through his hair. "Listen, I was out of my mind."
"So the only time you'll tell me you love me is if you're shot?" She slid her hands up his arms to his shoulders.
And that damnable lightning streaked through him again. "I don't mean that." "Good. While I'm willing to shoot you to hear that you love me, I might miss one day and really hurt you."
He laughed. He turned into her embrace and looked down at her face. Kate held power in herself. Strength in her smile. Like her mother, she had the ability to command the light, and she brought the light into him. So, completely conscious and quite aware of his words, he knelt before her. "I love you, Kate Montgomery. I'm the wrong guy for you. You deserve something more than a man so damned by his past he'll never be free of the demons." He took her hand. Gently, he rubbed her knuckles. "But Kate, you'll never find anyone who loves you more than I do."
"That's all I ask."
"Will you marry me?"
"Yes, Teague Ramos." She slid her hands through his hair. "I would be honored."
Melissa Cunningham leaned close to Hope and in a stage whisper asked, "Do you suppose Caitlin and her man ran out for a quickie?"
"No, Melissa. They didn't run out for a quickie."
"It's been a half hour and no sign of them yet." Melissa looked around the church, listened to the rustles and the whispers as the congregation got restless, and added, "That quartet you hired must be getting tired. They're going to want more money."
Hope reflected that having all her dreams come true carried a heavy fine—she was eternally indebted to Melissa Cunningham for defying George Oberlin, taking a bullet on behalf of the Prescott family, and delaying Oberlin long enough so that Teague was able to rescue Kate.
Unfortunately, Melissa and Hope were the same age, so now Melissa considered herself Hope's best friend. She sat beside. Hope in the church and made what she thought were humorous comments while the rest of the family smothered appalled laughter.
"You know, when we were teenagers, I never liked you," Melissa said reflectively. "It always seemed you were better than me at everything you did. But you've changed."
Seated at Hope's side, Zack shook with hilarity.
Pepper craned her neck around him and mockingly widened her eyes.
Hope was glad Gabriel stood with Marilyn at the back of the church, waiting to walk Caitlin down the aisle—if she ever came down the aisle—or Hope would never hear the end of this.
After all, Hope, Pepper, and Gabriel were thrilled to be reunited, but they were siblings.
"I would've thought Caitlin would ask her sisters to be her bridesmaids." Melissa had worn purple and red to the wedding with gray running shoes and no socks. An interesting choice.
"Kate has a lot of friends she's known for years. She asked them to be bridesmaids. She needed someone to sit in the front row and be her family." And, to tell the truth, Hope and Pepper had asked to sit during the ceremony.
All these years, they had both strained and struggled toward one moment, the moment when the whole family was together again, healthy and whole. Now they'd achieved that goal, and this was the official celebration of their triumph.
But where was the bride?
The Prescott family was back in Hobart, in Daddy's own church. The redbrick building held no more than three hundred people. It was full. The entire Givens family was here, as were the extended Graham clan and Pepper's best friend Rita and her family. Griswald stood at the back directing the entire wedding, and what he must think of Caitlin's nonappearance, Hope couldn't imagine.
But when this was all over, she bet he would tell her.
The Montgomerys were here, and Marilyn's family, which included, as far as Hope could tell, half of Texas. Jason Urbano, his wife, and his children sat right behind the Givens family.
Whatever empty space existed in the pews, the town filled.
Not all the town, of course. The police—or rather, former police—weren't here. The county judge had been ousted in a recall election, and he chose to stay away.
But the majority of Hobart, the ones who had had nothing to do with Oberlin's crimes—they were here if they'd been able to finagle an invitation, and if they hadn't, they waited at the reception.
Last week, after Hope and Pepper arrived in Hobart to finish the preparations for the wedding, they'd been stopped time and again while people expressed their pleasure at having them back. And if sometimes people's gazes skittered away, that was all right. They hadn't done anything to save the Prescott family, but Hope understood that they had been trying to live their lives and not get run over by
the lethal tank that was George Oberlin.
As Hope's eight-year-old daughter, Lana, had said, "Ding-dong, the witch is dead."
And as Pepper's six-year-old son, Russell, had said, "Witches are girls, stupid."
So Lana had knocked him flat.
The family kept those two cousins separated as much as possible. Zack said it saved on emergency room visits.
"Even if Kate doesn't marry that guy, the church looks beautiful." Melissa gazed around with pride.
"She will, and yes, it does." Hope had given Melissa the task of refurbishing the aging church, and she'd done a marvelous job. The fresh white paint gleamed, the stained-glass windows shone, the altar sported a snowy-white altar cloth embroidered by Melissa herself with colors so delicate Hope wondered if Melissa hid a different side.
Hope slid a sideways glance at Melissa as she spit on her handkerchief and scrubbed at a spot on her dress.
No. Melissa had not a subtle bone in her body.
"I'm hearing something at the back." Melissa craned her neck around. "Yep, there's Teague's cousin coming now. Wonder what she's got to say."
Juanita rolled down the aisle and stopped by the Prescotts. Hope and Pepper—and Melissa—leaned forward to hear the explanation. "I had to do some work on Kate's dress. Move her bustle up to cover the open buttons."
"What?" Hope blinked in surprise. "What are you saying? The dress fit two weeks ago."
"She's had a little swelling around the waist since then." Juanita smiled at their open-mouthed astonishment.
"Glory be, she's pregnant!" Melissa said.
Hope and Pepper turned on her. "Sh!"
Tittering swept the church.
"She's four months along," Juanita said. "But her size shouldn't have changed that much in two weeks," Pepper protested.
"That happened to my aunt," Melissa said. "She had twins." She had their full attention and would have said more, but at that moment the quartet played the opening strains of the processional.
Juanita rolled into place on the groom's side of the church.
"Look at that!" Melissa exclaimed. "We have a bride. This wedding's going to take place after all!"
The small door behind the altar opened, and Teague filed out, followed by six groomsmen. A grinning Big Bob towered over them all.
Catching Hope's eye, Teague nodded. Then he trained his gaze at the back of the church. He looked so handsome, and he loved Caitlin so much.
Hope's throat started to close with emotion.
Oh, no. Not already.
The bridesmaids, dressed in pink satin gowns, came down the aisle two by two, followed by Pepper's threeyear-old twins, Courtney and Matthew.
They were so cute in their miniature outfits. And except for a small incident halfway down the aisle, when Matthew wanted to drop rose petals and Courtney shouted, "No! You have the ring!" they performed very well.
Hope felt the tears gather in her eyes.
Then the organist played the first bars of the "Wedding March," and Caitlin stepped into view. Marilyn stood on one side, a vibrant woman who had raised Hope's baby sister to be a confident person. Gabriel stood on her other side, an amazing man who had overcome all obstacles to rejoin their family.
And Caitlin. She wore a simple, white, off-theshoulder gown that had a beaded bodice and a small train. They had pinned Hope's veil into her dark hair.
Pepper had worn it, too.
So, Lana declared, would she.
An upsweep bared Caitlin's long neck. She wore diamond studs in her ears. Like every bride, she looked beautiful.
But it was the way she looked at Teague that made Hope burst into tears. Caitlin looked at Teague as if he were the only man in the world who could make her happy. Hope recognized that look. It was the look Pepper got when she looked at Dan. And Hope knew it was the same look she wore when she looked at Zack.
The congregation stood as the bride started down the aisle. Hope found Zack's handkerchief thrust into her hand.
Pepper traded places with him, and she was crying, too. In a whisper, she said, "I wish Daddy and Mama were here to see this."
Hope nodded fiercely.
With cheerful certainty, Melissa said, "Oh, dear girls, they're here. Don't you worry, they're here."
Close to You Page 29
