Forever After

by Catherine Anderson

  Miles farther from town, the cab slowed, turned sharply right, and drove under an impressive brick archway. It looked like the entrance to a large-scale ranch of some sort. In the distance, Meredith could see cattle eating from mounds of hay in the snow-covered fields. In another pasture, she spotted horses.

  “Did they get us horses, too?” Sammy asked excitedly.

  “No, sweetie. Of course not. I can’t afford to feed horses.”

  At just that moment, the cab drew up before a huge, rambling brick ranch house.

  “This is it!” the cabby told them as he opened his door and climbed out.

  “Wow, Mommy! We’re rich!”

  “No, Sammy, we’re not rich. This can’t be right.” Meredith rechecked the address in the envelope, and it matched the numbers on the house. When the driver opened their door, she called, “Are you sure this is East Shriver Road? I did specifically say east.”

  “This is it, lady,” he assured her, then went around to open the trunk.

  Meredith peered out the window at the house again. “There must be a bungalow on the property somewhere.” On the way in, she’d seen a number of buildings, including the large red barn slightly to the right and rear of the house. There could be a smaller house behind it. “That must be it, a bungalow. I could never afford the heat in a place that size, let alone the mortgage payment. And I’m sure they didn’t just buy it for us.”

  Bewildered, Meredith climbed from the cab, stuffed the envelope in her purse, and then looked around while the driver unloaded their baggage and set it on the grass beside the drive. A cattle ranch? She took Sammy’s hand, half afraid the little girl might wander off and get trampled. Anger laced up Meredith’s spine in a hot zigzag. Of all the crazy moves, locating a woman and child clear out here in the back of beyond?

  Sammy’s fingers felt rigid and cold against Meredith’s palm. Nervousness. Meredith knew the feeling. Should they knock on the front door? Or go traipsing through the mud and slush, and possibly through the snow, to see if anyone was working outside who might direct them? From where Meredith stood, she could see one half of the barn’s front doors. She thought she glimpsed movement. Hopefully, someone had seen the cab and was coming out to meet them. She was wearing two-inch pumps, for pity’s sake, not exactly the thing for wading through snow. Her stockings would be ruined, not to mention her dress, and it was a nice one she hoped to wear for work.

  God help them, she couldn’t quite believe this was happening. She dug in her purse to recheck the address. Then she fixed a panicked gaze on the cabby. He was closing the trunk. Any moment now, he’d drive away, and they would be stranded here. He turned from the car to regard her. “That’ll be thirty-three fifty, lady.”

  Meredith gaped at him. That seemed like highway robbery to her. Nonetheless, she drew out her wallet, found three tens and a five, and handed it to him. “Keep the change as your tip.”

  “Hey, thanks.”

  The sound of a barking dog punctuated his words. Meredith glanced up and saw a streak of black racing toward them from the red barn. A very large streak. The cabby took one look and leaped for the driver’s door of the taxi. “Shit! A Rottweiler!” He leaped into the vehicle, slammed the door, and took off without looking back. Meredith and Sammy were left to face the charging dog by themselves, the receding sound of tires crunching on gravel the only sign that the car had ever been there.

  Suddenly Sammy jerked her hand from Meredith’s grasp and let out a shriek that would have done a banshee proud. “Goliath!”

  “Sammy, no!” Meredith dashed after her daughter, trying frantically to catch hold of the back of her coat. “Honey, it can’t be Goliath. It’s a strange Rottweiler, and he may not like our being on his property!”

  Sammy wasn’t wearing two-inch heels, and she bounded beyond Meredith’s reach like a long-legged baby gazelle. “Goliath!” she cried again.

  The Rottweiler’s snarls and barks changed to high-pitched whines and growls that seemed laced with eagerness. Child and dog collided in an open area that was more mud than grass. Sammy toppled. The Rottweiler straddled her and began licking her face.

  Meredith stood frozen about ten feet away. When Goliath spotted her, he left Sammy for a moment to come see her, bumping against her numb legs and licking the backs of her hands. Meredith was too stunned to return his affectionate greeting, and after a moment, the dog raced back to Sammy.

  I’m dreaming, Meredith thought dizzily. I’m still back in New York, snuggled under the covers and sound asleep, waiting for the bedside alarm to go off. The plane trip here was nothing but a wishful fabrication, and in a few seconds, I’ll jerk awake and wish with all my heart that it could really happen just this way—that Heath might be waiting for us at journey’s end.

  “I knew you’d come. I knew it!” Sammy cried, wallowing around in the mud, trying to cling to the excited Rottweiler’s neck. “Oh, Goliath! I love you!”

  A movement caught Meredith’s eye. Dazedly, she shifted her gaze toward the barn to see a tall, long-legged man emerging. Western boots, faded denim jeans, a brown Stetson. That loose-jointed stride was one that she would have recognized anywhere. Her heart soared and her stomach leaped. She couldn’t credit her eyes.

  “Heath!” Sammy screamed. “Oh, Heath!” She scrambled to her feet, ran a few steps, and then circled back to snatch up the paper roses she’d dropped in the mud. She didn’t seem to notice that they were ruined. As she raced toward the tall man in the sheepskin jacket, she yelled, “You came! I knew you’d keep your promise. I knew it!”

  Heath bent to catch the child in his arms. He obviously wasn’t prepared for the weight Sammy had packed onto her frame, or for the additional inches. She threw herself at him, plowing into his chest like a small cannonball, the top of her head catching him squarely on the chin. He staggered back a step, laughing.

  “Hey, there, sweetcakes! How’s my best girl?” He swung her high in the air and circled around, making Sammy squeal. “Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! You’re so pretty, you knock my eyes out! And you’re all grown up!”

  As he completed the circle, he came to a stop facing Meredith again. For a long moment, he buried his face against Sammy’s curls and hugged her as if he never meant to let her go. Sammy finally squirmed free.

  “I made these special for you,” she said, handing him the paper roses.

  Heath shifted her to one hip and accepted the flowers almost reverently. He gazed down at them for several long seconds, his expression solemn. “Thank you, sweetcakes,” he finally said. “I’ll keep them forever.”

  Sammy hugged his neck. “You didn’t lie. You really are my daddy, and we’re gonna live here. All of us together! Right?”

  “All of us together,” Heath assured her. “Nothing on earth could’ve kept me away.”

  Goliath was circling and barking, clearly eager for another hug from the child, so Heath finally set Sammy down. As the child danced around him with the dog, Heath fixed a somber gaze on Meredith. For some reason, she couldn’t make her feet move, and she was afraid to let herself believe he was actually there.

  She drank him in with her eyes. The dark face, those strong, chiseled features, the shock of dark hair that trailed over his forehead beneath the brim of his brown Stetson. He flashed that crooked grin that she remembered so well, tucking the paper roses into his jacket pocket.

  “I promised you I’d find a way,” he called to her in that same husky voice that had whispered to her so many nights in her dreams. “I’m sorry I wasn’t at the airport. They wouldn’t tell me what day you might arrive.”

  Tipping his hat back, he set out toward her, his loose-hipped, lengthy stride and the shift of his broad shoulders under the heavy coat making her pulse quicken. In sheepskin, he looked so big.

  As he walked to her, he said, “It took some doing to manage it, I’ll tell you. But like they say, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ I’ll tell you all the details later.” He drew to a halt about five feet from
her, his twinkling, slate blue eyes caressing her face as if to commit every detail to memory. “Right now,” he told her in a voice gone gruff with emotion, “all I really want is a hug. Unless, of course, you’re not happy to see me.”

  The love that shone in his eyes was unmistakable. Barely feeling her feet move, Meredith dropped her purse and ran toward him. He met her halfway, catching her around the waist and lifting her into the air, much as he just had Sammy. Sobbing, Meredith wrapped both arms around his neck.

  “I c—can’t believe you’re h—here!”

  “Of course, I’m here. I promised you I would be.” He cupped a hand to the back of her head, his warm, strong fingers furrowing through her hair. “Sweetheart, don’t cry. Oh, honey, don’t. I can’t stand it when you cry.”

  His big, wonderful hands. Meredith had thought never to feel them touch her again. She clung to him with an almost desperate yearning, unable to stop sobbing or turn loose of him. “What about your house? And your job?”

  “I sold the house and quit the job. It was time for some new blood in Wynema County. I’m kind of hoping Tom Moore takes over as my replacement.”

  “Tom Moore?” Meredith repeated incredulously. “The one who caused that accident and was constantly arresting the old lady?”

  Heath smiled slightly. “He’s grown up a lot. And I’m a firm believer that a man who’s made mistakes and is haunted by them makes a better lawman. Tom learned a hard lesson, and over time, it shaped him into a pretty good deputy. Believe it or not, he went to bat for me over the recall issue. Even called in his daddy, the big gun, to argue my case. He always had the passion for law enforcement. Now it finally has some direction.”

  He hunched his shoulders and cradled her close, his arms feeling like heaven around her. “From the time I was a kid, I always dreamed of having my own ranch. By pooling my money with Dad’s, I finally managed to get one. I’ve got all the credentials I’ll need to return to law enforcement if I ever want to. For now, though, I just want to run the ranch and be a husband and father. We’ll do well here financially, so you don’t need to worry.”

  Meredith didn’t care about the money. As long as they were warm and had food to eat, that was all that mattered. Gazing up at him through tears, she asked, “Is that a proposal, Mr. Masters?”

  “Middler,” he corrected, then winced. “It doesn’t quite work, does it? Heath Middler. Makes me sound like a damned candy bar.” He looked good enough to eat to her. He arched an eyebrow, his grin mischievous. “As for the proposal, that’s one of the details I mentioned. We’re already married. Dad has a good friend who’s a judge. After hearing about my dilemma, he pulled a few strings and falsified the marriage documents, dating them before you left Oregon. I forged your signature. It wasn’t precisely legal, given the fact that the bride was absent, but it looked good enough on paper to satisfy the government. They had to let me come. A husband has an inalienable right to be with his wife.”

  “Bless your father’s heart! He must have decided I’m not so bad after all!”

  Heath chuckled. “You could say that, yes. He’s here, you know. I fed them a cock-and-bull story about his health being fragile and his needing me.” He winked. “I’ve never told so many whoppers in my life.”

  “What about his practicing law?”

  “He’s already past retirement age. He wants to try his hand at being a dad and grandfather in his golden years.”

  Meredith could scarcely take all of this in. “So your dad’s here? And I got married without even being there?”

  “Well, I admit, it was sort of an underhanded way to get a woman to marry me,” he said with a chuckle. “But since you’d already made the vows, I figured you probably wouldn’t mind if I handled the paperwork. If you do, I guess we can pretend we’re not legally married and set a terrible example for our kids.”

  “Kids. Plural?” She teasingly grasped his coat collar. “Who wears the pants in this family, anyway? It sounds as if you’ve been making a lot of decisions without me.”

  “Look around you, half pint. You’re smack-dab in the middle of Podunk, Wyoming! No question about it, I’m wearing the pants.” He clamped a hand over her backside and worked her coat up to feel the clingy slickness of her dress and slip. His eyes darkened. “Proof in point, you’re not wearing any at all. What do you think you’re doing, dressing like that when I’m not around?”

  Meredith giggled. “It’s just a dress.”

  “That is not just a dress. That’s pure heaven, lady,” he said huskily.

  They gazed into each other’s eyes, their emotions high as the reality of being together again began to sink in. Then he leaned down and settled his mouth over hers in a deep kiss that set her head to spinning. When he came up for air, he whispered, “Remember the fairy tale I told you? I got a couple of details wrong. It’s Wyoming, not Oregon. And I left out the part about carrying you to the nearest bed and raping your sweet ass. Is that gonna be a problem?”

  Meredith started to laugh and cry, both at once. She arched back in his arms to look up at his darkly handsome face. “We can’t. We have Sammy.”

  Heath startled her half to death by throwing back his head and bellowing, “Dad! Come get my daughter!”

  The barn doors swung open and Ian poked his head through the crack. “You need a babysitter already? Give the lady a chance to get her bearings, son!”

  Heath bent and caught Meredith up in his arms. “She’s with me, Dad. That’s all the bearings she needs for now. Show Sammy the foal and pups. All right? And when she gets bored with that, let her choose names for all thirteen. Not just any old name, either. I need at least an hour.”

  Ian chuckled, shook his head, and gave his son a mock salute. Then he beckoned to Sammy. “Come on, honey. Your folks want some time to chat, and I want you to meet Goliath’s kids. They’re all twelve ornery, so take your time picking out the one you want to keep.”

  Heath wheeled back around. “Dad! Are you out of your mind? I don’t want three Rottweilers!”

  Ian and Sammy had already disappeared into the barn. As Heath redirected his steps toward the large, brick house, Meredith heard her daughter’s delighted giggles and knew Sammy would be happily occupied with the puppies for quite some time.

  “Three Rottweilers?” She looped her arms around her husband’s strong neck. “Goliath and one puppy makes two. What am I missing here?”

  “I got a female, the mama of the pups. Her name is Sassy.” He hit the back steps, shoved open the door, and stepped inside to kick it closed behind him. “You’ll love her.”

  Meredith was dimly aware of a cheerful yellow kitchen with rich oak cabinetry, but mainly all she could focus on was Heath.

  He let her slide slowly down his body, kissing her every inch of the way. She was breathless and dizzy when he finally broke off to begin unfastening her coat, pushing her backward across the room as he slipped the buttons free. The coat was tossed on the floor, and then he went to work on the tiny bodice buttons of her dress, all the while nudging her along in reverse. They moved from the kitchen into a hallway.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Straight to bed.”

  “You’re not even going to show me the house?”

  He pushed the front of her dress open as he backed her through another doorway. He paused only long enough to lock the door after he closed it, then turned toward her and started stripping off his clothes. His coat, his hat, his shirt. The man seemed to be raining garments. He hopped around on one foot in front of her, trying to tug off a boot, which stubbornly refused to part company with his person.

  “Strip!” he said.

  Meredith felt a little embarrassed. She’d made love with him before, of course, but only for a stretch of three days, and it had been an endless eighteen months since then. “Wouldn’t you like to talk just a little?”

  “You’re gorgeous.”

  “That’s it?”

  “I love your eyes.” He got the boot
off. It hit the wall with a thud. As he bent to jerk off the other one, his broad shoulders rippled in a muscular play of bronze. “Your mouth drives me crazy. And God, I love your hair.” He got rid of the second boot and crossed the room to her, wearing nothing but tight denim jeans that sheathed powerful, incredibly long legs. “You’re not stripping, Meredith Lynn.”

  “It just seems a bit—” Her breath caught as he somehow coaxed the lacy cups of her slip and bra away from her breasts. His hot mouth settled over a nipple and he drew sharply on her sensitive flesh, arching her back over his arm. “Oh, my God! Heath? Talk to me. Just for a few minutes. I—it’s been so long. Can’t we spend just a little time getting reacquainted?”

  “We can’t,” he said breathlessly, trailing his lips up to her throat. “We made plans for later, and if I don’t make love to you right now, I won’t get another chance until late tonight.”

  “Can’t you and your dad change your plans? It’s my first night here.”

  He groaned and nibbled at her ear. “Trust me, Merry, you won’t want the plans to be changed. They involve you and Sammy. It’s a surprise.”

  Her eyes drifted closed. As many times as she’d dreamed of being in his arms again, her imaginings had never come close to being as wonderful as the reality. She’d nearly forgotten how he made her feel—as if she were melting. Sighing blissfully, she asked, “What kind of surprise?”

  “After we make love, I’ll tell you. Not before. You’ll take off like a shot and leave me standing here with only half my clothes on.”

  After feeling his silken lips and warm breath on her skin again, she couldn’t imagine leaving him. “No,” she whispered. “Nothing could drag me away.”

  “Do you promise?” He kissed his way from her ear to the corner of her mouth. “If I tell you now, you’ll stay right here and make love with me before you go.”

  He was crazy. For eighteen months, she’d ached to be with him, and now he was convinced she might leave him. “I’m not going anywhere, period. I promise.”