“You probably saved his life,” the paramedic told her.
She appreciated the sentiment but knew Colton still had a long way to go before he was out of danger.
Her hand shook as she borrowed a stethoscope and checked his heart rate. She couldn’t lose him now. He’d risked his life—perhaps even given it—to rescue her. He was a true hero and she couldn’t love him more for it.
She placed her hand on his as the ambulance took off and the siren blared. She leaned over him. As a nurse, she’d done all she could do to help him. Besides monitoring his vitals as they made their way to the hospital, there was little she could do. But she could pray. She could pray for God’s presence and mercy and forgiveness.
She leaned over Colton and wept, all the emotion she’d been holding back since she’d seen him shot barreling through her.
“God, please place your healing hand on Colton. I love him so much. Don’t make him pay the ultimate price for my mistake.”
* * *
Laura sat in the waiting room at the hospital in River City. Someone had brought her a cold drink and she sipped it absently as she waited for news. Colton had been assessed at the local hospital in Compton, stabilized, then air transported to the more advanced medical facility in River City. Only her status as an RN had allowed her to go with him on the rescue copter. He’d been taken right up to surgery, but the last time she’d seen him, he’d been touch and go. She knew he would be given blood and that would help. She only hoped it wasn’t already too late.
Her father had been moved to a regular room, but Denise had loaded him into a wheelchair and pushed him upstairs to wait with his daughter. Laura was thankful to have him with her. All her anger toward him was gone. She felt she understood him a little better now after what she’d been through. Denise stayed with her, too, and Laura was glad. She needed to lean on her friend right now and Denise offered a willing shoulder.
The double doors opened and Blake entered. He looked tired and weary as he approached Laura. She could hardly imagine how he was feeling. He’d lost his fiancée and now faced losing his best friend.
Laura stood as he approached. Worry and grief pressed on his face.
“Have you heard anything?”
“He’s still in surgery,” she told him.
Blake nodded, then took the seat beside her.
“I’m sorry about Miranda,” Laura said.
“Thank you.” He took a deep breath. “I need to take your statement officially at some point. I need to know what happened in that house.”
She hung her head, wondering how she would tell him. He’d been good to her and he was a good friend to Colton.
“How did Randall get into Miranda’s house?” Blake asked her. He must have sensed her hesitancy. “I need the truth, Laura.”
“Miranda let him in. She called him.”
He stared at her in shock and disbelief. “What?”
“I’m so sorry, Blake. She was going to take the money Randall offered in order to leave town. He double-crossed her and killed her instead.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not possible.” Blake’s shoulders slumped and he buried his face in his hands. “It can’t be. She loved me. We had our future planned together.”
“I’m so sorry,” Laura said softly. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through, not only having his fiancée murdered but also discovering she’d betrayed him.
They sat in silence for a while, him nursing his heartbreak and Laura praying for another chance with Colton. Finally the doors opened and a man in scrubs she recognized as the surgeon appeared. Laura leaped to her feet and Blake stood, too.
“How is he?” Laura asked.
“He made it through surgery. The bullet nicked his liver, but we were able to repair the damage. We’re going to keep him in ICU for a while, but his prognosis is good.”
Laura slumped with relief and thanked God. Colton would survive and that was one obstacle overcome.
But would he ever be able to forgive her for not believing in him? He’d been shot and nearly died trying to rescue her. How could he ever get past that?
* * *
Colton heard a beeping sound as he woke up. He pushed his way through to consciousness as the beeping sound increased. He was aware of pain in his abdomen. It stung and itched at the same time. Something had happened. He remembered being shot. The last thing he remembered was Randall shooting him, then turning the gun on Laura.
He jerked awake, his focus now on Laura and getting to her. He realized he was in a hospital. Laura was in the chair beside the bed. His heart lurched, then he slumped back into the bed, pain radiating through him along with adrenaline and relief. He didn’t know what had happened, but seeing Laura there beside him was a great relief.
She reached for his hand and he grasped hers.
“I’m so thankful you’re safe,” he rasped.
“I thought I’d lost you there for a while.”
“I’m too stubborn to die,” he said, then gave her a wink and smile.
She looked away, then took on a serious tone. “I owe you so much, Colton, but mostly I owe you an apology.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, Laura.”
“I should have believed in you, Colton. I should have never doubted you.”
He shook his head. He didn’t want her carrying around that guilt. “I gave you plenty of reason to doubt me.”
“No, that’s your past. I got so caught up in judging your past mistakes that I didn’t see the man you are now. You’re someone I can trust with my life. You shouldn’t have had to nearly die to prove that to me.”
“I wasn’t trying to prove anything.”
“I know that. I’m just so sorry you had to pay such a hefty price for my mistake. I allowed Miranda to color my judgment. I didn’t trust in what my heart was telling me—that you were the one man I could trust with my life.” Her lower lip quivered. “I realized as you were lying near death in that shed that I caused that situation and there will never be anything I can do that will make up for it. I can’t change it. All I can do is ask your forgiveness.”
He clutched her hand. “I know a thing or two about making mistakes you can’t fix. If God can forgive a man like me, I can surely forgive you, Laura. And I do. I’ve made such a mess of my life and you’ve been the one good thing in it. I love you, darlin’, but I know I come with a lot of baggage. Do you think you can learn to love me despite my past?”
She wiped away tears as she gripped his hand. “I don’t even see your past, Colton. It’s not who you are anymore. And I already love the man you’ve become.”
His heart soared and he pushed himself up to a sitting position in the bed so he could kiss her. She kissed him back, her lips soft and yielding. Pain ripped through him as he moved wrong and the stitches in his side pulled. He grimaced and Laura pushed away.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s okay,” he murmured, pulling her face back to his. “Change always comes with a little pain and sometimes it’s a good pain.” He touched his lips to hers again and thanked God silently for all His blessings.
EPILOGUE
Colton scratched at the incision on his side and made his way outside with the use of his cane. He felt useless cooped up inside the house as he had been for weeks now. He heard the dogs bark and knew Laura was back from her shift at Compton Medical Center. It was only her second week of work at the new job and he found he missed her being around. She’d taken an apartment in town, but she’d been spending most of her free time at the ranch with him since her official move to Compton.
He walked onto the porch and met her at the truck as she pulled out several bags loaded with groceries. “Can I help?”
“Only by taking it easy,” she said with a gently reproving smile. She had obviously stopped off at her new apartment in town to change from her hospital scrubs into jeans and a blouse, and her long hair was loose around her should
ers. He knew she’d had to stop by and take care of her cat, who her friend Denise had found wandering loose and taken home.
“How was your day?”
“It was different, a slower pace than I’m used to, but I like the people I’m working with.” She gazed up at him. “But it’s a good change. Time to slow down and enjoy life, right?”
“Right,” he said, placing a warm kiss on her mouth.
She carried the bags into the kitchen and started putting groceries away. “I saw Blake today. He came into the hospital to take a report on a robbery case.”
Colton knew his friend was grieving not only from losing Miranda but also from discovering her deception and scheming. It still burned Colton to think how she’d betrayed all their trust. “How did he look?”
“Tired, but he said he was doing okay.”
“He’ll get through it. His faith will see him through. Plus, he always has me.” He gave her a smile and a wink, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“I also called my father. He’s being released from the rehab center next week. I invited him to come spend a few days with me.”
He smiled, glad to hear she was making the effort to rebuild the relationship with her father. “I think that’s a terrific idea.”
He heard a scratch at the front door and opened it. Milo padded across the floor toward Laura and she knelt to pet him.
“Sometimes I think you love that dog more than you love me.”
She smiled up at him. “I love you both.”
“Well, maybe you can marry him.”
“I would, but he hasn’t asked me yet,” she said, extending the tease.
“Maybe he’s just been trying to get up the nerve, afraid you’d say no and laugh him off the face of the earth.”
She stood and looked at Colton, a slow smile spreading across her lips. She locked eyes with him as she stated four little words with a determination that made his heart thud against his chest.
“I won’t say no.”
He couldn’t believe this auburn-haired beauty wanted him. He was still in awe of her.
He cleared his throat and prepared to jump into his new life. “I think Milo wants a treat,” he told her, motioning at the bag of dog treats on the counter.
She glanced at them curiously, then pulled the bag open. Milo saw them, too, and jumped at her feet. She took one out and tossed it to Milo. The dog lunged for it, jumping up.
Colton watched her and saw her eyes grab onto something.
She scooped Milo up into her arms. “What’s this?” she asked, pulling Milo’s collar around. She pulled at a piece of string tied around a diamond ring. When she realized what it was, she glanced up at him, tears sparkling in her eyes.
“I can’t believe how amazingly blessed I am that you love me, Laura. I can’t imagine my life without you. They told me at the hospital that you saved my life. I would have died in that shed if you hadn’t intervened. You saved my life in more ways than one and I want to spend the rest of my days on this planet with no one else but you. Will you marry me, darlin’, and make me the happiest man that ever lived?”
She pulled off the ring and slipped it onto her finger, then set Milo on the floor. She wrapped her arms around Colton’s neck. “I want nothing more out of this life than to be your wife.”
He gathered her against him and kissed her tenderly as Milo barked at their feet.
She’d finally found a place to call her forever home.
* * * * *
If you liked this story, pick up these other
RANGERS UNDER FIRE books
by Virginia Vaughan.
Nothing’s more dangerous than falling in love
YULETIDE ABDUCTION
REUNION MISSION
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Dear Reader,
Thanks so much for reading Colton and Laura’s story. Forgiveness is a tricky matter. It’s one of the most difficult and trying things we as humans have to learn. Laura’s life was in a mess because of her father’s choices, but it was her own unforgiveness that kept her bound in anger and bitterness and ultimately caused her to lose hope in others. Colton had made mistakes in his past and believed he was beyond redemption in the eyes of man. Fortunately, God had a better plan for both their lives.
This story was a difficult one for me to write because while I was smack in the middle of a story about forgiveness, I found myself in a situation where all I wanted to do was be angry. Like Laura, it was difficult for me to forgive because I didn’t feel the one who hurt me deserved forgiveness. Colton’s words were a reminder not only to Laura but to me as well, that we forgive because God first forgave us. Laura learned that it was the only way to find hope and happiness again. I pray we all learn that lesson.
I love hearing from my readers! You can contact me through my website, www.virginiavaughanonline.com, or through the publisher.
Virginia
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Secrets and Lies
by Shirlee McCoy
ONE
The soft buzz of her cell phone pulled Ariel Martin’s attention from the ninth-grade English paper she was grading. It was good that she’d been engrossed in the essay—the student had obviously done an outstanding job. It was not so good that long shadows had drifted across the classroom floor while she was reading. It was late. Later than she’d realized.
She grabbed her phone and read the text that had come through.
Want to grab some dinner later, Ari?
“No, Easton. I do not,” she muttered, shoving the phone back in her purse without responding.
Easton Riley was a nice enough guy—a math teacher who’d coached the football team to regional victory the previous year—but she wasn’t interested.
She had her hands full teaching summer school, tutoring on the side, getting the classroom ready for the long-term sub who’d be taking over from mid-September through December when she had her baby. The last thing she needed or wanted was a relationship complicating things. She’d lived that for five years—always at another person’s beck and call, always worrying about what someone else wanted or needed.
She hadn’t thought marriage would be that way. She’d thought it would be a mutual effort—two people working together to reach a common goal. She’d been wrong. She had the divorce papers to prove it, filed in Nevada and final
ized three weeks later. Not what she’d wanted. She’d wanted couples counseling and pastoral help. Mitch had wanted someone else.
That had hurt. What had hurt more was how adamant he’d been that she get rid of the baby she learned she was carrying a week after Mitch had filed for divorce. An abortion, that’s what he’d demanded. He’d even tossed cash at her, screaming that she’d better get rid of the kid or he’d do it for her.
That had been the first time she’d been scared of her ex-husband. There’d been other times after that. The fact that he’d died in a fiery car wreck a month later should have given her a sense of relief, but she’d felt trapped by all the memories—good and bad—of their marriage. Las Vegas had never been her dream. It had been Mitch’s. They’d graduated from the University of Arizona and chased after the things he’d wanted—money, fast cars, expensive toys. She’d been happy to go along for the ride, because she’d loved him.
Love wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
She’d learned that the hard way, and now she was back in her old hometown, teaching at the high school she’d attended, trying to get ready for the daughter she’d be raising alone.
“We’ll do great, munchkin,” she said, standing and stretching a kink from her back. She glanced at the clock that hung above the classroom door. 5:45 p.m.
Mia McKeller’s brother was late. Again.
Ariel understood that the guy was busy. The Desert Valley police had had their hands full the past few months—murders, drug runners, attacks, arrests. Rumors and speculations had been running rampant through the town, and Ariel had wondered if she would have been better off staying in Vegas. At least there, she had some anonymity. There’d been no sweet old church ladies knocking on her door in the evening, handing her casseroles and asking questions about her married state, her plans for the baby, her decision to raise her daughter alone. In Desert Valley, everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business. If they didn’t, they wanted to know. The problem was, Ariel didn’t want to explain her marriage, Mitch’s death, the fact that she wasn’t nearly as sorry about it as she should be. She didn’t want to lie, either, so she found herself hedging around questions, giving half answers and partial truths. She preferred authenticity, but it was hard when there were so many things she couldn’t or wouldn’t say. Yeah. She preferred straight-up answers.
Ranch Refuge Page 17
