by Dinah McCall
Deborah wrapped her good arm around his neck and kissed him back.
“So did I answer your question?” he asked as he smoothed the hair away from her forehead.
“Yes,” Deborah said, then turned her mouth against the palm of his hand and traced his lifeline with the tip of her tongue.
Now it was Mike who was groaning.
She turned the ring toward the light and shivered with excitement. This was such a good day. Still, she eyed her bed longingly. Mike saw the look and understood. He turned around, pulled back the covers and pointed.
“Climb in, honey. I’ll check out the kitchen and see what there is to eat.”
“Mike. Wait,” she said, as she crawled into the bed.
He sat back down. “Yeah?”
“There’s something we’ve never talked about.”
Mike grinned. “I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with having babies.”
Deborah chuckled. “No. I’m fine with that omission.”
“Thank God,” Mike said. “I’d hate to have a child younger than my grandson.”
This time Deborah laughed out loud. “Well, it’s your own fault for being such a young father.”
He shrugged. “It sort of runs in the family, although I wouldn’t do it any different. Evan’s the best thing that ever happened to me…until you.”
“Thank you. However, I’m talking about Darren Wilson. You had to shoot him. Does it bother you?”
All expression disappeared from Mike’s face. He started to argue, then remembered who he would be arguing with.
“I don’t know how we’ll ever have a fight if you always know what I’m thinking ahead of time. As for being bothered by killing a snake…no. Now, I’m going to check on the food situation. You rest, okay?”
“Okay.”
He leaned down to give her a quick goodbye kiss, then was kissing the ring on her finger, when they heard someone knocking on the front door.
“Who in the world could that be?” Deborah said.
“Who even knows we’re home?”
“Go see,” Deborah said.
Mike grinned and winked as he hurried out of the room, but his smile widened even more when he saw who was at the door.
“Dad! Granddad! Where on earth did you guys come from?” Then he saw a second car pulling up in the yard, and he laughed. “All of you?”
“Is there any other way to celebrate Christmas?” James asked.
Mike clapped his hands together, then ran out onto the porch as the others got out of the car.
“Hey, Johnny boy. It’s sure good to see you,” he cried, and caught Johnny on the run as he jumped into Mike’s arms.
“Hey, Daddy Mike, Molly is our girlfriend!” Johnny said.
Mike turned and grinned at Evan and Molly, who were coming up the steps carrying presents.
“Is that true?” he asked.
“Yep,” Evan said.
Mike’s smile widened. “Smartest thing you two men ever did.”
“Thanks,” Evan said. “We think so, too.”
Mike leaned down and kissed Molly on the cheek.
“Hello, girlfriend.”
She grinned. “Thanks. As it happens, I’m pretty happy, too.”
“Come on, everybody,” Mike said. “Let’s go see Deborah. She’s going to be thrilled to see you.”
They moved en masse down the hallway, laughing and talking as they went. Deborah had heard the commotion, and she came out of her room to meet them, smiling and waving as they swarmed her.
“You’re here! You’re here! You’re all here!” she cried.
“Merry Christmas, Deborah,” James said. “And this is the only O’Ryan you have yet to meet. Dad…this is Deborah. Deborah, my dad, Thornton.”
“Call me Thorn,” he said, and kissed Deborah lightly on the cheek.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Yeah, and check out her ring. You’ll be calling her ‘daughter’ pretty soon,” Mike said.
The announcement brought another round of excited comments from everyone, including Johnny.
“Does that mean you’ll be my Grammy?” Johnny asked.
Deborah laughed and ruffled the top of his head. “Yes, it does.”
“Cool,” he said, then tugged on Evan’s coat. “Now, Dad? Can we give it to her now?”
“Let’s all go sit down first,” Evan said.
“You up for all this, honey?” Mike asked.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Deborah said as she followed the group into the living room.
When she saw the presents, she grinned.
She watched as Evan exclaimed over the hunting knife Johnny had picked out for him, and then smiled as Molly was immediately entranced by her music box carousel. Then she saw Johnny drag the long, oddly wrapped present out from behind the tree and give it to Mike.
Mike arched an eyebrow, then looked at her.
She just smiled back.
When he saw the saber, he was beside himself with excitement. He thanked Johnny over and over, but he knew it was Deborah he really had to thank.
“Is this for real?” he asked.
“Just like me,” she said, and laughed.
“Good Lord. It’s Civil War, isn’t it?”
“Yes. About four greats’ worth of a grandaddy put it in the rafters of this house when he came home from the war, and it’s been up there ever since. Johnny thought you might like it.”
“But wouldn’t someone in your family—”
“I don’t have any family, remember?”
“Not true,” Mike said softly. “You have us now, remember?”
Deborah smiled through tears. “How could I forget?”
“Now it’s your turn!” Johnny cried, and began handing her presents right and left.
She opened them all, exclaiming happily in all the right places, but it wasn’t until Evan and Johnny went out and then came back inside with her special gift that she found herself speechless.
“Oh,” she said, and then put her fingers to her lips to keep from crying. “Oh, my. Oh, Mike.”
“Don’t look at me,” Mike said. “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I hope this is okay,” Evan said. “It was Johnny’s idea. We didn’t have the heart to tell him no.”
“It’s the best gift ever,” Deborah said, and held out her arms as Johnny set a black Labrador puppy in her lap.
The puppy took one look at Deborah and licked her cheek. Everyone laughed as Deborah hugged the puppy to her chest and kissed her back.
Johnny was beaming as he tickled the puppy under her chin. The little pup reciprocated by licking Johnny’s face, too.
“Does she have a name?” Deborah asked, as Johnny scooted onto the seat beside her.
“I named her Candy, ’cause she ate the candy canes off our Christmas tree.”
Deborah nodded, then picked up the puppy and held her so they were eye to eye.
“Hello, Candy. I’m Deborah. Welcome home.”
ISBN: 978-1-4603-0289-7
THE SURVIVORS
Copyright © 2007 by Sharon Sala.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, MIRA Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
MIRA and the Star Colophon are trademarks used under license and registered in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.
