And with those words, something inside her eased. “I’ll be all right, Mother. You go on. Find the peace life couldn’t give you. I’ll never forget you.” With one hand, she brushed at her tears, then froze at what she saw.
One tiny tear tracking down her mother’s cheek.
“Gabe… look.” She straightened up so he could see.
His hands had never left her, holding her as she cried. He leaned over to look, and he smiled.
“You’ve got your miracle, sweetheart.”
Sylvie turned into his chest, feeling his strong arms hold her close… and safe. She would not waste one more precious moment with this man.
And then she felt it.
Margo’s hand went limp in hers. Sylvie turned in Gabe’s arms.
And there she was, a Margo Sylvie had never seen. The rare beauty of peace settled sweetly on her face, luminous and kind, as Margo sighed out one last breath and slipped away.
Epilogue
‡
For a time, Ava had feared they might never meet again. Too much had happened. They were not the same women as before.
But they were all here, all together again. The Book Babes had survived.
Ava looked around the room, marveling at the changes time could make. Not that long ago, Laken was answering personals ads. Now Michael had proposed. She hadn’t accepted.
But he didn’t seem inclined to give up.
“There’s a lot to consider, Sylvie. My work is here.” Then Laken’s lips curved. “But if I ever said yes, I’d get married wearing red, and you couldn’t stop me.”
“Darling, there are not words to express how gauche that would be. Please.” Sylvie winced in pain. “Tell me you’re joking.”
Laken smiled serenely. “Okay. I won’t wear red by itself. I was thinking red with black ruffles.” Her mouth struggled to keep back the grin. “And you can wear the opposite.”
“Me?” Sylvie visibly paled. “Don’t you have sisters or something?”
Ellie walked in with a full pitcher of lemonade. “Laken Foster, someone needs to tan your backside.” Mother Ellie had toughened up. “Besides, I’d love to try black with red ruffles.”
Luisa laughed. “I have a flamenco outfit that would fit the bill.”
“You dance flamenco?” Laken sounded impressed.
“Halloween, silly. And I was talking to Ellie. You’re six inches too tall.”
“Surely we could add another ruffle. Anyway, Miss Priss, forget me.” Laken turned back to Sylvie. “When are you going to put Gabe out of his misery?”
A secret smile played around Sylvie’s lips. “Saturday.”
“Saturday?” they shouted in unison.
“Whatever your plans, cancel them. He wants to fly us all up to Banff, including your kids.” Sylvie turned to Ava. “Tom can travel now, can’t he?”
“He’s been up and working too hard on the Briscoe case for weeks. He should be taking it more slowly than he is, but he’s determined to be ready for the Carol Chase show next month. Says he’s going to sweep me up and carry me onstage.”
“Ouch,” Ellie said. “Can he do that yet?”
“He and Carlos are in the gym often enough. I’m paying Carlos to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t push it.”
Luisa grinned. “But Carlos told me Tom’s paying him more to keep quiet.”
“That man…” But Ava didn’t mean it. She reveled in every sign of his renewed health. Every time she saw the scars, she realized again just how close she’d come to losing him.
“The gym,” Laken sighed. “Remember Milos, Ava?”
“Was that the New Age hunk of burning love, darling? Why, you could have an Elvis Las Vegas wedding with him instead. Since you’re going to tart it up.”
“I changed my mind, Syl. Red with gold ruffles for you.”
Ava listened to the laughter and let her gaze scan the room. So much had changed. Battered by illusions and the frailties of human hearts, fragile bonds of all kinds had been strained.
But they had held. And grown stronger.
“Anyone want to talk about the book?” she asked.
Jeers and boos filled the air.
Ava smiled.
But some things never changed.
The End
Thank you for letting me share my stories with you!
Next up in the Texas Heroes series is TEXAS HOPE, the story of Michael’s meeting with his brother Ian McLaren, Michael’s mother Sophia with Ian’s father Gordon, and more on Michael’s pursuit of Laken’s heart.
For Michael Cavanaugh’s entire life, his mother has kept a shocking secret: that she was married once before she married his father, and she gave birth to that man’s child. Stunned that the mother who’d loved him so would abandon a child and furious with his mother’s deceit, he sets out to find the older brother he has always wanted.
Ian McLaren, the favorite son of Sweetgrass Springs, has a full plate: a wife he adores, a baby on the way, a ranch to run and a town that depends on him. When a stranger arrives in their small town with the staggering news that he and Ian share a mother—the woman he’ll never forgive for abandoning him and his dad—his world tilts off its axis.
Gordon McLaren has had years to regret the path he chose that parted him from the only woman he’s ever loved. Now he is torn between his longing to see her again and the anguish doing so would cause the son he’s worked so hard to protect all these years.
Walking away from the child she cherished and the man she loved was far from easy for Sophia Bancroft McLaren Cavanaugh. Facing them again would be the single most terrifying step she’s undertaken since the day she left to save her sanity—and Gordon forbade her to return.
Secrets divide the four of them, and the anguish of the past makes it impossible to hope they could ever overcome the years of heartache.
Until the threat of an even more unbearable loss gives them one last chance to unite.
Start reading TEXAS HOPE today!
If you enjoyed The Book Babes, I would be very grateful if you would help others find this book by recommending it to your friends in such places as GOODREADS, BOOKBUB and writing a review. If you would like to be informed when my next release is available or get news of special prices on my books, please sign up for my newsletter here. You can also follow me on BookBub here.
I love hearing from you, so please contact me through any of the options at the end of this book.
Thanks!
Jean
Please enjoy this excerpt from Texas Hope:
Michael Cavanaugh slowed his truck as he came in sight of Sweetgrass Springs. All the way here, the beauty of the Texas Hill Country had impressed him, the rolling hills, the stunning vistas from the summits.
But now… his gut clenched. A fist squeezed his heart.
Somewhere in that little burg just around the curve and over the river bridge, his brother lived.
A brother. He was still stunned by the discovery of Ian McLaren, the older half-brother he’d never known existed until Michael’s own father had died. Michael’s mother Sophia hadn’t meant to tell him about this older brother—not ever—and she was still very much against Michael and Ian meeting.
He loved his mother, and she’d been a good one.
To him.
But she’d abandoned his brother when Ian was only five years old. Michael still couldn’t reconcile a woman who would do that with the loving parent she’d been. Until he’d been rocked by this news, he would have sworn she was the perfect maternal influence.
The same woman who’d surrounded him with love all his life had walked away from her first child, had never seen Ian again. Never even tried to. It wasn’t because he’d been stolen from her, kidnapped in a custody battle.
No, she’d known where he was all this time. For thirty years.
Years.
From what he’d learned, Ian’s location was part of why she’d left, because Ian’s father Gordon never would have. He was rooted in this
community his ancestors had founded, had ties deep in the soil of this place. That they’d ever met in the first place was amazing. When she’d finally consented to talk about it, she’d told Michael that she’d met Gordon in San Francisco when he was in the military. The attraction had been instantaneous, and they’d fallen in love. And into bed. Not that Michael could wrap his mind around that image or wanted to. Sure, his mother was still a very attractive woman, but—
Moms didn’t have sex. Okay, sure, of course they did. But no child wanted to think about it. Especially not with a man other than his father.
Sophia Cavanaugh wouldn’t vilify her first husband even now.
But she’d damned sure kept him a secret. Even Michael’s father had not known she’d been married before. Yet she’d insisted that Gordon was a good man. She had nothing negative to say about him. Michael shook his head. Gordon McLaren, however, surely had more than a few choice words to say about his first wife—and why wouldn’t he?
Michael tapped his brakes and pulled over. Stared ahead. He might be crazy even considering introducing himself. Ian had every reason to hate Michael’s mom, and Michael, too. But Michael had always wanted a sibling, especially a brother.
So he was doing this, even though Ian might tell him to go straight to hell. He hoped that wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t as if he was a bum. He was a successful veterinarian, well-regarded and liked by those who knew him. Hell, even Laken…
His lips curved at the thought of the siren he’d met in a seedy club in Austin, a hard-edged diamond in the rough, a woman intent on protecting her heart and the soft underbelly she refused to admit she possessed.
He wouldn’t be here yet if she hadn’t sent him away.
Because she was scared. Not that she’d admit it.
But he knew, and damn it, she drove him crazy. If he had a brain in his skull he’d forget her.
Yeah, that was gonna happen. Prickly or not, his polar opposite maybe, still…they had something together, something fine and rare.
He wasn’t giving up until she admitted it.
In the back seat of his dual cab truck, a small yip reminded him that puppies had to pee—often. He glanced over at the net barrier that kept Ajax in the back and caught his three-legged boxer Monroe’s tolerant expression. “Yeah, I know, buddy. You’d stay put without the net, but the little dude?” He shook his head and smiled. “We know better than that.” Ajax was as hardheaded as the woman who refused to admit she’d fallen head over heels for the pup. He pulled over and made sure to leash the little golden retriever before lifting him to the ground.
When both dogs had done their thing, he took a little time to wrestle with the energetic ball of fluff. Then he worked again with Ajax on the Sit command, rewarding him with one of the treats he always carried in his pockets.
Afterward, he loaded both dogs back into the truck. Monroe went without complaint, but Ajax had to be helped and clearly preferred to run around. Or sit in Michael’s lap. “Sorry, little dude. No idea what we’ll find up ahead, and your mommy would have my head if anything happened to you.” Ajax settled down, and Michael climbed back into the front seat, grinning to himself at Laken’s certain horror, being called Mommy.
He turned on the engine and headed toward town.
And whatever he might find there.
…Excerpt from TEXAS HOPE by Jean Brashear © 2015
Start reading TEXAS HOPE today!
THE SWEETGRASS SPRINGS STORIES in order:
TEXAS ROOTS (Ian and Scarlett)
TEXAS WILD (Mackey and Rissa)
TEXAS DREAMS (a reunion of all the Texas Heroes families)
TEXAS REBEL (Jackson and Veronica)
TEXAS BLAZE (Bridger and Penelope)
TEXAS CHRISTMAS BRIDE (a Texas Heroes reunion)
THE BOOK BABES
TEXAS HOPE (Michael and Laken)
TEXAS STRONG (Tank and Chrissy)
TEXAS SWEET (Brenda and Henry)
BE MINE THIS CHRISTMAS (Gib and Dulcie)
TEXAS CHARM (Jeanette and Walker)
TEXAS MAGIC (Dominic and Lexie)
BE MY MIDNIGHT KISS (Steph and Gavin)
Click on the covers below for more on each book
THE TEXAS HEROES series:
THE GALLAGHERS OF MORNING STAR
Secrets will be revealed and the lives of four people will be shattered as they learn that who they are and where they come from is not at all what they always believed.
Texas Secrets: Former SEAL Boone Gallagher returns to the only home he’s ever known only to find that the ranch has been willed to a stranger who doesn’t want it—and he must keep her there for thirty days, or it will be lost to them both.
Texas Lonely: A loner who’s lost faith in love is the only hope for a mother and child on the run
Texas Bad Boy: Disgraced bad boy has his chance for revenge against the beautiful society girl who chose money over his love
The Gallaghers Of Morning Star Boxed Set
THE MARSHALLS
Texas Refuge: Haunted former detective is the only sanctuary for an actress being stalked by a madman
Texas Star: Sexiest Man Alive becomes a white knight for a woman who keeps trying to escape him
Texas Danger: Down on his luck rancher is the only hope for a socialite on the run from the mob
The Marshalls Boxed Set
THE WORLD OF SWEETGRASS SPRINGS
Nestled in the Texas Hill Country, tiny Sweetgrass Springs was founded by four veterans of the Texas Revolution, and for over a century the town and their ranches grew and prospered. Nowadays, however, too many of the town’s children leave for the big city as soon as they can escape, and Sweetgrass is barely hanging on. The heart and soul of Sweetgrass is Ruby Gallagher. Her daughter vanished from Sweetgrass right after high school, but Ruby, owner of community gathering place Ruby’s Café, remains, keeping vigil, hoping for her daughter’s return. She is fighting to save her ancestors’ legacy, but the town is dying, and it’s breaking Ruby’s heart.
Then the granddaughter she never knew existed arrives and sets in motion a new life for this eccentric, lovable spot in the road…where hope never fades and love never dies. Readers call it “a special place for hearts that need healing.”
Texas Roots: A Paris-trained chef on the run finds Texas family she never knew existed and a sexy cowboy she doesn’t dare love
Texas Wild: Sexy SEAL turned Hollywood stuntman returns home to find his buddy’s little sister all grown up
Texas Dreams: Take two reluctant brides and two frustrated grooms, mix with both clans of Gallaghers and season with a SEAL or three, a movie star, a Hollywood Barbie and a country music giant—and get not one but two surprise weddings
Texas Rebel: A former rebellious teen turned billionaire’s reunion with his teenage sweetheart and a secret baby he never knew about
Texas Blaze: What happens when a shark lawyer in stilettos has a fling with a hot firefighter determined to find Suzy Homemaker?
Texas Christmas Bride: All he wants is the girl he thought he’d lost forever.
The Book Babes: Five women began as a reading group and became family…but now change is rippling through the group. (A surprise Sweetgrass Springs connection!)
Texas Hope: Can two brothers who never knew each other existed overcome the secrets of a woman who abandoned one son and lied to the other?
Texas Strong: Can a man who’s never trusted anyone and a woman who’s trusted all the wrong men defy the odds and open their hearts to each other?
Texas Sweet: When a stranger who holds the keys to her identity arrives in town, will the girl everyone knows as Brenda come to terms with her past or run again?
Be Mine This Christmas: The man he’s become is not the boy she once knew—and he may never forgive her, once he knows the secret she’s been concealing.
Texas Charm: He’s a country superstar; she’s a small town waitress. When the real world slams into their reverie, whose heart will be the one to
break? (Contains an original song written for this book)
Texas Magic: One billionaire…one tomboy…one night of magic. Miracle or mirage?
Be My Midnight Kiss: It’s New Year’s Eve…and now or never for these two hearts
Boxed sets:
The Gallaghers Of Sweetgrass Springs Boxed Set 1 (Books 1-3)
The Gallaghers Of Sweetgrass Springs Boxed Set 2 (Books 4-6)
LONE STAR LOVERS
Heart-tugging, action-packed and passionate stories of the close-knit Sullivan/Sandoval family of four brothers and one sister, plus the three Morgan sisters, orphaned and separated for many years, whose lives reconnect as they become part of the family circle.
Texas Heartthrob: Hollywood’s hottest star is a man in disguise when he encounters a woman who’s lost everything…but her secrets. When the world catches up to them, will the price of their lies cost them everything?
Texas Healer: Special Forces medic holds the power to heal both a doctor’s injured body and her wounded heart…but she can’t stay in his world—and he can’t leave.
Texas Protector: A detective forever haunted by the night when he couldn’t save a young girl from trauma—now she’s a cop herself and he has to send her undercover to lure a murderer.
Texas Deception: A plucky crusader falls for a down-on-his-luck stranger—only to learn too late that he’s the villain determined to destroy her town
Texas Lost: A hard-nosed detective targeted by internal affairs and the woman who’s professional evaluation will make or break his career. A a growing attraction between them risks first his case…and then her life.
The Book Babes Boxed Set (Texas Ties/Texas Troubles/Texas Together) Page 33
