THE BEST MAN

by Linda Turner

  "I wouldn't want to screw the books up," he said quickly. "I'm lousy with numbers. It would be better if I helped Merry."

  Not fooled in the least, Ruby only grinned. "Chicken."

  Chuckling, he escaped into examining room two, only to find Merry trapped up against a cabinet by a Saint Bernard as big as a small horse. Its front paws draped on Merry's shoulders and a sloppy grin on its foolish face, it licked her cheek and set Merry giggling.

  "Stop, you monster!" she laughed, trying to avoid another swipe of its wet tongue. "Get off of me! Nick, don't just stand there laughing like an idiot! Help me!"

  "But, Merry, she loves you," he said playfully, his brown eyes dancing. "Go ahead. Give her a kiss."

  Her blue eyes narrowing with promise of revenge, she ruined it all by laughing helplessly when Tinkerbell kissed her again. "Dammit, Nick, what kind of sheriff are you? I'm being accosted here and all you can do is laugh. Where are my brothers? Call them. One of them will help me."

  "Not today they won't," he retorted, his grin broad. "They've gone to an auction in Colorado Springs and won't be back until late tonight. Looks like you're stuck with me, sister."

  "Wonderful! Now that we've established that, will you get this dog off of me? Aaagh! She got me again!" Laughing, she tried to push the one-hundred-and-twenty-pound fur ball off of her, but Tinkerbell was quite content where she was and only settled more comfortably against her with a happy doggy grin. "Nick! Do something! I don't have time for this. I've been hustling dogs and cats in and out of here for the last twenty minutes, and the waiting room's still full."

  "Some vet you are," he teased. "You can't even control your patients. You've just got to know how to talk to them." Demonstrating, he whistled sharply and said. "Come on, Tinkerbell. Let's go for a walk, girl."

  For an answer, she just wagged her tail, woofed, and stayed right where she was.

  Her lips twitching, Merry said dryly, "Well, you certainly showed her. So much for talking. Now what do you propose to do?"

  "Bribe her with a dog biscuit?"

  "Nice try, but she's on a restricted diet. No snacks."

  "Damn! Then I guess there's no help for it. I'll have to use my brute strength."

  He flexed his muscles, making Merry giggle, but Tinkerbell wasn't the least impressed. Thinking they were playing some kind of new game when he tried to tug her free of Merry, she squirmed and tugged and twisted free with ridiculous ease. And all the while, her tail never stopped wagging.

  Frustrated, Nick had to laugh. "All right, that's it! No dog is going to get the best of Nick Kincaid. It's time to get rough."

  He grabbed the dog around the waist, like a football player making a tackle, and this time, he wasn't letting go. Tinkerbell, sensing the game was up, didn't bother to struggle this time. With a soft groan, she went boneless and collapsed in a heap at Merry's feet.

  His grin cocky, Nick held out his hand to help steady her as she stepped over the prone dog. "There you go, princess. All safe and sound."

  "Marshal Dillon," she purred, pressing her hand to her heart in a pretended swoon. "My hero." Going up on tiptoe, she kissed him on the cheek.

  She'd done it a zillion times over the years, teased him about being the sheriff whenever he called her princess or Miss Prom Queen, and they always laughed about it. But the second her lips brushed his smooth shaven cheek, something changed, something she couldn't put her finger on. Her heart seemed to stumble in her chest, and when she pulled back slightly and looked up at him, there was a flicker of emotion in his eyes that she'd never seen before. Just that quickly, her heart was racing, and for the life of her, she didn't know why.

  Confused, she studied his face searchingly. "Nick? What…?"

  He blinked, and between one heartbeat and the next, he was the same old Nick she'd known for most her life, and whatever she'd thought she'd seen in his eyes was gone. "This isn't clearing out that crowd out there," he said with a nod toward the waiting room. "Tell me what to do so I can help." When she just stood there, staring at him blankly, he frowned. "Mer? Are you all right?"

  Her thoughts jumbled, she jerked back to awareness to discover that she was staring at him like she'd never seen him before. "What? Oh, yes! Of course. I've just got so much to do. Would you put Tinkerbell in the kennel until Mrs. Holly comes back for her? I've got to call the next patient…"

  Still flustered, she stepped around him to open the door from the examining room into the waiting room, only to find herself face-to-face with Maxine Cooper. Startled, she stopped in her tracks. She hadn't seen or talked to Thomas's mother since that awful day of the wedding that never happened, and she wasn't sure what to say. What were the rules of etiquette for greeting the mother of the man who jilted you at the altar?

  Aware of all the interested eyes trained on the two of them, she forced a smile that didn't come as easily as she would have liked and reached out to pet the Siamese cat protectively cradled in the older woman's arms. "Hello, Maxine. Have you brought Queenie in to be vaccinated?"

  As uncomfortable as she, Maxine nodded stiffly, her glance shifting past her to where Nick stood behind her in the examining room, then back to Merry. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. I…"

  Hesitating, she looked around, noticed that everyone in the waiting room was watching their exchange, and immediately lowered her voice. "I've been meaning to call you, dear, but I didn't quite know what to say. I realize you're busy, but do you think we could talk for a moment in private? I think it would be better if we didn't have an audience."

  Her timing couldn't have been worse, but this was a conversation that had been too long in coming. "Of course," Merry replied quietly. Stepping back, she showed her into the examining room and shut the door behind her.

  Tinkerbell bristled at the sight of the cat in Maxine's arms, but Nick had the Saint Bernard well in hand. Tightening his hand on the dog's leash, he greeted Maxine with a nod and said, "I think that's my cue to exit. If you two will excuse me, I'll take this big lug to the kennel."

  Tinkerbell didn't want to go, but Nick didn't give her much choice, and within seconds, Merry found herself alone with Maxine and not sure where to begin. "So … how have you been?"

  The second the words were out of her mouth, Merry wanted to take them back. She didn't have to ask to know that Thomas's betrayal had, in many ways, been worse for his mother than it had for her. Maxine was a proud woman who liked to think of herself as one of the town's social leaders. From what Merry had heard, she'd been so mortified by Thomas's behavior that she hadn't stepped foot in public since the day of the wedding.

  "I'm sorry," Merry said quickly. "I know this has been difficult for you, too. Have you heard from Thomas?"

  "No," she said with a sigh. "I'm sure he's too embarrassed, but at least we know he's all right. I need to thank Nick again for tracking him down," she said half to herself and never noticed that Merry stiffened in surprise. "I know you had to be mortified by what he did, Merry, but you have to know that he would never deliberately hurt you. He loves you. He just panicked. Marriage is a big step, and as a lawyer, he knows better than most the statistics on divorce. Just the thought of the two of you not making it must have scared him to death."

  Her mind still reeling from the news that Nick had actually talked to Thomas and not told her, Merry frowned in confusion. "Are you saying you think Thomas stood me up at the altar now so we wouldn't end up in divorce court later?"

  "Well, I know it sounds a little extreme," she acknowledged, "but you have to remember how he suffered when his father and I divorced. It's not something he would want to go through again."

  "Then why ask me to marry him at all if he had those kind of fears?" Merry asked. "No one held a gun to his head."

  "Because he loves you, dear, and wants you to be his wife," she assured her. "His fears got the best of him, but once he has time to calm down and think, he'll come home to you. He just needs some time."

  She meant well, but Merry wasn't sure s
he agreed with her. Nearly two weeks had passed. The longer Thomas stayed away, the harder it would be for him to come back and face not only her, but his friends and family. "Maybe," she said with a shrug. "Maybe not. Time will tell."

  Merry knew that wasn't the response Maxine was hoping for, but that was the best she could do. Whatever faith she'd had in Thomas doing the right thing had died the day he jilted her.

  Deliberately changing the subject, she turned her attention to Queenie. "How'ya doing, girl? Ready for your shots?"

  * * *

  Maxine had just left when Nick returned to the examining room to see if Merry needed his help. She took one look at him and said, "Why didn't you tell me?"

  He didn't have to ask what she was talking about—Maxine had obviously told her he'd tracked down Thomas. And Merry was feeling betrayed—again. Cursing himself for not anticipating that this would happen, he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. You'd been through enough already."

  "You didn't think it would hurt me not knowing where he was? If he was all right? That he'd talked to you, but not to me?"

  "He's not ready to talk to you yet, Mer."

  The softly spoken words stabbed her right in the heart. "He told you that?"

  "Yes."

  Hurt, she recoiled as if he'd slapped her. "Well, I guess that says it all, doesn't it? Not only doesn't he want to marry me, he doesn't want to have anything to do with me, either."

  "If it'll make you feel any better, I think he wants everyone to leave him alone for a while, not just you. He just needs some time to himself to work things out."

  What things? she wanted to cry. She wasn't something that should have needed to be worked out, not at this stage in their relationship. He'd asked her to marry him, and she'd accepted, for God's sake! They'd planned a wedding, gotten the license, talked to the minister. The last time she'd seen Thomas, he'd told her he loved her with all his heart and was ready to start their life together. And she'd believed him! Then, the next day, he'd chosen to run away to Chicago without a word to her rather than marry her. What kind of love was that?

  Hiding her hurt behind the dignity she pulled around her like a cloak, she lifted her chin. "He has all the time he needs," she assured Nick. "If he doesn't want to talk to me, I'm certainly not going to force myself on him."

  Her pride coming to her rescue, she called in the next patient and, with Nick's help, worked through the rest of the pets in the waiting room. Thomas's name wasn't mentioned again, and for the rest of the day, she was, thankfully, too busy to spare him a second thought.

  Everything changed, however, when she closed up shop and went home. The second she stepped inside the house and shut the front door, closing out the world, the lonely silence of her solitary existence slapped her in the face. She'd never felt so alone.

  She knew it was because of her conversation with Maxine and Nick that she was feeling so down. She'd thought she was coming to grips with Thomas's betrayal, but the second she saw his mother, all the hurt and anger came rushing back. Then when Nick told her Thomas didn't want to talk to her, she realized she'd only been fooling herself. He'd hurt her in a way no one else ever had, and she wasn't going to get over that any time soon.

  Knowing that, she somehow got through the evening, but when her usual bedtime came and went, she knew she was never going to be able to go to sleep. Her heart was too battered and bruised. She'd just lie there and stare at the ceiling and feel sorry for herself.

  "The hell you will!" she muttered to herself. "McBrides aren't whiny babies!"

  The light of battle sparking to life in her eyes at the thought, she made a snap decision and reached for the phone. Punching in the number to the sheriff's office, she waited impatiently for Nick to come on the line. The man who answered, however, wasn't Nick, but Dean Ziggler, one of his deputies.

  "He's out on patrol, Merry," he told her when she asked for Nick. "Is it an emergency? George Rucker headed out your way about thirty minutes ago if you want me to raise him on the radio. I imagine he can be there in a matter of minutes if you need him."

  "No, there's nothing wrong," she assured him quickly. "Just forward a message to Nick for me, will you? I'm going to take a ride out to Lookout Point and was wondering if he'd meet me there."

  "Lookout Point?" Dean repeated in surprise. "You sure you want to go out there by yourself? It's awfully late. Maybe you'd better wait for Nick."

  "I'll be fine. Really," she insisted when he snorted in disapproval. "I just need to get out of the house and thought I'd catch the moon rising from Lookout Point. Tell Nick if he can't make it, not to worry about it. I'll talk to him tomorrow."

  She didn't give him a chance to argue further, but simply hung up and grabbed her keys. When the phone rang again almost immediately, she didn't doubt for a minute that it was Dean. Already on her way out, she didn't even break stride. She knew Dean would try to talk her into waiting for Nick, but she couldn't. She'd been pushing herself at work all week, pretending that nothing was wrong, and it had cost her dearly. If she didn't get out of the house and escape from memories of Thomas for at least a few hours, she was going to crack under the strain.

  * * *

  "She did what?" Nick sputtered incredulously.

  "She went up to Lookout Point to watch the moon rise," Dean dutifully repeated.

  "And you let her?"

  "Well, yeah," he said, surprised. "What else was I supposed to do? She's a grown woman. It's not against the law for her to go up to the Point if that's what she wants to do."

  Nick swore, unable to believe how dense Dean could be at times. "No, that's true. But she's got no business going up there by herself at midnight! You should have told her to wait for me."

  "I did! But c'mon, Nick, we're talking about Merry McBride. You know how she is—she's just like all the other McBrides. Once she made up her mind, there was no budging her. She was going, come hell or high water, and all she wanted me to do was pass on the message that she'd like you to meet her there if you could. That's what I'm doing."

  Muttering curses, Nick knew Dean was right. When Merry got something in her head, no one was changing her mind. "I'm sorry I got short with you," he apologized. "I'm just worried about her. She's having a rough time, and I'm afraid she's going to get herself in trouble if she's not careful."

  "She wasn't crying or anything, if that's what you're worried about," Dean assured him. "She's a smart woman, Nick. She's not going to do anything stupid just because Cooper didn't know a good thing when he saw it."

  Nick agreed, but he wasn't taking any chances, not where Merry was concerned. "I know, but I'm going to head on up to the Point and make sure she's all right," he said as he checked his mirrors to make sure no one was behind him on the highway, then swung his patrol car into a U-turn and headed back the other way. "Holler if you need me."

  With a dark highway in front of him and no cars in sight, he didn't need his siren, but he turned his light bar on so if he did encounter another vehicle, they could see him coming from a long way off. Then he hit the gas.

  A drive across the northern section of the county should have taken him thirty minutes. He made it in fifteen. He would have made it in less if he hadn't had to slow down for dead man's curve, but his wheels were hardly touching the ground as it was.

  As expected, Lookout Point was pitch black—which was what made it so popular with stargazers, not to mention teenagers looking for a place to make out. The few stargazers that were still there at that hour of the night turned to scowl at him when he came racing up to the observation area with his lights blaring, so he hit the switch to turn off his emergency lights, but not before he made sure the teenagers knew he was there. Within seconds, four cars started up and made a hasty retreat.

  Grinning, he made no move to detain them, but headed for the big rocky outcropping that marked the eastern boundary of the observation area. There, at the edge of the rock, the ground fell away to give a commanding view of not only the valley
below, but the stars. And there, not surprisingly, he found Merry, sitting on a blanket, staring out at the night sky.

  It was a reflective place, one that made you think of your own mortality, and as teenagers, he and Thomas and she had often met there to discuss where they were going in life, what they wanted, their hopes and dreams. It was here that Merry had announced that she was going to become a veterinarian and Thomas had told them of his fascination with the law. And it was here on New Year's Eve, Nick knew, that Thomas had asked Merry to marry him … and she accepted.

  That was six months ago, and Nick could still feel the sharp pain that had cut through his heart when they'd told him they loved each other and were going to spend the rest of their lives together. Trying to be happy for them, it had been the worst day of his life. He'd felt like somebody had died.

  But that wasn't something he could think about now, not when he knew that Merry, too, was probably remembering that day and hurting.

  Cursing Thomas all over again, he parked, then quietly made his way to where Merry sat, watching the moon rise like a huge orange ball on the eastern horizon. He didn't announce his presence, but he didn't have to. She'd known he would come.

  Sitting on the blanket, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, she never took her eyes off the moon as he sat down beside her on the blanket. "Do you remember the last day of summer after we graduated from high school?" she asked huskily.

  He nodded. "Yeah. The three of us met here the night before we left for college."

  "To say goodbye," she added. "I never told you, but when I went home that night, I cried myself to sleep."

  "Why?"

  She smiled at his horrified tone, her sad, reflective eyes still trained on the moon, but gazing into the past. "Because everything was changing and I couldn't stop it. It had always been the three of us against the world, and suddenly we were all going off in separate directions. I guess I was scared. You were my best friend, and I was in love with Thomas, and I knew that even if we all eventually came back here some day, nothing would ever be the same again."