by Deb Kastner
Dear God, she prayed for the first time in ten years. Is this what You’ve been trying to teach me? How stubborn I’ve been to push You away? Forgive me, Lord.
Her short, simple prayer had an immediate effect. She could not explain the tranquility that washed over her, but it cleansed and refreshed her and gave her a new sense of hope, something she’d been desperately lacking.
She could face this new dilemma—with God’s help. The mountain might still be difficult to climb, but at least now she could see a path to follow.
Her priorities instantly shifted as if they’d never changed at all. Putting God as her focus reminded her just how much she loved Riley and wanted what was best for him, even if what happened to be the best for him was Zach.
“Delia?” Her father peeked his head in the doorway, a deep, menacing scowl making his dark brows a straight, low line over his eyes.
Delia was still trying to reel in her emotions. The last thing she needed was her father coming down on her, but he didn’t seem to notice the tears blurring her eyes. “What is that man doing here? Did you invite him?”
She turned her head away so he could not see how broken up she was. Taking a deep, calming breath, she shook her head and wiped her wet cheeks with her palms. “No, I didn’t invite him, but he’s here to pick up Riley for some special New Year’s Eve thing.”
Her father thundered into the room. In general, he was a quiet man, calm and well in control of his emotions. This was obviously not one of those times.
“Zach Bowden is not welcome in this house,” he roared. “Not now, not ever.”
“Dad, he is Riley’s father,” she countered, struggling to keep her voice even.
“I’m well aware of that, young lady,” her father continued, as if she were five years old.
“He’s going to have to be here from time to time to spend time with Riley.”
“Delia,” her father said, his voice strained and edgy. “Honey, he hurt you. I don’t think I can ever forgive him for that.”
Delia looked into her father’s eyes and reached for his hand. At first, all Delia had seen was the sheer anger in his posture and his expression, but now she realized it went much deeper than that. Her father wasn’t being an insensitive ogre—he just loved his daughter and wanted to protect her, despite the fact that she was a full-grown adult.
“I understand how you feel, Dad, but Zach has changed. He’s not the teenaged troublemaker you once knew. He’s proven himself to be a pillar of the community and a good, churchgoing man. You might not see it right now, but he’s going to be a great father to Riley. All I’m asking is for you to give him a chance to prove himself. I think that’s what God would want us to do.”
Her father exhaled and squeezed her hand. “Well, I’ll admit you’re probably right about how God feels about this situation, but the real question is, how does your mother feel about Zach coming around the house?”
Delia smiled and gave her father a soft kiss on his grizzly cheek. “I haven’t spoken with her yet, but I’m pretty sure she approves. In fact, I think she’s in on this little surprise today with Zach and Riley.”
Her father scoffed. “Of course she would be. The old busybody can’t keep her nose out of anything,” he grumbled affectionately.
“I love you, Dad,” Delia told him, her heart swelling for the older man.
“I’m not promising anything,” he warned her, “but I’ll do the best that I can.” Her father reached for her and gave her an awkward pat on the back. He wasn’t a man who showed his affection very often, so Delia knew just how special this moment was.
“Come on,” she encouraged him. “Let’s send Riley and Zach off in style.”
Linking her arms with her father, they returned to the living room. Riley had found a baseball somewhere and was tossing it from hand to hand. Zach was crouched in front of her mother and was deep in conversation with her. They were both laughing as Delia entered the room.
Curious.
She approached Riley and forced herself to smile. “Can you guys do me a favor and purchase a CD for me while you’re there?” She handed the sticky note and the two bills to Riley. “I’ve written down the name of it on this piece of paper. Be careful with the money and bring me back the change, okay?”
Riley looked puzzled. “What? Why? You’re coming with us, Mom.”
Delia was confused. “What do you mean?”
Zach stepped forward and laid a hand on her arm. “I think our son needs to repeat what he just said to you. And this time, try to listen, will you?” he suggested with a chuckle. “He’s right on the money, princess.”
“What? I don’t understand.” Her stomach fluttered at Zach’s casual use of his pet name for her. He’d teasingly called her princess all the time when they were kids.
“What’s to understand? You’re going with us.”
Delia thought her heart was going to pound right out of her chest. She’d convinced herself that she was fine with not going. She was at peace about it.
She’d been lying to herself.
“Surprise!” Riley exclaimed.
“I…oh, my…this is…” She couldn’t put more than two words together to save her life.
“We’re all going to Houston. Together.” Zach looked smug, and his warm brown eyes were twinkling with delight. “And you’d better appreciate the lengths I had to go to get these for you. I have to put in a whole week of extra shifts just to nab the tickets, but here they are.” He pulled three tickets from inside his jacket and fanned them in the air.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” she blurted, because it was the first coherent thought she had.
Her mother wheeled toward her, smiling in a way Delia hadn’t seen since she’d moved back to the house. Her countenance shined with joy.
What a difference she observed in her mama—and it was Zach who had done that.
“I checked your closet when you weren’t looking,” Mama informed her. “And I happen to know that you own a very striking little black dress.”
She looked at her watch. It was almost two o’clock in the afternoon. What were they expecting? For her to nod her head and poof, she’d be all dressed up and ready to go?
“How long will it take for us to get to Houston?” she asked, now anxious.
Zach put his hands in his pockets, rocked back on his heels and grinned at her. “A little over four hours. I thought we’d pick up some dinner before the show.”
“Oh, my,” she exclaimed. “That doesn’t give me much time to get ready.”
Zach shrugged. “How long does it take to throw on a dress? Five minutes? We can wait.”
Aargh.
Clearly he had absolutely no idea what putting on a little black dress involved. Sure, it would take five minutes to throw on the dress, as Zach had put it, but then there was finding appropriate heels, donning pantyhose and applying real makeup and not just the single application of mascara she had on now. After that, there was hair, and perfume, and—
Oh, what was she waiting for? She was going to the symphony with Riley and Zach! She gave her mother a pleading look and headed for the bedroom. She would need all the help she could get.
“Back in a flash,” she called over her shoulder. Which she hoped would be true, as long as they used a very, very relative definition of the word flash.
She laughed all the way down the hallway.
Chapter Sixteen
Zach knew he had made the right decision the moment Delia walked out of the bedroom in that gorgeous little black number of hers. It had taken her twenty minutes, not five, for her to get dressed, but the moment he laid eyes on her, he knew it had been well worth the wait.
Beautiful didn’t even begin to cover it. Delia simply glowed,
reminding Zach of the angel on the top of his Christmas tree. The way she’d applied her makeup made her already-large sapphire eyes appear enormous, and the smile that lit her face said it all.
She was excited. Maybe even happy.
And here he’d been afraid she would turn him down.
Oh—and he had been afraid. That was part of the reason he’d ultimately decided to surprise her, rather than give her the opportunity to think about his offer—he didn’t want her to be able to say no.
Not that he was trying to force her hand exactly. For his part, he just wanted to prove himself and win back her trust. He just prayed she would give him a chance and not shut him down in his tracks.
He hadn’t expected the New Year’s Eve traffic to be quite as heavy as it was, so it took them a little longer to make it to Houston than he’d anticipated. Delia didn’t appear to mind. Conversation was abundant and carefree, although they were both careful to stay on neutral topics.
Riley occasionally chimed in from the backseat of the cab, although at first his attention had been focused on his portable video game. Riley had both Zach and Delia in stitches with his childish observations and his pure, innocent excitement about the night ahead.
“You know you’ll have to stay up past midnight, right, champ?” Zach asked as he pulled into the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant in downtown Houston.
Riley exclaimed in delight. “I’ve stayed up late lots of times,” he informed his father, sounding offended that Zach didn’t think he could stay awake.
“It’s a good thing, then, because there’s going to be plenty of excitement come midnight.”
At least if everything went as he hoped. While some of his plans seemed to be coming off without a hitch, he’d had to modify others. But the members of his family didn’t seem to care what they did. He sure liked that word. It made his stomach quiver every time he thought about it, which was often.
He’d wanted to treat Delia and Riley to a nice sit-down dinner, but they’d run out of time, more because of the traffic than in his misjudgment of how long it would take Delia to get ready.
Hopefully the symphony VIP after-party would make up for the pathetic little hamburgers and French fries they’d settled for.
Their arrival at Jones Hall was cause for many happy exclamations from Delia and Riley, but nothing more so than when the usher paraded them down to the front row and showed them their seats. He hated classical music, but being sandwiched between Delia and Riley definitely made up for any aural discomfort he might experience.
“I didn’t look at the tickets that closely,” Delia admitted as she took her seat next to Zach. “I had no idea we were going to have such a good view.”
Zach raised his eyebrows in question. What was there to view at a symphony?
Delia laughed as if reading his mind. “I do like to watch the orchestra as well as listen to it. I had no idea we had front row seats. I guess it’s just as well—it added to my surprise.”
“And the evening gets even better,” Zach promised her with a sly grin.
He intended to keep that promise, and show this beautiful woman and the son he’d always wanted—but never knew he had—a night they would never forget.
Next to him, Riley sat restless, tapping one foot and then the other on the hard cement floor. His shiny shoes were already a little bit scuffed. Zach wondered how the boy had managed to do that given the time they’d had.
He chuckled as he leaned toward his son. “It’s kind of boring just having to wait, isn’t it?”
Riley grinned up at him and nodded. Every time the boy smiled Zach’s heart just melted.
Fortunately—or maybe not so much, for Zach anyway—the symphony started. He supposed it really wasn’t that bad, especially when he casually slipped his arm around the back of Delia’s chair, almost but not quite touching her shoulder, and she didn’t try to stop him. Even though he much preferred country music, he could stomach the horns and violins as long as Delia and Riley were near.
Still, he was grateful when it was over. He guided Delia and Riley through the crush and out the door, but he headed the opposite way of where he’d parked the truck.
“Where are we going now?” Delia asked observantly. “Is this another one of your surprises?”
Zach hoped his smile didn’t give it all away. “Seriously? You can’t believe that listening to those violins squeak and wail for two hours is the grand finale of our date.”
He froze mid-step at his slip of the tongue. Now he’d gone and done it—and possibly ruined their evening together.
Riley was walking close to Zach’s other side, but he appeared lost in his surroundings, taking in the tall buildings and flashing lights.
He knew Delia had heard what he said. She looked as uncomfortable as he felt. His heart and his lungs ceased functioning as he waited for her response.
“I—you,” she stammered before she stopped to compose herself. She looked at the ground and then back up at him. “The violins weren’t squeaking or wailing. You should get your ears checked.”
His breath left his lungs in an audible whoosh as relief flooded through him. He didn’t know whether she was accepting this event as a date, but at least she hadn’t called it off entirely.
“If you say so,” he agreed. “But now comes the real fun.”
“Where are we going?”
“Just to the next corner. The symphony is holding a New Year’s Eve bash for the VIP ticket holders, which we happen to be. Hence the tuxes.” He flashed her a toothy grin.
By that time they had arrived at the hotel and were swept up into a large group of guests that were likewise visiting the party. Zach grabbed Riley’s hand and Delia’s arm so they wouldn’t get separated.
After visiting the coatroom, Zach found them places to sit at a table near the dance floor. There were already several couples whirling about the room in time to—thankfully—country music.
This was Texas after all. Formal wear or not, there were some things a Texan just didn’t change—like the boots he was wearing in lieu of dress shoes.
“I’d better try to get us our drinks,” Zach suggested after he’d seated Delia and Riley. “It’s not too long until midnight, and we’ll want to toast in the New Year, right?”
“Do I get to toast, too?” Riley asked excitedly.
Zach nodded and ruffled his hair, which was out of place anyway. “You, too, champ. I think I see some fruit punch at the serving table over there. Sound good? Delia?”
“Yes, please,” she replied. “That sounds delicious. I’m parched.”
Riley just nodded. His attention was already on what was happening in the ballroom. His tie had become unhooked somewhere during the walk over to the hotel, but Zach didn’t try to refasten it. If it weren’t for Delia, Zach himself would have slipped his tie off a long time ago—or else he would never have worn one at all.
He chuckled when a waiter approached Riley and offered him a festive hat, a horn and some confetti for the big moment. The boy’s mouth formed the same wide round O as his eyes, which were glittering with excitement.
Zach assumed it would take him only a minute to get the drinks, but the line was long and it seemed like it took him forever to reach the front. He was almost as anxious and fidgety as Riley.
He didn’t want to be away from his family for even a moment, much less a quarter of an hour. He was relieved that he hadn’t actually missed the midnight countdown by the time he returned to the table with three stemware glasses of punch.
“Remember to save some for the toast,” Zach reminded Riley as he handed the boy a flute and took a sip of his own drink.
“Nice hats,” he commented wryly as he slid into a chair next to Delia and let his free arm drop around the back of her ch
air. She’d selected a fake-jeweled tiara, which he thought was fitting for the woman he’d always privately thought of as princess. He winked at Riley, who had his pointed cap tilted off to one side of his head.
“I didn’t get you one,” Delia said, laughing through a counterfeit frown. “You can probably hunt a waiter down if you’re interested.”
She and Riley looked at him in expectation, but he shook his head fiercely. He would do a lot of things for Delia and his son, but there was no way he was going to wear one of those silly hats.
Luckily, they had no time to protest. The countdown to the New Year had suddenly started.
Ten. Nine. Eight.
Seven. Six.
He handed Delia her glass and reached for his own. She thanked him softly, her breath warm against his cheek.
Five. Four. Three.
The three of them watched the big timer on the wall as they enthusiastically shouted the countdown along with the rest of the partygoers.
Zach’s pulse raced toward the finish line. For maybe the first time in his life, he was truly looking forward to the New Year.
Two.
They lifted their glasses. Delia shifted toward him and that sweet coconut scent of her shampoo sent his head spinning.
One.
Riley jumped the gun and started clinking his glass with theirs.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of family.
“Happy New Year!” the three of them chorused together. The same sentiment echoed all around them as the room filled with cheerful cries.
“Happy New Year, honey,” Delia said softly, pressing a kiss to Riley’s forehead despite his protests. “I think this is going to be a good one.”
“Happy New Year, champ,” Zach added, once again ruffling his son’s hair.
“Happy New Year back,” Riley announced proudly. “To both of you guys.”
There was a pregnant pause as Riley crossed his arms and stared, first at Delia and then at Zach. The boy’s eyebrows rose and disappeared under the black lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead.
“Hello-o-o?” Riley said, drawing out the word in the form of a question.
