Sapphires And Sagebrush (Country Brides & Cowboy Boots)

by Danni Lee Nicholls

  Cressa stopped and faced Spencer. “I mean it, Spencer. It’s really okay.”

  Spencer looked down into her beautiful green eyes, afraid he would see pity and disgust. After all, that would’ve been Lyla’s expression. Instead, he only saw sweet compassion and a hint of desire.

  Afraid he would make another mistake, he didn’t give in to his need to kiss Cressa. Instead, he quietly nodded, as they once again began walking along the shoreline, hoping to change the subject. “What happened between you and your doctor in Salt Lake?”

  “Nothing,” Cressa said.

  Spencer was grateful for the shift in conversation. “There’s got to be more to the story than that.”

  Cressa let out a long sigh. “Sadly, no.” She stopped and turned toward the lake, sipping her chocolate.

  Spencer followed her lead and stood beside her, waiting for her to continue.

  “You know how some relationships just bump along? They have all the makings of success, but they never quite achieve much of anything?”

  “I think so.”

  “Well, that was me and Owen. Two ER doctors working in a high-traffic hospital. It’s the stuff of TV dramas, right? I mean, passionate kissing in the storeroom. Lots of eye contact over critically ill patients. But none of that happens in real life, and there’s nothing glamorous about ER work. Mostly, it’s about gritty bone-numbing exhaustion, and our relationship never seemed to get off the ground. Then, my folks needed me home. In truth, I was relieved,” she murmured.

  “I don’t understand,” Spencer replied. “When you told me about him, you made it sound as if he was going to be coming around any day. What happened?”

  “I started to realize that Owen likes his mess to have a time limit, and my mess is ongoing.”

  Spencer furrowed his brow. “But isn’t that just life? I mean, no one’s mess is tidy or timely. If it was, it wouldn’t be life.”

  “Exactly!” Cressa faced him. “It’d be something that fits nicely in an ER room, where you patch someone back together and send them on their way to deal with the mess out of sight.” She finished her cocoa and crumpled the cup before tossing it in the waste bin.

  Spencer took the last sip of his latte and threw it in the trash. “Oh, I think I understand.”

  A faraway look came into Cressa’s eyes as she gazed out over the lake. The flaming red sky above flushed into a deep coral, making the water look like fire. “I’ve never told anyone that before,” she said. “Somehow, leaving Salt Lake and Owen always seemed like a defeat.”

  Spencer moved closer. “It sounds more like it was just the way it was supposed to be.”

  Cressa turned to Spencer. “I’m beginning to think the same,” she said as she placed her hand on Spencer’s chest.

  Even through his jacket, Spencer felt the warmth of her touch. He pulled her close, his desire rising like a winged dove from deep within. Raising her chin, he looked deeply into her warm jade-colored eyes, making sure the emotion he saw matched his. He did not want Cressa lingering near him out of sympathy. All he saw was a budding love and desire that mirrored his feelings while the faintest wisp of jasmine encircled him. Reaching down, he brought his lips to hers, tasting warm chocolate and peppermint. He yearned for more and enveloped her in his arms while deepening his kiss, feeling her arms entwine at the back of his neck.

  For one brief moment, nothing else mattered as every earlier anguish over his ability to share himself with a woman crumbled into fine dust carried away on the evening breeze. With Cressa in his arms, the whole world dropped away, leaving the two of them alone to explore their deepening tenderness along the lakeshore. Somewhere a loon called out, penetrating the silence of the evening and his insecurities, offering a new and liberating promise he found in Cressa’s soft, warm kiss unselfishly given.

  Seventeen

  Anticipation rose in Cressa’s heart as she pushed back the curtains of her bedroom window. Since her date with Spencer last week, they’d spent every evening together with her parents. Cressa loved Spencer’s presence in her home. He helped her with dinner, and while she cleaned up, he went outside to feed and water the livestock.

  Her parents enjoyed him, too. When the weather was good, Spencer would take her father and Agnes with him to the help. Her father sat on a bale of hay while Spencer brought in the horses from the pasture and fed all the animals. Between the day excursions with Andrew and Spencer’s inclusion in the chores, Cressa’s father improved in every way. Even her mother settled a bit more into the construction.

  Today, Spencer was bringing Kimber on their date. The three of them were taking a picnic to Sunrise Lake Park to feed the ducks. Spencer had picked up some duck grain at the feed store, and according to their last conversation, his little girl was looking forward to their time together.

  Checking out the window one more time, Cressa watched the familiar Ford pickup pull into the driveway as a surge of happy eagerness flowed through her. Smiling to herself, she drew back from the curtain and hurried to the hallway bath, where she studied her reflection for a brief moment before gazing around the newly remodeled room. The craftsmanship of Spencer’s carpentry showed in everything from the finely placed fixtures to the new molding that hugged the larger doorframe. Everything gleamed new with fresh grout, clean tiles, sparkling sinks, and countertops. He would start work on the master bath on Monday.

  A ping of anxiety bounced inside Cressa’s brain. Her parents had improved so much over the last couple of weeks, and she was afraid the move to the guest bedroom would feel like an intrusion she couldn’t explain to her mother. She had talked with them about this job for weeks and she believed they were prepared, but she was concerned about a setback. There was no way to know how things would play out until they were settled in the guest room. The move would happen tomorrow.

  The doorbell interrupted her concerns, and she did her best to toss them aside. When she opened the door, her thirsty eyes sought Spencer, and when he met her gaze with his smile, satisfaction and deepening affection trickled in her heart like sun thawing ice. She longed to leap into his arms and pull him close. Instead, she widened her smile as she looked at Kimber.

  “Hey, Miss Kimber,” she said. “Want to come in? We can make some more cocoa.”

  “Oh, yes, please!” Kimber said as she strode in the house.

  Spencer followed and reached over to give Cressa a kiss on the cheek, his warm lips brushing against her skin, causing a little shiver to run down her spine.

  Kimber watched.

  “What are you thinking, Miss Kimber?” Cressa asked as she knelt down to face the little girl.

  “I’ve never seen my daddy kiss anybody before, but he said you’re his girlfriend now, so he might kiss you.”

  Cressa gave a serious nod while the idea of being claimed by Spencer thrilled her. “Yes. That’s all true. How do you feel about that?”

  Kimber shrugged. “I don’t mind kissing,” she said. “But Toby Jones tried to kiss me in preschool, and I didn’t like it.” She made a face.

  “I hope you told Toby Jones not to do that again,” Cressa advised.

  Kimber pursed her lips before she said, “I sure did. And I told the teacher, too. Now, he has to sit somewhere else.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Cressa replied.

  Kimber eyed her again. “Do you like it when Daddy kisses you?”

  Cressa felt Spencer shift his weight from one foot to the other as he stood beside her. She stifled the desire to look up at Spencer and grin, but instead focused on Kimber. “Yes. I do,” she said.

  “Daddy kisses me sometimes.”

  The physician in Cressa overrode everything else, as she thought about the many children she saw in her practice and the difficult conversations she sometimes had to document. “Where does he kiss you?” she asked.

  Kimber poked herself in her own dimpled cheek. “Right here,” she giggled. “Oh, and sometimes, right here.” She pointed to her forehead.

  “Tho
se are good daddy kisses.”

  Kimber agreed before looking up at Spencer. “Can I have some hot cocoa now?” she asked, reaching for his hand.

  “Sure thing, sweetheart,” Spencer said.

  “Is the lady who can’t remember here today?”

  “Yes. Do you want to see her?” Cressa asked.

  Kimber nodded, and the threesome walked into the family room, where Janean and Christopher sat with the television turned to a home improvement show.

  Cressa’s mother picked up the remote and switched off the television as Kimber walked into the room, the little girl filling the silence with her smile.

  “Hi!” Kimber announced with a wave of her hand.

  “Well, hi there, Kimber,” Janean said. “We’re so glad you’ve come to visit us today.”

  “You remembered me.” Kimber grinned.

  “Of course I do. How could I forget such a sweet little face? I bet you’d like some cocoa, wouldn’t you?”

  “How did you know?” Kimber asked.

  “Oh, a little birdie told me,” Janean replied.

  Kimber looked around the room. “What little birdie?”

  Janean gave her a conspiratorial smile. “He flew away, but he told me that you love hot cocoa.”

  “I do!” Kimber replied.

  “Well, how about if I help you make some,” Janean said as she rose from the couch.

  Cressa’s heart gave a little flutter with possibility over her mother’s engagement with Kimber. She followed them into the kitchen while Spencer took a seat and begin talking with her father.

  Everything in Cressa’s heart settled as the family scene unfolded. Her parents enjoyed Spencer, and Kimber breathed new life into their threadbare world with her dimpled cheeks and sweet youth.

  Standing back, she smiled as Kimber’s curly blonde hair bobbed along her mother’s side. Together, they retrieved the milk from the refrigerator and began making cocoa. If her mom could manage this task, Cressa wouldn’t interfere, but instead she would sit and watch the bond between old and young.

  Several minutes later, Cressa held a steaming cup of cocoa, listening to her mother ask Kimber questions about preschool. Kimber’s stories tumbled out, including Toby Jones’s kiss and her response. Cressa’s mother applauded Kimber’s honesty about her feelings around Toby. The sweetness of the moment mingled with the warm cocoa, offering Cressa a comforting respite from her worries around her parents.

  Thirty minutes later, Cressa kissed her parents goodbye with the promise she would be home within a couple of hours. She helped Kimber out of her coat before strapping her into her car seat, then moving to the passenger side and letting herself into the truck.

  “Where are we going, Daddy?” Kimber asked from the back seat.

  “To the park to feed the ducks and take a walk. How does that sound?”

  “I love ducks,” Kimber responded.

  The parking lot had several cars lined up. In the strengthening spring sun, families were walking the trails while young couples paddled the waters in canoes and kayaks. Spencer pulled the duck feed from the back seat, and the three of them walked to the sunny shore of the water.

  Cressa hung back, watching Spencer as he knelt down beside Kimber, giving her just enough grain to fill her tiny hand. Then, he showed her how to throw the food out to the ducks and a few stray doves that were beginning to congregate around them.

  A glimmer of delight warmed Cressa as father and daughter played by the water’s edge. She longed to kneel down beside Kimber and join in, but she hesitated. Did she have a place with Spencer and Kimber? Could they lay claim on her heart if she had lost it, as Owen believed?

  Sometimes, when her work went well or everything was good at home, she was filled with small buds of contentment. Spencer’s presence offered more, and in his company, Cressa felt fiery bursts of love and even joy, as if some slumbering part of her was awakening. As much as she cared for Owen, this experience with Spencer was exclusive in its blissful arousal. Spencer offered her a caressing beam of warm light that probed all of the darker places of her soul.

  But the light never stayed. It always retreated, leaving a familiar and echoing silence, forcing her to realize her hollowed-out emotional life. The depth of that reality pierced Cressa as she stood as an observer in Spencer and Kimber’s deepening familial bond. Even though the glow didn’t linger, it continued to edge over the horizon of Cressa’s emotional wasteland and offered a fresh glimmer of hope.

  Spencer squinted as he looked up at her. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she said as she gave him a bright smile, knelt down beside Kimber, and held out her hand.

  Spencer poured duck feed into her palm.

  “Can you show me how to feed the ducks?” Cressa asked Kimber.

  The little girl nodded seriously before throwing her palm of feed to the waiting birds.

  Cressa followed her action. “Like that?”

  “Yep.”

  Kimber looked at her, and Cressa smiled into the little girl’s clear gray eyes. Her dimpled cheeks and soft baby hair curling around her face invited Cressa to leave her familiar barren landscape.

  Kimber jumped up and down. “Isn’t this fun? Do you love ducks? I love ducks. Do you love my daddy?”

  Cressa placed her arm around Kimber’s small body, and the little girl folded into her, resting her small arm on Cressa’s thigh.

  The purity of Kimber’s warmth spread through Cressa. Her soul reached for Spencer’s gentleness and Kimber’s pure childlike love with both hands. She began to answer Kimber’s question. “This is fun. I do love ducks, and—”

  Spencer interrupted. “Now, Kimber. Don’t bother Cressa about what she loves and doesn’t love, okay? That can be a very personal question.”

  The light retreated, and Cressa followed Spencer’s lead. She didn’t blame Spencer if he didn’t want to talk about love. She wasn’t prepared to discuss it either. For two years, she’d believed that love looked like what she and Owen shared. But now, she was convinced that this moment with Kimber and Spencer was as close as she had ever come to love with a man.

  Eighteen

  Cressa woke to a text from Spencer on Sunday morning, reminding her he’d be there to feed the animals and let out the horses, but that he and Kimber wouldn’t be staying for the morning meal. The two of them had a tradition with Mickey Mouse pancakes, and he wanted to keep some things between him and his daughter as she got used to the idea of enfolding Cressa into their lives. He would see her later in the evening. Cressa texted back with quick agreement.

  Listening for her parents, Cressa was greeted with the silence of the house. They were still asleep.

  Padding to the bathroom, she washed up before showering and dressing. She moved to the kitchen to start some breakfast and coffee. From the kitchen window, she could see Spencer and Kimber had already arrived and started morning chores; his lean body moved with skill and confidence. A small smile played on Cressa’s lips as passion sent up a flare from deep within her belly.

  Her attention was drawn to Kimber, who toggled along next to Spencer holding a bunch of hay. She was still in her princess pajamas and wore a pair of pink galoshes. Her curly hair needed a brushing, and she looked a little sleepy.

  The first stirrings of her parents grabbed Cressa’s awareness, and she focused on the oatmeal bubbling on the stove. Stirring the contents of the pan, she heard her mother come in from the hallway.

  “Mornin’, darlin’,” her mother said as she kissed her on the cheek.

  “How’d you sleep, Mom?” Cressa asked.

  “Never long enough for me,” her mother replied. “Are we seeing the boys today?”

  Cressa smiled. Ever since Andrew’s visits became more personal, Cressa’s mother called Spencer and Andrew “the boys.” “Not this morning,” she said. “But tomorrow, Spencer will be starting on the master bath. Do you remember? The boys will both be here then.”

  “Of course I do,” h
er mother replied.

  The look on Janean’s face told Cressa her mother didn’t remember, but she didn’t push it. “We’ll need to clean out your bathroom today. Are you up to that?”

  “I sure am,” her mother said. “We can get started right after breakfast.”

  Cressa was pleased. Her mother’s best time was in the morning, and Cressa was hoping they could get the job done before noon.

  After breakfast, Cressa heard Spencer’s truck pull away from the house. She wished she could see him, but her day was full, and she didn’t want to intrude on his private time with Kimber. He would come by tonight.

  An hour later, Cressa stood in the middle of her parents’ bathroom with her mother by her side. Surrounded by cardboard boxes, they began pulling items from the cabinets and deciding what they needed in the hall bath and what could be stored.

  Pulling out the jewelry box, Cressa opened it and did a visual check of her mother’s jewelry. Turning the white velvet case in her hands, she opened the lid to find the sapphire-and-diamond ring winking back at her before she closed the lid and slid it back into the jewelry box. Turning to her mother, she asked, “Where would you like your jewels?”

  Her mother thought for a long moment. “Let’s put it in the back of the cabinet in the hall bath. No one will bother it there. I’m afraid if I store it, I’ll forget where, and I don’t want to lose it.”

  With her mother watching, Cressa got down on her knees and pushed the jewelry box to the back of the hall bathroom cupboard. Within another forty minutes, the move was complete.

  Cressa’s parents’ clothes and other personal items were tucked away in the closet of the spare bedroom while their toiletries were set up in the hall bath.

  Later that evening, Cressa was putting tuna casserole in the oven when she heard Spencer’s truck pull into the drive. He would help with dinner, and then afterward, he’d bring the horses in and feed the livestock while she cleaned the kitchen. The rest of the evening would be spent with her parents playing a board game or watching television. The routine had become comfortable almost immediately, and Spencer was becoming part of the fabric of Cressa’s daily life.