by Rita Herron
Then she angled the baby so he could see his little boy’s face for the first time.
MOISTURE GLITTERED in Gavin’s dark eyes as he focused on their baby. Cory was a beautiful, healthy-looking little guy, a smattering of dark hair like his own, a round chubby face, an adorable toothless smile. Pain from the gunshot wound knifed through him but joy over seeing his son made it worth it. Love for his baby was so evident in Lindsey’s eyes, but he thought he saw love for him there as well. Could they all somehow come together as a family?
Family is the most important thing in the world. Sometimes you don’t realize it until it’s gone.
Did he have to lose Lindsey and his son again to realize how important they were to him? No, he—
A loud whirring noise burst into the air, leaves and dirt swirled around him filling his eyes with grit. The helicopter, he realized, coming to take him to the hospital.
“You hang in there,” Lindsey whispered. “You have a lot of birthdays to celebrate with your little boy.”
Gavin imprinted the words in his brain right before the pain and darkness drove him over the edge and swept him into an empty void.
HOURS OR DAYS later, Gavin didn’t know which, he awakened to the scents of antiseptics and alcohol and the droning of hospital machines. He had been in surgery, he realized—they’d had to remove the bullets. He didn’t remember much of the shooting at all, except the soft sound of Lindsey’s voice urging him to wake up. And the beautiful melody of his son’s occasional cry. He finally opened his eyes and tried to ignore the fact that he was in pain and could barely move. He didn’t care. Lindsey was sitting beside him, his son cradled in her arms.
He’d been dreaming about them, the three of them together as a family.
“How long have you been here?” he asked, struggling to speak loud enough for her to hear.
“A couple of days.”
“You should have gone home—”
“We’re family, Mac. I love you. How could I be anywhere else?”
“Lindsey—”
“So don’t think you’re going to get rid of us so easily,” Lindsey said, refusing to listen to any arguments. “This baby and I need you and we love you. Both of us.” She pounded her heart with her fist. “And I don’t care what you say about keeping us safe—I’m a strong woman. God knows if I surived the last few weeks I can survive anything. And we’re much safer when you’re around to watch over us. You found Cory.”
“You are strong,” Gavin agreed, remembering how hard Lindsey had fought to make him believe their son was alive.
“Then are you going to stop blaming yourself for that boy’s death?”
He blinked, inhaling her scent—fresh flowers and rain.
“Are you?”
He nodded slowly. Somehow, in Mrs. Johnson’s own grief and motherly wisdom, she’d given him the forgiveness he needed. And also the foresight not to let his own family slip through his hands.
“And are you going to stick around and teach Cory how to throw a baseball?”
He hesitated, remembering all his reservations. But Lindsey leaned over and teased his mouth with her tongue and all rational arguments vanished. “You’d better say you are, because I know ways to torture you in here. I made friends with the nurses. And I know how you hate needles.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you that.” He tried to laugh, but his chest hurt too much. God, he loved her.
His reservations no longer seemed important. With Lindsey and the strength of their family, they could get through anything.
“I…I love you, Lindsey. But there’s my job—”
“I don’t want you to give up your job. Your work is as much a part of you as my teaching is a part of me. It’s one of the reasons I love you, Mac.” Lindsey stroked a lock of hair away from his forehead, her voice soft and loving, “Either one of us could get hit by a bus or have a car wreck at any time, so your job is not an issue, do you understand?”
The truth of her words finally hit him. After all his mother’s fears, his father had died in an ordinary accident, just the way anyone else could.
“Gavin?”
“Yes, I understand. And I love you so much, Linds.” Tears stung his eyes. Unable to blink away the moisture, he felt a teardrop slip down his cheek. Lindsey gently wiped it away with the pad of her thumb and kissed his cheek, then nudged his good arm up, enough to lie his son in his arms. The baby cooed and gazed at him with innocent brown eyes. Trusting eyes exactly like his mother’s.
Gavin knew he’d never be able to let them go.
He looked up and saw Lindsey smiling at him, a self-satisfied, smug smile, a wicked glint to her eyes. “Well? What do you think of your son?”
“He’s beautiful.” He pulled her hand in his and lay them both gently on top of their son’s chest. “And I’m not only going to stick around but I’m going to marry you, Lindsey Payne. That is if you’ll have me.”
Lindsey smiled tenderly. “I’ll have you.”
His voice choked again, “For our honeymoon, we’re going to take this little guy on a train ride around the world.”
Lindsey smiled through her tearstenderly. “I’d settle for taking our baby home, Mac—together, forever and always.”
Epilogue
“The wedding was beautiful, Linds. And so were you.”
Lindsey leaned on her tiptoes and kissed her husband’s cheek, laughing when Cory swiped a hand out and tried to latch on to the flower in her hair. Today had been the happiest day of her life, the day she and Gavin had said their vows. She had her son and his father home for the first time—together.
“Lindsey, dear, do you want me to rock him to sleep while you say goodbye to your guests?”
Her mother’s soft voice broke the moment, but Lindsey turned and placed the baby in her mother’s arms. “Oh, Mom, he’s smiling at you,” Lindsey said softly. “I wish you could see him.”
“Don’t fret,” her mother whispered with a laugh. “I can see him in my mind.”
Gavin gently guided Lindsey’s mother to the rocking chair in the corner. Her mother sat down and began to sing softly to her grandson. Andy pulled a chair up and chatted with her mom, admiring the baby.
JoAnn rushed up and hugged Lindsey. “The ceremony was wonderful, you guys. I’m so happy for you, Linds.”
JoAnn’s husband Paul slid a protective arm around JoAnn and grinned. “Did Jo tell you the good news?”
Lindsey shook her head, her mind spinning. “What news?”
“I’m pregnant.” She lay a hand over her still-flat tummy. “With twins!”
“Oh, JoAnn that’s great!” Lindsey hugged her, both of them crying and laughing at the same time.
Gavin shook Paul’s hand. “Congratulations.”
Paul beamed like a proud expectant father. “Well, we’d better go. Jo has to get her rest these days.”
JoAnn laughed but rolled her eyes. “The doting, over-protective father.”
When the couple left, Gavin lowered his head to kiss his bride.
“I think he’s sleeping,” Lindsey’s mom called.
Lindsey and Gavin pulled apart and laughed. “Come on, let’s put him in his own room.”
Gavin’s gaze strayed to the nursery. “He hasn’t been sleeping in there?”
Lindsey shook her head. “No, I’ve been keeping him in the bassinet in my room. I didn’t want him to be too far away.”
He brushed her hair with his fingertips. “I know what you mean. I can’t stand being away from either of you.”
“And I wanted you to be here when we showed him his room for the first time, Mac.”
Gavin arched a brow but followed, snuggling his on in the crook of his arm as Lindsey opened the door. When Gavin saw the room, his eyes grew suspiciously moist. Trains.
Everywhere. A wide blue border with a train track and a choo-choo train ran around the ceiling. Plastic toy trains filled a bright red toy bin. A mobile with different colored soft-sculptured trains d
angled above the baby’s crib. And his favorite childhood book, The Little Engine That Could, sat on a white child-size table.
“When did you do this?” Gavin turned to Lindsey.
“Before Cory was born.”
The magnitude of Lindsey’s love humbled him. She’d planned to give Cory a part of him even though he’d hurt her and sent her away.
She eased the baby from his arms and settled him in the baby bed, and he pulled her into his arms. “I love you, Mrs. McCord.”
“I love you, too, Mac.”
He removed a shiny silver whistle from his pocket and tied it to the mobile above the crib.
Lindsey slipped her arm around his waist and leaned into the curve of his arm. “What’s that for?”
Gavin smiled and rubbed a thumb over his son’s soft cap of hair. “So if he ever gets lost again, he can let us know where he is.”
Lindsey kissed him through her tears, then handed him a small envelope. He narrowed his eyes, then opened it and discovered another surprise waiting inside. Cory’s birth certificate.
Printed clearly on the form, he read his son’s name—not Cory Adam Payne as Lindsey had plainly told her ex-husband—Cory Adam McCord.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7860-2
SAVING HIS SON
Copyright © 2001 by Rita B. Herron.
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* The Hartwell Hope Chests
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twen
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Epilogue
