High Country Christmas
Page 22
“I guess I’ve surprised you,” Noah said. “You probably need some time to think it over. I understand that...”
She almost shook her head, denying that she needed time at all.
“We can wait awhile, a week or two if you want to.
She sputtered a most unladylike laugh, and reached up to touch his face. He kissed her palm and she suddenly thought he was the most romantic man in the world. At least, he was perfect for her. But there were issues they hadn’t settled.
“Noah...”
“You admitted you were falling in love with me last night,” he said.
“I know, but our problems still exist.”
“Maybe not,” he said. “I spoke to the owner of Maxicom this morning. He and I have gotten close over the years. I think he respects me.”
“I’m sure he does.”
“Anyway, I told him I was through climbing towers. I still want to be a crew chief. I can send crews out from my desk. And I can check on them. Still have to travel some, but that’s doable, right?”
She didn’t trust her voice but managed to get the words out. “Oh, Noah, are you sure?”
“Ava, I’m sure.” He grinned at her. “The two women in my life have finally knocked some sense into my head. Daredevil stuff is for younger men, men that don’t have a bunch of kids to raise.”
“A bunch of kids?”
“You never know. If I am suddenly sure of myself in the parenting department, I just might want to try it again. Who knows?”
“Have you told Sawyer?”
“Oh heck no. If I’d told her, she would have given me a mile-long list of instructions of what to say so I wouldn’t blow it.”
Ava swiped at the tears going down her cheeks. “Noah, sweetheart, you haven’t blown it. Your words were from your heart. Your proposal was perfect. You are perfect.”
“Not perfect, Ava. I’m never selling my bike. You can live with that, can’t you?”
“I can...happily. Can you reach the tissues on my desk?”
He handed her one.
She blew her nose. “I love you so much, Noah. I love you as a friend, a husband, and I’m ready to love you as the father of our son.”
“It will happen, Ava. Before we get married, I will prove myself to that kid and then to you. You won’t have any doubts.”
She stared into his eyes, memorizing everything about this moment, this utterly dream-fulfilling moment.
“So, I’ve left a proposal on the table,” he said. “What’s your answer?”
“It’s a yes.”
He smiled. “That’s good, because I don’t think I can breathe right now. I know you’re working, but can I pick you up later? If it’s okay with you, I’m going to talk to my landlord about buying that little house next door. I’ll tell you his decision as we drive out to your mom’s place. There are a lot of Cahills that need to know what we’ve decided.”
She laughed. “And Sawyer?”
“Definitely Sawyer. She’ll be over the moon. You are about as far from a wicked stepmother as anyone could be.”
“I love her, Noah. I really do.”
“I know. You saved her, Ava. I know that, too.”
“Maybe I helped, but you would never have stopped trying.”
He raised her to her feet and kissed her deeply. “We’ll make this work, Ava. There’s enough determination in this room to make failure an impossibility.”
Ava kissed him back. “Failure? The word never entered my mind.”
EPILOGUE
SPRINGTIME ALWAYS PROMISED BIRTH, regrowth, possibilities and love. And this March was no different in the mountains. The trees hadn’t started to bud yet, but they soon would, and the cycle would begin again. And on the highest peaks, snow still dusted the slopes and brought the last of the skiers.
Miranda’s baby was due any day. She was happy for two reasons. She would give Emily a sister and Carter a daughter. And she would be able to fit into her bridesmaid dress for Ava’s wedding.
The wedding was set for the end of April and today, March 30, was the day Ava had waited for, thought about, for many months. She and Noah sat in Marjorie Marcos’s office. When a knock sounded on the door, Marjorie got up from her desk and walked to let in her visitor, one bright-eyed, smiling little boy who’d just turned six years old.
“I’ll leave you three alone,” she said, and followed her words with a nod of encouragement at Ava and Noah.
Charlie brightened instantly when he saw who was waiting in the office. “Hi. Are we going somewhere today?”
Their custom had been to take Charlie somewhere for an adventure in the mountains each Sunday. Now he looked forward to the outings and to the times he and Noah would kick the ball around after school. They had become special moments for father and son.
“No, sweetie,” Ava said. “Today we just want to talk to you.”
“That’s right, buddy,” Noah said. “Come sit down, okay?”
Ava and Noah had talked endlessly about the way they would approach this important announcement to Charlie with Marjorie’s advice. They would save the biological details for later. For now it was enough for Charlie to know he was wanted and loved.
Ava took his hand. “Sweetie, you know how sometimes children from this school go home to be with their parents? And sometimes children are picked by new parents to go home with them?” She smiled. “You know all this, right?”
He nodded.
“Well, I’m so happy to tell you that brand-new parents have picked you.”
His eyes rounded. “No. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you and Noah.”
Noah lifted him up and settled him on his knee. “That’s the best news, Charlie.” He grinned with all the happiness in his heart. “For better or worse, kid, we’re the new parents, and we want you to live with us.”
“We want to be your mom and dad,” Ava said. “We love you, sweetheart, just like we love Sawyer. We’ll be a family, the four of us.”
Charlie blinked several times. His bottom lip trembled.
“Aren’t you happy about this?” Noah said. “Because I gotta tell you, kiddo, that I’ve pretty much set my mind on this whole thing.”
Charlie reached his little arms up and wrapped them around Noah’s neck. “I get to live with you and Miss Ava?” he said, his words muffled by Noah’s throat.
Ava put her hand on Charlie’s back and patted gently. “Forever and ever, sweetie. Noah and I are getting married soon. You’ll come to the wedding and then we’re all moving next door to Noah’s house—you, Sawyer, Noah and me.”
“And I get to be your little boy for real?” Charlie said.
Tears gathered in Noah’s eyes. With Charlie’s head tucked against his collarbone, Noah ran his hand down the boy’s silky hair and smiled at Ava. “I feel like you already are, sport.”
* * *
For more stories about the Cahills of the High Country, check out these fabulous
titles from author Cynthia Thomason:
High Country Cop
Dad in Training
Available at www.Harlequin.com.
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Marine’s Return by Rula Sinara.
Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!
Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards
http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Heartwarming title.
You’ve got to have heart.... Harlequin Heartwarming celebrates wholesome, heartfelt relationships imbued with the traditional values so important to you: home, family, community and love.
Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Heartwarming every month!
Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive
offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
Join Harlequin My Rewards and reward the book lover in you!
Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever and whenever you shop.
Turn your points into FREE BOOKS of your choice
OR
EXCLUSIVE GIFTS from your favorite authors or series.
Click here to join for FREE
Or visit us online to register at
www.HarlequinMyRewards.com
Harlequin My Rewards is a free program (no fees) without any commitments or obligations.
The Marine’s Return
by Rula Sinara
PROLOGUE
MARINE SERGEANT CHAD CORALLIS pressed his shoulder against the crumbling clay wall that ran along the outskirts of the remote village. His nostrils burned from the caustic stench of rotting food scraps and trash bags baking in the scorching sun only a few feet away. But he kept his eyes peeled on the one-story building that stood in a gated courtyard across the street. His war dog, Aries, stayed in position at his side.
Chad adjusted his helmet then held up two fingers and pointed twice in the direction of the only other nearby structure, signaling for his men to head there. Corporal Jaxon, the youngest member of their squad at eighteen, nodded and passed the order on to the three men behind him. In a flash, Chad had his M27 aimed over the wall to cover the team as they began to move.
Jaxon led them, crouched low, to their new position—the roofless remnants of an old shop that had been stripped and beaten by years of war. A field of red poppies streaked across the landscape like an ominous river of blood flowing from the dusty, bleak village.
His men were well trained.
They’d survive this.
They had this.
The squad had captured multiple insurgents in Kandahar without a loss to the platoon. They’d endured unfathomably brutal conditions last winter at their outpost, working alongside Afghan troops to take down a Taliban stronghold. They’d even survived an ambush between Marjah and Nawa. Barely, but they were here now.
Still in Helmand Province.
Still alive.
He shifted, rising just enough to scan the street before moving to his next position. A woman draped in a burka walked briskly down the street, tugging on the hand of a little girl who’d dropped her doll. Every detail registered...the tall, lanky build of the woman, a curtain fluttering in a window across the street, a scruffy dog sniffing its way toward the trash...
Chad muttered a curse and kept firm control of Aries. He willed the other dog to stay away. One bark by either and they’d be sitting ducks.
He motioned for his men to wait. Adrenaline sizzled in his veins. He aimed his M27 and prepped for their cover to be blown.
Someone called out a name in Pashto and the dog trotted off down a narrow alley to the left. The girl grasped for her doll, as her mother held her hand tight and tried hurrying her along. Chad took two deep breaths...the kind he used to take as a kid before diving into the crisp waters of a crystal-clear pool on a swim with his sister and brothers.
He was doing this for them. For all the innocents out there...families, children, parents, loved ones. People all over the world who deserved the priceless, innate human right of peace of mind. The right to know they were safe from harm. But evil was a slippery, elusive, son of a—
A bead of sweat trailed along his throbbing temple and hit the corner of his eye. He blinked it away and focused. He was born to do this. His father was a marine. Being in the armed forces—fighting evil—was in his blood. Failing wasn’t. He looked from the road to his men.
They were in position. They knew the target’s coordinates. What in God’s name was taking so long for the final order? He waited to hear his commander’s voice come through his earpiece. He itched to move. Every cell in him was on fire.
The order came through.
Jaxon and the seven others on his team abandoned their cover and headed for the target, just as a small cart rolled down the street toward them like tumbleweed through a ghost town. The little girl pulled free from her mother’s grasp, scooped up her doll and ran toward the cart. Her mother yelled and ran after her.
Something was off. The cart was rolling too slowly. It was too close to his men. Too close to the little girl. And there was no sign of its owner coming after it. Aries growled and tugged.
“Fall back! Fall back!”
Chad leaped over the wall and ran like hell toward the cart, Aries at his heels.
Jaxon’s gaze jerked to Chad then to the cart. Then he looked once more at Chad, his eyes glazed with an eerie calm...and an unflinching resolve. Jaxon pushed the others out of his way and ran to intercept the cart.
“No!” Chad couldn’t let him do it. Images of his younger brothers filled his head. Family. These men were his brothers, too.
He had to protect them. He had to protect the innocent, too.
The child stopped in her tracks, green eyes wide with fear at the sight of his men. Her mother picked her up and ran.
Chad’s pulse pounded in his ears as he ran. Two more feet. He had to make it. He would.
The cart closed in. Jaxon lunged toward it. Chad collided with him, grabbed his arm and threw him to the left while shoving the cart as hard as he could to their right. It rolled a couple of feet before it stalled against a small rock...
And detonated.
Copyright © 2018 by Rula Sinara
ISBN-13: 9781488039553
High Country Christmas
Copyright © 2018 by Cynthia Thomason
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com