Hail Mary

by Taylor Hart

  Shane frowned and looked down at his hands. “Look, I know I messed things up. I know …” His face scrunched up and she knew what was happening. It didn’t happen very often with Shane, because he wasn’t the kind of guy to cry. He let out a rough breath. “I still love him, Paris. I do. Even with all the crap between all of us.” He looked at her. “And it’s not easy for me to say and I know it’s not fair, but … I’ll always love you, too. I mean, I love Shari. But …”

  She had no idea what Shane was doing or where he was going with this conversation, but she didn’t like it.

  He reached out and gently took her hand. “I … I think you should go talk to him.”

  “What?” She yanked her hand back. Was he talking about going to see Logan? “No.” It felt impossible, huge, like Kilimanjaro huge.

  Shane let her hand go. “I messed up. I cheated on you. I …” He looked away. “I’m not justifying it, but I did always feel second best to Logan. And Shari doesn’t look at me as second. I’m her first-string quarterback.”

  It was strange to hear him talk like this. She knew this, but Shane had never admitted to it.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly, and then looked into her eyes. “You deserve better than that, Paris. That was on me.” He swallowed. “But I love Ty, and I don’t want to mess that up. I … even if later we tell him the truth, I love being his dad.”

  The sincerity of his statement hit her. She sat up and wrapped her arms around Shane. “You’re a good father. Thank you for always being there for Ty and for me.” All the times he’d been there for her and Ty rushed through her. In a perfect world, he would have been Ty’s father. He was good at it.

  For a few moments they hugged, and Paris was surprised to feel all the anger just release.

  Shane pulled back, but kept her hand. “Paris …”

  Frowning, she felt nervous flutters. “What, Shane? Just tell me.”

  “He’s coming to town tomorrow and wants you to meet him at the Faith Hills Chapel.”

  Chapter 24

  Logan waited at Faith Hills Chapel. He hadn’t ever been this nervous. Not in all his years as a pro player, years he now remembered. He’d gotten into Jackson that afternoon and rented a Mustang—shocker, he knew—and driven to Star Valley.

  On the way, he’d thought about the past week. About falling off the stage and “waking up” as the guy Paris had warned him about.

  He stared at Faith Hills Chapel. It was kind of dramatic to do it this way, but when you were working with a Hail Mary, it was always dramatic, right?

  He got out of the car and didn’t see anyone else around. The trees were all in full bloom and it was peaceful. He reflected on how it’d felt to be in church a week ago with Paris and her dad. That was the image that had actually stuck in his mind. Of family.

  He wasn’t going to lie: all those pictures of Ty he’d studied when he hadn’t known he was Ty’s father—because he hadn’t remembered his life—had flitted across his mind over and over the past week. They’d shown up in his dreams.

  Nerves rushed through him and he wondered if his plan would work. He hoped it would. He felt hopeful after realizing there might be a way he and Shane could eventually be friends again.

  He saw her car coming down the gravel road and watched as she parked and got out.

  She wore dark jean shorts and a yellow top. Her hair was beautiful, curling around her face in red, soft curls. She was long and lithe. Every part of him came alive at seeing her.

  When she took her sunglasses off, he could tell she wasn’t too happy about this arrangement. “What?” she said flatly.

  He didn’t let that take the wind out of his sails. “We needed to talk.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You could have called, not gone through my ex-husband.”

  It was like she was using those words to rub it in his face, but he didn’t let that stop him, either. “True. But I have a confession. And I thought we should come to the church for that.”

  She glanced at the church. “Okay, but shouldn’t your fiancée, Kim, be here to hear this?”

  Logan let out a breath, then smiled. “I’m not engaged to Kim. I haven’t been since I saw you at the hospital.”

  She looked stunned. “But …”

  He felt ashamed of everything in his life he’d done the past few years, but Kim took the cake. “Pear, I’m here to talk to you.”

  Paris gave him an incredulous look, then let out a little laugh and shook her head. “Wow.”

  “Right?” He felt nervous again, and he hated feeling nervous. “So. I …” He hesitated.

  “What?” She crossed her arms.

  “Can we just … walk and talk?”

  For a second he thought she might order him away, but even though she didn’t take his hand, she began walking. “Talk,” she ordered.

  Logan matched her pace. “I … after all of this, I realized …”

  “What?” Her beautiful aqua eyes shone bright with emotion.

  He stopped walking. “Do you know what I thought was so cool about you last week? My eighteen-year-old self, I mean?”

  She eyed him with suspicion. “What?”

  “That you’re more beautiful now than you were back then.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Logan, stop.”

  He grabbed her hand. “I’m not lying.”

  She tried to yank her hand back, but he wouldn’t let her.

  “But that wasn’t the most important thing I noticed.”

  Still scowling, she rolled her eyes. “I guess you’re going to tell me.”

  He let out a light laugh and kissed the back of her hand. “I noticed how amazing you are as a mother. You love Ty so much. I know you wouldn’t admit it, but you do love Shane, even though he hurt you.” Tears pooled in his eyes as he thought of all the hurt he’d put her through. He blinked and the tears washed down his face, but he didn’t care. “And Pear, the past week it’s been like this mix of my life and I realized all good things came back to you. They always have. To you, your family. Shane, now Ty.” His voice broke. “And I don’t deserve you.” He sucked in a breath and had to look away. “When I woke up, I acted …”

  “Like the jerk,” she said. But her voice wasn’t as cold as before.

  He nodded. “But I told Kim right off we were over. Of course she threatened to sue me for everything, but I don’t care. I just …” He searched her eyes. “I didn’t feel worthy of you, that’s why I told you I was still engaged. I didn’t see any other way. But … but your dad gave me a stern talk about forgiveness a couple of days ago. And I haven’t been able to get that out of my head. And, finally, I realized I had to try. That maybe, maybe, you can forgive me, Pear?” He hung his head. “I know I don’t deserve it.”

  Every part of her seemed frozen.

  He stood there for what felt like forever.

  Maybe she couldn’t. He’d told himself so, and if she couldn’t, it was fine. He would walk away and just set up accounts for her and Ty and never bug them again. Yes, he could do that.

  But now, being next to her, he hoped he would never have to walk away.

  Suddenly, she squeezed his hand, even as she frowned. “You hurt me, Logan.”

  He pulled her into his arms, and both of them cried. He held her to him and just relished the fact he could be with her.

  “How do I know this is real?”

  He put his hands gently on her shoulder and felt the fallen tears. “I want you. Us. This. The happily ever after, married in the Faith Hills Chapel.” He rushed on. “I want Ty in my life. I don’t care if he knows I’m his real dad; I mean, eventually it will come out, right? But I want Shane. I want … I want days on the lake and the blasted boat to break down so I get to fix it.”

  She let out a light laugh. “Me too,” she said softly.

  “You do?” His eyes lit up. “I want to come to church on Sunday, and I want to have the life I dreamed of with you since the time I was fourteen. I don’t care; without you, withou
t my son, my best friend, football means nothing. I’d give it up for you if you wanted me to.”

  She jerked back. “What?”

  He smiled. “I’m just saying, I would.”

  “I think my dad might kill you if you did that.”

  He laughed and it felt good. Really, really good. He squeezed her hand and knew he had to say the next thing. “I know I messed it up with us because of alcohol and drugs, and you know what, Pear? You know what? It was a good thing you didn’t tell me then that Ty was mine, because I would have messed that up too. I would have.” He covered his face and sniffed and hated all this emotion, but after the last week and waking up, it had all become loose inside of him. Needing an outlet, the truth demanded to be set free.

  There were tears in her eyes.

  “I told you,” he said, gently brushing his fingers at one of her tears. “I want you to fall in love with me for the last time this time. And I mean it. Even though I didn’t know everything then, I think, I really think, this is the Hail Mary. This is the chance, to make it right.”

  She smiled at him.

  He went to his knee, her hand in both of his. “And I’m throwing the pass right now. Right here.”

  “Logan,” she whispered.

  He was already taking one hand and pulling the ring out of his pocket. The little ring with a miniscule diamond that he’d saved like crazy for his senior year in high school. The little ring he’d realized he still had in a box in his closet. “I saved this ring, Pear. The ring I bought you. The ring you gave back that—” Images of that horrible summer, his father’s funeral, him going crazy, fell across his mind. “I saved it because I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t let you go. And I didn’t know how to make it right or get you back. And then I hit my head and erased the last eight years.” He chuckled. “And it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  She laughed too. “My dad said that.”

  He looked quizzical.

  “When he first came to the cabin I told him you’d lost your memory and he told me that you’d finally gotten it back.”

  Logan’s heart filled with warmth. “I want you, Pear. I want us. I want all of us.” His heart rate spiked.

  Tears fell down her cheeks and she grinned. “Okay, then I’m running to the end zone and waiting for the pass.”

  He grinned, liking that she was using his football analogy. “All, right, I’m throwing this Hail Mary for you and I’m praying that you’ll catch it … and you’ll save me.”

  She broke into tears.

  “Marry me, Pear. Marry me. Marry me right here, in this chapel, and love me. And raise Ty with me and Shane. We’ll spend the rest of our lives figuring it all out together. Falling in love again and again forever. Marry me, please.”

  She let out something between a cry and a laugh. “I will.” She fell into his arms.

  He stood and held her. Once again, it could have been a second or an eternity. It was probably both. All of it, rolled into one.

  Pulling back, he took her hand and put the ring in place on her finger. “I love you.” He dipped his head to kiss her.

  When their lips met, it felt like the first kiss and the last kiss. Without pulling back, she said against his lips, “I love you too.”

  He felt forgiven and redeemed with those words. All the hope and possibility opened up in front of him like a lightning bolt shooting through him, and he picked her up, spinning her and celebrating the completion of the pass.

  She giggled, and they deepened the kiss.

  Finally he put her down, but he couldn’t stop kissing her, trailing kisses down her neck, breathing in her tropical scent.

  She laughed. “Logan, this is crazy.”

  “The Hail Mary is always the craziest,” he whispered, “but it’s also the most fun.”

  “That’s true,” she said, finding his lips again. “No one could ever say ‘the Wolf’ is boring.”

  He laughed, throwing his head back, and letting loose his wolf yell.

  She smacked him and kept laughing. “Yeah, let’s not end on that.”

  “Okay, let’s end on this.” He put his lips to hers and kissed her like they were in ninth grade and it was the first time.

  “I love you,” she whispered pulling back.

  “I love you always, Pear. Always will.”

  Thank you for reading, Hail Mary!….If you liked it—you may also like…Texas Water’s story—The Lone Star Groom. Purchase Here or Keep reading for a sneak peak of the first chapter!

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  Also by Taylor Hart

  Texas Titan Romances

  The Tough Love Groom

  The Second Chance Groom

  The Dream Groom

  Bachelor Billionaire Romances

  The Football Groom

  The Country Groom

  The Unfinished Groom

  The Barefoot Groom

  The Masquerading Groom

  The Christmas Groom

  Rescue Me: Park City Firefighter Romance (A Bachelor Billionaire Companion)

  The Lost Groom

  The Undercover Groom

  The LoneStar Groom

  The Last Play Series

  Last Play

  The Rookie

  Just Play

  A Player for Christmas

  Second String

  End Zone

  Hail Mary

  Snow Valley Series

  A Christmas in Snow Valley: The Christmas Eve Kiss

  Summer in Snow Valley: First Love

  Spring in Snow Valley: The Bet

  A Return to Snow Valley: The Christmas Boyfriend

  Sneak Peak The Lone Star Groom

  Liberty stood in her mother’s office at The New York Times and tried not to be offended at the offer on the table. “Mother, I just graduated from Yale. I just did a semester in London. I’m ready to cover the hard news. More than ready. Please don’t put me on some fluff country music article.”

  Her mother wore a pencil skirt dress with heels, her hair twisted into a stern French twist, and a very elegant amount of makeup—the picture of professionalism. She ignored Liberty and studied her computer, pointing to the screen. “Texas Waters.” She tsked her tongue. “He’s handsome, a war hero, and his music is somewhat controversial which makes him even more beloved by fans it seems.” She scrolled down the screen and waved Liberty around the desk, still pointing to the screen. “They want an up close and personal article done on him, ready to run by Labor Day. Are you ready for it?”

  Her heart pounded inside her chest. “I told you I want to leave by Labor Day to cover the U.N.’s conference in Nigeria. It’s going to be historic, delving into the issue of how to re-settle the refugees in the camps.”

  “No.” Her mother still didn’t look at her.

  Rushing on, she started citing facts. “Mother, this is a world problem, not an Africa problem. A lot of these refugees have been re-settled from other parts of the world and continue to be re-settled. Some families have lived in tent cities for fifteen years or more, there has to be more coverage. And don’t even get me started on the child abduction problem.”

  Finally, her mother flashed her violet eyes up to her from the screen. The same violet eyes she’d inherited. “I agree with you that it’s a critical issue that needs more attention, but you are not going to be the one covering it. Do you understand?”

  Liberty rolled her eyes. These were the breaks when your mother was the top editor for The New York Times. Part owner too. At least her family was. It was an ownership that would pass to her eventually.

  Not soon enough.

  “Look, Liberty,” her mother said, pronouncing each syllable of her name precisely, like lib-er-ty. Her mother hadn’t wanted to n
ame her that, she’d admitted to Liberty when she was twelve. Her father had insisted on it.

  “I don’t want you anywhere near Nigeria or …” She trailed off, and Liberty waited for her mother to say Iraq.

  But she didn’t. She never spoke of the place her father had been killed.

  Sighing, she shook her head. Liberty waited for a touch of moisture in her eyes, or any sign of real emotion. It didn’t happen. “Look, I need you to do this.”

  This article didn’t even seem pertinent to Liberty. “I don’t even like country music.”

  Her mother cocked an eyebrow. “A good reporter can report anything.”

  “Mother, you know I can report anything I want. You know that.” She hated to admit how badly she wanted her mother’s approval. Sure, she’d won awards in college for her articles. Sure, she’d been sent, on scholarship, to London for the semester, but her mother had never ever said she was good. Her mother, the top editor at The New York Times, had never told Liberty she had talent. It grated against the sensitive, fragile part of her she didn’t want to show anyone.

  Waving a hand in dismissal, her mother gave her an unamused smile. “Then get to Jackson and cover this story.”

  Anger burned through her. Hating the fact her mother could push her to act like a two-year-old so quickly, Liberty bit into the bottom of her lip. “You can’t control me, Mother.”

  Unfortunately, this was not a new fight. They’d been having it since before she left for London last Christmas to spend her last semester studying global conflicts in Europe. It had been awesome and had sparked a desire inside of her to see more of the world, to get to the underbelly of problems and make a difference.

  Her mother narrowed her eyes. “Your engagement party is the week after labor day. Have you told Hale you want to go halfway around the world into war-torn territory?”