“She’s a strong woman, Travis. She’ll pull through this somehow. You’ll see.”
“If it was just the cancer, I might be able to hold on to hope… but a brain tumor is a whole different scenario.” The pain in his voice was almost more than Laurie could bear and tears flooded her eyes as she clung to Travis, wishing there was more that she could do for him. “This is why you wanted to come home with a wife in tow, isn’t it?” she asked, suddenly understanding the desperation she’d heard in his voice when he had asked her to pose as his bride for his mother.
Travis nodded his head as a tear rolled down his cheek. “She’s dying and there’s not a bloody thing I can do to help her. This is the only thing she’s asked me for, Laurie… She needs to know that I’m settled and happy in my family life before she goes. I need to give that to her. She’s the only family I have…”
“So we’ll make sure to tell her that we were talking about starting a family when she comes to,” Laurie said, rubbing her hands over his back in a soothing massage. “She will have the reassurance she needs, Travis. There’s no reason we can’t give that to her.”
“And I love that you’re willing to do that, but I don’t want it to be just empty promises meant to soothe her concern for me any longer, Laurie. I want to be able to look her in the eye and tell her that we’re honestly trying and have it be the God’s honest truth.”
“Does that mean you intend on being honest with her about everything?” she asked, knowing that he would understand that she meant their unmarried state.
“No,” he answered. “I want to make the lie a truth. I already told you that,” he told her, never losing eye contact with her. He needed her to know that his proposal hadn’t been just a spur of the moment whim that he hadn’t fully thought through.
“We seem to be at a bit of an impasse,” Laurie said sighing heavily. “You told me that we were going to lay off on talk of marriage until after we got back to Texas where we can test the waters with my brothers when we both get a chance to see what our relationship is like without all the pretense.”
The ambulance arrived moments later and their talk was put off as they watched from the sidelines as his mother was loaded onto the gurney and spirited away. Laurie hugged Travis as the ambulance drove towards the hospital with the sirens blaring. “Do you want to go after her?” she asked quietly.
Travis shook his head no and tugged her tighter into his arms. “I think until they know what’s going on with her, she’s better off without me there in the room, panicking. She’ll be better off if I’ve calmed down before I go sit by her bedside. I have to take comfort in the fact that the medics said her heartbeat and breathing were both normal.”
“In that case, let’s head back inside for now. We’ll find a way to get you calm and ready to go to your mom as soon as possible. I believe I can think of a few ways to do that,” she said seductively, wrapping her arm around his waist, settling her hand on his hip.
Travis couldn’t help but smile as he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head while they walked back into his mother’s house. This was just one more piece of proof that this woman was perfect for him in his opinion. All he had to do now was find a way to convince her to really think about his proposal.
He didn’t want to wait to be able to call Laurie his woman for real. What he wanted was to go back to that moment when he’d asked her to play the part of his wife and change the wording… asking her to marry him instead. When it had been about his mother, he had a feeling she would have said yes, just because Laurie had a really big heart. Now, he had no idea what it was going to take to get her to say yes, but he was more determined than ever to make it happen. Laurie was the perfect complement to him.
Chapter 12
The next morning when Travis and Laurie walked into his mother’s hospital room, the older woman was sitting up in the bed giving the nurse a hard time. It had been a long time since he’d seen her like this. She seemed so much more alive than he’d seen her since before his father had passed on. He cleared his throat and walked to her side, taking her hand.
“How you doing, Ma? Is everything alright?” She looked up at h im with a smile a mile wide. “Trav, it’s a miracle…” she said, practically glowing. “They ran some tests after the fall, and the cancer is in remission. The tumor isn’t any smaller, but it hasn’t grown either. Since I know you can’t put your work off for the unforeseeable future, you and your bride can head back home and know that I’ll be fine. Sooner or later my time will come, but at least I know that you’re happy and in good hands. Your Laurie is an amazing woman. Hold on to her, she’s a keeper.”
“I plan to,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. “Believe me, Ma… I know exactly how special Laurie is. If my heart was any more chucked full of love for her, it would burst with it.”
“Good,” his mother said, nodding her head. “Make sure you keep her feeling the love for you.”
“I’m prepared to fight with everything I have, if that’s what it would take to keep her with me for the rest of my days,” he said honestly, looking into Laurie’s eyes letting her see the truth behind his words.
Laurie blushed in the doorway and wrapped her arms around herself. The intensity in his eyes was hot enough to burn a hole in any resistance she might have been clinging to and she felt her heart flip over in her chest. In that moment, she found herself hoping that the fragile feelings that were developing between them were strong enough to surmount all of the obstacles that stood in their way. Between her brothers and the fact that they lived in two different states, they certainly had more than their fair share of issues to overcome if they were to actually make a go of a real marriage.
Travis reluctantly looked back at his mother and offered her a tentative grin. “We’re going to take you up on your offer… We really do have a lot to get back to. Between my vet business and Laurie’s garage, we’ve already been away for too long. Add the fact that her brothers are starting to freak out by the length of time she’s been gone, and we really should be heading back.”
His mother nodded her head in understanding and waved them off as they took off. Before long they had their suitcases back in the car and they were heading down the freeway back towards Texas. Laurie looked over at him as he drove and swallowed hard as emotion tried to choke her. This man had come to mean everything to her in such a short period of time and she had no idea how to deal with any of the emotions swelling in her. She wanted to believe that once they got back to her house, Travis would still be as into her as he had seemed at his mother’s place. At the same time, she had no clue how to explain their suddenly intense relationship to her brothers in a way that wouldn’t lead to them scaring Travis back to wherever he’d come from in the first place. The fact that he had seen her in full mechanic mode and still desired her even though he wasn’t drunk or desperate went a long ways in her book. The idea of losing that… of losing him, broke her heart.
She wondered if what they shared was strong enough to survive all of the problems reality would bring now that the pretense for his mother’s sake was over. She wasn’t even sure how Travis really felt about her. All she had to go on were words that could very well have been said solely for his mother’s benefit.
“Penny for your thoughts,” he said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. “You’re a million light years away…”
“Just wondering where we go from here. Will you stay on when we get back to my house, or will you be heading back to your own house and your practice?”
A ball of emotion swirled in his stomach and he reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly in his own. “I’d like to stay on for a bit… Meet your elusive brothers and state my intentions to their faces… ask for your hand officially like any true Southern gentleman would.” “I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to…” she admitted shyly, blushing deeply when the shocked look came over his expressive features. “If you’re serious about this, I
think we need to talk,” she said carefully, biting her bottom lip nervously before continuing. “I have a job and a family… I can’t just up and move to wherever your practice is… I want to be with you,” she rushed to explain when he frowned. “It’s just that….”
“What?” he asked, his jaw ticking with the nerves that were threatening to bring him down. “If we’re going to b e together, it has to be in my hometown. I’m afraid it’s a bit of a deal breaker for me. I know how much of a rush you were in to get out of Texas the last time you were at my house…”
Tears filled Laurie’s eyes as she thought of the reality of Travis leaving and never seeing him again. “I don’t want to lose you over this, but it’s the only way we’d be able to be together.”
Travis thought about how miserable he’d been when he’d first came to a stop in the middle of the desert… how he’d wondered how any person could ever get used to living in such a hot barren environment. He glanced over at the nervous woman at his side and he knew why a man would choose to live in such a place. If living in the middle of nowhere, sweating away the pounds miles away from what would constitute as civilization was the only way to be with the woman he loved, he would happily do it.
It was a farming community. There was sure to be more than enough work for a veterinarian. No, it wouldn’t be with the up and coming big names he’d been working with back home, but it would be a good solid income. He didn’t need the fame that came with being the main vet for the Kentucky derby.
“If you feel that strongly about it, I don’t see where it would be a problem. I can be a vet just about anywhere. It’s one benefit of owning my own business. I can hang my shingle just about anywhere. Since I missed the height of the racing season already, I imagine another vet has already stepped all over my turf back home anyways.”
It was a sad but true statement. He’d known when he agreed to leave to go to his mother that he’d most likely lose the contracts with the racing world to another vet. He hadn’t thought far enough ahead to think of how he would continue to make a living once he got back home. His mother and her health had been his only concern at the time.
Laurie looked stunned that he’d agreed so easily and he squeezed her hand again. “Don’t look so surprised,” he scolded softly. “When a man loves you enough to propose marriage, he knows that there will be plenty of
compromises that he’ll have to make in the future in order to keep you happy. My business is the only thing waiting for me back home and with my absence during the worst possible time; I pretty much already all but kissed that goodbye. Like you said, you have a family and a business that aren’t going anywhere. It only makes sense that we settle there.”
“It’s just that I guess I’m still struggling to believe that a man that looks like you could really want a woman like me,” she admitted shakily. “You have no idea what living in such close range of my brothers is going to be like. They’re relentless when it comes to keeping men at bay around me. When they learn that I’m serious about you and that for all intents and purposes, due to the fact that in order to be with me, you’ll have to move away from your work, you’ll be basically unemployed for a bit… they are going to move mountains to get you away from me.”
Travis spotted a diner on the side of the freeway and pulled in, parking the car before he turned to face her, looking straight into her eyes. “Absolutely nothing they say or do is going to make me want to leave you, Laurie. I’m not afraid of your brothers.”
“That’s because you haven’t met them,” Laurie said laughing. “Jeff is a handful and he’s as anti-marriage as they come. Eric is even worse, because he’s loved and lost before and he sees protecting me from the same fate as his job as the oldest now that our parents are gone.”
He was shaking his head in denial and he leaned over to kiss her. Laurie moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck. When the kiss eventually broke, she spoke. Her voice was deeper than usual and came out in a smoky tone that gave away her desire.
“What was that for?”
“I just needed to kiss you,” he said honestly. “I’m stronger than I look,” he added chuckling when she glanced down at his massive biceps, practically drooling. “Your brothers are protective of you because they love you. Once they see that my intentions with you are honest and permanent, I have no doubt that the three of us will get along famously. Relax, Laurie. If your brothers are our only obstacle, we’ll be fine.”
Her hand shook as she lifted it to rub it over the bulging muscle on his arm. “I know how strong you are,” she murmured softly, her eyelids going to halfmast. “You show me every time you hold me in your arms. I just worry because I know how my brothers can be around men that come sniffing around me.”
“Do you trust me?” he asked, leaning towards her, touching his forehead to hers.
“Yes,” she answered breathlessly.
“Then believe me when I tell you I can handle them and anything they may throw at me.”
“And you’re willing to go through all of that? For me?” she asked skeptically. “That and a whole lot more,” he answered truthfully, leaning down and kissing her lips. In that moment, Laurie believed him and her heart soared. As crazy as it would sound to all of her friends and family when she told them how much she cared about this man, she could hardly wait to do it. She could only imagine the look on her brother’s faces when they met Travis and learned of the plans they had made together. It would almost be worth the chew out session and fight that they would have to face after the fact. The only thing that kept her from losing it altogether was Travis’s insistence that he was strong enough and that his love for her was powerful enough that nothing either of her brothers did would take him away from her.
As much as it scared her to trust in the dream this man was offering her, she knew she had to cling to it. If it turned out to be real, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for true happiness. A chance for her to live out a life like Eric was… in love with a family of her own. Children of her own. Oh yes… Taking the leap of faith with Travis was well worth dealing with the fallout from telling her interfering brothers that she intended to accept the proposal that had been offered.
Smiling with her lips against Travis’s, Laurie decided to wait to inform him of her decision until the perfect time. Surprising him would be half the fun. Waiting to see the look on his face when she said yes would be one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but she would do it. She had no doubt that he would reward her for saying yes in the most pleasant way a man could possibly say thank you to the woman he loved. She could hardly wait.
Chapter 13
When they rolled into Laurie’s driveway, Jeff was just climbing down off his horse beside her truck. Laurie sighed heavily and nervously reached out to take Travis’s hand. “Let the games begin,” she muttered sadly. “That’s my little brother, Jeff. He’s the one that is anti-marriage. He is training to get ready to start the next rodeo season as a bull rider. He’s not one you want to mess with, and I can tell by the look on his face, he’s looking for a fight. Please be careful…”
Travis linked his fingers through hers and leaned over to kiss her. In that moment he could tell that she needed reassurance that he wasn’t going to leave her. He found that he wanted to slam both of her brothers into a brick wall so hard they bounced off and fell onto the ground. It wasn’t right that the other men could get away with making their sister so afraid of losing any man. If they truly cared about Laurie, her brothers should back off when she really cared about a man. If they didn’t, he wasn’t afraid to say so directly to their faces. It was past time that Laurie was allowed to make her own choices for her life.
Gathering his courage, Travis climbed out of the car and took his time walking around to the other side, pulling Laurie’s door open and helping her out. When she stood at his side, he tugged her into his arms and ignoring the tall man making his way over to them, he lowered his face and kissed her deeply, sweeping his arms around
her waist so that he was completely wrapped around her entire body. It was a declaration of intent on his part and as a man he knew that it was one that her brother would recognize.
Jeff cleared his throat and stood there tapping the toes of his cowboy boots. “Start explaining yourself Laurie. Eric has been on my back for letting you run off in the first place ever since you disappeared and now you’re back with this leech wrapped around you. I deserve an explanation…”
The kiss broke and Laurie sighed heavily turning her attention towards her brother. She opened her mouth to speak but Travis beat her to the punch.
“My name is Travis Robbins,” he said offering a handshake. Jeff reluctantly accepted the other man’s offer and cringed slightly when Travis squeezed his hand so tightly it almost crushed his bones. “I took your sister back to my family home to meet my mother,” he said pointedly. “Thought Mom should meet the woman I intend to make my wife.”
The words hung awkwardly in the air and the tension was thick enough that Laurie thought perhaps she should run into the house to grab a steak knife to cut through it with. Finally after a long silence, Jeff found his tongue and started his barrage of questions.
“Just who do you think you are? Do you honestly believe you can just waltz in here out of nowhere and not have to prove yourself? Do you even have a job? Are you some lowlife deadbeat? Where do you live? Do you plan on moving in here and mooching off my sister? Or is the idea to get myself and our brother to pick up the tab and pay your way? How long have you even known Laurie? Am I supposed to be impressed by that fancy car of yours?”
Laurie was grinding her teeth in agitation and making a fist so tight that her fingernails dug into the palm of her hand. “Jeff, I’m trying to have patience with you… I really am. You have no business butting into my life or Travis’s. If you’d sit down and act like a normal human being for a change, we might just tell you a thing or two, but it would be our choice to do so.”
Texas Heat (Stubborn Texas Siblings Book 2) Page 7
