by Donna Fasano
She took it and turned it in her hand, watching the sunlight glitter off the polished silver. She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, holding on tightly and closing her eyes. He'd been there for her all her life. She loved him as much as her brothers.
"I'll treasure it," she whispered.
He nodded. Clearing his throat, he took it back to pin it on the Mackenzie tartan bow around her wrist. "I'll be watching to make sure that Sassenach takes good care of you, lass, or he'll answer to me."
Megan laughed. "He'll take care of me. You needn't worry about that."
Another knock sounded on the door and Lyall backed away. "I'll leave you in peace." He nodded to the group. "Ladies."
As he left, her father came in, clad in army dress uniform with a Mackenzie plaid kilt. "Are you ready, lass?"
"That I am, sir."
"Then we better not keep the rabble waiting." He poked out an elbow for her to put her hand through. "Shall we?"
Megan rested her hand on his forearm. With her mother and her friends following, she walked beside her father down the wide staircase, past the paintings of generations of Mackenzies who had no doubt trodden this same stairway on the way to their weddings.
"Major Fabian seems like a decent chap," her father said.
"I'm glad you approve."
He nodded. "George Knight likes the lad, so I take that as adequate recommendation."
They paused in the entrance hall while Olivia and her mother arranged the train on her dress and Alice adjusted her veil. Kelly stood directly behind her with Zoe and Annabelle. At the last moment, she handed the children their tartan-trimmed flower baskets of heather.
Hew, Duncan, and Blair stood in the doorway waiting for her, with little Fergus looking adorable, dressed in a kilt, holding his daddy's hand.
"Everyone's ready," Duncan said.
"You're a bonnie bride, Meggie Mackenzie." Blair winked. "It looks like Fabian got his three thousand pounds' worth that he paid for you at the auction."
"Blair!" She slapped his arm and he grinned at her, unabashed.
Hew signaled out the doorway and the bagpipes started playing. Unexpected nerves tangled inside her.
Duncan smiled, steady and reassuring. "Enjoy your day," he said.
To the poignant strains of "Highland Cathedral," she walked sedately down the flagstone path, through the gate, and onto the neatly-trimmed grass.
Grinning, Daniel stood with his brother, framed by the heather-trimmed arch, Loch Kinder in the background. All her nerves evaporated as she met his gaze. Her spirit soared up to the mountain peaks to think she would soon be married to this wonderful man who had made her feel beautiful and wanted.
Her father shook Daniel's hand, then stepped aside. She passed her bouquet to Alice, slid her fingers into Daniel's, and they turned to face the vicar.
The next half hour passed as if in a dream, her focus completely on Daniel. She barely noticed their friends and family as she repeated the words of the marriage service.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," the vicar said.
Daniel embraced her and their lips met. For a moment, the world went away. She fell into a blissful place where time stood still. She wasn't alone anymore; they were two, soon to be three. It was the best feeling in the world.
Gasps pulled her back to the moment. Like everyone else gathered there on the lawn that sunny August day at Kindrogan Castle, she shaded her eyes and stared at the white-tailed sea eagle and its two offspring as they skimmed the waters of the loch and glided over the wedding party into the blue sky.
"Magical," Daniel said, craning his neck to follow the birds' path.
He was right. Life was magical with Daniel, and always would be. He'd given her everything she'd dreamed of and thought she would never have. He might be a Sassenach from the wrong side of the border, but he was willing to make his home here in the Highlands of Scotland with her. She couldn't wait for their baby to be born so they could start their life together as a family.
Epilogue
As the final hours of the year ticked away, there was no glamorous ball, sumptuous dinner, or fireworks for Daniel and Megan. Duncan and Blair were in London for the Royal Army Medical Corps New Year's Ball, but inside Eagle Cottage, on the banks of Loch Kinder, the young Fabian family celebrated quietly, content with their own company.
"Here you are, sweetheart." Daniel placed a cup of tea on the nightstand for Megan and climbed into bed beside her. She leaned back on a heap of pillows, breastfeeding their seven-week-old daughter, Heather.
"Thanks. Aren't you going to have a glass of champagne to see in the New Year?" Megan asked.
"As you can't drink at the moment, I thought you might prefer to share these." He laid a heart-shaped box of champagne truffles on the bedspread.
"Oh, Daniel, darling, you are the sweetest man." Megan leaned closer and kissed him.
Gently curving a palm around their daughter's back, he then pressed his lips to his baby girl's forehead. He wanted to hug and kiss his adorable little daughter all the time. He was almost jealous that he couldn't feed her.
He hadn't believed in love at first sight until he glimpsed Heather's squashed face and tuft of red hair. The first time he held the tiny girl in his arms and stared into her blue eyes, he was a goner.
He wanted nothing more than to spend all his time with his wife and his sweet daughter. Unfortunately he still had to work at the army institute, but not over Christmas and the New Year.
Megan finished feeding Heather. "There you are, my hungry little darling. Daddy's waiting for his cuddle." She passed the baby across.
Daniel took his daughter, cradled her downy head in his hand, and stared at her face, a sense of wonder and love swelling in his chest. "Who's the prettiest baby girl in the world?" He kissed the end of her nose and her cheeks, then held her to his shoulder and rubbed her back to bring up her burps.
Megan finished her cup of tea and put it back on the nightstand with a yawn.
"Are you going to wait up to see the New Year in?" he asked.
"Feed me some chocolates and I'll try to stay awake."
He chuckled as she pulled the wrapper off the box, popped a sweet treat in her mouth, and dimmed the lights.
With Heather cradled in one arm and his darling wife snuggled beneath the other, Daniel relaxed against his pillows, a satisfied sigh whispering between his lips. If someone had told him a year ago that this New Year's Eve he would be married with a baby daughter, he wouldn't have believed them. This was how life should be.
They had installed large windows overlooking Loch Kinder. Their view extended down the valley to the twinkling lights that marked Kindrogan Castle. The full moon glowed in the night sky, casting a rippling trail of silver across the water.
To the gentle music of his baby's breathing and the light display of a trillion stars sparkling in the dark sky, Daniel watched the clock tick around to midnight.
"Happy New Year, darling," he whispered to his drowsy wife as she stirred against his chest. He kissed her hair, grateful for this wonderful life God had gifted him. "Happy New Year, my precious little girl," he said to Heather.
He had been looking for a new direction and he'd found it. Megan and Heather were his future, the most important things in his life. He'd found the peace and fulfillment he'd been searching for.
His New Year's resolution was easy to choose this year, and it would never change—to love his wife and baby and keep them safe for the rest of their lives.
His darling wife and his New Year's baby were more precious to him than anything else in the world. He planned to spend the rest of his life loving them, and if they loved him half as much, he would be a happy man.
About the Author
Helen Scott Taylor won the American Title IV contest in 2008. Her winning book, The Magic Knot, was published in 2009 to critical acclaim, received a starred review from Booklist, and was a Booklist top-ten romance for 2009. Since then she has published other
novels, novellas, and short stories in both the UK and USA. Find Helen at www.HelenScottTaylor.com
Contact
Find Helen at:
http://www.HelenScottTaylor.com
http://twitter.com/helenscotttaylo
http://facebook.com/helenscotttaylor
www.facebook.com/HelenScottTaylorAuthor
Other Books by Helen Scott Taylor
For me, army doctors represent many admirable qualities and I love writing about these strong caring men and the women who fall in love with them. If you enjoyed reading Daniel and Megan’s story, check out The Army Doctor’s Forever Baby to find out how the series started.
Prequel The Army Doctor’s Forever Baby. Can their love survive a heartbreaking test?
#1 The Army Doctor’s Baby. He falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend.
#2 The Army Doctor's Wedding. A marriage of convenience to adopt an orphan baby.
#3 The Army Doctor’s Christmas Baby. Adorable twins get a mother for Christmas
#5 The Army Doctor’s Valentine’s Baby. An abandoned baby brings two lonely doctors together.
#6 The Army Doctor’s Honeymoon Baby. Best friends become lovers, but a family secret threatens their happiness.
#1 Italian Christmas Proposal. Take a Christmas vacation in Italy and fall in love!
#2 Italian Christmas Baby. Emily has everything ready for the birth of her baby--the only thing left to do is tell the father!
#3 Italian Christmas Wedding. She runs from the Mafia straight into his arms!
I'm No Angel
Mimi Barbour
Copyright © 2015 by:
Mimi Barbour
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This book was built at IndieWrites.com. Visit us on Facebook.
Dedication
I want to dedicate this book to my beautiful and gentle-hearted young niece, Jenna. This lovely girl is at that terrifying age right now where she's no longer the little girl of the family but she's still not quite a self-reliant woman of the world. During these last couple of years, she's had to make a lot of difficult choices. Hard ones that most teens face when they're growing up and moving into their twenties. Jenna faces these challenges in such a brave way that she has made me so very proud.
Praise
"Love Mimi Barbour, love her books. When you can read a book that within just a few words, you are brought right into the book. You feel, taste, see everything going on. Great story lines. Fantastic characters, fantastic plots, story lines like real life both honest folk and of crooks. Humor that will have you giggling then full on belly laugh. You may even shed a tear or two. All in all Mimi never disappoints."
~ Shirleen Miller
“As far as I know, I have read everything Mimi Barbour has published, and I bought most of them. I keep coming back because I love her sense of humor and style of writing and I always fall in love with her characters.”
~ A. Chambers
Chapter 1
Angelina shot to her feet, forcing her office chair to thud against the back wall. It couldn’t be! The ear-splitting crack and the escalating rumbling convinced her that it could be… and it was. Born and raised in a country where earthquakes were a common phenomenon, she recognized exactly what was happening.
But how? This is Victoria, for heaven’s sake. But the earthquake didn’t seem to care.
Frantic, she scanned the various files scattered over her desk and began scooping them together. Commitment overpowered her fright. Just this morning, her dreams had come true. Her most important client to date had brought over his business and hired her to be his company’s accountant.
However, old-fashioned, the guy didn’t live in the twenty-first century. He still believed in hard copies, and it was up to her to protect his property. Since Angelina’s life now operated on a timetable, in two months, the sentimental old fool’s business would realize her goals.
The disruption escalated, lights flickered and the noise intensified. By this time Angelina had tossed the files into a heap, then begun awkwardly stuffing them into the nearest metal cabinet. Suddenly, she remembered the disk in the computer. Her trembling fingers pushed the button. The wait felt interminable. Who knew seconds were so hellishly long when terror controlled the time clock? Finally the CD popped out. She grabbed it. Threw it with the files. And slammed the drawer shut.
Shock whitening her face, Coralee, Angelina’s assistant, turned back. Screams for her boss to hurry sounded like a shrieking alarm and further galvanized everyone else. People were scrambling to and fro, vying with each other to get to the doorway and down the stairs to safety.
“Dammit! Run, Coralee. Get out.” Since Angelina occupied the farthest office from the outer doorway, she understood her chances were slim that she’d make it. It was possible for the rest of them. Not for her.
Barely functioning, Angelina gripped her desk. Shaking feverishly, a piece of advice slammed into her consciousness. Get near an outside wall, find a big piece of heavy furniture and curl up beside it.
Panic clawing at her senses, she grabbed her cellphone and crouched down on the floor, snuggling as close to the side of her large old wooden desk as she could get. She pushed her cheek against the coolness of the solid wood, and covered her head. She made it just in time.
Walls and ceilings began crumbling and ripping apart, while furniture either tipped over or rocked wildly. Stunned, she kept her head down and prayed.
Brass-bottomed desk lamps plunged and broke into shards of glass and clanking metal. The horrible sounds of her property’s destruction forced her to peek. Paralyzed, she watched as computer screens crashed onto chairs, plummeting to join the debris below. Filing cabinets shifted, battering into walls, while desks pitched back and forth on undulating floors. She heard a crash overhead and felt the air sucked from her space. The closest filing cabinet fell sideways to land on the edge of the desk, covering her like a roof, missing her by inches.
The worst hazard was the glass from the shattered windows: small deadly needles flew willy-nilly, stabbing and slicing, cutting unprotected skin.
High-pitched sounds like those in an action movie reached a crescendo, and she felt a deep throbbing throughout her body. Oh God… is that gas? A stench filtered through the surrounding plaster dust and added another dimension of dread.
Sweat pooling, barely able to breathe; she sobbed her fury to the one presence she’d believed was in her corner. “Why now, Dios? How could you wait until after I’d signed all the papers and started renovations? Just to destroy everything in an earthquake? I’ve worked so hard…”
As she ranted her disillusionment, tears and saliva mixed together and dripped from her chin. Swiping at her face, anger stiffened her backbone and buried the dread. Fury helped. It made her stronger.
Suddenly, she sensed a change. The noise lessened and the shaking slowed. She breathed a sigh of relief, until she became aware of her personal circumstances. Trapped, stuck in a very small, dark, suffocating space, her claustrophobia kicked in with a vengeance.
It was nearly impossible to move from side to side, and moans accompanied her every breath. Very carefully, she stirred, but there were only inches to spare. Biting down hard on the soft skin of her lower lip helped her marshal her willpower. After all, panicking could be fatal and shift the ceiling of rubble suspended over her cave.
No! Please!
The action started up again. Angelina’s heartbeat tripled, and jolted her fear into pure unadulterated terror. Used to earthquakes, Chilean citizens were well aware that aftershocks could be worse than the initial trembler.
Sweat dripped from her neck down into her cleavage. Her hands hid and protected her face. Crazy as it seemed, by covering her eyes, she shut out the evil.
Due to the tension in her crunched muscles, agony sprouted in her spinal column. Her jaw c
lenched so tightly that her face shook from the force of keeping her screams inside.
Finally, the aftershock waned and eventually came to a shuddering stop. Black loneliness clawed at her nerves. She sensed the pandemonium holding, like a call waiting. As the sounds of the monster dissipated, she heard the hoarse cries of another hostage
“Coralee, is that you? I can hear you. Are you hurt?” Angelina waited, taking deep breaths. Calm down, be cool…
“Yeah, it’s me, boss. I’m kinda injured and totally pinned down. Are you okay?” Coralee’s shaky voice sounded near.
“What do you mean, kinda injured, how kinda?” A sobbing chuckle broke loose when Angelina replayed the words to herself.
“Something clonked me on the head. I feel a bit wonky.”
“Coralee, por favor. Speak English. What does wonky mean?” Coralee’s habit of making up words normally amused Angelina, but not today. When Angelina had first met her, she’d believed that Coralee was getting back at her for her own frequent lapses into Spanish. But over time, she’d had to accept that it was Coralee’s way, and all part of the ditzy redhead’s charm.
“Don’t pick on me. I have a headache. There’s a bit of blood. What about you?”
“How much blood?”
“Some—not too much, don’t worry. You haven’t answered me. What about you? Are you hurt?”
“I can’t move and my heart’s beating so fast it feels like it’ll shoot right out of my chest.” Her voice wobbled and she cleared her throat, pretending that dryness, and not fear, was the culprit.
“Hang in there, sweetie. I can’t move either or I’d come to you. But I’m right here, so don’t lose it.”
