by Mindy Neff
“How’s my best girl?” Bill Dunaway leaned back to look at her in concern.
She sniffed. “A mess.”
He lifted a brow, but she shook her head. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Grandpa!” Jessica shrieked. Both little girls took a running jump and leaped into their grandfather’s arms. Despite his age he was a big man with muscles he kept honed at the local gym with the help of a personal trainer. He easily fielded both kids with a single swoop.
“Hey, it’s my other two best girls.”
“Grandpa, we got a puppy!”
“You did? Well, let me get my bag inside and you can introduce me.”
“I’ll get it,” Chance said. He carried the suitcase over the threshold, set it down. “I’m Chance Hammond.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Bill said. “I’d shake hands but they seem to be filled with granddaughters at the moment.”
“Chance has horses, too!” Jess began to chatter the second there was a break in the conversation. “We rided on Peppermint. And Lolly’s a’scared of rabbits, so we can’t hop around her. And wait till you see Scout and Maria and Nikki and Ian and…and everybody! Ian’s doggie is the mommy of Snowball. Oh, Grandpa, I’m so happy you’re here. The Christmas tree talked to us and—Watch out!”
Bill, about to move into the room, came to an immediate halt. “What?”
“You almost stepped on Marcy!”
He looked around, puzzled. “Marcy?”
“The angel,” Chance and Kelly said in unison.
Kimmy looked incredibly pleased that they seemed to be able to see the same thing she and her sister obviously did.
Kelly felt a little silly encouraging the fantasy. Chance appeared perfectly okay with it, and Bill fell right into step without batting an eye.
“I beg your pardon, Marcy.”
Kelly sighed when her father gave her a wink and a curious look. She’d have to explain later. “Jess, give Grandpa a chance to settle in before you talk his ear off. He’s had a long trip.”
“Jess and Kimmy, why don’t you come out and help me with the horses?” Chance suggested.
“Can Snowball come?”
“It’s a little cold for him, and he looks kind of sleepy. Scout can come, though.”
“Okay,” Jessica answered for both of them.
Kelly gave him a grateful smile. Her nerves were strung pretty tight as it was. And she’d enjoy the opportunity to visit with her dad for a few minutes alone.
Chance took the girls outside and Kelly got her father settled in a guest bedroom, then brewed a pot of cinnamon coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. Snow wasn’t falling, but the clouds were heavy in the sky, threatening to open up.
“Did you have any trouble getting from the airport?”
“No. Ozzie gave me good directions.”
“I imagine you’re anxious to see him. We’ll be getting together tomorrow night for a Christmas Eve celebration over at the church.”
“I’m more anxious to know what’s going on with you. And with that cowboy doctor who was looking at you like you hung the moon and stars just for his benefit.”
“Oh, he was not.”
Bill reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. “This is your old dad you’re talking to here.”
She glanced at him. “Can’t put anything over on you, huh?”
“Nope.”
“It’s complicated, Dad.”
“Life usually is. You’ve fallen in love, haven’t you.”
She jerked, sucked in a breath, started to deny. One look at her father and she knew it was no good.
“I got a call from Laura,” she said, instead. “She’s accepted a teaching position at UCI.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“Oh, I just don’t know.” Before she could censor her thoughts or words, she found herself pouring out her feelings—about this town, these people, about the practice waiting for her in California…and about Chance.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, Daddy. I knew it was only temporary.”
“If you return to an all-new practice, new dynamics, it’ll thrust you back into even longer hours. Isn’t that what you were trying to get away from in the first place by coming here?”
“In part, yes. Frankly, I think I was grabbing at straws, clutching a fantasy-type ideal as though it would hold the answers to the questions I didn’t know I wanted to ask.”
“And does it?”
She shrugged. “What have I really accomplished, Dad? Our time here has been wonderful, but Kimberly still hasn’t spoken.”
“She’s coming out of her sad little shell, though. Surely you see that. I do, and I’ve been here less than an hour.”
“So what are you saying? That I shouldn’t go back?”
“Honey, I can’t make that decision for you.”
She stood, went to the window and gazed out at the corral where Chance and her daughters laughed and horsed around. “What if I asked you to?”
Bill went to her, put his arms around her, hugged her close. “The day you ask someone else to make a decision for you is the day the world would probably come to a screeching halt, planets would collide. It’d be a big mess.”
She gave a watery laugh into his shirtfront. “I’ve been stubborn all my life, haven’t I. Did I put you and Mom through a lot of trials?”
“You’ve always been special, hon. Perfect. You didn’t put us through any more than any other loving family goes through.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ve decided I’m going to go out on a limb here, though. Don’t let Steve and Candy’s betrayal color your life.”
“I’m not!”
“Aren’t you?” he asked quietly. “Second chances don’t come along often. Be very sure before you close a door. A house or a medical practice can be sold or transferred. Love can’t.”
Her dad was sounding a lot like his buddy Ozzie Peyton, and Kelly wondered just how often the two pals had been communicating. And though he’d said he wouldn’t tell her what to do, he’d subtly done just that, giving her his opinion. She had a lot to think about.
IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE, a night filled with excitement, anticipation and a community spirit that was palpable in the pine-scented evening air.
And Chance felt like a damned coward. The feeling was new and foreign and he didn’t like it a bit.
But he’d felt Kelly distancing herself for the past couple of days—since that phone call from her partner. Now that her father was here, Chance was giving her plenty of space, figuring that if he didn’t confront her, she couldn’t tell him goodbye.
Damn it, his heart felt like a lead ball in his chest. They were walking around on eggshells when they should have been celebrating the season, laughing, enjoying…loving.
Once again he was reminded of his fiancée who’d chosen big-city over small-town life with him. The fact that he hadn’t fought for Dana or compromised was an indication that he hadn’t really been in love, after all.
What he’d felt for Dana was nothing like the gut-wrenching, breath-stealing feelings he had for Kelly.
Standing around the twenty-foot-tall town tree, surrounded by friends and neighbors, he assessed all that he had—his home, his friends, a medical practice he loved.
Could he go back to doctoring in the city? Leave all this behind?
The answer came to him in a heartbeat.
For Kelly he would.
“Is Santa gonna come here?” Jessica asked, distracting him.
“He already has. See the presents under the tree? That’s why we come over here to the church. In Shotgun Ridge, before Pastor Dan preaches his Christmas Eve sermon, Santa always leaves one gift under the town tree for each girl and boy in town.”
“What about for the mommies and daddies?”
“Naw. That’d throw his schedule off too much. You see, while the kids are opening their gifts here, he flies off to the neighboring towns to make other deliveries and give us enough time t
o go to church, then get home and in bed again before he lands on our rooftop to slide down our chimney. The man must be exhausted, don’t you think?”
Jessica looked at him solemnly. “He prob’ly gets tired, but he has magic.”
“Mmm. I’m sure he does.” Chance looked over at Kelly. What passed between them was surely magic. It had been from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. And he didn’t ever want to lose it.
He wanted to hold her, insist that she stay with him, give him a chance, give them a chance. The turmoil in his gut nearly sent him to his knees.
As Dan Lucas led them in a chorus of “Joy to the World,” Chance gave in to the urgency of his needs, drew Kelly to his side. Her voice stilled.
And when she looked up at him, it was the most natural thing in the world to press his lips to hers.
In this, there were no barriers between them. The chemistry was blinding, binding. He loved her more than he ever thought humanly possible. She was his soul mate, the woman who completed him. And if he let go, she might so easily slip through his fingers. He couldn’t let that happen. Wouldn’t.
Around them, neighbors sang and rejoiced. And Chance kissed her with a desperation he wasn’t used to feeling, trying to infuse her with all the love bursting inside him. Could he make her stay? Or convince her to let him come with her when and if she left?
The sudden silence around them brought his head up. He felt a tiny hand slip into his and looked down at Kimberly.
Something wiggled inside her coat. Then Snowball poked his head out just above the top button.
He grinned, but the expression froze on his face an instant later.
“Look,” Kimmy whispered.
It seemed as though the world stood still at that moment. He was afraid to breathe. Afraid not to.
He dropped to his knees, ignored the puppy licking his chin, glanced in the direction Kimmy pointed. There, standing off to the side, was a figure in glowing, flowing white. He shook his head, questioning his eyesight.
Could he be seeing Marcy? The angel the girls insisted was real? It wasn’t possible.
Around him, the crowd buzzed in shock and surprise.
“Did you see that?” someone gasped. “What was it?”
“Just a flash of light,” someone else responded, though with little conviction.
But Chance had the oddest notion that it was much more than a mere flash of light. The girls’ guardian angel had put in an appearance.
At that moment, though, Chance had eyes only for Kimberly Anderson. Kelly was on her knees beside them.
“You spoke,” he said, emotion clogging his throat, his heart pounding with joy.
“Uh-huh. The angel said I could.”
As simple as that. She had a sweet, little-girl voice that hadn’t lost its baby tone.
He hugged her to him, looked at Kelly. She was openly weeping and laughing, wrapping her arms around both of them.
Kimberly had spoken. Kelly had accomplished what she’d set out to do by coming to Shotgun Ridge. Now what? His heart hammered. He couldn’t give her up. Couldn’t give up these children.
“Kelly…”
Kelly lifted her hand to his handsome face. Her heart was wide open. She knew his thoughts. She’d spoken often enough about her reason for being here and her intention to eventually leave.
A miracle had occurred tonight. Or maybe it had happened the moment she’d stepped foot in this wonderful town.
But something else had happened, too. In only a few months she’d fallen in love, learned what it was like to be protected, to be revered, to be treated like a lady, to have her vulnerabilities celebrated. Even to accept that she didn’t always have to be perfect.
And in that short span of time, her child had been healed—by the love of a special doctor and the love of a town.
The choice between her life in California and the cowboy M.D. she’d fallen in love with became clear at once.
Before now, Kelly had simply never considered staying. She thought her home was in California. Frankly, when she’d come to Shotgun Ridge, she’d never dreamed she’d want to stay. It had never entered her mind that this could become permanent.
Drastic changes were what other people made. Kelly had always settled for what was in front of her—life as she knew it.
Well, that life was no longer recognizable.
This one here with Chance was.
No mansion or seven-figure income or Beverly Hills medical practice could compete or compare.
She cupped his face, then pressed her lips to his, unconcerned that an entire town watched them with bated breath.
“Is there room in this town for two doctors?”
His blue eyes flared with caution, hope and love. “I imagine so. If the matchmakers keep at it, the town’ll be expanding into the next county.”
“Want to be my partner?” she asked.
“Define partner.”
“Drs. Chance and Kelly Hammond of Shotgun Ridge, Montana.”
“Are you asking me to marry you?”
“I am.”
He snatched her to him, kissed her long after it was proper, long after the need for air pressed upon him. Then he drew back and looked down at Jessica and Kimberly, who were grinning like Cheshire cats. Happy little girls. With two voices.
“What do you say, girls?”
“You should say yes,” Jessica advised primly.
Kimberly nodded her head. “Snowball says so, too. You could be our daddy.”
Oh, man. He looked back at Kelly, never realizing he could feel this much joy. “Yes. My answer is definitely yes. I love you, Kelly. I love these girls. You won’t be sorry. I promise.”
“I know. I love you, too. I never knew what love really was until I met you.”
He wanted to rush, make sure this wasn’t a dream, claim this woman as his wife and these precious children as his daughters. “Let’s get married tonight. Everyone’s here.”
“I think we need a couple of days to get a license.”
“Judge Lester would pull some strings. I’ll give him free medical exams for life.”
She laughed, pressed her hand over his heart. “New Year’s Eve,” she promised. “That way your parents and sisters will be here, too. I never knew how much family and friends could mean. I want to be part of it all. With you.”
“I love you, Kelly.” He kissed her. With his heart and his soul, he promised her the world with the simple, loving sketch of his lips.
And as friends and neighbors clapped and cheered, snowflakes fell from the sky like feathers from an angel’s wing. His voice filled with emotion, he whispered, “Merry Christmas, Doctor.”
OZZIE PEYTON slapped his old war buddy on the shoulder, his eyes wet with emotion. It didn’t matter who saw. Age and wisdom and his sweet Vanessa had taught him there was no shame in honest emotion.
And there was plenty of that on the church lawn tonight as he watched Chance pledge to Kelly and those sweet little girls a commitment for a life together. Why, the love between them was bright enough to melt the snow right off the branches of the town tree.
And to think that he and his buddies and the man beside him—Kelly’s father—were pretty much responsible for it all gave him a nice warm feeling.
Yessiree. Against the backdrop of a white Christmas in Montana, this was the season of miracles where anything was possible—love, an angel and the sweet voice of a silent child.
The good Lord was lookin’ down on them for sure—though sending an angel was a bit risky, seeing as a shock like that could jolt a man into cardiac arrest, you bet.
The star atop the Christmas tree glistened, a wink of light that snagged his attention and made his heart settle contentedly in his chest. It was a sign. He knew just where to look for them.
You done good, Vanessa. I was only half jokin’ when I asked you to speak to the Man Upstairs. Merry Christmas, my love.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-6815-2
THE DOCTOR’S INSTANT FAMI
LY
Copyright © 2001 by Melinda Neff.
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*Tall, Dark & Irresistible
†Bachelors of Shotgun Ridge
