Texas Hope: Sweetgrass Springs Stories (Texas Heroes Book 16)
Page 22
Then she did laugh a little, and tears were close. “You took my breath away years ago, cowboy, and I never managed to get it back.”
He closed his arms around her and held on tight. “Do you believe in second chances, Sophia?”
She nodded. “I want to. Do you think Ian will mind if I stay? I don’t want to crowd him.”
“You staying isn’t negotiable, but where we are is. Our son is a fair man, and if we ever get his feet back on the ground, we’ll let him weigh in.” He looked down at her. “It is my house, though.” He grinned.
“You’d never throw him and Scarlett out.”
“Of course not. But I’m betting you’re dying to get your hands on that little girl, too.”
“I absolutely am.”
Michael’s voice came from behind them. “Cut it out, you kids. There are children present.”
“Get your own girl,” Gordon shot back with a grin.
“Looks like I might have done just that.”
When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw Michael approaching, his arm around Laken, who was nestled against Michael’s side. Sophia smiled, and her son smiled back.
Then they all peered through the glass and watched Ian as he held his baby, a cable hooked to a monitor taped to her tiny foot. Beside them sat a rocking chair where a still-pale Scarlett waited. On their faces were matching looks of wonder and pride and gratitude as Ruby bent to peer into the baby’s face, her own glowing with what surely felt like a miracle after her long years of standing vigil over a once-dying town.
Then Scarlett spotted them through the window and waved, a bright smile in her tired eyes.
Ian looked up and beamed, no doubt equally exhausted after the harrowing night just passed. After a moment, he placed the baby in Scarlett’s arms and slipped out the door to greet them.
“Is Scarlett supposed to be out of bed?” Gordon asked.
“You want to be the one to stop her, Dad?” He smiled. “She just finished nursing for the first time. She’ll be going back to her bed very soon, but it would have taken an army to keep her there one second longer. It’s hard when you expect to be handed your baby after delivery, but instead she’s whisked away immediately and taken to another floor.”
“Of course it would be. How are you, Ian?”
He exhaled. “Better now that the pediatrician has said that he doesn’t think the baby will have to be here long. Apparently it does help that she was already a good size, nearly six pounds. Otherwise, she’d be over in that other section with the tiny ones who are fighting for life. This was scary as hell, but we’re so much more fortunate than most of these parents. Her lungs need to mature a little more, and they’ll be treating her for jaundice, but—” He glanced away and grappled for composure.
After a moment, his gaze shifted back, first to Michael, then to Sophia. “I don’t know how to thank you. If you hadn’t kept your head when you were alone with her and if Michael hadn’t known what to do, and Laken, you and Dad pulled everything together—”
Michael clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It was a privilege to be there to help, but you did the heavy lifting.”
Sophia’s eyes stung at the sight of them together, at the memory of how frightened they’d all been. “Oh, Ian—you were so strong when you had to be scared to death.” She started to reach for him but immediately drew her hand back.
He touched her hand gently, and she had to close her eyes. She’d never thought to experience even this much from the son she’d so wronged.
“I’m sorry it has to be one at a time,” Ian said. “But are you all ready to come meet our Georgia Sophia?”
Sophia gasped. “Oh.” Then she did start to cry.
“That’s beautiful, son,” Gordon said.
“Way to go, bro,” Michael added.
Sophia couldn’t speak. All she could do was stare at Ian.
He met her gaze evenly. “I held her for the first time, and I began to remember things I hadn’t let myself think about in years, like how it felt to be cuddled in your lap and how you always read to me. I’d made myself forget how much you loved me, but I remember now.” Ian paused. “I won’t pretend to understand all that happened, but if you felt the tiniest fraction of what I feel about this child, I am certain of one thing: it couldn’t have been easy for you to walk away.”
“You know I bear the biggest share of blame, son,” Gordon said before she could respond.
He glanced at his father before he returned his gaze to Sophia’s. “It wasn’t easy, was it?” he asked softly.
“My heart died every mile that I traveled away from you. Oh, Ian, if I could do it over again—”
He shook his head. “We don’t get do-overs, but surely we can have second chances.” He glanced back at his child and his wife as if he couldn’t bear to be away from them, his features suffused with love. “That little girl is going to need every one of us who loves her to help her get strong enough to leave this place and to watch over her as she grows. And every little girl needs a grandmother, don’t you agree?”
“I do.” Her voice trembled. “Oh, Ian, I want to be here for her so much. I’m sorry I—”
He shook his head more vehemently. “No. We’re done with accusations and apologies. We’re starting from here, and we’re going to make that little girl’s life as rich in love as is humanly possible. All of us.” He looked again at Scarlett, who was watching them with shining eyes.
He turned back to them. “Love is what matters, Mom. Love always wins.”
Mom. He would never know what hearing that name meant. “I love you so much, Ian. I do want to help. I want to be there for all of you, if you’ll let me.”
“We all do,” Laken offered.
Michael nodded. “We’re family.”
“I’ve asked your mother to stay in Sweetgrass,” Gordon told them.
Michael’s grin flashed, but Ian didn’t respond immediately.
“I—is it okay with you if I stay, Ian?” she asked, her heart fluttering with fear and hope.
Ian glanced back at his new family, then over to his father, his brother and the woman his brother loved.
At last his gaze met hers, his brown eyes warm and soft as she’d never dared hope she’d see them again. “It is, Mom,” he answered. “It’s very okay.” He smiled and opened his arms. “Welcome home.”
Sophia wept as Gordon released her into the embrace of the remarkable man who’d once been her beloved little boy.
~THE END~
Thank you for letting me share my stories with you!
Next up is TEXAS STRONG:
The most reviled man in Sweetgrass Springs, Tank Patton lives on the razor’s edge of control, locked down and solitary by choice, keeping himself apart the only way he knows to avoid the legacy of violence handed down from his father. When he meets a young mother in dire straits, he gives her and her winsome children the immediate help they need, intending to give her wide berth from then on.
Chrissy Daniels desperately hopes she can make a new life for herself and her children in Sweetgrass Springs, and that means being strong and self-reliant, no more leaning on men who are losers or worse—yet she finds herself touched by the bone-deep loneliness she senses in the man everyone has warned her is a brute and not to be trusted.
Despite his intentions, Tank finds himself drawn back to Chrissy’s warmth and the sweetness of her children, yet he knows that to truly care for them means keeping his distance. Chrissy battles her long history of choosing men unwisely, yet she finds herself unable to turn away from this man she’s beginning to suspect is more decent than anyone believes—including Tank himself.
But can a man who’s never trusted anyone and a woman who’s trusted all the wrong men defy the odds and open their hearts to each other?
“This latest story from the Sweetgrass Spring series is the most touching and heartwarming yet. Beautiful story of redemption.”
~Reader review
“Oh b
oy, I just fell in love so hard. Tank is so damaged. I cried for the boy he was and the broken man he became. Chrissy is so feisty and has the heart of a lion. And she needs it, to help heal Tank. I think Jean Brashear’s writing just keeps getting better & better. What a powerful story of love & healing. So beautiful.”
~Reader review
Start reading TEXAS STRONG today!
If you enjoyed TEXAS HOPE, I would be very grateful if you would help others find this book by recommending it to your friends on GOODREADS or by writing a review on Amazon. If you would like to be informed when my next release is available, please sign up for my newsletter here.
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Thanks!
Jean
Sweetgrass Springs stories include:
TEXAS ROOTS (Ian and Scarlett book 1)
TEXAS WILD (Mackey and Rissa book 2)
TEXAS DREAMS (a reunion of all the Texas Heroes families)
TEXAS REBEL (Jackson and Veronica book 4)
TEXAS BLAZE (Bridger and Penelope book 5)
TEXAS CHRISTMAS BRIDE (a Texas Heroes reunion book 6)
TEXAS TIES (Book Babes part 1)
TEXAS TROUBLES (Book Babes part 2)
TEXAS TOGETHER (Book Babes part 3)
TEXAS HOPE (Michael and Laken)
TEXAS STRONG (Tank and Chrissy)
TEXAS SWEET (Brenda and Henry’s story)
Please enjoy an excerpt from TEXAS STRONG:
“Seriously, Josh Marshall will be at the work day? Movie star Josh Marshall?” Ruby’s new waitress Chrissy Daniels asked young waitress Brenda Jones. “Getting his hands dirty with, I don’t know, carpentry and stuff?” She fanned herself. “Getting…sweaty?”
“I know, right?” Brenda straightened one of the small flower arrangements she brought in after the days she worked at Veronica Gallagher’s flower farm. “I thought I’d faint the first time he walked into the cafe. He’s really nice, though, and down to earth.” She gave a nervous glance toward Jeanette. “His older brother is even more handsome, if you can imagine.”
Chrissy blinked. “Um…no. That can’t be possible.” She, too, glanced over, then filled another napkin holder as they set up for the supper rush. She’d been a waitress enough years to understand about pecking orders. Jeanette was top of the heap, and right now she felt extra vigilant because Scarlett was still in the hospital and Ruby wasn’t young.
The bell over the door rang, and someone walked in, a big man, tall and broad, with a badge on his shirt.
Brenda stiffened, just a little, and Chrissy couldn’t help wondering why.
He wasn’t strictly handsome, she thought. He had a rough edge to him, a rugged cast to his features. He didn’t look like a happy person, either. Around him was a sort of force field, an invisible barrier separating him from every else.
He looked like the loneliest man on earth. Not that his features betrayed him; his face was stone still, set in lines of authority and rigid control. But in his eyes, she caught a shadow…a hunger, barricaded almost immediately by what she thought of as iron doors rolling down, landing with a sharp thud.
Chrissy glanced about her, but everyone she saw was moving along in normal fashion, as though nothing had happened. Some appeared uneasy, others studiously ignored him as he stood like a tall, broad oak in their midst. But everyone left him alone, so alone that her feet were moving before she thought.
Her movement snagged his immediate attention. Blue eyes regarded her as if from behind a sheet of glass.
But a spark of curiosity flared.
“Would you like to sit?” she asked, clutching her ordering pad. Up close, he was even more dominating, and inside she jittered. “Or are you here to meet someone?”
Bitter amusement flared for a second. “You’re new.”
His voice could be hard, she thought, and intimidating, but she heard the edge of resignation in it.
“I am. My name is Chrissy Daniels. Do you come here often, Sheriff?” The star on his chest gleamed.
“Deputy Sheriff. And no, not any more often than I have to.”
Her eyes widened. “But the food is great, and everybody loves Ruby and Scarlett.”
A corner of his mouth turned up, and she thought he might have a great smile if he ever chose to use it. Somehow the tension around her made her think he didn’t use it much.
“You really are new to town.”
She frowned, wondering what he meant. Her lips parted to ask.
“Tank, stop glaring at my new waitress and come get your food,” Jeanette barked.
“He wasn’t—” Chrissy began.
His large, rough palm gripped her arm for one brief second. “Don’t bother defending me. It won’t help.” Just as quickly his touch was gone, then he was gone, moving across the room with a surprising grace for such a big man.
She watched him go, torn by the urge to stop him, to ask what he meant, to make someone explain why, in a town that had been nothing but welcoming, this man was all but shunned. She didn’t understand, but she didn’t want to rock the boat. She needed this job. Wanted more every day to belong to this place.
So she said nothing as she watched him go, her own palm clasped over her skin where he’d touched her.
Where his loneliness was a fine powdered residue over her own.
…Excerpt from TEXAS STRONG by Jean Brashear © 2016
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Readers react to the TEXAS HEROES series:
“In all of Jean’s books so far I love the strong independent heroines and the men who know right away these women are special and fall in love in such a sweet way. Loving this series and can’t wait to read more.”
“Love the seamless flow from one book to another. Jean Brashear’s Texas Heroes series is well worth a read. The characters are vivid and so real…the storylines are captivating. You won’t go wrong purchasing this series.”
“Jean Brashear, you are now one of my favorite authors. I loved them all and I can’t wait to read some of your other books. You have the unique talent of making the reader feel like they have been transported to Texas and are part of the family. I found it very difficult to put down your books. Thank you for giving me hours of reading pleasure.”
The Marshalls
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“Ms. Brashear has written a great story line with characters who are both ‘larger than life’ in some ways and yet very likeable, believable people. I’m looking forward to getting the next one about Quinn’s brother, Josh, who is also in this book. Ms Brashear does indeed write very much like my most favorite author, Linda Howard.”
~Reader review
“The Marshall men are quite spectacular and what they will do for the women they love wow! Not only are these men handsome, passionate, nurturing, but they will do anything to protect their families. Great books!”
~Reader review
“Jean Brashear will knock your socks off!”
~New York Times bestselling author Stella Cameron
The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs
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“This was a fantastic series! The Gallaghers are a crazy bunch but have a heart of gold. The love each one has will be forever! I highly recommend this series!”
~Reader review
“Wow!! What a way to bring us back to the Texas Heroes series. Every time I read one of Jean’s books about Sweetgrass Springs it makes me want to find this town and become a member. Catching up with the characters in the past books and seeing how new ones are written into the story lines is what keeps me coming back.”
~Reader review
“I love taking trips to Sweetgrass Springs! The characters and the story draw you in and won’t let you put the book down until you’ve read the happily ever after. The writing is excellent and I really love the small town setting!”
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~Reader review
“Sweetgrass Springs, Texas embodies a special place for hearts that need healing. This warm and romantic series only gets better with each story, as all the characters we have come to love, from the beginning, move forward with their lives.”
~Reader review
The Book Babes Trilogy
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“I love the concept of this story, about a unique group of women whose friendship cements them, despite their differences. How they grow into their relationships, as the years pass, becoming stronger as they find new challenges, is compelling.”
~Reader review
“Great start to what will be an awesome trilogy. I love the eclectic group of characters. All these strong women & some delicious men. I love the connection to Sweetgrass as well.”
~Reader review
More Sweetgrass Springs Stories
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“You will laugh, cry but most of all enjoy the love this story is filled with. A truly heartwarming story that will leave an impression on you! A great series!”
~Reader review
“This latest story from the Sweetgrass Spring series is the most touching and heartwarming yet. Beautiful story of redemption.”
~Reader review
“Oh boy, I just fell in love so hard. Tank is so damaged. I cried for the boy he was and the broken man he became. Chrissy is so feisty and has the heart of a lion. And she needs it, to help heal Tank. I think Jean Brashear’s writing just keeps getting better & better. What a powerful story of love & healing. So beautiful.”
~Reader review
“I must admit that I did tear up a bit with this one, but loved each of these people and their search for love and forgiveness. It’s a MUST read.”
~Reader review
“I can’t say enough good things about Jean Brashear’s books, I have read each and every one, and have loved them all. This one takes a hold of your heart and won’t let go. It has the characters of her other books, but there is enough description in it that it can stand alone. The characters are so well developed that you feel like you know each one of them. I for one would love to find the town of Sweetgrass Springs and live there for the rest of my life. The mystery surrounding the family is so well developed, you feel like that you know them personally, and I can’t wait for the next book.”