When the automatic doors at the entrance slid open, Jeff strode toward her. His clothes were muddy and wet, his expression grim, his hair slicked against his head from the rain, and his wet boots squished with each step.
He’d never looked more handsome, and she’d never been so glad to see anyone in her life.
She hurried toward him, and he opened his arms. For the first time since she’d watch Brittany fall into the river, Jodie felt a flicker of relief.
Jeff hugged her tight, then held her at arm’s length. His somber eyes searched her face. “Has there been any change? Brynn’s latest update was the same.”
Jodie’s breath hitched in her throat, and she had to swallow before she spoke. “We’re still waiting for the doctor’s report.”
“I’ll wait with you.”
Jodie shivered in the too-cool air-conditioning. Even though her mother had brought her dry garments, she was freezing, and Jeff had to be miserable in his wet clothes. But if he was, he didn’t show it. He pulled her into a chair beside him and laced his fingers through hers.
“I haven’t thanked you—”
“No need.” His voice was low, intimate. “I was saving my own life. I couldn’t live without you, Jodie.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “And I can’t live without Brittany. You saved her, too. I’ll never forget that.”
At the soft thud of approaching footsteps, she lifted her head. Dr. Anderson, the young new E.R. specialist, had left Brittany’s room and was coming down the hall toward her.
Jodie stood. Jeff rose beside her.
“She’s awake,” Dr. Anderson said. “And other than a nasty headache, she seems fine.”
“Thank God.” Jodie’s legs threatened to give way. Only Jeff’s strong arm kept her upright.
“We’ll keep her overnight for observation,” Dr. Anderson said, “but it’s just a precaution.”
Jodie’s parents, Grant and Merrilee joined them and heard the news. Their praise for Jeff’s rescue was effusive, and Jodie could tell he was uncomfortable from the attention.
Brynn’s sudden arrival interrupted their celebration, and cold dread gripped Jodie once more.
She’d forgotten about the river.
Chapter Thirteen
Jodie turned her van onto the road leading to Archer Farm. Butterflies dived like kamikaze fighters in her stomach, and her palms were damp with nervous perspiration. Jeff, whom she hadn’t seen since that evening in the hospital corridor, had called and asked her to come to Archer Farm. He’d refused to say more, insisting he’d explain when she arrived.
He’d sent Brittany get-well flowers and a stuffed animal—a uniformed bulldog, the Marine Corps mascot. But today was the first time Jodie had spoken with him since the flood a week ago. Jeff had slipped away in the excitement over Dr. Anderson’s news of Brittany’s imminent recovery and, according to Brynn, returned to the riverbank.
Thanks to National Guard reinforcements and an unexpected fast-moving front that pushed the rains through the area more swiftly than expected, the river hadn’t risen as high as predicted. The wall of sandbags had protected the town. Only an outbuilding at the Community Church that stored newspapers for recycling had suffered any damage.
Jeff, his staff, and the boys from Archer Farm had been declared heroes by the local paper. Agnes Tut-tle’s petitions had been destroyed at the request of those who’d signed them, and Jeff’s entire group would be honored at the town’s Fourth of July celebration in a few days.
Jodie eased the van up the final ascent to the farm. She’d had an entire week to return to normal, but her life would never be normal again. She couldn’t get Jeff out of her mind. Or her heart. He’d risked his life for her and Brittany.
And before that, he’d made love to Jodie with a passion and tenderness she’d never imagined possible. But this past week was a testament to the separateness of their lives. Jodie had worked long hours to put her café and shop back in order after the hasty evacuation, and she’d worked even harder to establish a dialogue with Brittany. She didn’t know how Jeff had spent his week, but he’d obviously had no time for Jodie.
So why did he want to see her now?
She parked in front of the farmhouse. Jeff, who’d been waiting on the porch, came to meet her as she climbed out of the van. Today, instead of the olive-drab uniform of Archer Farm, he wore black slacks and a gray knit shirt the color of his eyes. His expression gave no hint of his thoughts.
“Thanks for coming,” he said.
She glanced around and noted, except for Jeff’s pickup, no other vehicles or people in sight. “Where is everybody?”
“Field trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway.”
“You didn’t go?”
“I have more important things to take care of.”
“Then you’d better tell me what you wanted, so I can leave you to them.”
Her nervousness increased at the realization they were alone. She remembered all too well what had happened the last time, and although she’d treasure that memory the rest of her life, she refused to indulge in sex again without commitment.
“How’s Brittany?” he asked.
“Physically she’s fine. But emotionally she still has issues.”
“Still angry with you?”
Jodie shook her head. “After I jumped in the river after her, she can’t refute how much I love her. It’s her paternal grandparents’ lack of acknowledgment that still hurts.”
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“How are you?”
“Fine.”
“Oh.” He sounded disappointed.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” she said, her defenses up.
“No reason. It’s good you’re okay.” But he didn’t sound convinced.
“Why am I here?” she asked.
“Because I’m not okay.”
Alarm cascaded through her. “What’s wrong?”
He shrugged. “Can’t eat. Can’t sleep. Can’t concentrate.”
She studied him closely. To her eyes he’d never looked better. “Have you seen a doctor?”
He nodded solemnly. “Dr. Hager.”
She took a moment to make the connection. “Gofer?”
“He has his Ph.D. in psychology, remember?”
“And did Dr. Hager make a diagnosis?”
Jeff took her hand and led her to a rocker on the porch. She took a seat, and he propped a hip on the balustrade across from her.
After a long pause during which his eyes never left hers, he spoke. “Gofer says there’s only one cure for what ails me.”
Sex, Jodie thought, but she wasn’t going there again, no matter how much she wanted him.
“Marry me,” Jeff said, shattering her thoughts.
“What?” She couldn’t believe she’d heard him correctly. They’d both agreed there was no room for marriage in either of their lives. They each had too many other commitments.
“I know Brittany may have problems with us,” Jeff was saying, “but I have the name of a marriage and family therapist in Greenville who’s top-notch. The three of us can go together. I’ll do whatever it takes to help Brittany accept that you deserve a life of your own.”
“But what about Archer Farm?”
“The story of our boys’ help during the flood hit the national papers. As a result, funding has been pouring into the project. With proper investment, we have enough to keep us in business for years and pay decent salaries to the staff. My job’s been made a whole lot easier, giving me time to devote to you, to us.”
Events were moving too fast. Her heart was pounding, her head spinning, her stomach clenching. For one terrified moment she feared she’d be sick from excitement right on Jeff’s front porch. She forced herself to breathe.
“But where would we live?” She thought of her business. And Jeff was needed at the farm.
“We don’t have to decide now,” he said with a calmness she envied, considering the way her entire body was
in chaos. “We don’t even have to be married right away. If the therapist thinks it’s best, we can wait till Brittany goes away to college.”
“That long?” Jodie’s voice rose in protest.
“I take it that’s a yes?”
“What?” Her thoughts whirled, and she was having trouble breathing.
He reached for her and drew her into his arms. “Will you marry me, Jodie Nathan?”
“Oh, yes, but—”
“We’ll take care of the buts later. For now, just shut up and kiss me.”
And she did.
Epilogue
Spring in the valley was Jodie’s favorite time of year. March had come in like a lamb with sunny skies, balmy temperatures and a profusion of forsythia, daffodils and the bridal-white blossoms of Bradford pear trees.
Spring had also brought the apple blossoms and paper whites that filled Jodie’s bouquet, the one she’d be tossing at the reception in a few minutes, as soon as she shed her wedding gown for traveling clothes.
Jeff stood behind her in the large master bedroom of the house at Archer Farm and wrapped his arms around her waist. She gazed at their reflection in the tall mirror on the dresser and thought for the thousandth time how amazingly handsome he looked in his tuxedo. But she wasn’t surprised. Jeff was gorgeous in anything. Or nothing.
Jodie resisted the urge to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. She still couldn’t believe her good fortune, being loved by a man both intrinsically good and sinfully good-looking.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Just dazed.” She leaned against him. “I can’t believe we’re really married.”
The ceremony at the Community Church and the reception at the farm had passed in a blur, unlike the previous eight months, which had seemed to last forever. But that time had been well spent. She and Brittany or sometimes Jodie and Jeff and often all three of them had spent weekly sessions with the marriage and family therapist in Greenville.
As first, the mere idea of loving Jeff, let alone marriage, had scared Jodie to death. She’d messed up her young life so badly with Randy Mercer, the prospect of a real relationship practically paralyzed her. But with the counselor’s guidance and Jeff’s gentle support and unshakable love, her fears had gradually disappeared. Not that Jodie felt she wouldn’t make some mistakes, but she’d learned she could handle them if she did.
Together, Jodie, Jeff and Brittany had worked out most of their issues.
Such as where they’d live. After much discussion and compromise, the three had agreed that Jodie and Brittany would move into the house at Archer Farm after the honeymoon. By renting the apartment over her café, Jodie could afford to hire a manager for the business, freeing time to spend with Brittany and also to provide a maternal presence for the Archer Farm boys.
The therapist had helped Brittany deal with her anger over her father and grandparents’ desertion, anger that she’d transferred to Jodie. Brittany had also accepted that her mother’s love for Jeff didn’t take away from Jodie’s love for her. And Brittany was growing fond of Jeff, too. The only thing the therapist hadn’t resolved was the fact that Brit was still a teenager. Only time, Jodie thought with a smile, would cure that affliction. Meanwhile, their future as a family looked promising.
“We’re married all right,” Jeff assured her with a grin. “And between Trace and Grant, we have several hours of video footage to prove it.”
“Don’t forget Merrilee’s photographs.” Jodie brushed a fleck of icing from his lapel. “I’ve never cut a cake with a sword before.”
“Just another Marine tradition.” The devotion in his warm gray eyes reinforced her conviction that marrying Jeff was the best decision she’d ever made.
“Something tells me there’re lots of Marine traditions in my future.”
“Is that a problem?”
She leaned her cheek against his chest. “I married a Marine, traditions and all.”
His arms tightened around her, and she’d never felt more cherished, more secure. “And this Marine is going to love you always,” he promised.
“Always?”
“Forever and ever, amen,” Jeff echoed the Randy Travis song that had played at the reception, still going strong in the great room next door.
She lifted her face to his, eyes shining. “Forever is a long time.”
“For loving you, Jodie Nathan Davidson, forever isn’t long enough.”
* * * * *
Turn the page for excerpts from
four lively and delightful
books from American Romance!
Archer’s Angels by Tina Leonard (#1053)
Archer Jefferson—he’s brother number eight in Tina’s COWBOYS BY THE DOZEN miniseries. Enjoy this popular author’s high-energy writing, quirky characters and outrageous situations. Come back for more with Belonging to Bandera! Available in February 2005.
* * *
Clove Penmire looked around as she got off the bus in Lonely Hearts Station, Texas. For all her fascination with cowboys and the lure of the dusty state she’d read so much about, she had to admit that small-town Texas was nothing like her homeland of Australia.
A horse broke free from the barn across the street, walking itself nonchalantly between the two sides of the old-time town. A cowboy sprinted out of the barn and ran after his horse, but he was laughing as he caught up to it.
Clove smiled. From the back she couldn’t tell if the man was handsome, but he was dressed in Wranglers and a hat, and as far as she could tell, this cowboy was the real thing.
And she had traveled to Texas for the real thing.
That sentiment would have sounded preposterous, even to Clove, just a month ago. Until she’d learned that her sister, Lucy, couldn’t have a baby. Of course, people all over the world couldn’t always conceive when they wanted to. They adopted, or pursued other means of happiness. She hadn’t been too worried-until Lucy had confessed that she thought her husband might leave her for a woman who could bear children.
Clove’s thoughts then took a decidedly new trajectory, one that included fantasies of tossing her brother-in-law into the ocean.
Now the cowboy caught her interested gaze, holding it for just a second before he looked back at his horse. The man was extremely handsome. Breathtakingly so. Not the cowboy for her, considering her mission, and the fact that she was what people politely referred to as...a girl with a good personality.
She sighed. If Lucy had gotten all the beauty, their mother always said with a gentle smile, then Clove had gotten all the bravery. Which was likely how she’d ended up as a stuntwoman.
She watched the cowboy brush his horse’s back with one hand, and fan a fly away from its lovely flame-marked face. He was still talking to it; she could hear low murmuring that sounded very sexy, especially since she’d never heard a man murmur in a husky voice to her.
“Archer Jefferson!” someone yelled from inside the barn. “Get that cotton-pickin’, apple-stealin’, dog-faced Appaloosa in here!”
“Insult the man, but not the sexy beast!” he yelled back.
Clove gasped. Archer Jefferson! The man she’d traveled several time zones to see! Her TexasArcher of two years’ worth of e-mail correspondence!
He was all cowboy, more cowboy than she’d come mentally prepared to corral. “Whoa,” she murmured to herself.
Okay, a man that drool-worthy did not lack female friends. Why had he spent two years writing to a woman he’d never meet? She wrinkled her nose, pushed her thick glasses up on her nose and studied him further. Tight jeans, dirty boots. Long, black hair under a black felt hat—he’d never mentioned long hair in their correspondence. Deep voice. Piercing blue eyes, she noted as he turned around, catching her still staring at him. She jumped, he laughed and then he tipped his hat to her as he swung up onto the “dog-faced” Appaloosa, riding it into the barn in a manner the stuntwoman in her appreciated.
Just how difficult would it be to entice that cowboy into her bed? Archer
had put ideas about his virility in her mind, with his Texas-sized bragging about his manliness and the babies popping out all over Malfunction Junction ranch.
Seeing him, however, made her think that perhaps he hadn’t been bragging as much as stating fact. Her heart beat faster. He’d said he wasn’t in the relationship market.
But a baby, just one baby....
Her Secret Valentine by Cathy Gillen Thacker (#1054)
This is the entertaining and emotional fifth installment in Cathy’s series, THE BRIDES OF HOLLY SPRINGS. With a little help from Cupid—and the close-knit Hart clan—a long-distance couple has a Valentine’s Day reunion they’ll never forget! You’ll be captivated by Cathy’s trademark charm, but you’ll also identify with the real issues explored in this book—the tough choices faced by a two-career couple in today’s world. Available in February 2005.
* * *
“How long is this situation between you and Ashley going to go on?” Mac Hart asked.
Cal tensed. He thought he’d been invited over to his brother Mac’s house to watch playoff football with the rest of the men in the family. Now, suddenly, it was looking more like an intervention. He leaned forward to help himself to some of the nachos on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Then let us spell it out for you,” Cal’s brother-in-law, Thad Lantz, said with his usual coachlike efficiency.
Joe continued. “She missed Janey’s wedding to Thad in August, as well as Fletcher’s marriage to Lily in October, and Dylan and Hannah’s wedding in November.”
Cal bristled. They all knew Ashley was busy completing her OB/GYN fellowship in Honolulu. “She wanted to be here but since the flight from Honolulu to Raleigh is at least twelve hours, it’s too far to go for a weekend trip. Not that she has many full weekends off in any case.” Nor did he. Hence, their habit of rendezvousing in San Francisco, since it was a six-or seven-hour flight for each of them.
One Good Man Page 16
