A Touch of Heaven

by Samantha Chase

  “We could have had the same thing,” he reminded her but Regan shook her head.

  “I didn’t want the same thing. No, it was wonderful to see the look on Mom’s face as she saw the way the yard that she’s always loved was transformed for her wedding. She never had much of a green thumb either and with everything looking the way that it did…her smile was priceless.”

  “I’m glad she was happy.”

  “The smile on her face as she walked toward your dad? I hope the photographer was able to capture that because it was the stuff of fairytales.”

  “You told me to hang those twinkly lights,” he said with a little disgust at himself for even using the word. “There had to be a million of those things around the yard so that it would look like a fairy land.”

  “Magical. I said it would look magical,” she reminded him. “And it did.” Regan placed a gentle kiss on his chest as she rested her hand over his heart. “Thank you for making it all look so amazing. You have a real gift for that sort of thing. Have you ever considered doing it professionally?”

  Sawyer chuckled and then tickled her ribs until she was squirming and laughing. He rolled her beneath him. “Very funny.” His expression turned serious. “It was their wedding and I wanted everything to be perfect. They’ve both waited a long time to get married again and so I wanted to make sure that everything went beyond their expectations. But, I do have to say that I outdid myself.”

  Regan slapped his arm and he rolled off of her but immediately pulled her back to his side. “The yard did look amazing. It’s a good thing we put off doing the pool until next year. We would have had to eliminate about fifty people.”

  “Nah, we just would have had to get creative with the seating. Not that it matters; it’s not like we’re going to host another wedding back there.”

  “No,” she said absently. “It’s not.”

  “Are you sad that we didn’t have our wedding back there?”

  Regan shook her head. “No, our wedding was perfect. The beach at sunset? I still think that you must have made a pact with God to make it so colorful that night.” Just thinking back to their wedding two months earlier had Regan feeling all dreamy. They hadn’t wanted to wait and neither wanted anything big. Sawyer had decided to take her to the coast as he had planned from month’s earlier when inspiration struck. They discussed it over coffee a few days before, told Max and Caroline of their plans and decided to go for it.

  “You looked like an angel walking toward me barefoot in that white dress that was one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen. That knot tying it in the front had my hands twitching the entire time we were saying our vows.”

  That made her smile. “Good. You were pretty sexy yourself standing there with the sun setting behind your back.” She sighed.

  “So you’re not disappointed that we did something small?”

  “Sawyer, we’ve been over this a million times. I didn’t want anything big, plus, we had a big party here a few weeks later so that we could celebrate with all of our family and friends. It was perfect.”

  “We do throw a good party.”

  “That we do,” she said and snuggled down a little bit more into the blankets. Sawyer’s arm tightened around her. “That we do.” Sleep was calling and she softly kissed his chest one last time.

  “I wonder what we’ll celebrate back there next,” he said, unaware that Regan was just about out cold.

  “A christening,” she said quietly before yawning.

  Sawyer jerked up, effectively knocking his wife from his arms. “What?”

  Regan pulled herself up to get her head onto her pillow before facing him. “A christening. You’re aware of what they are, right?”

  He nodded but his expression was pure confusion. “Whose christening?”

  “Oh, that,” she said around another yawn. “I wanted to wait until after the wedding; you know, didn’t want to take the focus off of Mom and Max.” She rolled onto her side and got more comfortable and was about to finally drift off when Sawyer shook her awake.

  “Regan? Stay with me here,” he said a little frantically. “What are you saying?”

  With a huff of irritation, she rolled back onto her back and looked at him. “We’re having a baby.” Another yawn. “Good night.”

  When she made to roll over again, Sawyer’s hand on her arm stopped her. “What? When?” he stammered. “How?”

  Regan opened her eyes and looked at him with disbelief. “We are not having the birds and the bees talk now, Sawyer. It’s late and I’m very tired. It’s a lot of work hosting a wedding in your home while growing a tiny human being inside of you.”

  “I understand not telling your mom because of the wedding but why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because you would have gotten all goofy and not let me do anything and then everyone would have known that I was pregnant. Besides, I’m kind of enjoying your reaction right now. I don’t think I would have gotten this at some other point in time.” She giggled at his indignation. “This really wasn’t how I planned on telling you; I was hoping that after the wedding when everything was cleared away and we were back to normal around here, that I’d surprise you with the news over dinner or something.”

  “Oh, you surprised me all right,” he said, his expression turning to one of wonder as he placed his large hand over her flat tummy. “There’s a baby in there.”

  Regan nodded. “Sure is.”

  “When? When are we due?”

  “I haven’t seen a doctor yet but…”

  “Then are you sure? How can you be sure if you haven’t been to the doctor?”

  “I took eight pregnancy tests, Sawyer. Honestly, I don’t know how you missed the fact that I was taking out the bathroom trash on a daily basis.”

  He shrugged. “I figured you were a bit of a neat freak.” He looked up at his wife’s face and saw his whole future there. Them, children and a lifetime of love. “I can’t believe how lucky I am. That I have you. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you.”

  “I feel the same way,” she said softly.

  Leaving one hand on her belly, the other cupped her face. “I know that you hated me when we met, but I’m so glad that you changed your mind.”

  “It wasn’t you that I hated, Sawyer; it was the situation. And now, looking back, I am so thankful for it. If Max had never approached my mom that day, none of us would be here right now experiencing all of this happiness.”

  “So the show was good for something,” he teased and laughed when Regan rolled her eyes.

  “Yes, for something. I’m still annoyed that they snuck in some private footage of us into the episode but it all worked out for the best.”

  Nodding, Sawyer moved back and reclined next to her. “I heard from the head of the network the other day and he offered me another show.”

  Regan rolled over and looked at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because it meant nothing. We were finalizing all of the wedding plans and I had already told them that I wasn’t interested in doing a show again. They can keep waving the salary increase and the merchandising shares but they don’t seem to understand that it’s not about the money. It was never about the money for me. I do what I do because I love it. I love the craft. Plus, I don’t want to ever have to travel and be away from home for such long periods of time on business ever again. And if I had known then what I know now, I could have driven that point home even more.”

  “What did he say?”

  “What could he say? I told him that I’m enjoying being back to regular carpentry work and small renovation projects that let me work more closely with the home owners. He wished me well but said that he’s still hoping to find a project to bring me back.”

  Regan smiled with pride. “That’s because you’re amazing and they probably lost a large part of their viewing audience when you left.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I do. That one episode of you where you w
ere shirtless for most of it kept me going while we were apart.” Regan had shared with him all about her marathon of episode watching. “If that had been a VHS tape, it would have been worn out.”

  Laughing, he pulled her in close and turned out the bedside lamp. “Well, lucky for you that you don’t need to just watch it on TV; you’ve got the live show right here.”

  Regan giggled at his cocky tone but was more than willing to agree. “I am indeed a very lucky woman.”

  Sawyer kissed the top of her head and sighed. “I’m the lucky one. You changed my whole world and showed me all that I was missing. And now? I have even more to look forward to and it’s all because of you. I love you.”

  “Love you, too,” she said sleepily and this time, she really did get to go to sleep.

  Coming November 2013

  “Mistletoe Between Friends”

  Chapter One

  Staying up all night on the phone with a friend was nothing new to Lily Cavanaugh. If someone was in a crisis, she was the go-to-girl to help out. Snuggling down deeper on her bed and into a more comfortable position, Lily did her best not to laugh.

  “So was it Bitsy, Mitzi or Kitten that they tried to set you up with?” she asked, barely containing her mirth.

  “You are so not helping.”

  An unladylike snort escaped before she could stop it. “I can’t help if I don’t have all of the information. So? Details please!” On the other end of the phone Lily sensed more than heard Cameron’s frustration growing.

  Cameron Greene and Lily had been friends since before they could walk. Their families were the best of friends and being so close in age – less than a year apart – it was only fitting that Cam and Lily continue the tradition.

  “I’m telling you, Lil,” he began, “I’m thinking of moving overseas just to get some peace and quiet.”

  “Oh, come on. How bad could it have been? Was she pretty?”

  “In a plastic Barbie doll kind of way.”

  “Most guys go for that kind of thing. Okay, so what about the rest? Did you have anything in common?”

  “I don’t have anything in common with most people, Lil; you of all people should know that.” It was a common discussion that they had. Cameron had a near-genius IQ and as such, was a little socially awkward. It was hard for him to find common ground with people to talk about when he spent most of his days in a laboratory studying the Universe.

  “So what did you talk about?”

  He sighed. “After I got the not-so-Reader’s-Digest version of her aspirations to be a model I then explained my job to her.”

  Uh-oh, Lily thought. That was normally the kiss of death. “How long did it take for her eyes to glaze over?”

  Cam laughed. He had felt horrible about the entire evening but talking to Lily about it, he was able to find humor in it. “Less than two minutes.”

  “Wow,” Lily said with mock enthusiasm. “I think that’s a new record.”

  “We never even made it to dinner,” Cam said and wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or not.

  “What excuse did she give? Headache? Family emergency? She thought she left the gas stove on?”

  “Headache.”

  “It is a classic.” Now it was Lily’s turn to sigh. “I’m so sorry, Cam. Are you okay?”

  “Sure. I didn’t want to go out with her; my parents orchestrated the entire thing and so I did not want to disappoint them – again. I just wish they’d find something else to obsess about and move on. I’m not interested in their trust-fund heiresses that they consider worthy of marrying into the Greene family.”

  “They are depending on you to carry on the family name, Cam. This isn’t new information. You know that they hassled your sisters just as much until they each married someone acceptable to them.”

  “That was different; both of my sisters never had an issue with the opposite sex. They’re smart and outgoing and enjoy socializing. Why can’t I just be left alone?”

  Lily’s heart broke for him a little. Cameron had always been painfully shy and because of his level of intelligence, the things that he found enjoyable, most of the population couldn’t even begin to understand. “It’s not healthy to be alone all the time, Cam. You need to get out once in a while and be around regular people. Go to a movie, eat a hamburger…live like us common folk for a little while,” she teased.

  He chuckled. “Do you have any idea how bad ground beef is for you? Even with the stringent safety…”

  “It was just a suggestion!” she interrupted. “I don’t need the lecture – again – on how bad most foods are. You’ve all but ruined all of my fast food hangouts for me.”

  “I worry about you; is that a crime?”

  She smiled. “No, it’s not a crime. I just wish that you could simply relax your standards a little bit and just, I don’t know, have some fun.” Shifting her position again, Lily turned on her tablet and kicked up a game of Solitaire. She knew Cameron well and knew that they could talk all night; sometimes a little distraction was what she needed to keep her going. “So what’s new at the lab?”

  “Nice change of subject. Have you already started up a game of Solitaire?”

  “Damn,” she muttered. “How do you do that?”

  “I know you better than you know yourself, Lil. Is it so painful to talk to me that you have to play a computer card game at the same time?” His tone was only partially teasing.

  Immediately Lily put the tablet down and sat up. “What? Why would you even say that?”

  “Look, we’re friends and you never lie to me so don’t start now, okay? If you can’t even stand talking to me, what hopes do I have of anyone else wanting to?”

  Lily felt ready to cry. “Oh, Cam,” she said, hand to her chest. “I love talking to you; you know that. Honestly, you’re the only one who actually talks to me and listens to me without treating me like I’m an idiot.”

  “That’s not true and you know it.”

  “No, I don’t know it. No one in my family takes me seriously. Every time I try to talk to them about what’s going on in my life, I feel like I’m being patted on the head and pacified. It’s beyond insulting.”

  “They never did understand your creative side,” he said patiently.

  “Neither did Biff,” she said with a dramatic sigh.

  Cam was silent for a moment. Surely he hadn’t heard her right. “I’m sorry; Biff, did you say?”

  “Oh, did I not mention my wonderful dinner companion this evening?”

  This time it wasn’t a chuckle but a full-bodied laugh that escaped before Cam could stop it. “Come on, Lily; no one names their kid Biff. It’s cruel.”

  “Well, at least I think that’s what his name was,” she said thinking back over the evening.

  “You went to dinner with this guy and you aren’t sure of what his name was?” Cam asked with disbelief. If there was one thing he knew about Lily, it was that she was a people person and for as much of a scatter-brain as people thought she was, she was very good with names.

  “Like you, we didn’t make it to dinner. As a matter of fact, we never even made it to the restaurant.”

  “Why not?”

  “Let’s just say that while we were in the car he asked me about what I did for a living and by the time I got through talking about my pottery classes and dog walking and that short stint I did nude modeling for that art class…”

  “Wait. What? When did you take a pottery class?”

  Lily burst out laughing. “Out of those three things, you latched on to the pottery class to be outraged about? What about the nude modeling thing? You’d think that would have been a red flag for someone sensible like you!”

  “Okay, never mind about the pottery or…the modeling; what happened in the car?”

  “He literally turned the car around and brought me home. He claimed that he had a business call that had slipped his mind but I think that my Asian-fusion cooking class was the last straw for him.” She sighed. “Not that I
wanted to go out with him much either; just like you, it was parent orchestrated. But still, I was hungry.”

  “I cannot believe that Biff just turned the car around and took you home.”

  “Maybe his name was Jeff…” Lily said, wracking her brain for at least a hint at what exactly the guy’s name really was.

  “Biff, Jeff, it doesn’t matter. That was incredibly rude of him. I’m sorry, Lil. You deserve to have someone take you out and treat you like a princess.”

  “I’d just settle for someone to take me out and talk to me like I had a brain.”

  Now it was Cam’s turn to have his heart hurt. Lily had a bigger heart than anyone that he had ever known and he knew that even though she made light of the situation, she was hurt. It didn’t help that her parents were always making her feel like she wasn’t living up to her full potential or that she had an older sister who everyone seemed to think walked on water. Cam knew the real Lily and if anyone just took the time to get to know her and saw beyond the inability to find a career, they’d see a person who’d give them the world.

  “You have a brain, Lil. You just intimidate people with your creativity.”

  “Nice try, Einstein,” she deadpanned. “I think you have me confused with you. You intimidate people. People just think I’m weird.”

  “Well then they’re not worth knowing.”

  Lily settled back against her pillows and got comfortable again. “I’m so lucky to have you, Cam; you know that, right?”

  “Nah, we’re lucky to have each other.”

  “I wish you were here right now. I could make grilled cheese and popcorn and we could watch a movie and just relax.” She toyed with her tablet and contemplated turning Solitaire back on.

  “While that sounds nice, wouldn’t it interfere with your game of Solitaire?”

  “Dammit! How do you do that?” she asked, looking around her room for hidden cameras.

  “Like I said, I know you better than you know yourself.”

  “We certainly are a pair, aren’t we?” she said wistfully.