Eight Second Angel: The Ballad of Lily Grace (Lonesome Point, Texas Book 7)

by Jessie Evans

  “Go lock yourself in the bathroom, Grace,” he muttered softly, sensing this was about to turn ugly.

  “No,” she whispered, grabbing hold of his tee shirt. “I’m not leaving you alone. We should both run, I don’t—”

  She didn’t have time to finish her sentence before Rudy rushed them with the knife.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Lily Grace

  The most violent people in the world are also the poorest. And they know it.

  They know they have nothing—no love, no creativity, no passion, no tenderness—and are fiercely jealous of those who do. In the dusty, diseased emptiness of their minds a red-faced monster screams in the dark, insisting the only way to stop their pain is to steal from those who still have riches left inside of them.

  But you can’t steal light or love; you can only extinguish it.

  Sixteen years ago, a man with nothing inside of him but fear and hate had put out Lily’s light and stolen her from the people she loved. Clint had taken her life, but she refused to stand by while Rudy stole Canyon’s. The world needed men like him too much, good men brave enough to stand up to the poor, angry monsters.

  “Run!” Canyon pushed her behind him, but instead of running to safety she shot around him and aimed herself at Rudy. She came at him from the side, palms colliding with his thick shoulder seconds before he and his knife reached Canyon.

  Rudy roared as he fell. He’d been so focused on Canyon he hadn’t anticipated her attack. It was relatively easy to knock him off balance, but Lily knew it wouldn’t be easy to fight him off once he gained his feet. She and Canyon had to get out of there.

  She spun, grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the beach. “Run! We can get one of the lifeguards to call for help.”

  Canyon hesitated only a moment before he launched into motion. Lily dropped his hand and they both ran, arms pumping as they cleared the campsite and started down the road toward the beach. She was pushing with everything she had, but she could sense that Canyon was holding back, staying with her instead of sprinting as fast as he could.

  She was about to tell him to run faster—to get to safety because his life was the only life that mattered—when a flash of movement in her peripheral vision made her head jerk to the left in time to see a rock the size of a baseball hit the back of Canyon’s head.

  He didn’t make a noise as he collapsed, simply crumpled to the ground like a basket of laundry tossed to the floor, his cheek slapping hard against the pavement. Lily screamed, a cry wrenched from the core of her being, and ground to a stop so quickly that she stumbled and fell, rolling painfully across the cracked road. She turned with a sob, scrambling on her hands and knees back to Canyon, the thin skin on her kneecaps tearing.

  “Help!” she screamed as she crawled, sensing that Rudy was still coming though she couldn’t pull her eyes away from Canyon’s limp body. “Someone help me please, my friend’s hurt! Help!”

  She reached Canyon’s side just as a loud male voice shouted across the parking lot. “What happened? Did he pass out?”

  Lily heard footsteps approaching from her left and glanced up, seeing an older man in a khaki fishing cap and a fit, older woman dressed for hiking hurrying toward her from the trailhead. A younger couple, carrying a swim bag and towels, were not far behind them.

  “He was hit with a rock,” Lily said, shifting her attention to Rudy, who had reversed direction, backing away as the other people headed toward her. She jabbed a finger his way. “That man threw it at him and he has a knife.”

  The man in the fishing cap stopped a few feet from her side, fixing Rudy with a sharp look as he reached into his pocket. “I’m calling the police,” he said loudly, clearly trying to sound threatening, though he had the kind of sweet old man voice that reminded Lily of the grandpa who played Santa every year at the church.

  Thankfully, Rudy had the sense to realize that the sweet old man wasn’t messing around. He turned, jogging back toward the van, clearly deciding avoiding arrest was more important than dishing out more abuse.

  As soon as he disappeared through the bushes, Lily turned back to Canyon, rolling him slowly onto his back. He was heavy, limp, and so still she was shocked to see that his eyes were still open.

  “Canyon?” she said, terror rocketing through her as she realized he wasn’t blinking. “Canyon!”

  “Call an ambulance,” a woman’s voice murmured over her shoulder. “Tell them we’ve got a head trauma victim in critical condition.”

  “Canyon, can you hear me?” Lily asked, tears filling her eyes. He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be!

  “Ma’am, can you move back?” A soft hand landed on her shoulder. “I’m a nurse. Maybe I can help.”

  “Please, help.” Lily scrambled backward, making room for the woman in the bathing suit who knelt down beside Canyon’s too-still body. “Please help him. Please.”

  “What’s his name?” the woman asked, laying two fingers at his neck, feeling for a pulse.

  “Canyon,” Lily sobbed, biting down on her thumb hard enough to send pain flashing through her hand.

  But she welcomed the pain, silently begging the powers that be to give her Canyon’s pain, let her take it into herself and let him live.

  He had to live. She couldn’t lose him now, like this, without even getting to say goodbye.

  “Canyon?” the nurse said, moving her hand to his forehead. “Canyon can you hear me?”

  Canyon

  “Canyon? Can you hear me?” The voice came from above him, softly whispered beneath the breeze.

  Canyon opened his eyes, squinting against the bright sunlight streaming around the shadowed face of the woman leaning over him. She had blond hair, but it was long and wavy, not curly like Grace’s.

  Grace.

  “Where’s Grace?” he asked, pulse speeding as he lifted a hand to further block the sun. “Where am I?”

  “You’re exactly where you think you are,” the woman said, easing away as he sat up.

  “I have no idea where I am,” he said, scowling at the field of wildflowers stretching out around him. “Or how the hell I got here.”

  The grass was bright springtime green and the flowers were lavender, the same shade as the woman’s dress. She settled onto the ground in front of him, the silky folds of her skirt floating around her thighs as she moved. She was lovely, with an oval face, pale blue eyes, and a full pink mouth, but there was something…unfinished about her. It was as if she were the sketch of a woman, stunning broad strokes, but missing the finer details, the little flaws and quirks that made someone uniquely beautiful. Like Grace.

  “Yes, you do,” the woman said, smiling softly. “Grace told you about this place. Remember.”

  The last word wasn’t a question; it was a command, demanding that he summon up the past. And suddenly he could.

  He remembered Grace telling him about the land in-between, finding Rudy waiting for them at the campsite, and the moment Grace shoved Rudy to the ground and took his hand to run. He remembered the feel of something hitting him hard on the back of the head and the world going black.

  Most of all he remembered the last thought that had flashed through his head as he fell: he didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die and leave Grace alone. Even if she only had a few months left, a few weeks, he wanted to spend every hour of every day that remained of her life showing her how much she was loved.

  Instead, he had left her alone and now he was the spirit dwelling in the world in-between.

  “Holy shit,” he said, tears filling his eyes as he dropped his head into his hands, dizzied by the flood of information. “She was telling the truth.”

  “She was,” the woman confirmed. “She’s a very truthful soul.”

  “Shit,” he said again, before he thought better of it and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t be cussing in heaven, should I?”

  The woman laughed softly. “I’m sure the souls in heaven have bigger concern
s than a good man with a potty mouth. But this isn’t heaven. This is a place of letting go.”

  “Letting go,” he echoed, the thought sending a sharp pain through his chest. Just a few days ago, he’d still thought he wanted to let go, but now…

  Now there was Grace, back on earth, cradling his body in her arms, weeping as her heart broke. He could suddenly see it, see both the field and the woman in purple, and Grace and his own body lying bloodied in the road, at the same time.

  “Time grows short,” the woman said, drawing his eyes back to her now solemn face. “It’s time to make a choice, Canyon. It’s time to stop being afraid.”

  His jaw clenched and fresh tears filled his eyes. “How? And what choice? How can I help her?”

  “Her fate has been decided, but yours is still uncertain. You can stay or you can go back, but the choice must be made quickly.”

  The field blurred and Grace’s tear-streaked face once again filled his vision, sending love and sadness rushing through his chest. “Let her stay,” he said, voice breaking. “Take me and let her stay. She was murdered; I was going to kill myself. She deserves life more than I do.”

  “If every human got what they deserved, evil would perish, good would prosper, peace would be eternal and there would be no need for a place in-between,” she said, continuing before the angry words on the tip of Canyon’s tongue could find their way into the air. “But with Lily, you’re right. There’s too much life left in her for her to make a good guardian. She proved that when she held on to her old memories, even in her new body.”

  “So she’s fired? Is that what you’re saying?” Canyon asked, fingers curling into fists. “That you’re going to kill her all over again?”

  “No,” the woman said, lips curving on one side. “She’s become too deeply ingrained in the body she was given. At this point, there’s no choice but to leave her where she is until Grace’s body reaches its natural end.”

  Canyon’s fisted hands relaxed so quickly the movement made his forearms ripple. “What?” He blinked. “You mean she gets to stay? To live?”

  “She does.” The woman stood, smoothing the front of her skirt. “All that’s left to decide is if you’ll go back to tell her the news, or if she’ll have to figure it out for herself.”

  “Send me back,” Canyon said, shifting onto his knees, ready to beg if he had to. “Please, send me back. Let me be with her. I won’t waste a day, I swear it.”

  The woman smiled. “I know you won’t. You never did. Go back, Canyon, be the good man you are, and this time take your share of happiness as well as heartache. Man was never meant to have one without the other.”

  “Thank you,” he said as the world began to spin. He closed his eyes and clenched his hands together, offering a prayer of gratitude to whatever force in-between or far-beyond might be listening.

  He had never been more thankful for anything in his life than the chance to open his eyes and see Grace sitting by his hospital bed.

  “Canyon,” she breathed, her bloodshot eyes widening as she rose from her chair and reached for his hand. “Can you hear me?”

  “You get to stay,” he said, his voice rough with disuse, making him wonder how long he’d been out.

  “Don’t try to talk,” she said, tears slipping down her cheeks. “Let me call for the doctor.”

  “No. It’s…important. You get to stay.” His tongue slipped out in an attempt to dampen his bone-dry lips, but there was barely a drop of moisture left in his mouth. “The lady in purple told me. When I was in the in-between.”

  Her eyes flew wide. “What?”

  “You get to stay,” he said, squeezing her hand. “And I get to stay with you.”

  “Oh my God,” she gasped, sitting down hard, still clinging to his hand. “Are you serious? Are you sure?”

  “Those aren’t the important questions, Lily Grace,” he said as someone outside called out—“he’s awake”—and footsteps sounded in the hall outside. “The important question is…will you marry me?”

  “Oh,” she said, a smile more beautiful than anything in this world or the one beyond stretching across her face. “Yes, love. Yes, I will.”

  A moment later, nurses appeared and Lily was gently shuffled aside while he was poked and prodded. He answered the questions he was asked as best as he could, but he kept his eyes on Lily’s, knowing everything he needed to heal he’d find in her heart, in her arms, and in the second chance stretching out in front of him.

  A second chance with a woman he would love even more for how close he’d come to dying without her.

  EPILOGUE

  Lily Grace O’Donnell

  They were married in July by a justice of the peace in a San Antonio courtroom and honeymooned in Mexico, where Canyon used the last of the money left over after paying off his ex-wife’s farm to buy a small horse ranch and a trailer. There, he and Lily settled in to their slice of paradise in a fertile valley between two mountains and dedicated themselves to raising horses and babies.

  Their first daughter was born nine months after their week in Big Bend; their second, only eleven months after. It took three years for their son to arrive and the birth was difficult, but Canyon Meriwether O’Donnell the second eventually made his way into the world at six fifteen on a Saturday morning in May, just two days before the anniversary of his mother’s return to earth.

  Lily held him in her arms, staring down at the perfect little face with the turned up nose, and for a moment she saw the faces of the babies she’d had in her other life. But remembering didn’t cause her pain anymore. Carter and Peyton were always in her heart, loved and cherished every bit as much as Lucy and Isabelle. And now baby Canyon, only a few hours old with long black lashes like his daddy’s and tiny hands that wrapped around her finger and held tight, staking his claim on her eternal love and devotion.

  She’d made the difficult choice to leave her elder children and their father in peace, knowing her return in another body would be painful for them whether they chose to believe her or not. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t love them or that her love didn’t matter.

  In the time since she was granted her own second chance, she’d realized that sometimes it was enough just to hold someone in your heart and in your prayers, even if they didn’t know they were there.

  “And you will be there too,” she promised her baby boy. “Forever.”

  “I love you forever,” Canyon murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Want me to take Meri so you can get some sleep?”

  “No, I want to hold him a little longer,” she said, smiling. “Do you think he’ll hate us for naming him after a fairy?”

  Canyon laughed. “If he does, he can take Canyon and you can call me Meri. I don’t care what you call me, mama, so long as you call me.”

  She looked up into her husband’s handsome face. He was tired from staying up with her all night, glued to her side as the midwife coached her through the last few hours of the labor, but his eyes shone as brightly as ever. As they had every day since he’d woken up and announced that she could stay.

  “Always,” she said, lifting her chin, offering her lips for a kiss. And as Canyon kissed her—gently, with his love clear in every brush of his lips—she knew it was true.

  Some things, like love, have no end, only beautiful new beginnings.

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  A Letter from the Author

  Tell me your favorite part!

  Dear reader,

  I hope you enjoyed EIGHT SECOND ANGEL and will take a moment to leave a review (even a sentence or two is great!) and tell me your favorite part of the story! I love reading your thoughts so much and reviews help other readers discover the series.

  The Lonesome Point books mean so much to me, and I’m thrilled to share these stories of sexy
Texas cowboys and the women tough enough to tame them with all of you.

  If you’d like to chat about your reading experience please drop me a line at Jessie.d.evans@gmail.com. You can also catch me on Facebook (my favorite place to hang out with readers) https://www.facebook.com/JessieEvansRomance, or sign up for my newsletter so you’ll never miss out on a new release or giveaway again http://bit.ly/1swaXYv.

  Wishing you many good reads, and thank you for the chance to tell you stories,

  Jessie Evans

  More about the author:

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessie Evans, gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sexy, contemporary romances she loves to read.

  She's married to the man of her dreams, and together they're raising a few adorable, mischievous children in a cottage in the jungle. She grew up in rural Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more.

  When she's not writing, Jessie enjoys playing her dulcimer (badly), sewing the worlds ugliest quilts to give to her friends, going for bike rides with her house full of boys, and drifting in and out on the waves, feeling thankful for sun, surf, and lovely people to share them with.

  Learn more at www.jessieevansromance.com

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