Montana Mornings (The Wildes of Birch Bay Book 3)

by Kim Law

  Finally, Erica’s gaze landed on the person she’d been hoping to find. And there even looked to be space for two additional people.

  “Come on.” She grabbed her sister’s hand and dragged her up the bleachers, and when she got to the fifteenth riser, Erica got the exact reaction she’d been hoping for.

  “Ms. Bird!” Jenna threw herself into Erica’s arms. “You came,” she whispered into Erica’s ear. “I knew you would.”

  “You did?” Erica looked at the child she’d been missing almost as much as the man. “And how did you know I’d be here?”

  “Because my daddy and I have been missing you so much.”

  Love flooded Erica. She squeezed Jenna to her chest again and nodded a hello at Nick, Harper, Max, and Gloria, then looked back down at the little girl. “I’ve been missing you so much, too.”

  She’d shown up tonight certain in her feelings for Gabe, and she hadn’t for a moment let herself entertain the thought that he would have moved on without her. He’d never said he loved her, but some things a girl just knew. Or they hoped they knew.

  Because surely her feelings hadn’t all been one-sided.

  He may or may not be in love with her yet, but she intended to stick close to his side until he fell. And then she intended to move in even tighter.

  When the crowd around them started making noises about the two of them sitting down, Erica realized that Bree had already taken a seat, and that someone else had wedged in nearby, shrinking the remaining space. This meant that Erica would either have to sit somewhere else or take Jenna’s seat and let the girl sit in her lap.

  She looked at Gabe’s daughter. “You up for sharing a seat with me tonight?”

  “I’m up for anything, Ms. Bird. As long as you promise to stay and talk to my daddy. He’ll be grumpy again if he finds out you were here and didn’t talk to him.”

  “Then I promise to stay and talk to your daddy.”

  Gabe’s family chuckled—since they’d all apparently been tuned in to the conversation—and made enough room for Erica to squeeze in between Bree and Harper. She looked around once more, making sure she hadn’t missed anyone, then leaned across Bree to ask, “Ben and Haley stay home with Dani and the new baby?”

  “They did,” Gloria answered. Her cheeks lit up like lights on a Christmas tree. “That little girl is so precious.”

  “’Bout ready for a grandson, though,” Gabe’s dad added before turning his gaze to Nick and Harper. “Seems to me someone else could be putting some effort into that.”

  As Gabe’s brother tried to dodge the comment, Erica turned back to Jenna. It was great to see her doing so well. “How’s school?” she asked.

  Jenna smiled instantly. “I love my new teacher.”

  “Are you working very hard to be a good student?”

  “I am. Just like you taught me.”

  “Good.” Erica hugged Jenna to her. “Then you’ve made my day.”

  Erica looked out over the little girl’s head, her eyes scanning the field, but Gabe was nowhere to be seen. When a hand landed on her knee, she glanced over to find Gabe’s dad peering across the space at her.

  “It’s good to see you here tonight,” he told her. “Gabe is going to be thrilled.”

  She laid her hand on his. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

  One minute twenty-five seconds remained in the first half, Birch Bay was on the offensive, behind by two. Cheerleaders climbed into pyramids at each end of the stands as corresponding bands played their school songs, and the crowd roared louder than any game Gabe had previously coached. But none of that bothered him because tonight he was focused. Win or lose, this was his battle to fight.

  He called for the play. It was the Hail Mary he and Cord had developed earlier in the season, and a move originally planned for the end of a game. So when the quarterback sought him out from inside the huddle, Gabe gave a nod. It might not be Hail Mary time, but he didn’t want his boys going into halftime down by any.

  Time ticked down and the players got into position, but the guys continued to stall as they kept an eye on the play clock. They needed to run the play at exactly the right second so Silver Creek wouldn’t get the chance to retaliate. As Gabe watched along with the rest of the crowd, he heard his brother make a “hmmm” sound to his left.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” Cord’s reply came quick. “Sorry.”

  Gave shot him a look. “You think I made the wrong call?”

  “It’s not about the call.” Cord nodded at the field, as if telling Gabe to get his head back into it, and Gabe glanced at the play clock again. Almost time.

  “Then what’s it about?”

  “Erica.”

  The center snapped the ball, but Gabe missed the moment. Because he’d turned to stare at his brother. “Is she here?”

  “I just laid eyes on her.”

  Gabe forced himself to return his gaze to the field instead of the stands. The quarterback faked, then handed off the ball. “Where is she?”

  “Sitting with Jenna.”

  Adrenaline burned inside Gabe as Chase wove through the defense, his long strides eating up the distance and pulling him out in front of everyone else. And though there was still thirty-five yards to go—and still a chance any mishap could happen—Gabe could wait no longer. If Erica was there sitting with his daughter, it had to mean she wasn’t there sitting with her ex. He faced the stands.

  Everyone was on their feet, screaming and cheering, and there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell he could pick out Erica’s sweet face in the sea of colors. Yet somehow he did.

  Her hair was shorter than it had been before, and Jenna bounced up and down on the riser in front of her. But even though every other pair of eyes seemed to be watching the play in action, Gabe would bet his last dollar that Erica had hers directly on him.

  “Hey, Coach,” Cord murmured as the noise level increased.

  “Yeah?”

  “We scored. Thought you might want to know.”

  Gabe dropped his head, but only for the second needed to reorient himself, then he rejoined the game. His boys set up for the extra point, and they took that with them into the locker room, as well. Half the game was over, and he’d gotten them into great position to finish it out.

  He had to get to the locker room with the team, but first he turned back to the stands. The crowd had thinned as people headed for the concession stand, and there was no sign of his family. Yet Erica remained, her eyes still on him, and he would swear they spoke to each other across the distance. It was too scary to think she might have said what he’d just said, but his heart insisted otherwise.

  She smiled then, the look tender, and blew him a kiss. And as he turned and jogged to the locker room, he knew that no matter the outcome of the game, absolutely everything in his life was finally going to be fine.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Tough loss,” Cord said. His words drew Gabe’s attention from the end zone, where his team had just lost by one play.

  “Yeah,” Gabe agreed. He’d really thought they were going to pull it off.

  “Better luck next year,” someone else offered. A hand slapped Gabe on the back as the man passed, and Gabe had the thought that he certainly hoped there was a next year. He may no longer be coaching to prove himself to anyone, but he sure enjoyed the game.

  As the boys made their way through the opposing team’s players, congratulations being tossed out by those whose spirits hadn’t been completely crushed, Gabe turned his attention to a single woman standing in the middle of the Birch Bay crowd. Her eyes were glued to his, her smile a mile wide, and it no longer mattered that they’d lost. Because Gabe had every intention of kissing the very last breath out of her in the next few minutes.

  He took off, ignoring whomever called out behind him, and tried to remain cool and collected. But he soon gave that up. He jogged to the fence separating the field from the bleachers, which forced him to stop tw
enty feet in front of Erica.

  The majority of the remaining fans, no matter which side they cheered for, stopped what they were doing to watch, and the attention only fired the need in Gabe. Murmurs wound through the crowd when he crooked his finger at the woman he loved, and her feet began to move. He picked up on a couple of whispered “Ms. Birds” throughout the crowd as she made her way to him, and he just smiled.

  That’s right. He was seeking out Ms. Bird. Right there at a football game, in front of God and everyone.

  And it was not because he intended to humiliate her.

  Two more steps, and there she was, nothing separating them but four feet of chain link. He shouldn’t have made her come to him; he should have scaled the fence.

  “Hi.” Her smile had turned tender again.

  “Hi,” he replied. He’d wanted to call her so many times since she left. “My divorce is final.”

  “So I heard.”

  She looked so good.

  And he loved her so much.

  “Then will you please come home with me? I miss you more than any one person should ever have to put up with.” He leaned in an inch. “I need you more than one person should have to put up with.”

  “But do you love me more than one person should have to put up with?”

  Her words gave him pause, but he quickly recovered. Surely she wouldn’t ask about love if she didn’t feel it, too. He nodded, letting the teasing drop from his eyes. “I do,” he whispered. “More than I’ll ever be able to show you.”

  He took in every detail of her face as she stared back at him, drinking her in as if it had been a year instead of a month since he’d last seen her. Then finally, he reached across the top of the fence and allowed himself to touch her. He took her hands in his, but when her fingers didn’t squeeze his in return, worry crept along his spine. “And do you love me?” he asked bluntly.

  Why hadn’t she said it?

  She stared at him, her smile slipping away, and fear gnawed hard. But he ignored it. He wouldn’t consider alternate outcomes. She was here. She had to care.

  And anyway, if she rejected him tonight, he’d simply try again tomorrow. That had been his plan all along. He’d had to get through his divorce, then this championship game, and then he’d intended to hunt her down and drag her back to where she belonged—whether she’d been with her idiotic ex or not.

  She belonged with him. And with Jenna.

  They belonged together.

  “Erica.” He tightened his fingers on hers, refusing to believe in anything other than them. “Say something, baby. We have an audience.” He thought about the night her world had first fallen apart. It had been with an audience of football fans, as well. In these very stands.

  And then she nodded. “I suspect I just might,” she said softly.

  He blew out a breath. “You suspect? Any chance I might hear it from you anytime soon?” He’d beg to hear those words from her.

  “You might.”

  Suddenly she smiled again, her eyes taking on a hot glow, but this time the smile was that naughty curve of her lips she liked to use when she was trying to get him riled up. He’d been had.

  He tugged her until her knees bumped the fence. “You’re a tease, Erica Bird.”

  “That’s only because you haven’t kissed me yet, Gabriel Wilde.” Her gaze lowered to his mouth. “I need to make sure we didn’t forget how to do that before I say three little words I might live to regret.”

  “Oh, you won’t regret them.” He cupped the back of her neck. “I can promise you that.”

  He didn’t know if the remaining crowd went quiet when his lips touched Erica’s, but he certainly heard no sounds coming from any of them. Instead, he picked up on Erica’s soft murmurs as he did his best to not only provide the woman of his dreams with the best kiss of her life but also to show her without words how very much she meant to him.

  It hadn’t been easy, her not being there with him that past month, but he’d come to appreciate the fact that she’d had to step away while he got his life sorted out. She’d needed the chance to get her head on straight, as well. Doing anything else wouldn’t have been fair to either of them.

  When their mouths finally separated, the crowd once again roared, but this time, it was for them. Football had been forgotten.

  “Way to go, Ms. Bird.”

  “Kiss her again, Coach.”

  “Get a room!”

  Others laughed at the last one, and Gabe dropped his forehead to Erica’s, his nose touching hers. “I love you, Ms. Bird. We may have taken the long route to get here from our college days, but what I feel for you now can’t be questioned. This is real. You and I fit, and our time apart only solidified that for me. So will you please come home to me? To us? Jenna and I need you in our lives.”

  She touched his cheek. “And I love you, Coach Wilde.” Her lips curved with her words. “Long route or not, I’m just glad that I found you again, because I happen to think that we fit, too. So yes. Since you asked so nicely, I will come home to you. To Jenna. I don’t want a life without either of you in it.”

  Epilogue

  Did you want your present?”

  Gabe sat upright at the question from the woman beside him, the sheet falling to his lap and exposing both of their bare chests. “You got me a present? I didn’t know we needed presents.”

  It had been one month since the championship game, meaning thirty days that the two of them had officially been dating. There had already been three snows in Birch Bay, Thanksgiving had come and gone, and Erica had hosted two dinner parties at the fire hall—which she’d subsequently purchased. She was also back at the school again, substituting as needed and filling the rest of her time tutoring. And she’d already been offered a full-time position for the following year.

  At the same time, he’d had his coaching contract extended.

  She leaned over the edge of the mattress, the curve of her back capturing his attention as she pulled a wrapped box out from under the bed. Then she sat back up and presented it to him as if serving up a gourmet dinner for a very special guest. “We don’t need presents,” she told him. She eyed the box now in his hands and added, “Except . . . you might need this one.”

  That was all he needed to hear. He ripped the wrapping off in two quick moves, and grunted when he found the box taped shut on all four sides.

  “You’re an evil woman, Erica Yarbrough.”

  She gave him the smile he loved so much. She’d told him she wanted to go by her maiden name again and had the paperwork already waiting to be signed off on. However, his plans were to turn Yarbrough into Wilde just as soon as he could talk her into it.

  “And I think you might like evil,” she taunted.

  “I think you might be right.” With his thumbs, he popped the tape, two sides at a time, and then he lifted the top of the box. And what little blood that had managed to make it back to his brain in the last fifteen minutes once again headed south.

  Sitting inside the pale-yellow tissue paper was a tiny little sleeveless vest and a super short skirt. They were black, white, and yellow, with the words “Silver Creek” stitched across the front of the vest. It was her old cheer uniform.

  “It still fits,” she whispered into his ear.

  “Then you have exactly one minute to get it on.”

  She squealed when he reached for her, but instead of grabbing up the uniform, she leaned into his chest. “I love you, Gabe. And I love your daughter. I’m in no hurry to move beyond what we currently are, but I want you to know that I’m here for you from now on. And I’ll be here for you for forever.”

  He kissed her gently on the lips. It may have taken a number of years for them to make their way back to each other, but Gabe had no doubt they were where they belonged. That life was as it should be.

  “I love you, too,” he told her, his heart open for her to see. “But for the record, I am in a hurry. My daughter needs a mother who can actually love her—and my father
seems to think that he needs a grandson.”

  He held his breath as he waited for her response.

  “Kids?” Warmth colored her cheeks. She nodded. “I think I’d like kids.”

  “I know I would with you.”

  He kissed her again, and when they finally came up for air, he dangled the uniform from one finger. “One minute, Yarbrough.”

  “Fine. But you have to go downstairs and wait for me.”

  He looked down at his nakedness. “Why?”

  She pressed her lips to his. “Trust me.”

  So he did as she’d asked, not bothering with clothes but grabbing a condom just in case. He headed down the stairs, and not two minutes later she yelled for him. Only, she didn’t yell from the top of the stairs.

  He crossed the room, his erection already growing at what he suspected was to come, then he looked directly up when he got to the pole. Ten feet above him, there was a pair of naked thighs wrapped about the pole, the outline of a skirt, and bare-naked butt cheeks heading his way.

  He laughed as she slid into his arms, then he trapped the woman he loved up against the very place it had started.

  Acknowledgments

  This book was like birthing a baby. A very large, stubborn, and resistant baby. And I fear that baby would still be dug in tight if not for quite a few people in my life who had to listen to my woes time and again. Not to mention try to help me solve the puzzle of just what Gabe and Erica’s story was supposed to be. I’d like to apologize to all those people for needing them so much in order to get this book finished, but at the same time, I also know that no apology is truly necessary. Because that’s what friends are for. With that said, I will add that I’m so completely grateful for your friendships.

  Now, I shall attempt to name all those people (but please forgive me if I miss someone!):

  Anne Marie Becker, June Love, Lizzie Shane, Autumn Jordan, Darynda Jones, Emma Leigh Reed, Terri Osburn, Isabelle Osburn, my husband, probably even my son, my mother (this one is for making her continually worry that I’d never get this book finished), my agent, Nalini Akolekar (to whom I suspect I added a few gray hairs), and my editor, Chris Werner (whom I might have given his first gray hair).