by Patt Marr
It took every bit of her willpower, but she pushed against his chest, breaking the kiss. “Wow!” she said breathlessly. “That was terrific. Fantastic. Woo-hoo!”
Ry grinned happily. “Now, tell me I’m not Mr. Right.”
“Let’s just say that Pastor Kevin isn’t.”
Ry threw back his head in a deep satisfied laugh.
If ever there was a sound of victory, that was it. He thought she’d given him her heart, and he’d chalked it up as a win. Wrong. She would not join that long line of women who lost their hearts to Ry Brennan.
“Wouldn’t it be great if you were Mr. Right?” she said brightly, reaching for anything that would keep him from knowing how much she wished this were for real.
That wiped the smile off his face. Hurray for her.
Putting on the act of her life, she added, “It’s too bad that you’re not my type.” The color in his face drained. He looked awful.
Why? What was so bad about that comment? It should be exactly what he wanted to hear. They were just words—words to protect their relationship, to make him feel safe, not make him feel as bad as he looked.
Without a word, he turned and walked toward the door.
“Ry?” She didn’t want him leaving like this.
He didn’t look back. He didn’t slow down.
But then, hadn’t she known he would do that one day?
Chapter Twelve
He wasn’t her type? That phrase had driven Ry crazy for the past week. How could Meg say something so wrong? How could they be any more compatible, to say nothing of the chemistry between them? They shared the same faith, the same values and the same desire for a family. Nobody would ever love Meg more than he would. How was he not her type?
“What’s wrong with you, man?” Hector had been giving him concerned looks the whole shift.
Ry shifted position in the passenger seat, embarrassed that Hector had noticed he wasn’t himself. “Woman troubles, buddy,” Ry confessed.
“What’s the matter? Have you got them fighting over which one you take out on Valentine’s Day?”
Ry rolled his eyes. In the old days, that might have been the height of his problems. “No, just one. Meg.”
“Meg? Your sister’s friend? That dark-haired hottie we saw having lunch with Dr. Beth?”
“That’s the one, and don’t call her a hottie,” Ry grumbled, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.
“Well, I won’t, not if she’s your lady. Way to go, man. She’s a babe. So what’s the problem?”
As long as he’d gone this far, why not spill his guts? He couldn’t feel worse. “She says I’m not her ‘type.’”
“‘Not her type?’ That can mean anything—a kiss-off or a payback. What did you do, man?”
What had he done? Nothing but pour out his heart in those kisses. “I don’t know, other than letting her know that she was the one.” It felt good to say it out loud.
“Was that when she said you weren’t her type?”
Ry nodded, feeling gut-punched all over again.
“And she said that right after you told her that you were in love with her?”
“Well, I don’t think I actually said it, but—”
“Rookie mistake!” Hector’s look said he’d just lost all respect for Ry. “And I thought you were cool, man. Women want the words, partner. They want the words in blood! You gotta say, ‘I love you,’ and you can’t say it just once. It’s like Vitamin D. It doesn’t store up. You gotta say it every day. You’ve got to know that.”
Okay, he knew it theoretically, but he’d never told anyone he loved them. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he needed to say it. Hadn’t Meg known how he felt when he’d poured his heart into those kisses?
“As I see it, you have two choices,” Hector said. “You go to Meg, say the words and—”
“Beg her to forgive me.”
“No! You never beg. Women see that as weak.” Hector shook his head in amazement. “I can’t believe I’m giving you advice on women.”
Ry couldn’t believe it, either, but he was so desperate, he was ready to listen.
“At this point, you go to her, probably with flowers, and you say, ‘I love you.’ You may have to dress it up a little more than that. And then you see what happens.”
It wouldn’t be easy, but Ry could do that.
“That’s Choice One.”
He had an alternative?
“The other choice is, you save your pride, forget about Meg and let me introduce you to my little sister.”
Ry’s mouth twitched, almost smiling for the first time in a week. “It’s nice to have a backup plan,” he said, “but I think I’ll go with the first option.”
“Good call. My little sister’s only thirteen.”
That did get a smile, not real big, but Ry took a deep breath and felt hopeful. Energy flowed through his veins. He had a plan, and everything would be fine. Meg loved him. He knew it. He’d seen it in her eyes, in her fierce loyalty. More than anyone, she was the constant in his life. He could hardly wait to tell her he loved her.
“Ry?” His partner’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Did you hear that? We have an MVA at the intersection of San Josita and Judavera.”
Ry snapped out of his fog and turned on the emergency lights and siren. It was time to prepare for the worst and pray for the best in whatever waited up ahead.
As they neared the scene and saw that other emergency vehicles had gathered, Ry’s heart seemed to stop. A little white convertible with a tan top just like Meg’s had been rear-ended and shoved down an embankment. As crushed as that car was, it would be a miracle if the driver was alive.
But it couldn’t be Meg’s. There were other cars like hers. It couldn’t be her.
Dear God, don’t let it be her.
Before Hector brought the ambulance to a stop, Ry had the door open and was rushing down the slope, his heart in his throat.
“Hey!” Hector called. “Ry! The gear!”
He shouldn’t have left it, especially if he needed it to help the occupants of the convertible. “How many?” he yelled to the police officer closest to the car.
“Just one, and there’s no hurry.”
He could have sobbed. He knew what that meant.
Getting closer, he could tell the driver was a woman. But the woman was a blonde! Not Meg! Relief almost took him to his knees.
“What’s the matter with you, man?” Hector approached, complaining. “Why leave me to haul everything down here?”
“The car…it’s just like Meg’s.”
“But it’s not her, is it?” The concern in Hector’s eyes made Ry swallow hard. He shook his head, and the two of them went to work, doing what they had to do.
What if it had been Meg? Ry’s heart ached with the thought. How could he live without her?
“Thanks, Steve, but I’m seeing someone now,” Meg said into the phone, turning down his offer for a Valentine’s Day dinner. “If you decide that you want to go on Dream Date, call me at the office. You would be a terrific contestant.”
Meg wondered how many more of these promises she’d have to make before her Mr. Right candidates stopped calling. She could not go out on one more meaningless date, not when the man she loved lived right upstairs.
And she did love Ry. She was tired of denying it, especially to herself. All the doubts she’d ever had about her capacity to love were gone. This yearning to openly love Ry was so strong, she couldn’t play the Mr. Right game or pretend that Ry wasn’t part of her every breath, every thought.
She hadn’t seen him since he left without a word, but her calendar showed that he’d been scheduled to work. Would he stop by when his shift ended? He always did…unless he was still upset with her.
“Meg!” Ry’s anxious voice and his heavy knock on her door sent her rushing to open it.
She was through with pretending. If he saw that she loved him, he could run for his life or get used to being loved as he’d nev
er been loved before.
When she opened the door, her heart turned over. Ry leaned wearily, one hand on either side of her door, looking so grim that something had to be wrong. “What is it, Ry?”
His eyes were cloudy with heavy emotion. “I thought I’d lost you. There was this car accident. I thought it was you. What if it had been, and I hadn’t even told you that I love you? Even if I’m not your type, you’re my—”
Meg put her fingers across his lips, silencing the torrent of emotion coming from her guy. “Did you say you love me?”
He looked at her with worried eyes. “Did I forget to say it again? Yes! I love you. And I need you.”
She slid her arms around her guy. Of course he needed her. She’d always known that.
“Meg, I want to marry you, have children with you, spend my life with you.”
Those were the most beautiful words she’d ever heard, and being held like this was better than she’d ever dreamed.
“You’re scaring me, babe. Say something, okay?” He did look scared. That was different. Ry Brennan afraid?
“I just can’t believe this is happening,” she said. “Two months ago, you weren’t in my life, and a week ago, you were giving me dating advice.”
“Bad advice…while I waited for you to wake up and see that I was Mr. Right,” he said with a crooked smile. “Remember when I told you that my partner, Doc, quit the day I got back to New York?”
She nodded. His partner left to go to medical school. She remembered because she’d worried that Ry might feel less of himself because his partner had moved on.
“Doc wasn’t the only one who quit that day. I did, too. The two of us worked out our notices together.”
Meg was speechless with surprise.
“When you called and hinted that you might come to see me out there, I hated pretending that I didn’t get the hint, but my SUV was already packed. I couldn’t wait to get back out here to you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She would have loved to have known.
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“And you did! But I was so busy denying that what I felt for you was the real thing, I didn’t suspect you felt the same way. I thought you came back for your family.”
“I did that on New Year’s Eve, but, babe, you’re the reason I’m here now. You’re my home.”
She snuggled her forehead against his neck and prayed.
Thank You, Lord. Thank You for this precious love. Thank You for knowing who was right for me all along. You answered my prayer when I didn’t realize You had.
“Ry?” She lifted her head to him.
Ry looked into Meg’s face, her beautiful face, now shining with love, and thought his heart would explode. She wasn’t turning him down. Everything was going to be all right. “What, sweetheart?”
“When you were giving me kissing lessons—”
“You didn’t need any lessons, babe. I was just jealous that you were kissing Kevin.”
“Really?” Her bright smile turned him inside out.
“That, and I was tired of waiting to kiss you myself.”
“Well, then…”
The way she lifted her sweet mouth went straight to the top of his blessings list. Now that she was his, he’d never let her go.
On Easter morning, Ry came home from work, planning to stop in for a good-morning kiss from Meg before getting ready for church. It was going to be the best day. He was caught up on his sleep, the sun was shining and they would celebrate the Risen Lord together for the first time.
Today Meg’s ring finger would be heavy. He’d wanted to give her a ring on Valentine’s Day, but she’d said she wanted to enjoy being his girlfriend a little while before she became his fiancée.
They’d made a quick trip to Taos so he could get reacquainted with her mom and officially ask for Meg’s hand in marriage. It was old-fashioned, but it felt right.
Bless her heart, Phyllis Maguire had given him a real mother’s welcome and a beautiful piece of her art. The sculpture was three children at play, a boy and two girls. Ry, Beth and Meg could have posed for it when they were little. But Phyllis said he was to think of it as the grandchildren he and Meg would give her.
Meg had blushed, but he’d hugged Phyllis and promised to do his part to make that come true.
A promise was a promise. If he gave Meg her diamond this morning, then after church, they could go to Vegas, find a chapel and get married. Easter was a perfect day to start their new life together.
He knocked on her door, holding a heavy vase of pink roses, just like the flowers he brought her the first day he was here.
The door opened, and he heard the sound of her delighted giggle. He loved that sound. Making Meg happy—that was his goal.
“I assume my favorite guy is somewhere behind my favorite pink roses,” she said, guiding him to the coffee table, just like she had that first time.
“Please notice the card,” he said, setting the vase down carefully. “Since I was a little slow to say ‘I love you,’ I wrote it once for each of the roses.”
“That’s a lot of roses.”
“That’s a lot of ‘I love you’s.” Ry never thought he would say anything as goofy as that, but she seemed to like it and his Easter-morning kiss.
Gorgeous in a pink dress, Meg wore her dark hair swept up off her kissable neck. She’d set a table for two with pink place mats and pink tulips. The room was filled with the delicious aroma of freshly made coffee, bacon and cinnamon French toast. She had learned to make his favorite breakfast. What a sweetheart.
Soon—very soon—maybe even tomorrow, he’d be waking up with her beside him, and breakfast could start with kisses. She turned to dish up the food, and she looked so cute that he couldn’t resist putting his arms around her waist and nuzzling her neck.
“Thank you for this Easter breakfast, Meg,” he said, his voice morning husky, or maybe because there was a lump in his throat, knowing how much he loved her.
She gave him one wonderful kiss, which in these circumstances, seemed a little stingy. He could have taken a hundred.
“Sit down,” she said, her eyes laughing at him. “Your breakfast is getting cold.”
He slipped his tiny gift-wrapped box at her place and followed orders, but he couldn’t quite keep his eyes off of her. He loved looking at her, and he didn’t mind that she knew it. He loved the way she moved in the kitchen, not especially smooth or graceful since neither of them cooked enough to get really good at it, but with joy and enthusiasm like she did everything.
“What’s this?” she asked delightedly, sitting down and picking up her present.
The size gave it away. She had to know. Besides, he’d offered to take her shopping for the ring. Since she would be the one wearing it for the rest of her life, he thought she ought to pick it out, but she’d begged off, saying he was better with choices than she was.
“I have a present for you, too,” she said. He hadn’t noticed it, but there was a little box by his place. “You first, but not until you’ve eaten breakfast.”
He’d never eaten so fast in his life, not that he wanted to open his gift, but because he couldn’t wait for her to open hers.
The box he unwrapped was almost too light to hold anything. When he removed the lid and saw the confetti inside, he laughed out loud. It had to be her list of Mr. Right requirements. Leave it to Meg to find a way to package her trust. He leaned over and lifted her chin for a thank-you kiss. “I love it, babe. Now open your gift.”
He held his breath as she removed the jewelry store’s fancy gift wrap, hoping she would like the two-carat princess-cut diamond set in platinum.
She stared at the ring with shocked delight, then looked at him the same way.
Why didn’t she say something? “We can exchange it,” he offered immediately.
She looked at him as if he were crazy. “Ry, this is the most perfect ring I’ve ever seen.” She held it out to him. “Will you put it on for me?”
/>
He slid the ring on her finger and sealed it there with a kiss. He would do anything to protect that love, and that included rethinking his dream. If he had to choose between marriage and medical school, marriage had won.
“There’s another ring that goes with that one,” he said, knowing how curious his girl was. “Want to see it?”
“Can I?”
“Only if we drive to Vegas and put that ring on your finger today,” he said hopefully.
She rose from her chair and put her arms around him, raining little kisses over his face. “I’d love that, but I’d like to have my mother at our wedding, and Pete, Sunny and Beth, too.”
“I should have thought of that,” he said, feeling selfish. What if she wanted one of those big weddings that took a year to plan? He would hate that.
“Why don’t we call the church and see how soon we could be married in the garden there?”
Bless her heart. Meg wasn’t going to make him wait long at all.
Meg had never been happier in her life. With the top down on her convertible, she drove to the reception for Beth at Brennan Medical Clinic, enjoying the spring breeze blowing through her hair and the dazzle coming from her ring finger. This past month had been one wonderful day after another, all special because she could openly show Ry how dearly she loved him.
Amazingly, Ry, easily the most popular guy she’d ever known, had seemed to soak up that love like a sponge. Now, she could see that his self-sufficient act and womanizing ways were nothing but a cover for how alone he’d really felt and how leery he’d been of rejection.
By this time next month, all that would change. The two of the them would exchange wedding vows in the lovely garden of their church, and Ry would have the security of knowing he’d never be lonely again.
Somehow Ry had managed to get ten consecutive days off work so they could have a honeymoon. The destination of the honeymoon was Ry’s surprise. Though she didn’t care for surprises, she didn’t care where they went as long as she got to be with him for ten straight days.
Beth and Pete would be their attendants. Mom, Sunny, Shay and baby Meggy would be there for her. Ry’s dad, Isabel and baby J.T. would be there for Ry. His mother and Trey had declined.
