Her Valentine Sheriff

by Deb Kastner

  “Step back, everyone, and give them some room,” Zach announced, helping Eli lower Aaron to the ground.

  Eli grabbed Zach’s shoulder. “Mary,” was all he said.

  Zach nodded. “Go, man.”

  Eli scrambled back into the preschool. His heart hammered as the roof made another frightening screech. He didn’t have long—they didn’t have long.

  The dogs had both faithfully stayed by Mary’s side. He was grateful she hadn’t been alone, even for the short time he’d been gone.

  She still hadn’t moved, but at least her breath was stable. From what he could gather, the pile of debris she’d been crossing had given out on her. And in sheltering Aaron, she’d put herself at risk. He had no idea how badly she was hurt, but the fall had knocked her out. She could have a concussion or worse. No matter what, he had to get her out of there. There wasn’t time or room to get a backboard for her. His arms would have to do.

  As gently as he was able, he scooped her into his embrace and then gingerly stepped across the wreckage, determined not to fall as Mary had. He couldn’t lose her. He just couldn’t.

  He ducked through the hole in the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. But he hadn’t taken more than a few steps toward the front door before the rushing sound of the roof giving in thundered from behind him. He gasped, and broke into a dead run, both dogs at his side as he hovered his shoulders over Mary so she wouldn’t be hit by any falling debris. A few pieces cut into him, but he barely felt them.

  He was once more surrounded when he broke free from the building. Zach was caring for Aaron inside the ambulance, and he knew Delia was back at the chapel shelter, but Ben Atwood and a couple of other men waited with a gurney to lay Mary upon.

  “We’ll take care of the two dogs,” one of them said. “You go do what you have to do.”

  Eli never left her side as they strapped her in and rolled her to the ambulance. He was scared beyond belief that she hadn’t yet gained consciousness. As he stepped into the ambulance with her, he prayed she soon would come back to him. And when she did, he would be right there, and he would never leave her again.

  * * *

  When Mary first opened her eyes, everything was blurry. She didn’t know where she was, but after listening to the beeping, she realized she was in a hospital. She didn’t remember what had happened. She only knew that her whole body ached.

  She blinked rapidly, trying to work through the muddled details in her mind. She’d been in a building. There had been a lot of wreckage. There was a child.

  “Aaron.” The beep of her heart monitor raced. She’d passed out with the boy in her arms. Where was he? Was he safe?

  A large, callused hand gripped hers.

  “Aaron is fine, honey. They already released him from the hospital.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. The boy was safe. They’d fallen and...

  Her legs. She hadn’t been able to move her legs.

  She experienced a moment of sheer panic until she realized that she had, in fact, raised her knees when she’d become flustered. Apparently she still had use of her extremities.

  She remembered feeling numb.

  “What’s wrong, honey?”

  This time when Mary opened her eyes, her gaze was much sharper. Eli was hovering over her, worry evident in those expressive blue eyes. He looked bedraggled, as if he hadn’t slept in a couple of days. Or shaved. His rough cheeks carried at least two days’ growth of beard on them.

  He was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She wanted to reach up, wrap her arms around him and kiss him thoroughly.

  How much pain medicine had they given her? She was positively loopy.

  He smiled his quirky smile and brought her hand to his lips. “I can’t say how glad I am to see you. Hey, I bought you some stuff.”

  He pointed to the table by her side.

  Stuff? It looked like he’d emptied the entire hospital gift shop. There was a huge bouquet of spring flowers in a gorgeous burgundy vase, an enormous brown teddy bear holding a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a half a dozen get-well balloons.

  Her heart swelled until she thought she couldn’t bear it any longer. Eli had done all that for her? She chuckled, not even caring if it hurt.

  “What? Is it too cliché?”

  “It’s too much! These are all from you?” she exclaimed.

  “Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Everything on that table, anyway. I guess it is a bit of overkill.”

  He was still holding her hand, and she enveloped it in both of hers. “No. That’s not what I meant at all. I can’t believe you’ve done so much for me.”

  “He hasn’t left the room since you got here,” came Alexis’s voice from the far side of the room.

  “Alexis?” Mary tried to sit up, but slumped right back down again. Every single muscle in her body must be bruised.

  “Don’t go trying to move, silly,” Alexis said, coming to the other side of the bed and laying a hand on her shoulder. “Samantha was here, too, and she sends her love. She had to go back to her shift at the store.”

  “Thank her for me when you see her.”

  “I will. I’ve got to run, too, now. I was just here to see how you were doing and if Eli needed anything. I’m glad you’re awake. I know Eli will take good care of you. And the doctors,” she said, as if it were an afterthought.

  Mary turned back to Eli. “Is it true you haven’t left the hospital? How long has it been?”

  “Two days,” a female voice she didn’t recognize said from the door. “He hasn’t even left your room, except when you’re being examined. Now that’s devotion for you.”

  Eli’s sister, Vee, stepped into Mary’s sight range and offered a small bouquet of carnations. “I can’t compete with my brother,” she said with a laugh.

  “No. These are beautiful.”

  “He saved you, too, you know. He and Bullet.”

  Could her heart grow any bigger? What she felt for him defied words. Eli was her hero, now and always.

  “See? I knew you could do it,” she whispered to him. “As far as I’m concerned, you’ve passed your final exam. You and Bullet are a bona fide K-9 unit.”

  “Considering Eli’s issues, I’m giving you both gold stars. Ben is waiting for me downstairs. I just wanted to say hi and that the family loves you.”

  “Thank you,” she called, but Vee was already out the door. What did Vee mean about the family loving her? They didn’t even know her that well. And what was that about Eli’s issues?

  “What did she mean?” She didn’t press any further than that. Eli could explain, or not explain, as he saw fit.

  He perched on the side of the bed and laid his arm across the blanket around her waist. “I should have told you a long time ago.”

  “Told me what?”

  “About me and...” He hesitated. “Dogs.”

  She had no idea what he was talking about, but his expression was as serious as she’d ever seen it. “Go on.”

  “When I was little, I was attacked by a wolf hybrid.”

  “Oh, Eli.”

  “It left scars. Inside and out. Mostly inside. I never really got over it.”

  “You mean...?”

  “I’m terrified of dogs.”

  Mary had a hard time believing Eli was afraid of anything, but fears weren’t always rational, and his certainly had a basis in reality.

  “Then why...?”

  “Why did I sign up for the K-9 unit? I didn’t, really. I kind of got forced into it. I just didn’t argue against it when the captain told me I’d been selected. After that bad break with Natalie, I was fighting for my reputation. I thought the K-9 thing would help. I know I was a pretty big jerk to you when we first started.”

  “I
only wish I had known.” She didn’t know how she would have worked to help him deal with his phobia, but she could have done something. And it certainly explained a lot.

  He sighed. “It is what it is. And I’m getting better.”

  “You have Bullet living at your house!” She was astounded that he could have faced his fear head-on like that.

  “I know, right?” He laughed. “And the funniest thing is, I’m kind of used to him now. I can’t imagine coming home to my apartment without him.”

  “Alexis’s ranch has a lot of room for him to run.”

  His brow furrowed. “Redemption Ranch? What does that have to do with anything?”

  She bit the inside of her lip until her emotions were under control. She loved Eli. More than anything, she wanted him to be happy.

  “You don’t have to hide anything from me. I know how you feel about Alexis. I’ve seen the two of you together.”

  “You know how I feel about...Alexis?”

  She tried to smile. She really did. “She’s a wonderful woman. Maybe I’m jumping the gun a little bit, but she’ll make a great wife.”

  His gaze widened and then one side of his lips crept up. “I’m sure she will.”

  Mary let out her breath. It was settled, then. She should feel relieved. Instead she felt like there were millions of little springs all wound up inside her.

  “Yeah, honey, but not my wife.”

  “I’m sorry. What?” She couldn’t have heard him correctly.

  “I’ll admit I’ve been spending a lot of time with Alexis.”

  She nodded.

  “But she was trying to figure out how to set me up with you.”

  “I... You...” she stammered. Her heart started racing, but her mind and emotions simply couldn’t keep up.

  “That’s right, honey. Me and you. It’s been you all the time.”

  “But I thought—”

  “Wrong. Clearly, communicating isn’t one of my fine points. You didn’t need to have a building fall on you to get my attention,” he teased, his eyes twinkling and that beautiful smile beaming just for her. “I’ve loved you all along.”

  She was gaping. She knew she was gaping. She couldn’t seem to get her jaw to work. He had risked his own life to save her—because he loved her.

  And, oh, how she loved him.

  He leaned forward until his lips were inches away, his warm breath mingling with hers. “I think this is the part where you say you love me, too,” he suggested with a low rumble that came from deep in his throat.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  Never, ever would she have expected to be in Eli’s arms, in his heart. But that’s what he’d said. That’s what the gleam in his eyes repeated. And the curve of his smile as he leaned even closer.

  “This part’s not so complicated, either,” he whispered, before he covered her lips with his own, sealing their hearts together.

  Epilogue

  Four Months Later

  “Is she coming?” Eli was more than a little bit antsy. He’d been at Redemption Ranch since sunup, decorating Alexis’s house for Mary’s surprise birthday party. He wanted to oversee every detail. It all had to be perfect.

  “Relax, Eli,” Alexis said with a laugh. “She’s on her way. Samantha’s got her covered.”

  “And she doesn’t suspect anything?”

  “Not a chance. If she did, she would have told Samantha or me. Take a breath before you hyperventilate.”

  “I’m terrified that I’m going to mess this up.”

  Alexis stopped taping curled purple crepe paper to the wall and rolled her eyes at Eli. “There is no possible way you can mess this up. With what you’ve got planned, none of the rest of it matters.” She grinned at him. “However, you might want to put Bullet out back until she gets here. If she sees him, you’ll be made.”

  “Oh, right.” As he went out front to get Bullet, he greeted all of Mary’s many friends who were arriving for the party. As far as they knew, it was just a surprise birthday bash. As far as Mary knew, she was helping out with Alexis’s teenage intake process again.

  He whistled for his dog and two more came running. He assumed they belonged to Alexis. He’d been working with a counselor, and now he felt no more than a twinge when a strange dog ran up to him. The twinge would probably never go away completely, but he could live with it. If it was the price he had to pay to have Mary in his life, then he’d even embrace it. He put Bullet in the field behind the house and hurried back in so he wouldn’t miss Mary’s arrival.

  “She’s here,” Alexis announced, hushing everybody and waving the sound down with her hands. She flipped off the lights, and they all crouched down, waiting for the big moment.

  Eli’s heart was beating so hard he could hear it in his ears, and it wasn’t just because he was about to surprise Mary. Or at least, it wasn’t about the birthday party.

  “Where’s Alexis?” he heard Mary ask from the porch. “It doesn’t even look like anybody’s home.”

  “She’s probably inside,” Samantha assured her, turning the knob and stepping back.

  Alexis flipped the switch and the room was flooded with light.

  “Surprise!” everyone called, then rushed forward to give Mary hugs and well wishes. Eli leaned his shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms, enjoying the attention the love of his life was getting.

  She didn’t know how special she was. It was his lifetime mission to remind her, every single day, in every way he could think of.

  Today, it was a surprise party.

  “It appears you have lots of friends,” he said when he finally saw an opening and moved to her side. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips, enjoying the way she colored. He loved that he could make her blush.

  But now there were tears in her eyes.

  “What’s the matter, honey? I thought you’d be happy about this.”

  “I am,” she assured him. “It’s just that...I didn’t know I had so many people who cared for me.”

  “Well, you do. Me, most of all.”

  She caressed his cheek and his heart glowed. “I know.”

  “I’d better go get Bullet,” he said. “I locked him out back so you wouldn’t see him when you came in.” That he had secondary motives for leaving her side was left unsaid.

  He did get Bullet, but he also took a detour through Alexis’s den to pick up something else.

  When he reached the living room, he nodded to Alexis. He couldn’t breathe, and he felt like someone had tied his stomach in knots, but it was time.

  “Attention, everyone,” she called, and the room quieted. “Mary, front and center, birthday girl.”

  He caught her eye as she stepped forward, and winked at her. She beamed back at him. He loved her smile. He loved everything about her.

  “Present time, present time, open your present, see what’s inside!” Alexis chimed.

  Mary raised her eyebrows. “Well, I would, but I don’t see a present.”

  That was his cue. He put his fluffy little bundle on the floor and nudged her forward.

  Mary gasped in surprise. “A Saint Bernard? For me?”

  Eli stepped forward. “Of course it’s for you, sweetheart. You said you wanted one of these things, although looking at her paws, I’m guessing I may live to regret this. She’s going to get huge.”

  Mary laughed and scooped the puppy off the floor, cuddling it under her chin.

  “I figured I have a dog, and you have dogs, plural—but we don’t have one.”

  Tears formed in the corner of her beautiful green eyes. “I don’t... Are you...” she stammered.

  Alexis cut in. “I said, open the present, see what’s inside.”
r />   “But she’s a dog,” Mary protested. “How do I—”

  Her sentence came to an abrupt halt as she noticed the jewelry box tied to the puppy’s collar, almost like one of those barrels the adult Saint Bernards sometimes wore.

  His heart in his throat, Eli stepped forward and untied the box, and then, in front of God and all of their friends, he dropped to one knee.

  “Mary Travis, I’ve given you every kind of grief there is, and you put up with it all. I’ve never met a woman I’ve admired more. Your tenderness, your sensitivity and most of all your love. I would be honored if you would agree to become my wife.”

  She only hesitated for the second it took to shift the puppy from her left arm to her right. Then she offered him her hand, her heart and her life.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt MOMMY WANTED by Renee Andrews.

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to Serendipity, Texas, where the second of the Little Chicks, Mary Travis, finally has the opportunity to meet her match.

  Eli Bishop is a strong man with a solid faith in God, but after he faces some tough obstacles in his life experiences, he’s shaken and confused. At those moments when he believes everything has fallen apart, God is actually leading him in a different—and better— direction.

  Sometimes our own life experiences give us tunnel vision, but our Lord sees the big picture. Even during our most difficult moments, God is there with us, guiding us even when we have no idea where to go. In Him we have a hope and a future.

  I hope you enjoyed Her Valentine Sheriff. I love to connect with you, my readers, in a personal way. Please look me up at my website, www.debkastnerbooks.com. You can find my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/debkastnerbooks, or catch me on Twitter @debkastner.

  Please know that you are daily in my prayers.

  Love Courageously,