The Lawman's Last Stand
Page 23
There was no way through this except straight ahead. Setting her hands in her lap, she lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. “It’s not about the chairs. The doctor’s office called this morning.”
“The doctor?” He was at her side in two long strides, squatting in front of her. “Are you all right?”
“That night in the train car…I thought it wasn’t the right time. I don’t know what happened. I must have miscalculated. Numbers are not my strong suit, as you can tell since I didn’t even get the number of chairs right at my own wedding.” She chewed her lower lip, knowing she must be messing up her lipstick, and not caring. “I’m pregnant.”
His body went still. She couldn’t even see his chest rise and fall. In the long moment that stretched between them, her thumb and forefinger found the pearls again and rubbed them, comforted by their smooth warmth and the fact that they were her mother’s.
It seemed like days, though she knew it couldn’t have been more than seconds, before his big body relaxed. “Well, then.” He drew a deep breath and smiled, even if it did look a little forced. Or was it just stunned? “No champagne toast for you after the ceremony.”
The tears she’d been biting back sprang forth, and she figured now her mascara was ruined, too. “Then you still want to marry me?”
He rested his arm across the back of her chair, just touching her shoulders. “Of course I want to marry you. I love you and we’re having a baby.”
He’d recovered quickly—more quickly than she had. His smile was genuine now.
“I know how you feel about family,” she tried to explain her doubts. “I…I was afraid this would just be too much. All at once.”
He rocked back on his heels, his smile dimming. She couldn’t tell if he was upset, or trying not to laugh.
“Oh, Shane. We’re the two most clueless people in the world when it comes to family. How will we ever make it work?”
He raised up, scooted her over on the chair with his hip and pulled her into his lap. Looking at his handsome face, she realized he wasn’t mad or laughing. In fact, she thought maybe his eyes were as glossy as hers.
“Scared?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Elation warred with sheer terror.
“About the wedding or the baby?”
“Both.”
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Because I love you too. And that’s all it takes to make a family work.”
She squinted at him through her drying tears. “My father again?” Shane and her dad had become close faster than she would have imagined.
“He’s a very smart man.”
“He’ll be a great grandpa, huh?” She sniffed.
He nodded. “So let’s go get married so we can tell him the good news.”
She checked her reflection in the mirror. Heavens, the damage was worse than she thought. “You go stall,” she said, smiling as she pushed Shane away. “Tell Dad I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
A few minutes turned out to be fifteen, but Shane didn’t care. He’d wait a lifetime for her. Nothing could have made his heart expand the way seeing her, as a vision of a beautiful woman in white lace, her cheeks as lustrous as the pearls around her neck, did.
Watching her walk down the aisle on her father’s arm, he realized he loved her even more than before. He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but knowing she was carrying his baby, their baby, deepened his feelings in a way he’d never have imagined.
It was like a desert creature contemplating life in the sea. Until the moment she’d told him she was pregnant, he’d simply had no frame of reference for what he felt.
His family. The words suddenly had meaning. It was an awesome responsibility, and an incredible gift. Quite some wedding present his soon-to-be wife had given him. Nothing could have been more perfect.
The ceremony passed by in a flash, and was over too soon. He kissed his bride as instructed, standing in the cove of his great room with the world laid out behind them and their friends, old and new, seated before them. With all his heart he tried to imbue the love and commitment of a lifetime into that one touch of his lips to hers.
When he finally lifted his head, the minister gave him a short nod, and Shane knew the man would remember to introduce them to the guests exactly as Shane had requested.
His wife couldn’t be Gigi McCowan any longer, especially with the original Gigi, flown in from Ocala that morning, dabbing at her eyes with a hanky in the second row beside Eric Randall and Mariah, his bride of a week. But she’d said she didn’t want to go back to being Julia Ferrar, either.
That was fine by him. He had a new name for her, anyway. His.
The minister closed his bible and opened his arms to the crowd. Shane squeezed his wife’s hand.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the minister pronounced. “I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Shane and Julia Hightower.”
Shane slid his gaze sideways to check her reaction. From the look on her face, she liked the sound of it.
He knew he sure did.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1734-8
THE LAWMAN’S LAST STAND
Copyright © 2000 by Vickie Spears
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Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
Books by Vickie Taylor
About the Author
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Copyright