by Cindy Kirk
“Sasha was always safe.” Finley quickly reassured her father before turning beseeching eyes on Michelle. “You have to believe me. I love Sasha. I’d never let anything bad happen to her.”
There were a thousand things Michelle could have pointed out to her at that moment, but then she’d made her share of mistakes, too.
She offered Finley a reassuring smile. “I know you care about Sasha and would never do anything to harm her.”
Gratitude mingled with relief in Finley’s eyes. But if she thought her father would be as understanding and give her a pass on this one, she was mistaken.
“I don’t know where you took Sasha or how all the events of that evening fell together, but I do know that things could have gone wrong despite whatever safeguards you’d put in place.” He looked flushed and annoyed but spoke in a quiet, controlled tone. “A person’s life and emotions, an animal’s life, is nothing to tinker with and manipulate.”
“I know that now.” Finley looked properly chastised. “And I’m sorry.”
“It’s not just me you owe an apology.” He shifted his gaze to Michelle.
“I’m sorry, Michelle.” Tears welled up and spilled over in the girl’s eyes.
Michelle was instantly at Finley’s side, gathering the girl in her arms. “I forgive you,” she whispered against the soft brown hair. “And I’m sorry, too, so very sorry. It wasn’t you. I was just scared of being in the same situation again.”
Finley tightened her hold. “I forgive you.”
A feeling of peace stole over Michelle. For a second she believed everything would be okay. Until she saw Gabe’s face.
Chapter Twenty
“I’ll call Grandma and tell her I’m not coming.” Finley released her hold on Michelle. She started out of the room but Gabe called her back.
He stared for a moment, studying her intently. “Promise me you’ll never run from a difficult situation again.”
“I won’t.” Finley lifted her chin. “I’m a Davis. I forgot that for a while. I won’t forget it again.”
“And I want you to talk to Dr. Allman about the issues with your mother,” Gabe said firmly.
For a second Finley looked like she was going to argue then she nodded. “I will.”
“Okay.” A smile touched his mouth. “Tell Grandma and Grandpa I’ll call them later.”
Finley was almost to the door when she stopped. “Can Addie spend the night this weekend?”
“Not when you’re grounded.”
There was a long silence. Finley shifted from one foot to the other. “Ah, exactly how long am I grounded?”
“Two weeks.”
Relief crossed her face. “Good. I thought it’d be more.”
Gabe opened his mouth to respond, but Finley continued before he could speak. “And, Dad, if you want to marry Michelle, I’m all for it. As long as I get to be a bridesmaid.”
The stunned look on Gabe’s face was almost comical as he watched Finley dance from the room.
Michelle only wished her heavy heart could be so light. Right now it was shrouded in darkness. A darkness she’d brought on herself. She moistened her lips. She had to clear her throat before she could speak.
“I’m sorry, Gabe. I never meant to hurt you or Finley. I love you. And I love her, too.” Her eyes flooded and she wiped them with her palm. “What a time to finally say it, huh? Just when everything between us is imploding.”
Her attempt at a laugh sounded more like a sob.
His gaze searched her face. He gestured to the sofa. “I’d like to talk.”
With her heart hammering in her chest, Michelle took a seat on one end. He dropped down beside her.
“It appears for you marrying a man with kids was the ultimate deal breaker?”
“Yes, well,” she said, conscious of the fact that while he sat less than a foot away, there had never been a greater distance between them. “I’d always believed that marriage was for life. Then I married Ed and, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t make it work. It was him and his daughters on one side and me on the other. I couldn’t take the chance of that happening again. But—”
There was a long speculative pause when she didn’t continue. “But?” he prompted.
“I now see that the dysfunction in those family dynamics had more to do with Ed and me than with the girls.” She clenched her fingers together in her lap. “If we could have communicated better, worked as a team...”
While she was talking he’d moved closer.
“The experience didn’t sour you on all men.” Gabe twirled a strand of hair between his fingers.
She expelled a shaky breath, realizing he was actually touching her again. “No.”
By now he was so close that Michelle could see the grains of dark stubble on his cheek and the smooth firmness of his lips. She remembered how he tasted and felt a sharp, sweet stab in her heart. If only she could turn back time...
“When Shannon and I were together, she’d talk to her girlfriends about her concerns and fears, not to me.” His gaze searched hers. “She was young. I understand that now. But I firmly believe for a relationship to be strong, each partner has to be willing to be honest and share their feelings with each other.”
“You’re right.” Michelle expelled a shaky breath. “I didn’t do that with you. But I’ve learned my lesson....”
A lesson she would carry with her the rest of her life. A life she might very well have to live without Gabe. Or Finley.
How could she have been so blind? Happiness, love, a family of her own had been so close. Right next door.
Michelle’s heart shifted painfully in her chest.
“I wish I could take away the pain of your failed marriage,” she heard him murmur. “But I can’t. I can only show you that that isn’t how it has to be.”
Michelle pulled her thoughts back to the present. What was he saying?
“You said your experience didn’t sour you on men.” Gabe raked a hand through his hair. “How about on marriage?”
An electricity filled the air, jolting Michelle back to life.
“I’d be willing to consider an offer of marriage from the right man.” Michelle was surprised by how rational and calm she sounded when her insides were quaking. “Under the right circumstances.”
“Say you had found the right man.” Gabe paused, clearing his throat roughly. “What would be the right circumstances?”
“Well, it would have to be a surprise, because I love surprises,” she said breathlessly, her heart beating salsa rhythm against her ribs. “And he’d have to get down on one knee.”
“What about a ring?”
Her gaze locked with his.
“Not absolutely necessary if the proposal was spontaneous,” Michelle whispered, even though they were the only two in the room.
“Any other circumstances I, er, he’d need to know?”
Mesmerized, Michelle stared into those beautiful amber eyes and shook her head slowly. “All that would matter is that he loved me as much as I love him.”
Gabe slipped from the sofa and dropped to his knee. When he took her hand, Michelle gasped. “Now? Here?”
“I can’t think of a better place or time.” Gabe gazed into her eyes. “I love you, Michelle Kerns. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“I can’t imagine my life without you either,” she managed to choke out.
“Will you make me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to be a wife to me and a mother to Finley and any other children we might have?”
“Yes, yes. Oh, yes.” Tears of joy slipped down her cheeks and suddenly she was in his arms and his lips were on hers.
When they came up for air, she laid her head against his chest and listened to the reassuring, steady beat of his heart.
“You know,” she said, toying with a button on his shirt, “I wouldn’t mind if Finley came with us on our honeymoon.”
Gabe had already started shaking his head before Michelle finishe
d talking. “I’d do anything for you, sweetheart, but that’s not happening. Finley can stay with Addie or her grandparents while we’re gone. The honeymoon is our time together. They’ll be plenty of opportunities for family vacations later.”
“Family.” She rolled the word around her tongue, liking the feel of it.
As his lips lowered to hers once again, Michelle realized she’d received a true double blessing.
Not only Mr. Right, but a wonderful daughter, as well. And hopefully many more children to fill their home with laughter and love.
Epilogue
Michelle stood in the foyer of the small church on a beautiful fall day in Jackson Hole, butterflies in her stomach. Her lace wedding dress with the V-shaped neckline and cap sleeves had been the one her mother had worn almost forty years earlier.
Her bridesmaids, Lexi and Adrianna, had stepped back to give her some time alone with her maid of honor, her soon-to-be daughter, Finley. The girl looked surprisingly grown up in her eggplant A-line satin dress.
Impulsively Michelle reached forward to clasp Finley’s hands in hers. She met her gaze. “Today I’ll promise to your father to love, honor and cherish him all the days of my life. I want you to know I’ll mean every word.”
A slight smile lifted Finley’s lips. “I know you love him.”
“And I also vow to love, honor and cherish you as my daughter all the days of my life.” Michelle hurriedly blinked back tears as the emotion in her heart welled up and threatened to spill over. “You may not have been born to me, Finley, but I couldn’t love you more. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“I love you, too...” Finley’s voice shook. “Because you’re marrying my dad, is it okay if I call you Mom?”
The hopeful look in the girl’s eyes tugged at Michelle’s heartstrings.
“I’d be honored,” Michelle whispered, the words thick with emotion.
“I hate to break this up.” Michelle’s father interrupted, holding out his arm. “But your groom awaits.”
Michelle realized that Lexi and Adrianna had already started down the aisle. Before she took her dad’s arm, she gave Finley a heartfelt hug.
“Gabe is a good man.” Her father’s voice was low and gravelly as he maneuvered them to the end of the aisle. “You two are going to be very happy. And your mom and I are thrilled we’re not only getting a fabulous son-in-law but also a wonderful granddaughter.”
After Finley started down the blue carpet, Michelle and her dad moved into position. It was then that she saw Gabe, resplendent in a black tux, waiting for her at the front of the church.
The look in his eyes dispelled the last of her nervousness. It was all there. The love, the caring, the until-death-do-us-part.
“Ready, honey?” her father whispered.
She nodded, eager to start her new life with the man she loved.
* * * * *
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Chapter One
New Year’s Eve. A night of mystery.
Just like she was mysterious. Beautiful. Exotic. And definitely mysterious.
Dark, auburn hair spilled in waves down her back, kissing the golden spine revealed by the cut-down-to-there black cocktail dress that clung to her lithe figure. Her companion’s dark blue gaze was focused intently on her face...dropping to her lips as she took a small sip of her martini. Slightly dirty, just the way she’d ordered. She lowered the cocktail and leaned a little closer to him, feeling more than slightly naughty. Beneath the table, she slipped her foot out of her sinfully high black heels and subtly slid her toes along his ankle...
“Excuse me, miss. Miss? Miss?”
The fantasy spinning inside Sarah-Jane Early’s head popped like a bubble of spent soap and she focused on the tuxedo-clad man standing in front of the hostess station she was manning at Red, looking none too patient. She was there not to daydream, but to help see to the needs of every guest of the wedding reception that had commandeered the popular Mexican restaurant for the night, and she quickly smiled. “Yes, sir, how can I help you?”
The man tugged at his skewed bow tie, casting a glance off to one side. “How do I get to the Red Rock Inn?” His question was hurried, and muttered half under his breath. She could have told him he needn’t have bothered trying to be so quiet. For the past three hours, the music from the reception had made conversations nearly impossible. She leaned a little closer to give him the directions to the hotel. He nodded, and took time to thank her before moving away to hold out his hand to the woman he’d obviously been waiting for.
In seconds, they were hurrying out the front door of the restaurant, the man’s arm wrapped possessively around the woman’s hips. It was obvious to anyone with eyes in their head that the couple couldn’t wait to be alone.
She knew there was no point in envying a couple in love...or even a couple in lust, or she’d be spending her life in a constant state of envy. Still, Sarah-Jane sighed and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
Fantasizing about wearing killer heels was one thing. Actually doing it was another. She wished she’d have just worn a pair of shoes from her own closet. She had a pair of black pumps. Admittedly they were nearly ten years old, purchased by her mother who had insisted that Sarah-Jane needed to wear the modestly-heeled things for her high school graduation. But they were leather and having been worn only a few times since, were still in good condition.
She glanced down at the shoes she was currently wearing. If she were honest, the only thing in common these shoes had with the old ones in her closet were that they were black. She twisted one foot this way and that, and sighed again, a little wistfully. The shoes that Maria Mendoza had insisted she wear were beautiful. The velvety suede was as black as midnight and certainly suited the clinging black cocktail dress she was wearing better than her sensible old pumps.
Just thinking about the dress had Sarah-Jane’s fingertips twitching at the hem of it, as if she could eke out another few inches of cloth where there was none. The hem of the dress stayed midway down her thighs, where it had been since she’d donned the garment earlier that day. She couldn’t do anything about the hem anymore than she could do something about the diagonally-slashed cutout neckline that exposed much more of Sarah-Jane’s cleavage than she liked. If she weren’t positively devoted to Maria, who not only owned the restaurant along with her husband but also owned the knitting shop where Sarah-Jane really worked as an assistant manager, there’s no way she’d have worn something so unsuitable out in public. She was a lot more comfortable in the pullover shirts and khaki pants that she wore at The Stocking Stitch. She wouldn’t win any fashion awards, but at least she didn’t have to worry that people might think she believed she could carry off such a look.
Her gaze drifted from the empty lobby area of the restaurant back toward the bar where many of the wedding guests had migrated. Most of the wedding party remained, though Emily Fortune and her brand-new husband, Max Allen, had already departed. As had many of the older guests, leaving the younger crowd to stay on and party into the night.
There wasn’t an unsuitably-clad person in the bunch.
What else would one expect when
the bride was part of the wealthy Fortune family? To a one, every single person who’d entered the restaurant that evening had looked like they’d stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine.
Her fingertips searched for her hem and tugged.
“Sarah-Jane.”
The sound of her name had her quickly straightening and she turned to find Marcos Mendoza gesturing from near the kitchen. He managed Red, but was also married to a Fortune of his own, and since that Fortune happened to be the little sister of the bride, he’d also been part of the wedding party. She left her post at the hostess station and hurried toward him. “Yes?”
“I think it’s safe for you to clear out,” he offered. “There’s still a little New Year’s Eve left for you to enjoy.”
She kept her smile in place. “I arranged to be here the entire evening, Marcos.” She certainly didn’t have anything more exciting waiting for her at home. Her roommate, Felicity, was at a party, and there had never been any handsome men in Sarah-Jane’s life who were anxious to ring in anything with her, much less a new year. At least by helping out Maria, she was doing something productive. “I know Maria wanted all of you to be able to enjoy the wedding as guests rather than staff. I can still help out in the kitchen or something.”
He smiled wryly. “Well, I’m not about to turn down willing help. But you’d be a waste in the kitchen dressed like you are.” Off duty and wedding guest or not, he was still clearly in management mode. He quickly scanned the restaurant, then nodded with decision. “Cindy’s slammed at the bar; if you don’t mind grabbing a tray and starting to collect the empties—”
“I don’t mind,” she assured, and was glad to head that way. Being busy was always preferable to standing around letting her wandering mind conjure up silly fantasies of a faceless man who had eyes only for her.
Ignoring her aching feet, she headed toward the bar, crossing between the crowded tables. She would have had to have been blind not to notice the line of men bellied up to the bar as she rounded it, but she kept her gaze focused on the new task at hand. Cindy, the temporary bartender that Maria had hired for the evening, did look slammed, barely glancing at Sarah-Jane when she found the trays behind the bar. She retrieved one and quickly turned back around, heading to the tables once more. In minutes, she’d filled the tray with abandoned glasses, and she aimed toward the swinging door leading to the kitchen. She had to pass by the line of men at the bar again on the way, and as she did, one of them stuck out his arm behind him.
