by Rose, Amelia
Cale pulled her up into his arms and started to carry her back toward the front of the cave.
“I can walk,” she assured him as she moved her legs in an attempt to get him to let her down.
“You can,” he said, looking at her in the darkness, realizing that all of the fear and anxiety he had felt in the last few minutes for her safety had been more than he’d ever felt for anyone else before. “But that doesn’t mean I’m about to put you down.”
Melinda stopped swinging her feet and looked up at him, her eyes flashing. For a moment he was sure she was going to insist that she walk out of the cave on her own, but then she just leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed.
Cale kissed the top of her head and continued the climb out of the cavern.
*Epilogue*
The wedding was lively. Melinda watched as everyone twirled around the room at the reception, dancing. Her arm was bandaged and in a sling. The doctors had been optimistic that she would regain full motor control once it was completely healed, but the knife had bit deep into her forearm.
They had all said that it was going to take time and it had only been two weeks since the attack. But right now it was itching, and she was restless and it didn’t help that she was in a giant frilly dress. She looked over at Shad and Clara, and saw the adoration in their faces and had to admit that they were meant to be together.
Then she turned to look at Woody and his unexpected blessing that had been Alyssa. Apparently when they discovered they were pregnant, they had taken to the road and driven across country to Las Vegas and gotten married in a drive through chapel. Melinda had wanted to be angry at her reckless younger brother, but she knew that he was just following his heart. It was a perfect example of Woody daring to be Woody.
She just wished she had the same ability to let everything go and follow her heart, but reality kept her too well tethered to the ground.
Just as she was watching them, she heard someone pull up a chair and sit down next to her.
“Hey,” Cale said, his smile brightening when she turned to look at him
“Hey, yourself,” she said back. “How have you been?”
They hadn’t been able to talk much in the last couple of days between all of the drama of the wedding and the paperwork that Cale had to fill out regarding his brother’s legal information. There had been a lot going on since they had returned from Alabaster Caverns.
Well, at least that’s the excuse you tell yourself when you decline his calls. Her inner voice admonished her.
Charles had survived the attack, but just barely. He was completely paralyzed and on life support. For the moment it appeared that everything was cleared up and Melinda had been avoiding Cale because she was afraid that once he was able to return to his extravagant life in Colorado that he would leave her behind.
She was not one to admit how much she needed someone but she knew that when he left it would cause a great hole of disappointment to well up in her.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before looking around the room. “Okay. It’s been tough not seeing you. I wanted to talk to you before…”
“Before you have to leave,” she finished his sentence reluctantly. “I know. I was expecting that you would head back to Colorado anytime now.”
“Huh?” he said leaning back in his chair. “Is that what you want? For me to pack up and go?”
Melinda narrowed her gaze at him and felt a slight anger licking at her insides. “Want? No, how are you going to say that’s what I want? I just saw the paperwork come in from your law firm and I figured that you were heading back.”
“Oh, so you went snooping through my stuff and put together that I was just going to up and leave you?” Cale responded adamantly. “So that’s why you haven’t been returning my phone calls for the last couple of days.”
She opened her mouth to yell at him, but then realized that there was a whole room full of people who would hear the exchange. She chose, instead, to lean forward as she spoke.
“Is there somewhere else we can go to talk about this?” she asked.
“No,” was all he said, a small smile playing across his lips.
“No? What do you mean by no?” she demanded.
“I want to hear the announcements. Then I’ll go outside with you and let you yell at me to your heart’s content.” Pulling away from her, he leaned back and winked at Shad. Melinda then watched as Shad stepped up to the microphone and stopped the music.
“I know many of you already realize this, what with it being Stanhope and all, but without the efforts of my sister and Cale Winters, we would not be here tonight,” Shad said, nodding over to their table, “and Agent Davidson,” acknowledging the OSBI agent who had remained in town with a head tilt and a nod as well.
Ever the consummate nice guy, Melinda thought.
“We’re a family that’s in the middle of great changes. In fact, just yesterday I sold the offices that my dad held in town. They are going to be renovated completely in the following months.”
“What?” Melinda cried out. Those offices had been held in a trust, but it took a two-thirds vote to do something as big as sell them. That meant that Shad and Woody had… She looked across the room at Woody to see that he was also looking over at her and smiling.
“Yes. In fact, the new owner has already started the process. Beginning next week, Stanhope will welcome a new lawyer into its folds. Cale Winters has decided to stay with us indefinitely. Apparently, amidst all of the heartache from the Charles Sanders trial, he found something in this town that he loved.”
Melinda felt her jaw drop. Tears welled up in her eyes as she turned back to Cale. He was smiling from ear to ear as he leaned over and kissed her.
“I know that you’re not one to rush into anything lightly,” he whispered into her ear when he broke off the kiss, “but I am not going to let you run me off.”
Throwing her good arm around him she hugged him close. “I love you.” She told him, letting go of all her fears and her doubts.
Cale pulled back and looked into her eyes, wiping away the stray tears with his fingertips. “I know.”
Behind them the entire ballroom erupted into wild applause.
THE END
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