Fortune's Greatest Risk (The Fortunes 0f Texas: Rambling Rose Book 4)

by Marie Ferrarella

“How is that possible?” Dillon wanted to know, confused.

  “Well, just because Eric’s his father doesn’t necessarily mean that his bone marrow would be a match to Linus’s. As a matter of fact, there could be a number of reasons why it doesn’t match—” Hailey began to explain.

  For the second time in less than two minutes, the only sounds that were heard were those being made by the twins as they were jabbering.

  Callum shrugged helplessly. “Hey, I’m just repeating what Becky told me.” He grabbed Sasha just as the twin was about to pull a throw pillow down from the sofa.

  “Are they sure?” Hailey asked him, stunned.

  “Oh, they’re sure. When he wasn’t a match for Linus’s bone marrow, Eric insisted on a DNA test. He’s on pins and needles until the results come through, but that’s not going to be for a while,” he told them, setting Sasha down away from anything she could pull on herself. “According to Becky, Eric’s reeling. He’s terrified for Linus’s health.” Callum’s voice trailed off as he shrugged again.

  As shocking as this news was, that wasn’t what they should be focusing on right now, Hailey thought.

  “Not all parents are immediate genetic matches when it comes to their kids. That’s something to be looked into later,” she said to the two brothers. “Right now the important thing is to find a bone marrow donor who’s a match for Linus.” There appeared to be only one solution. She looked from one brother to the other. “We’ve got to get the word out right away so volunteers can come in and be tested as soon as possible. If Linus is as sick as the doctor says, we can’t afford to waste too much time.” Her voice rose with each word she uttered.

  “I agree,” Dillon said, thinking how he would feel if this was Julie who needed to have a bone marrow transplant. A thought occurred to him. “I’ll call Steven. Since he’s married to the mayor, he can tell her all about this latest development. It’s a given that Ellie will want to help,” he said. “She can hold a press conference and make an announcement.” He looked from his brother to Hailey to see if they agreed with him. “The way I see it, that would be the fastest way to get the word out. We could also send out emails to all the people who were invited to the spa’s opening. The more people notified, the better.”

  Hailey nodded. “And I can have part of the spa close down tomorrow. We can hold the drive there,” she told them. “We’ll have all the volunteers come to the spa so they can be tested to see if any of them can be a donor. There’s got to be a match for little Linus here somewhere,” she insisted.

  Callum nodded, eager to get started. “I’ll call Becky back, let her know that all this is going on. That way she can get a team together to come over to the spa and bring everything they need to conduct the tests.” Callum grinned, pleased as he looked at his brother and Hailey. “This is all really coming together fast,” he commented as he began to redial his wife.

  “I’ll call Steven right now so he can get in contact with Ellie to tell her about this,” Dillon said, taking out his phone, as well. “He might need time to get through if she’s busy or in a meeting.”

  Hailey nodded. “Once you talk to him, I need to get back to the spa. It might take some time to get ready to handle the influx of volunteers.” She tried not to think about how sick the baby was and just focus on the positive side: that they’d find a way to help him. “Since this is for the town’s littlest celebrity, I think we should be prepared for a lot of people coming in to be tested.”

  Both brothers were unable to answer her since they were each on the phone talking to the next link on their particular chain.

  Putting the twin she’d been holding into the double-wide playpen beside her sister, Hailey placed her own call. Hers was to Candace, her assistant at the spa, to alert the woman of what was going on. She wanted Candace to be prepared for a large influx of people arriving at the wellness spa, possibly before the hour was up. It all depended on how quickly Ellie could get a press conference together.

  * * *

  The next day, it all went down in what felt like lightning speed. As soon as Steven was told what was going on, he immediately called his wife. Fortunately he got through right away and was able to let her know about Linus and the baby’s need for a bone marrow transplant. Ellie quickly called a press conference. Word spread from there like wildfire.

  Meanwhile, right after Callum called her, Becky notified Dr. Green, the baby’s doctor, about the bone marrow drive being organized at the spa. They lost no time putting together a team to test the volunteers that they anticipated coming in.

  As soon as he had called Steven, Dillon drove Hailey directly to the spa. Her assistant was waiting for her and Hailey got right to work.

  With the help of several of her people, plus Dillon, Hailey prepared one of the spa’s larger rooms to be used for the necessary tests.

  For inspiration, Hailey had a photograph of Baby Linus enlarged and taped up on the wall. Hailey felt that ignoring that sweet face was impossible. The more volunteers who came, the better the odds of finding a match.

  Hailey moved the massage tables as well as chairs into the spacious room. They would need as many places as possible for volunteers to sit on as they waited for their turn to be swabbed.

  Hailey and her people were still in the process of setting everything up when the first volunteers began arriving.

  At the head of the line was a soft-spoken burly giant of a man named Riley Evans.

  “I heard Mayor Ellie say that the baby was sick and could die if he didn’t get something he needed. So I came to see if I could help,” Riley told her without any fanfare.

  Impressed with how quickly Riley had come down to the spa, Hailey still felt she had to ask the gentle giant, “Do you know what you’ll be getting swabbed for today? What you might be donating?”

  Riley shook his head. “Doesn’t matter,” he told her. “If I’m a match, you can have it if it’ll help. Way I see it, the little guy’s been through a lot and he needs whatever it is a lot more than I do.”

  Hailey found herself blinking back tears as she led Riley to a massage table.

  As the crowd continued to gather and converge in and around the spa, that was the spirit that prevailed through it. Everyone was eager to do their part to try to help save Linus.

  It quickly became apparent that almost everyone within the small close-knit town was volunteering to have their cheeks swabbed for matching.

  The volunteers included Dillon and his two brothers.

  “That was very nice of you,” Hailey commented as Dillon got up off the table.

  He rolled down his sleeve. “Hey, I couldn’t very well just stand by while everyone else was being tested. Especially now that I know what it feels like to be a parent, I totally empathize with that situation.” He laughed softly to himself. “In a way, since the moment he came into the world, I guess Linus belongs to everyone. Especially since his mother took off and left him.” Dillon looked at Hailey to see if she agreed with him.

  She thought about the sentiment he had just voiced. “I didn’t realize you felt that way,” she told him. “I mean, when we were flying to Fort Lauderdale, I thought you made it pretty clear that you considered that home, not Rambling Rose.”

  He thought back for a moment. “I guess, at the time, I did,” he admitted.

  At the time.

  Did that mean that now he didn’t? Before she could stop herself, she asked him.

  “And now?”

  The moment the words were out of her mouth, Hailey knew she might wind up regretting pushing this. In all honesty, she knew that it was probably better if she just left this alone and let whatever happened progress at its own speed.

  But there was another part of her that felt as if she was just deliberately stalling, trying to hold back the inevitable.

  That wasn’t like her.

  She needed to know wh
at was ahead. If she was going to lose Dillon, then she needed to know that, too. She shouldn’t be embarrassing herself by desperately trying to hold on when there was no chance for her.

  For them.

  “And now I can see that no matter what your plans are,” Dillon was saying to her, “the universe can be totally unfair. There are no guarantees in life, other than the fact that it’s completely uncertain and can all change in the blink of an eye.”

  Here it came, Hailey thought, trying to mentally brace herself.

  But all she could focus on was that her stomach felt as if it were sinking as she waited for Dillon to utter the fatal words that would take him away from her. He was going to tell her that he’d decided not to wait until his part of the project was done. That he intended to go back to Florida as soon as possible.

  A wave of heat passed over her as her pulse began to race.

  Although it went against what she told herself she should do, Hailey heard herself tell Dillon, “You can’t just give up like that, Dillon.”

  That stopped him cold.

  “Give up?” Dillon repeated.

  He sounded confused, Hailey thought. As if he didn’t know what she was talking about.

  Hailey went right on talking as if he hadn’t said a word. “You can’t,” she insisted. “Growing up, I had a friend, Janelle, who was closer to me than my own sister. We did everything together and she had such a zest for life! Janelle could always lift me up no matter how bad things seemed. No matter how down I was feeling.” She smiled, remembering. “We were going to conquer the world together once we graduated from school.”

  Dillon couldn’t imagine tragedy touching this sunny woman before him. “What happened?” he asked quietly.

  Hailey sighed. “The world conquered her. Or at least it tried to,” she amended. “Janelle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but she never gave in to it, never let it get her down. She fought it right to the very end. She was my inspiration and she made me promise that no matter what, I would always live life to the fullest. For both of us,” she added emotionally. “Because of her, I learned that you have to grab every single thing that life has to offer and make the very most of it because tomorrow, it could all just disappear.”

  Dillon nodded. “I know.”

  “You know?” she questioned, confused.

  Did that mean he’d decided to stay in Rambling Rose? Or was he saying that was the reason he’d decided to leave?

  Her mind was jumping around from one thought to another and her head was beginning to ache. Hailey forced herself to stop, to wait for Dillon to tell her what he intended to do.

  “Yes, I do. I get it,” he told her. “Life is short, much too short. And I don’t want to get caught up in all the tiny details and let that get in the way so that I’m wasting time wading through it. Unscrambling the small stuff and not paying attention to the really important things.”

  Breathe, Hailey, breathe! Maybe Dillon wasn’t saying he was leaving. Maybe he was—

  No, no more jumping to conclusions. Let him talk.

  “Maybe I’m not saying this right,” Dillon continued, a little exasperated. “Actually, I know I’m not—”

  This was her chance to stop him, she thought. Hailey grabbed it. “Maybe you should wait then, until you feel you have the right words. No point in rushing this,” she told him.

  Especially since you can always say goodbye. At the thought, another strong wave of nausea assaulted her stomach.

  This was about finding a bone marrow donor for Linus, not about promoting her romance, she upbraided herself. How could she be so self-centered?

  And yet...

  Lost in thought and trying very hard to rally, she didn’t realize what Dillon was doing until he had dropped down on one knee and taken her hand.

  “Hailey,” he began.

  Stunned, Hailey’s mouth dropped open. “What are you doing?” she cried.

  “Probably making a huge fool of myself,” Dillon guessed. “But I don’t seem to have a choice in the matter.”

  Her breath was backing up in her throat again and her heart was doing an imitation of a jackhammer as she continued to stare at Dillon.

  Was he—?

  It couldn’t be—and yet—

  “Dillon?” she questioned uncertainly.

  They were attracting attention now, but at this point, she could only see the rugged man before her down on one knee.

  “I know that I’m more frog than prince and you do deserve a prince of the highest caliber, but I promise you that if you’ll have me, if you say yes, I will love you with all my heart for as long as we both shall live. Longer,” he added with feeling. “All I want is the chance to show you.

  “But I’ll understand if you decide to turn me down, although—”

  “Dillon,” Hailey cried, desperately trying to get a word in edgewise.

  Ready to go on full steam ahead, he stopped abruptly. “What?”

  “Stop talking!” she told him.

  He thought she was telling him that to save him any further embarrassment.

  “So it’s no?” he asked, trying to brace himself for defeat.

  “No, you big dumb oaf,” she laughed. “Stop talking so I can say yes.”

  “Yes?” He repeated the word as if he didn’t understand what she was telling him.

  Suppressing a laugh, Hailey spelled it out for him. “Yes, I will marry you.”

  His eyes widened. “You will?”

  “Yes,” she cried again, then, for good measure, before he could question her reasoning, she added, “Because I love you.”

  “You do?” he said it as if he didn’t believe that was possible.

  “Yes. I’ve loved you ever since you spilled that jasmine on your shirt and then had a sneezing fit.” Her eyes were shining now. “You obviously needed someone in your life. I decided that you needed me,” Hailey told him, smiling broadly.

  “But—”

  She decided that the only way she was going to get Dillon to stop arguing and accept the answer he had made clear he wanted was to take matters into her own hands.

  Or, in this case, it wasn’t her hands that she used, it was her lips.

  She pressed them on his and whatever else Dillon was about to say just faded away.

  Happily.

  Neither one of them heard the volunteers around them cheering. They were far too busy forming their own little world.

  * * *

  Look for the next book in the new Harlequin Special Edition continuity The Fortunes of Texas: Rambling Rose Betting on a Fortune by Nancy Robards Thompson

  On sale May 2020, wherever Harlequin books and ebooks are sold.

  And catch up with the previous Fortunes of Texas: Rambling Rose titles:

  Fortune’s Fresh Start

  by Michelle Major

  Fortune’s Texas Surprise

  by USA TODAY Bestselling Author Stella Bagwell

  The Mayor’s Secret Fortune

  by USA TODAY Bestselling Author Judy Duarte

  Available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from The Texan Tries Again by Stella Bagwell.

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  The Texan Tries Again

  by Stella Bagwell

  Chapter One

  “If I hear anyone mention that damned bridal bouquet one more time I’m going to scream,” Emily-Ann Broadmoor muttered. “Catching the flowers at your wedding is not going to get me a husband. The whole idea is a silly old wives’ tale. So why do you keep harping on the subject?”r />
  Unaffected by her friend’s annoyed outburst, Camille Waggoner chuckled and used her toe to push the wooden glider into a rocking motion.

  From their comfortable seat beneath a large, old cottonwood, Emily-Ann could see a portion of the Hollister family, along with many friends and ranch hands, beginning to gather beneath the roof that covered the wide patio behind the Three Rivers Ranch house. Tonight, Maureen Hollister, the matriarch of the family, was throwing a barbecue for two reasons. For the first time in more than two years, Camille, the prodigal daughter, was back for a short visit. And second, the massive ranch was welcoming a new foreman.

  “I’m not harping,” Camille said, “and you don’t think the folklore is nonsense. That’s why you’re afraid. That’s why you don’t want me, or anyone else, suggesting that your time as a single woman is coming to an end.”

  Emily-Ann stared at her best friend since elementary school, until the absurdity of Camille’s prediction caused her to burst out laughing.

  “Camille, pregnancy has done something to your brain. You’re losing touch with reality.”

  Smiling smugly, Camille pressed her left hand to her growing belly and Emily-Ann didn’t miss the diamond wedding ring sparkling on her finger. Camille Hollister had become Matthew Waggoner’s wife nearly four months ago in a beautiful little Christmas ceremony down on Red Bluff, the Hollisters’ second Arizona ranch.

  Since then, Emily-Ann had never seen her friend so happy. And why not? After being the foreman at Three Rivers Ranch for many years, Matthew was now manager of Red Bluff, along with being one of the sexiest men to ever step foot in Yavapai County and beyond. Plus, he was madly in love with Camille. How could any woman be so lucky?

  Certainly not herself, Emily-Ann thought drearily. She considered herself fortunate if she got a wink from the old man behind the meat counter at Wendell’s Groceries.

  “My thinking has never been clearer,” Camille spoke concisely, then reached over and gave Emily-Ann’s hand an affectionate pat. “I’m so glad you could make the party tonight. The two of us haven’t had a chance to spend time together. Not since my wedding and that was such a hectic occasion with so many people around us that we hardly had a chance to talk.”