Her Kind of Hero (22 page)

She smiled with her heart in her eyes. “It's enough,” she said huskily.

He seemed to relax then, as if he'd been holding his breath the whole while. His eyes closed and he shivered. “Thank God,” he said reverently.

“You didn't think I was going to say no?” she asked, shocked. “Good Lord, the sexiest man in town offers me a wedding ring and you think I'm going to say no?”

He pursed his lips. “Sexy, huh?”

“You seduced me,” she pointed out. “Only a very sexy man could have managed that.” She frowned. “Of course, you did drug me first,” she added gleefully.

“You were hysterical,” he began.

“I was in love,” she countered, smiling. “And I wasn't all that sedated.” She blushed. “But I did think it was a dream. You see, I'd had sort of the same dream since I was…well, since I was about sixteen.”

His lips parted on a shocked breath. “That long?”

She nodded. “I couldn't even get interested in anybody else. But you didn't want me…”

“I did want you,” he countered. “That's why I was horrible to you. But never again,” he promised huskily. “Never again. I'm going to work very hard at being a good husband and father. You won't regret it, Callie. I swear you won't.”

“I know that. You won't regret it, either,” she promised. She placed her hand over his big one, that still lay gently against her stomach. “And I never guessed,” she whispered, smiling secretly. Her eyes brimmed over with excitement. “I'm so happy,” she told him brokenly. “And so scared. Babies don't come with instruction manuals.”

“We have Lou Coltrain, who's much better than an instruction manual,” he pointed out with a grin. “And speaking of Lou, did you get those vitamins she prescribed?”

“Well, not yet,” she began.

“They're prenatal vitamins,” he added, chuckling. “You're going to be amazed at how good you feel. Not to mention how lucky you are,” he added blithely, “to have a husband who knows exactly what to expect all through your pregnancy.” He kissed her softly. “After the baby comes, I might finish my residency and go into practice with the Coltrains,” he added.

That meant real commitment, she realized. He was giving up every vestige of the old life for her. Well, almost. She knew he'd keep his hand in with Eb Scott's operation. But the last of
Jacobsville's mercenaries was ready to leave the past behind and start again.

So many beautiful memories are about to be created here, she thought as she looked around her from the shelter of Micah's hard arms. She pressed close with a sigh. “After the pain, the pleasure,” she whispered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Just something I heard when I was younger.” She didn't add that it was something her father had said. That was the one bridge she hadn't yet crossed. It would have to be faced. But, she thought, clinging to Micah in the warmth of the sun, not right now…

Micah drove her by the pharmacy on the way back to her apartment. He stood with her while Nancy, the dark-haired, dark-eyed pharmacist filled the prescription, trying not to grin too widely at the picture they made together.

“I suppose you know what these are for?” Nancy asked Callie.

Callie smiled and looked up at Micah, who smiled back with the same tenderness. “Oh, yes,” she said softly.

He pulled her close for an instant, before he offered his credit card to pay for them. “We're getting married Sunday at the Methodist church,” Micah told her and the others at the counter. “You're all invited…2:00 p. m. sharp.”

Nancy's eyes twinkled. “We, uh, heard that from the minister already,” she said, clearing her throat as Callie gaped at her.

Micah chuckled at Callie's expression. “You live in a small town, and you didn't think everybody would know already?”

“But you hadn't told me yet!” she accused.

He shrugged. “It didn't seem too smart to announce that I'd arranged a wedding that you hadn't even agreed to yet.”

“And they say women keep secrets!” she said on a rough breath.

“Not half as good as men do, sweetheart,” Micah told her gently. He glanced around at a sudden commotion behind them. The two remaining bachelor Hart brothers, Rey and Leo, were almost trampling people in their rush to get to the prescription counter.

“Have to have this as soon as possible, sorry!” Rey exclaimed, pressing a prescription into Nancy's hands with what looked like desperation.

“It's an emergency!” Leo seconded.

Nancy's eyes widened. She looked at the brothers with astonishment. “An emergency? This is a prescription for anti-inflammatories…”

“For our cook,” Leo said. “Her hands hurt, she said. She can't make biscuits. We rushed her right over to Lou Coltrain and she said it was arthritis.” He grimaced. “
Pleaaase
hurry? We didn't get any breakfast at all!”

Callie had her hand over her mouth trying not to have hysterics. Micah just looked puzzled. Apparently he didn't know about the famous biscuit mania.

Leo sounded as if he was starving. Amazing, a big, tall man with a frame like that attempting to look emaciated. Rey was tall and thin, and he did look as if he needed a feeding. There had been some talk about a new woman out at the ranch recently who was rather mysterious. But if they had a cook with arthritis, she surely wasn't a young cook.

Nancy went to fill the prescriptions.

“Sorry,” Rey muttered as he glanced behind him and Leo at the people they'd rushed past to get their prescription filled.
He tried to smile. He wasn't really good at it. He cleared his throat self-consciously. “Chocolates,” he reminded Leo.

“Right over there,” Leo agreed somberly. “We'd better get two boxes. And some of that cream stuff for arthritis, and there's some sort of joint formula…”

“And the We're Sorry card,” Rey added, mumbling something about shortsightedness and loose tongues as they stomped off down the aisle with two pairs of spurs jingling musically from the heels of their boots.

Nancy handed Micah the credit card receipt, which he signed and gave Callie a pert grin as she went back to work.

Callie followed Micah out the door, letting loose a barrage of laughter when they reached the Porsche. By the time they got to her apartment, he was laughing, too, at the town's most notorious biscuit eaters.

 

Jack Steele was overjoyed at the news they had for him. For the next week he perked up as never before, taking a new interest in life and looking forward to having a daughter-in-law and a grandchild. The news that he was going to live with them disturbed him, he thought they needed privacy, but they insisted. He gave in. There was no mistaking their genuine love for him, or their delight in his company. He felt like the richest man on earth.

Callie, meanwhile, had an unexpected phone call from her father, who was back in town and anxious to see her. She met him in Barbara's café on her lunch hour from the law office, curious and nervous after so many years away from him.

Her father had black hair with silver at his temples and dark
blue eyes. He was somber, quiet, unassuming and guilt was written all over him.

After they'd both ordered salads and drinks, her father gave her a long, hesitant scrutiny.

“You look so much like my mother,” he said unexpectedly. “She had the same shaped eyes you do, and the same color.”

Callie looked down at her salad. “Do I?”

He laid down his fork and leaned forward on his elbows. “I've been an idiot. How do I apologize for years of neglect, for letting you be put through hell in foster homes?” he asked quietly. “When I knew what had happened to you, I was too ashamed even to phone. Your mother had only just told me the truth and after the private detective I hired gave me the file on you, I couldn't take it. I went to Europe and stayed for a month. I don't even remember what I did there.” He grimaced at Callie's expression. “I'm so ashamed. Even if you hadn't been my biological child, you'd lived in my house, I'd loved you, protected you.” He lowered his shamed eyes to his plate. “Pride. It was nothing but pride. I couldn't bear thinking that you were another man's child. You paid for my cruelty, all those years.” He drew in a long breath and looked up at her sadly. “You're my daughter. But I don't deserve you.” He made an awkward motion. “So if you don't want to have anything to do with me, that's all right. I'll understand. I've been a dead bust as a father.”

She could see the torment in his eyes. Her mother had done something unspeakably cruel to both of them with her lies. The bond they'd formed had been broken, tragically. She remembered the loneliness of her childhood, the misery of belonging nowhere. But now she had Micah and a child on the way, and Jack Steele, as well. She'd landed on her feet, grown strong,
learned to cope with life. She'd even fought off drug dealing thugs, all by herself, that night in Nassau when her child had been conceived. She felt so mature now, so capable. She smiled slowly. She'd lectured Micah about forgiveness. Here was her best chance to prove that she believed her own words.

“You're going to be a grandfather,” she said simply. “Micah and I are getting married Sunday afternoon at two o'clock in the Methodist church. You and Jack Steele could both give me away if you like.” She grinned. “It will raise eyebrows everywhere!”

He seemed shocked. His blue eyes misted and he bit his lip. “A grandfather.” He laughed self-consciously and looked away long enough to brush away something that looked suspiciously wet. “I like that.” He glanced back at her. “Yes. I'd like to give you away. I'd like to get you back even more, Callie. I'm…sorry.”

When he choked up like that, she was beyond touched. She got up from her seat and went around to hug him to her. The café was crowded and she didn't care. She held him close and laid her cheek on his hair, feeling his shoulders shake. It was, in so many ways, one of the most poignant experiences of her young life.

“It's okay, Papa,” she whispered, having called him that when she was barely school age. “It's okay now.”

He held her tighter and he didn't give a damn that he was crying and half of Jacobsville could see him. He had his daughter back, against all the odds.

Callie felt like that, too. She met Barbara's eyes over the counter and smiled through her tears. Barbara nodded, and smiled, and reached for a napkin. It was so much like a new start.
Everything was fresh and sweet and life was blessed. She was never again going to take anything for granted as long as she lived!

 

The wedding was an event. Callie had an imported gown from Paris, despite the rush to get it in time. Micah wore a morning coat. All the local mercenaries and the gang from the island, including Bojo, Peter, Rodrigo and Mac were there, along with Pogo and Maddie. And, really, Callie thought, Maddie did resemble her, but the older woman was much more athletic and oddly pretty. She smiled broadly at Callie as she stood beside a man Callie didn't recognize, with jet-black hair and eyes and what was obviously a prosthetic arm. There were a lot of men she didn't know. Probably Micah had contacts everywhere, and when word of the marriage had gotten out, they all came running to see if the rumors were true. Some of them looked astonished, but most were grinning widely.

The ceremony was brief, but beautiful. Micah pulled up the veil Callie wore, and kissed her for the first time as his wife.

“When we're finished, you have to read the inscription in your wedding band,” he whispered against her soft mouth.

“Don't make me wait,” she teased. “What does it say?”

He clasped her hand to his chest, ignoring the glowing faces of the audience. “It says ‘forever,' Callie. And it means forever. I'll love you until I close my eyes for the last time. And even afterward, I'll love you.”

She cried as he kissed her. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever said to her. She whispered the words back to him, under her breath, while a soft sound rippled through the church. The
couple at the rose-decked altar were so much in love that they fairly glowed with it.

They walked out under a cloud of rose petals and rice and Callie stopped and threw her bouquet as they reached the limousine that would take them to the airport. They were flying to Scotland for their honeymoon, to a little thatched cottage that belonged to Mac and had been loaned to them for the occasion. A romantic gesture from a practical and very unromantic man, that had touched Callie greatly.

Jack Steele, who was staying at the ranch with Micah's new foreman and his wife, waved them off with tears in his eyes, standing next to Kane Kirby, who was doing the same. The two men had become friends already, both avid poker players and old war movie fanatics.

A flustered blond Janie Brewster had caught the bouquet that Callie threw, and she looked down at it as if she didn't quite know what to do next. Nearby, the whole Hart family was watching, married brothers Corrigan and Simon and Cag, and the bachelor boys, Rey and Leo. It was Leo who was giving Janie an odd look, but she didn't see it. She laughed nervously and quickly handed the bouquet to old Mrs. Smith, Callie's neighbor. Then she ducked into the crowd and vanished, to Callie's amusement.