Hope’s Child Read online

  “My things are at the ranch,” Summer whined, annoyed at being virtually ignored. “I demand my things.”

  “I’ll see you get them tomorrow,” Hope said.

  The party had officially ended. As soon as Summer was taken from the house, Hope went to her father and put her hand out for the bracelet. Ellis was slow to hand it over.

  “I remember the night I gave it to her,” he said. “I thought my heart would stop from looking at someone so beautiful.” His gaze settled on Hope. “I know I’ve been a disappointment to you. It shouldn’t make any difference to you, but I’ve come to realize that I’m a disappointment to myself.”

  Slowly, Hope reached into her father’s pocket and took out the sterling flask. Shaking it, she found it empty. “Lyon,” she said, “can you see he gets home, too? I’ll call Greenleaf and warn him of their arrival.”

  “I’ll do it,” Cooper said.

  Lyon said, “I’ll follow in his car and you can drop me off back here.”

  Despite it only being a few miles away, it was a good half hour before Lyon and Cooper returned. Seeing the Conti van in the last stages of being loaded, Cooper said he would help them and then make sure the ladies got home.

  Lyon went inside and found Hope putting out the last candles and pulling the plug on the Christmas tree. When she saw him, she came into his arms.

  “Where’s Molly and Tan?”

  “I sent them home right after you left. I think she was as upset as I was.” She sighed heavily. “Things had been going so well.”

  Lyon tightened his arms. “The party was a smashing success. Don’t let what Summer did take away from that. Maggie radioed me from the station and said the buzz was so cool she could kick herself for missing it. She asked if we’d do it next year.”

  “That’s nice. But right now I don’t think I’ll ever want another party again.”

  “You’re exhausted. Let’s go to bed. The rest can wait until tomorrow and I’ll help you.”

  But as they entered their bedroom, Hope held back. “I hate the idea of that woman being in our room.”

  “Let’s change the sheets. That’ll make you feel fresher.” Lyon doubted Summer had done anything there, but knew she would be more comfortable.

  While they worked, Lyon told her how wonderful the party had been, reported all of the compliments he’d heard, how much the wives liked her, how she was right about Cooper and Lara. She made polite responses and only displayed real emotion when she spoke of how Tan had cradled Molly against him when she had the courage to confirm where the bracelet was kept.

  “What if Summer sues?” she asked abruptly.

  “She won’t,” he replied. “In fact I’ll bet she leaves Cedar Grove pretty quickly. Who’s going to have anything to do with her if Ellis Harrell won’t have her?”

  “At least there’s that. And here I was convinced she was about to be my stepmother.”

  “Your father apologized to you again.”

  “Okay.” Suddenly she shivered. “I’m cold. I think I need to sleep in a warm gown tonight.”

  She went to get changed. Lyon followed and hung his things, then watched as she began spraying the counter and scrubbing at it with a washcloth. That was followed by her closing the sink drain and washing the bracelet with soap. When she started at the closet doorknob with a sanitary wipe, he’d seen way too much.

  “Hope.” Taking the towelette away from her, he threw it into the trash and put the disinfectant spray under the sink cabinet. “That’s enough. Everything is clean. She’s gone.”

  Turning off the lights, he lifted her into his arms. “Come to bed, little queen.” He carried her there and laid her between the fresh-scented sheets, quickly following. Shutting off his light, Lyon eased up behind her aligning their bodies and wrapping his arm around her to caress the firm mound where the child rested.

  “Has Meredith been quiet tonight?” he asked, partly out of curiosity, partly to keep her from thinking of tonight’s ugliness.

  “Yes. Except when Summer screamed and my father roared. Then we both jumped.” She covered his hand with hers.

  Lyon thought she would drift off to sleep then, but he was wrong. Her breathing stayed the same and he knew she was staring at the closed mini-blinds, yet seeing the sad end to her wonderful party.

  “You’re not going to get any rest that way.”

  “I know.” Sitting up, she tugged and wrestled with the gown. “This is suffocating me,” she said. “And I can’t feel you.”

  Lyon helped her and smiled as she flung the soft white flannel to the chaise at the foot of the bed. Then he let her show him how close she wanted him. When she lifted her leg over his and gently urged him to come inside her, he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her neck.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Always.”

  He made slow, sweet love to her warming her from the outside until inside she burned with a fire of her own. He gave her all that he was because in giving, he received everything he needed in the world.

  Chapter Ten

  Christmas and New Year’s passed quietly. Two days before the first holiday, Hope came down with a cold and stayed wrapped in a blanket on the couch sleeping most of the time. For New Year’s, Lyon took his share of the shift work since there was a big party over at the grill, and several other bashes at some of the big estates in the area. He’d made sure Kent put announcements on the radio and in the newspaper that the department would be out in full force and that seemed to help keep arrests down this year. They ended up with only two DUI cases and one assault.

  Hope spent New Year’s taking down all of the Christmas decorations and wrapping and boxing everything. Tan and Molly offered to help but she insisted they spent New Year’s Eve together. She did let them come over on New Year’s Day and while Lyon caught up on lost sleep, they transferred the mountain of boxes to the storage shed for another year.

  The next week she and Lyon began the natural childbirth classes held over at the junior college. There were seven other couples and Lyon got teased a bit for being the “senior” member of the group, but he took it good naturedly. He still wasn’t too sure about being in the delivery room with her, though.

  Summer didn’t sue, although she continued to claim that she had a case to anyone who would listen. There were fewer and fewer of those, as the truth about what was behind her breakup with Ellis Harrell got around. Business at her store dropped, as well, which Lyon saw as indicative to how beloved Hope was in the community regardless of how anyone felt about Ellis or him. In the end, Summer sold her remaining inventory to another shop in town for pennies on the dollar, and Hope purchased the building that had been a divorce settlement from her third marriage. The last Hope heard, Summer moved to Memphis.

  Hope was preparing to lease the building to Lara Conti for a fraction of the going rates in the area. They agreed to a one-year contract at which time they would review the books and see about what were the best options all around. Frankly, Hope was planning on selling her the building. Lara already was booked solid for Valentine’s Day, had one Easter Egg Hunt Party, and one engagement party slated. She’d never looked happier, and Hope knew part of the reason was that Cooper was spending a good deal of his free time over there and Lara’s boys thought the “CSI” man was super.

  Gerri was having less success with Tim Pettigrew, but he didn’t exactly run in the opposite direction when they happened to cross paths. “I’m giving him another month to play hard to get,” she told Hope during their last chat, “and then I’m going to fish in friendlier waters. You’d be surprised how that can change a man’s way of thinking.”

  Hope had heard that theory but was glad she didn’t have to test it. She wasn’t all that happy that Pettigrew might be who Gerri wanted; however, she was willing to play wait and see as Lara was resigned to.

  There was no question that Lyon was right where he wanted to be. Three little words remained unspoken between them, and yet she was more content
in her life than she’d ever been. She’d begun to conclude that maybe words were sometimes overrated. Almost.

  During the second week in January, the steady pattern of cold weather intensified and Cedar Grove, along with all of North and East Texas suddenly found itself under a winter storm warning. It had begun to snow on the way to the office and by midday that had turned to freezing rain, then ice, then freezing rain again. Hope sent Freddie home only an hour after she’d arrived and was planning to lock up herself as soon as she finished the report she’d been working on. However, it was difficult to concentrate when her mind kept wandering to Lyon. He’d had to testify at the county court this morning and she wouldn’t relax until he returned home.

  When her phone rang, she grabbed it hoping it was him—and she wasn’t disappointed.

  “Hello, beautiful. Why am I getting you at your office? You should be home,” he said.

  “I’m not there because you’re not here,” she said looking out her office window. “Where are you?”

  “Just now entering the city limits. Man, it’s been rough. Some parts of the county have lost power and it’s only a matter of time before we do. The ice is getting so heavy on trees and lines, when branches pop it sounds like gunfire, and the dead trees are wiping out pole after pole. If I passed one electric cooperative truck, I’ve passed a half dozen. You aren’t wearing any of those sexy high heels, are you? One fall and you’d shake Meredith loose for sure. We’d never get you to Dr. Winslow’s hospital on time.”

  She adored him for thinking of the baby as much as he did her. “I’m wearing my most comfortable Uggs with the nonskid bottoms,” she assured him. “Not to worry. Are you coming by here or do you have to head to the station first?”

  “We’re going to get you home. I’ll probably have to be out and about with the rest of the guys until this ends, so I want to see that you have a good fire going and that the generator is gassed up in case you do lose power over there.”

  “If you’re pressed for time, Tan can help me do that,” Hope replied.

  “He would be proud to, I know, and I’m grateful for that. But he has Molly, and we need to rely on him to keep the horses fixed up with fresh hay, and—damn.”

  “What’s wrong? Lyon?”

  The phone suddenly switched to dial tone. Hope disconnected, too, and waited for the call back…and waited. When the phone rang again, she exhaled with relief.

  “You scared me. What happened?” she asked.

  “Hope? It’s Buddy here at the station. Listen, the chief wanted you to know something’s come up and he’s going to be delayed. But he doesn’t want you to worry.”

  If ever sillier words were ever spoken, Hope thought, her insides going from churning to clench. “Well, I can already hear trouble in your voice, Buddy, so you might as well tell me what’s going on.”

  “Somebody’s stuck on the ice and the chief needs to help him get out.”

  By now, Hope was out of her chair and moving from window to window to see what she could. When she got to the side window facing the south part of town, her heart shot up and lodged in her throat. “Oh, my God!”

  “Blasted, Hope. You weren’t supposed to go look.”

  Almost at the last traffic light a pickup truck was spinning and sliding sideways to try and champion the subtle slope in the road, but the thin ice was deceiving and there was no traction for the tires. To make matters worse, the power line could actually be seen starting to slowly tilt into the street. If the driver of the truck didn’t move soon, he would be stuck under the downed pole and live lines—and the driver was her father!

  Right behind him was Lyon in his patrol car striving to help him gain momentum and push through.

  Hope hung up on Buddy and shut off her computer. Grabbing her coat and shawl, she locked up the office and hurried down the street as fast as she could given the weather and her own condition.

  Despite the town being reduced to near ghost-town status, several people had already collected to watch the unfolding drama. When they saw her, she noticed winces and some grim exchanged glances.

  “You shouldn’t be out here in the cold,” Matt Plummer told her. His barbershop was just to their right. “Come inside, honey. I’ll get you a cup of hot tea.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Plummer, but I need to—” To do what? Wait and see? Watch the pole crush her father in his cab or electrocute him? “—I’ll be fine,” she said hugging herself as she began to shake from fear, not cold.

  “There’s no time, Chief! That pole’s coming down,” someone said.

  “Look!” someone else said. “The chief’s doing good. He’s pushing him through.”

  Hope realized that was the plan just as the words were spoken. “Oh, no,” she whispered pressing her gloved hands to her lips. They couldn’t both make it. Didn’t Lyon see?

  Of course he did, she thought with her next breath. But that was his job—to help people, even if those people didn’t like or even despised him.

  In almost slow motion she watched with despair as Lyon eased back down the road and then shifted into drive. His chained tires would be useless on mere black ice, but on this composite mess the traction let him accelerate and using his reinforced bumper, he nudged the pickup into forward motion. But with every foot forward, the pole inched down.

  Suddenly, the truck shot forward, but as Lyon tried to do the same, the pole landed with a sickening thud on the squad car’s roof. The small crowd reacted with groans and one-line observations to relieve their own tension.

  “Is the line touching the car?”

  “Look at that! It’s inches from the roof.”

  “Maybe if he could crawl over the seat and try to get out the back door…”

  “I saw a spark from the transformer. He better not.”

  Hope had to shut out the voices. She would say something ugly or burst into tears if she didn’t. She could see Lyon through his windshield and knew he could see her. She kept that eye contact as her lifeline.

  Her father had parked a safe distance away and climbed out to see what had happened only to clasp his head with his hands.

  Grateful that he understood the sacrifice on his behalf, Hope called, “Dad! Over here.”

  He slid and stumbled over to her. To his credit, he looked like he was about to have a stroke and Hope’s heart softened toward him.

  “I told him not to do it.”

  “It’s his job,” Hope replied her gaze back on Lyon.

  Sirens sounded and Vince Juarez arrived to order people back to make room for the fire truck coming. He saw Hope and came toward her.

  “Don’t ask me to move, Vince,” she said polite, but determined. “I’m not budging.”

  “I know, Mrs. Teague, but if I didn’t at least try, the chief would have things to say if—”

  Hope sent him a laser look.

  “When he’s freed. Sorry, ma’am.”

  “Are the electric people on the way?”

  “Yeah. ETA maybe five minutes. They’ll get him out.”

  Hope’s hold on her emotions were slipping. “In time,” she said forcefully. “I’d like him not to look like burned bacon.”

  Vince had to turn away. “Hurry up,” she heard him mutter under his breath.

  When Lyon indicated his cell phone to her, she showed him that she had hers and in a moment, it rang.

  “Hey,” he said his voice gruff. “What are you doing out here?”

  “What are you doing there?”

  “Guess my timing was a little off. Look, sweetheart, I’d feel better if you weren’t watching this.”

  “Me, too. But do you think I can walk away?” Her voice cracked and she was ashamed because he didn’t need the added pressure.

  “Oh, baby…I know.”

  There was just silence for a minute and Hope watched him rub at his face and then check the wires again.

  “Sweetheart, I need you to know something.”

  No! Not like this. But she forced herself t
o smile through tears and said, “Yeah, Chief, you do.”

  “Things have been getting pretty transparent—”

  “A lot transparent.”

  “I know I’ve been holding out on you,” he said with the same voice he used to tell her how he was going to make love to her before he did it. “But only for the best intentions.”

  “Don’t you realize I don’t want anyone but you?”

  “So my skull is thicker than some. I just had to be sure, you know?”

  “I know.”

  “And now I can’t even say it with you in my arms.”

  “Please wait. Please tell me when you can do that.”

  As more ice fell, a larger spark erupted from the transformer at the top of the pole. There were several gasps and a scream. Hope knew it wasn’t her because she had her hand clamped to her mouth and was gritting her teeth.

  She heard Lyon breathing trying to control himself, as well.

  “Hope,” he said his voice almost guttural. “I love you. I love you with all I am and all I hoped to be.”

  Tears of joy and anguish washed down her frozen cheeks. “Come back to me,” she whispered.

  Then she felt a cramp that had her bending in half. “Oh! Lyon—oh, no…”

  “What is it? Hope, is it the baby? Give the phone to Juarez. Hope!”

  When Hope opened her eyes again, she was looking at a white ceiling that had a water stain in the corner. Something needed to be done about that, she thought drowsily wondering why she’d never noticed it before. Then a middle-aged man with glasses and wearing a white jacket blocked her view.

  “There you are,” he said, smiling. “How do you feel?”

  Unless angels wore pens in their pockets, she told herself that she wasn’t dead. “A little queasy. A little sore.”

  “You fainted.”

  It all came rushing back and Hope had the worst impulse to heave. “My husband! Lyon. I have to get back. Can you tell me—?”

  The doctor vanished and an instant later, Lyon was hovering over her and lifting her into his arms. With a cry of joy, Hope hugged him fiercely.