Love Inspired Suspense July 2015 #1 (39 page)

Cole shook his hand. “Apology accepted. I think we were all guilty of misjudging each other.”

“Yeah, you want a lift back to the trailhead to pick up your truck?”

“Not right now, thanks. I need to stay here. I have to check on Eddie. And I promised Sherri I wasn't leaving.” It had ripped his heart out to abandon her on the riverbank and go after the baby. He wasn't about to get any farther from her than the doctors made him.

He found a quiet corner and let his eyes slip closed.
Please, Lord, let her be okay.
Her tortured cry as the nurse had wheeled her away, that she was supposed to die not Luke, replayed in his mind, squeezed his chest. He couldn't pretend for another second that his heart didn't belong to her. Had always been hers. But would she ever get past the nightmares and self-torment enough to let him in?

SEVENTEEN

C
ole couldn't remember a more perfect afternoon. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. And every last one of Sherri's extended family had gathered at her uncle's farm to celebrate her recovery.

The first bullet that'd caught her had grazed her arm, causing no serious damage. The second bullet had hit just under her left collarbone and thankfully hadn't punctured a lung. But between the exertion and holding her breath in the cold water, she'd developed spontaneous pneumothorax. Needless to say, he'd spent a lot of time on his knees praying in the ten long days since. Now they sat shoulder to shoulder at a long line of picnic tables overflowing with everything from quinoa salad to fried chicken and home-baked buns, and Sherri was absolutely glowing.

Unlike the past few months, she talked freely about all the bad things that had been happening to her and why she'd been so reluctant to admit they were overwhelming her. “Cole helped me see that I wasn't helping anyone, including myself, by pretending nothing was wrong.” She choked up.

He reached for her hand beneath the table and offered an encouraging smile.

Squeezing his fingers like a lifeline, she returned her attention to her family. “So I'm making it my mission to help others not make the same mistakes I did.”

Pride swelled Cole's chest. She'd already met with her colleagues and admitted to the PTSD symptoms she'd battled following her partner's murder, and one by one they'd each admitted to their own personal struggles, some openly, some confiding in her afterward through calls and notes and thanking her for her transparency.

Sherri's aunt passed him a plate of cookies, snapping him out of his musing. “What ever happened to that young man who tried to save Sherri from those hooligans in the mall?”

Shame pinged Cole's heart for doubting Ted's motives for rushing to protect Sherri. “He's recovered from the assault and is doing well.” And thankfully had promised to curb his obsessive concern for her welfare.

“And what about your brother? How's he doing?”

“Better. Thank you for asking.” Eddie had changed a lot since his brush with death. He was getting counseling and they were all working at communicating better. “We're hopeful he'll overcome his destructive behavior without the need for a residential rehab.”

“I'm so glad. You should bring him with you to next Sunday's picnic. We'd love to have him.”

“That's very kind of you,” Cole replied, choking down his surprise. He still couldn't quite believe Sherri's family hadn't balked at their growing closeness considering her father's initial reception the day of the dog attack. A guy with a family as broken as Cole's was a long way from what most parents would want for their only daughter. But a few hours in her family's company had more than convinced him that he'd been an idiot to think he'd be happier single.

He fingered the small box in his pocket, his heart somersaulting.

After the meal, the kids ran off to play and the adults retired to lawn chairs under the trees. He'd hoped to coax Sherri into a romantic walk through the meadow, but so many of her cousins were eager to talk with her that he ended up relinquishing his place at her side and joining the men.

Jake plunked down beside him and handed him a glass of lemonade. “You're good for her, you know. I haven't seen her this happy in a long time.”

“I'm glad she's happy.” Cole soaked in the sight of the light in her eyes, the tiny creases at their edges that were thanks to her beaming smile, her rosy cheeks, the way the breeze teased her hair, blowing it over her lips so she had to keep brushing it away.

“Oh, man—” Jake laughed at him “—you've got it bad.”

Oh, yeah.
Cole reined in a private smile and sipped his lemonade.

“Do you still have nightmares, Sherri?” Jake's father, the former sheriff, asked.

Cole's heart galloped as everyone went silent. She'd once scoffed that no man would want to marry a woman who spent half the night thrashing in her sleep.

“Not nearly as bad or as frequent as before.” Her gaze sought his and held. “Cole told me they would ease if I talked about them, but I think it was seeing the tortured look on his face when I begged him to save Baby Luke that made the difference. You see—” her voice hitched and Cole had to grip the arms of his lawn chair to stop himself from springing to her side and pulling her into his arms. “People could tell me all they wanted that there was nothing I could've done to save Luke, but I still felt as if I'd let him down. But when I begged Cole to save the baby, I honestly didn't think I was going to make it.”

The admission slammed the air from his chest. He closed his eyes against the throbbing pain at the mere thought of losing her. And from the sound of the sniffles coming from the circle of family, he wasn't alone.

Sherri knelt beside him and clasped his hand, before he'd realized she'd crossed the lawn between them. “I could see he didn't want to leave my side. But I didn't want him to stay and watch me die when he could save another. I think God allowed me to feel what Luke had felt when he was dying. He'd wanted me to save that mother and child more than anything, just like I'd wanted Cole to save the baby.” Tears spilled from her eyes. “And in that moment, I knew I hadn't let Luke down.”

Cole tugged her into his arms. Cradling her against his heart, he buried his face in her hair. “Please don't ever ask me to leave you again.”

She lifted her head and palmed his tear-dampened shirt with a shy smile. “I won't.”

His heart swelled to bursting and forgetting about her family he lowered his head and claimed her lips with a sweet, lingering kiss.

As a chorus of “ahs” rose around them, her lips curved into a smile beneath his. Her arms slipped around his neck, and she whispered close to his ear. “Now my family knows all my secrets.”

The family kindly turned the spotlight off them, delving into conversations about the weather and the gardens with only a few giggles and whispers from her younger cousins. Sherri's cheeks had turned a gorgeous shade of pink, but she didn't seem in any hurry to leave his arms. If he'd needed any more assurance that she wasn't ashamed of him, or his family, that confirmed it.

Jake caught his attention, and wrapping his arm around his own wife, winked.

* * *

Sherri nibbled on her bottom lip as Cole walked her to her apartment, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He'd grown fidgety after their kiss at the picnic, asking when the gathering usually broke up and if she wanted to leave early, but...not in a twinkly eyed I-can't-wait-to-get-you-alone-to-kiss-you-again kind of way. Fishing her key from her purse, she slanted a glance his direction. “Are you okay?”

His head snapped up, surprise on his face. “Never better.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Your family is terrific. Thanks for inviting me.”

She chuckled. “Mom has been talking about you so much. My aunts would've come looking for you themselves if I hadn't.”

The twinkle she'd been missing returned to his eyes.

Sherri unlocked her apartment door and waved him inside, but instead of whirling her into his arms, he sauntered over to the dining table.

“You finished the teddy bear puzzle.”

Her heart skipped at the pleased note to his voice.

She joined him at the table and smiled at the image of the teddy bear nurse bandaging the other bear's paw. Her finger strayed to the hole in the bear's chest where a couple of pieces were missing. “Some pieces were missing.” She couldn't help the melancholy that seeped into her voice, remembering how disappointed she'd felt the first time she'd done the puzzle. She'd left it on the table for months, hoping the pieces would turn up...hoping he would turn up. But when months had gone by with no sign of either, it had seemed cruelly appropriate that it was the bear's heart that was missing. The one thing Cole hadn't been willing to let her mend.

Cole reached into his pocket and presented her with a tiny box.

Her breath caught at the sight of it, at his broad smile, and all she could do was stare. If it was what it looked like, shouldn't he be asking her something first?

As if he'd read her mind, he blushed and flipped open the lid. A plain brown, hand-cut, jigsaw-shaped cardboard piece sat in the bottom of the velvet-lined box. “I'd noticed the pieces were missing when I dropped in after work yesterday and when you were in the other room, I traced the shape of the gap so I could make a piece to fit.”

She stared at it, speechless, amazed by how sweet that was and yet vaguely disappointed that something else hadn't been in the box.

Smiling, he set the box on the table and rubbed the puzzle piece between his fingers. “The day I gave you this puzzle I was already a little bit in love with you. I was sure you could make just about anything better.”

“Except your heart,” she said softly.

A smile teased his lips. “Yeah, except that.” He turned the puzzle piece over and fit it into the hole in the bear's chest. “I know better now.”

A teeny squeal slipped out at the sight of the heart he'd painted in bold shades of red on the other side of the puzzle piece. On the corner of the heart, he'd painted crisscrossed bandages. She leaned closer and traced her finger over the image, awed by the detail. “I can't believe you did this for me. It's...perfect. Now I can frame the puzzle and give it a place of honor over my couch.”

He scooped up her hand and brought it to his lips. “I was hoping we might hang it over our couch.”

Blinking, she looked from his lips pressed to her fingers to the earnestness in his gaze, and swallowed the bubble of happiness clogging her throat. “
Our
couch?”

“Sherri, I love you more than I ever imagined it possible to love. I meant what I said this afternoon. I don't ever want to leave you. You already have my heart. Will you—” he cocked his head to the side, suddenly looking as fidgety as he'd been earlier, and a smile bloomed inside her, now that she understood the reason “—take the rest of me? Will you marry me?”

She bounded into his arms, her mouth finding his, saying without words all that was in her heart. He held her close, responding with a lingering kiss, soft and tender and brimming with emotions she'd scarcely allowed herself to feel for a long, long while. Slowly, he pulled away, his lips curving into a smile that filled her with warmth.

His hands cradled her face, as his smoky gaze searched hers in a gentle caress. “Is that a yes? Because I'd really like to hear the words.”

Laughter bubbled inside her at the hint of uncertainty in his voice, in this man who alone had seen through her pretenses and had challenged her to bare her heart. Did he truly doubt that kiss meant anything other than what it appeared to?

She covered his hands with her own. “Cole, I've admired you for as long as I can remember. But these past few weeks have shown me how truly remarkable you are. I thank God every day for bringing you back into my life. You are caring and protective and brutally perceptive.” She smiled at the blush that crept into his cheeks. “And I'm so glad you refused to let me hide behind my facades. I love you with all of my heart, and nothing would make me happier than to be your wife.”

With an exultant “whoop” he lifted her from the ground and twirled her in a joyous circle. He pulled her into another kiss. One she hoped would never stop.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
HIGH-RISK HOMECOMING
by Alison Stone

Dear Reader,

This novel proved to be a surprising challenge to write, thanks to Sherri's tendency to pretend everything is okay and not ask for help. One astute reader told me she's a perfectionist, which surprised me, although after looking up the characteristics, I could see her point. Sherri definitely didn't want to fail, or to let others down, especially God.

Some people have an easier time admitting to weakness or seeking help than others. While many inadvertently resent a lack of help from loved ones or friends, without realizing that because they hadn't asked for help, their friends had no idea of their need. I deeply appreciate people who can be transparent about their struggles, especially in a desire to help others wade through similar difficulties. Many First Responders struggle to live with the horrific scenes they've witnessed, while others struggle to live with a personal loss or tragedy or illness. What I hope this story helps each of us to see is that being willing to open up about our own struggles, or inviting others to open up to us, however uncomfortable that might feel, can go a long way to mending fractured hearts.

I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me via email at
[email protected]
, or at
facebook.com/SandraOrchard
. To learn more about all my novels and explore fun bonus features, please visit me online at
www.SandraOrchard.com
and sign up for my newsletter for exclusive subscriber giveaways.

Sincerely,

Sandra Orchard