Authors: Emily March
“I’ll take you,” Cam said.
This could be bad. Really bad
. She’d need him, and he’d be there for her this time, by God.
“Thank you.” She turned in his arms and rested her head against his chest. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Cam.”
This wasn’t the time to go into their own situation. Nevertheless, he thought it important for her to know one thing. He pressed a gentle kiss against her hair and said, “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not going anywhere.”
Sarah sat in the passenger seat of Lori’s new car and tried to hold her imagination at bay as Cam drove toward Sinner’s Prayer Pass. She did not want to picture an image of her mother lying bent and broken at the bottom of a mountain. “I can’t believe this is happening. Mom hasn’t driven anywhere in three years. How did two men end up with her car?”
“No sense speculating, sugar. We’ll find out soon enough, and there’s no sense in you fretting about the possibilities. You’ll make yourself crazy. Try to think about something else.”
Mom had been wearing her green polo shirt and khaki slacks. Were there bloodstains soaking into—“Yes. You have a point. I do need to think about something different, so I’ll ask … what did you mean earlier when you said you weren’t going anywhere?”
He took his focus off the road long enough to spare her a questioning glance. “Are you sure you want to talk about this now?”
“Yes. I think I am.”
“Okay, then. I’m not going back to Australia. Well, not permanently. I’ll have to make a trip there from time to time to deal with the business. But Devin and I are going to stay in Eternity Springs. He’s going to go to school here, and I’m going to figure out some way to make money. I have a couple of ideas.”
Okay, he’d managed to catch her attention. Her full, complete, total attention. “Why?”
“Because I’m going to wait for you, Sarah. I love you. I am going to believe that someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I think we were meant to be together. I think we are meant to make a family together.”
Sarah’s pulse began to pound. Her chest tightened, and the darned tears threatened to spill all over again. “Cam, I …”
“No, sugar.” He reached over and took her hand. “Don’t worry about it now. The last thing I want to do is put more pressure on you about anything.”
“But that’s not—” She broke off when her cellphone rang. “It’s Zach.” She blew out a breath, then answered. “Hello?”
“Still no sign of her,” he said, showing the sensitivity to let her know the most important news first. “Did you follow me?”
“Yes.”
“I figured you would. I wanted to let you know that there’s a trooper waving cars around the site. Just tell him who you are and he’ll let you park.”
“Thanks, Zach.”
Sarah relayed the information to Cam, and he said, “I see the flashing lights up ahead.”
“Okay. Look, about the other conversation … We will finish it later, okay?”
“Absolutely, sugar.” Tenderly, he added, “Like I said, I’m not going anywhere.”
The next few hours were a nightmare. Had Cam not been there, Sarah would have fallen apart. The two male passengers in the car had died on impact. The car had not burned. That had delayed its discovery, but it had also preserved the identification of the bodies, driver’s licenses issued in New York state that matched the features of the deceased.
Each man had a record. One of them had done prison time. Upon learning that, Sarah had moaned aloud, and her knees went weak. What had they done to her mother?
Zach and fellow law enforcement officers from the surrounding area conducted a thorough search of the crash scene. Zach relayed the information that tire tracks indicated the car had been headed toward Eternity Springs rather than away when it crashed. That expanded the search area, so it wasn’t considered especially good news.
Cam and Sarah remained out at the site until Zach, the last on the scene, was ready to leave. Sunset was half an hour away.
“So what’s next?” she asked him.
“We will verify their identities and trace their movements. We will find out where they were before they came here. I expect we’ll turn up something about your mother then.”
When Sarah lifted her hand to wipe a tear from her eyes, Zach placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke friend to friend: “This isn’t terrible news. I’m encouraged. It’s entirely possible that she’s at a mall or some other public place, and she hasn’t asked for help so no one has reported it. She may have wandered off and left the keys in the car, giving those guys an easy opportunity. Keep the faith, Sarah.”
Keep the faith
. The phrase ran through her mind like a litany as they drove away from the scene of the accident. She stared at the road without seeing it, and it was only after Cam turned off pavement onto a dirt road that she realized he had taken her somewhere other than home.
He’d brought her to Lover’s Leap.
Sarah smiled. Despite everything, he’d known exactly what she needed.
“Nothing brings me peace like watching the sunset,” he said. “I thought we both could use a little sunset tonight.”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
The warmth of the summer day was dying with the sun, and a cool evening breeze carried the breath of pine, fir, and cedar as they took seats atop the gently rounded boulder that offered the best western view. They sat in comfortable silence, holding hands and watching the fiery red ball dip toward the shadowed mountains on the other side of the valley. Thin fingers of pink-and-purple clouds stretched across the muted blue sky. Then the sunset magic began as soft colors disappeared and brilliant ones took their place. Bright crimsons, oranges, and golds flashed above and behind black mountain summits. Sarah broke the quiet by saying, “Mom used to say that sunsets like this give us a peek beyond the gates of heaven.”
“I wouldn’t argue the point.”
When the sun finally slipped behind the mountains, Sarah drew a deep breath and released it slowly. She felt calm for the first time since the call had come during the drive to the airport. “Thank you for this.”
“My pleasure.”
They watched until darkness swallowed the palette of colors, allowing stars their time to shine. As her gaze locked on the brightest star in the western sky, Sarah said, “Cam, earlier, when you said we were meant to be together, I didn’t get the chance to tell you what I think. I’d like to do that now.”
He waited for a long moment before saying “Okay.”
Suddenly she needed to move, so she slid off the rock and began to pace. Cam followed her lead and stood as if braced for bad news. She searched for the perfect words. She wanted to do this right. But she also wanted to do it before twilight faded to night, so she’d better get her rear in gear.
She abandoned the effort toward perfection and spoke simply and from her heart: “I love you, too, Cam. I gave you my heart when I was sixteen, and apparently it was for keeps. I was angry for so long, and I tried really hard to take it back and give it to someone else, but first love turned out to be only love for me. I think I’ve always known it, deep down inside.”
She paused, and after a moment he spoke into the silence. “I sense there is a
but
coming my way? What is it? You can’t forgive me?”
“No. That’s not it at all. Forgiveness is easy. It’s trust that is hard.”
“You don’t trust me?” He couldn’t hide the hurt.
“I didn’t trust you not to leave me again. That wounded me so deeply, so grievously, that I never got over it. I knew you loved me when we were teens, Cam. You loved me, but you left me.”
“And you haven’t forgiven me for it.”
“That’s not true. Listen to what I am saying. I understand why you did it. I probably would have done the same thing if I’d been in your shoes. I
do
forgive you. Forgiveness and trust are two different things, and it was my lack of trust that was holding me back.”
“Is that a past verb tense I’m hearing?
Was
, not is?”
“Someone told me recently to leap like a lunatic. I can’t think of a better place to do that than here. Yes, it’s past tense, Cam. I’m making a leap of faith. I trust you not to leave me again.”
“Okay, um …” He cleared his throat and spoke in an uncertain tone. “Where does that leave us?”
Sarah wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. “This is the point where you sweep me into your arms and kiss me. You don’t have to wait for me any longer, Cam. I’m yours. I always have been, and I always will be.”
“Thank God.” He was there in two strides, wrapping his arms around her, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around and around as he kissed her. And kissed her. And kissed her.
Sarah allowed herself this little moment of happiness, knowing it would serve as strength to her in the challenging hours to come.
When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, he allowed her feet to slide back to the ground. In a gruff tone, he said, “I love you, Sarah Reese. Under other circumstances, I’d carry you back into the trees to our spot and make wild, passionate love to you and ask you one very important question. But with your mom missing, it doesn’t feel like the time is right.”
“I know. I agree.” She cupped his face in the palm of her hand and blinked away tears. “I’ll take a rain check on both.”
“I’ll bring a picnic basket. You can bring a quilt. And sugar cookies. Gotta have those sugar cookies. We’ll christen our spot all over again.”
“That sounds perfect. It’s a date.”
He kissed her once again, then turned her so that her back rested against his front, his arms around her, and together, they watched the sprinkle of stars burst across the heavens. Sarah stood awash in emotion as love and contentment battled worry and concern. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the man who held her, and one pleading for her mother’s safe return.
“You know, life has recently proved to me that miracles do happen. You returned home to me. Maybe my mother will, too.”
“Gotta keep those positive thoughts flowing,” he murmured into her ear. “Whatever else happens, I’m here. I’m here to stay. I know what you mean about miracles. I’ve been to a lot of places in this big world. Seen a lot of beautiful sights. But no place on earth called to me like this one. Long after I left Colorado, left the United States, I dreamed of this place, our place. I dreamed of being with you here, at Lover’s Leap. I never thought it could happen. I never thought … Hmm …” His voice trailed off. He suddenly went still. “Huh.”
“Cam?”
“It just occurred to me … Did your parents have a Lover’s Leap? A special place? Didn’t your mother tell me that her favorite spot in the world was—”
“Spirit Cave,” Sarah breathed, following the path of his thoughts.
“That’s it. She mentioned it to me that night I had supper at your house.”
Hope rekindled and began to burn. “Do you think she might have gone there?”
“If it called to her as much as this place called to me, I wouldn’t be surprised.” He grabbed her hand and began to pull her toward the car.
“Those men could have been there,” she said, excitement in her voice. “They could have stolen her car. Maybe they didn’t hurt her at all! Maybe she did leave the keys in the ignition.”
“Let’s go check it out.”
The drive took twenty-three minutes that felt like twenty-three hours. Sarah had a lump the size of Murphy Mountain in her throat as Cam turned off the highway at the brown-and-white sign that read
Spirit Cave
. “I’m not sure where to go now,” he told her.
“Go to the end of the road, then park. There’s a trail to the spot where we always fished. The cave is a little beyond that.” Sarah leaned forward in her seat, willing them there faster.
When they made the final turn on the rutted dirt road, the headlights flashed on a pickup truck parked at the end of the road. Sarah caught her breath. The truck’s hood was up.
“Looks like someone is inside the cab,” Cam said. “On the passenger’s side.”
“Please, God,” Sarah prayed.
Their headlights helped to illuminate the truck as Cam pulled up behind it. Sarah was out of the car before he’d shifted into park. She ran forward, calling, “Mom? Mom? Is that you?”
A familiar voice replied, “Frank?”
“Mom! Oh, Mom.” Sarah’s hands trembled as she wrenched open the door. “Mom, are you okay?”
Ellen Reese frowned and pointed toward the trees. “Sarah, go find your father. He’s fished enough. It’s time for us to go home.”
Tears spilled from Sarah’s eyes as she wrapped her mother in her arms. “It sure is, Mom. It sure is.”
She looked around for Cam. He stood a few feet away, watching them with a relieved grin on his face. Love lifted her heart. He’d been here for her. This time, he’d been here.
And I know he always will be
.
NINETEEN
One week after Ellen Reese’s rescue, Cam and Sarah arrived together for the monthly town hall meeting in the Eternity Springs school auditorium. Cam hadn’t wanted to attend, but Sarah insisted that if he was serious about running a fishing guide service out of Eternity Springs during the summertime, then that made him an official business owner, which meant he needed to be at the meeting.
They entered the auditorium, and Cam spied what he privately termed Sarah’s posse seated together toward the front. Ali Timberlake saw them first and waved them forward to the two saved seats beside the Timberlakes and behind the Callahans and Raffertys and Celeste Blessing. Sarah took a seat next to Ali, while Cam sat at the end of the row behind Celeste.
Nic twisted around in her seat and asked, “So how’s the sunburn? Must be better if you’re sitting down.”
“Nic!” Sarah protested, her cheeks going rosy. The cheeks on her face, that is. The ones on her butt were already rosy from exposure to the afternoon sun on Sunday.
He and Sarah had stopped by Lover’s Leap after seeing Lori off at the airport for her trip back to Virginia. They spent a long, luscious afternoon hidden away in the private bower well off the trail at Lover’s Leap, lying in the sun on the quilt Sarah had brought and sharing the contents of her picnic basket—complete with sugar cookies.
He’d asked her to marry him at sunset and offered her the amethyst-and-diamond ring Celeste said she’d found tucked away in the basement at Angel’s Rest. The ring matched the description of the one Eternity Springs’s founder Daniel Murphy had offered for sale to his fellow town founder, Lucien Davenport. It was the ring he’d intended to give to his lost angel, Winifred Smith, on the day they wed.
At first Cam hadn’t wanted to take the ring when Celeste offered it. For one thing, Daniel Murphy had been a wealthy miner at the time. Worth a fortune in the 1880s, it had to be worth five fortunes today. Celeste had been able to convince him to take it by making two points: One, it should have been a Murphy family heirloom, and for Cam to give it to the woman he loved completed the circle his great-something-grandfather couldn’t when his bride-to-be disappeared. Second, the amethyst matched Sarah’s eyes. The ring was meant for her. At Celeste’s suggestion, Cam donated the money he’d intended to spend on an engagement ring to the Alzheimer’s Association. Sarah had all but swooned when he gave her the ring. They’d made love a second time that afternoon, then she’d collapsed on top of him and they’d dozed together in the sun. Hence her rosy cheeks.
He wouldn’t say he understood why she’d felt she had to share those details with her girlfriends, but oh, well.
Nic laughed, then turned to him and said, “Lori called me today. She asked about you.”
Cam leaned forward in his seat. “She did?”
“She asked me if I had any photographs of you when we were kids. She’s putting together a surprise for the wedding.”
“Really.” Cam sat back, pleased. Before she left, Lori and he had spent time cautiously getting to know each other. Things weren’t perfect between them—real life isn’t that easy, she’d told him—but they both tried, and they both wanted a good relationship. He had every confidence that they would get there in time.
With her hands resting on the basketball in her belly, Sage asked how the wedding plans were coming, and Sarah launched into her favorite subject. Honestly, why anybody would care so much about table centerpieces was beyond him. Cam’s focus was on the honeymoon.
They had chosen the third Saturday in August as their wedding date. Lori would be done with her internship, and Sage’s baby would be born—an event Sarah didn’t want to miss. Following a ceremony at St. Stephen’s and a reception at Angel’s Rest, they’d leave for an extended South Seas honeymoon aboard the
Freedom
.
Cam couldn’t wait to dive the Great Barrier Reef with his wife.
“Where’s Devin tonight?” Colt asked him when the women’s talk turned from centerpieces to napkin colors.
“He’s working. Loves the new job.”
Mac Timberlake said, “Good. I figured he would. Our son Chase enjoyed his stint at the Double R. With Devin’s experience with tourists, helping with the trail rides was a natural fit. I’m looking forward to having him stay with us while you and Sarah are away. Ali and I miss having kids around the house.”
“I can’t tell you how much we appreciate the offer, Mac.”
“We’re glad to have him.”
Sage finally turned Sarah’s attention away from the wedding by asking, “How is your Mom settling into her new home?”
“So far, so good,” Sarah replied. “Keller Oaks is a first-class memory-care facility. I know I had to take that step, but I can’t quite shake the guilt.”
Celeste reached for Sarah’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Ellen is safe and well cared for, and you have nothing to feel guilty about. You are a kind and loving daughter and a blessing to her. Remember, Sarah. ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.’ This is your time. Yours and Cameron’s. Enjoy it.”
Sarah sent him a tender look. “We will, Celeste. We will.”
At that point, Hank Townsend, the mayor of Eternity Springs, took the stage and called the meeting to order. They talked about interesting things like garbage pickup and a change in the due date for water bills. Cam’s attention drifted off, so when Celeste rose from her seat to join the mayor on the stage, he didn’t have a clue why. He arched a brow at Sarah. She shrugged. Guess she didn’t know, either.
Celeste stepped up to the lectern, adjusted the microphone downward, and said, “Good evening, dear friends. I’m so pleased to see you all here tonight for this very special occasion.
“It seems like almost yesterday that we met here to discuss the terrible economic trials facing our town. I stood before you that night and spoke of my belief in this town and in the people who live here. If you recall, I said that Eternity Springs didn’t need the state of Colorado to build a prison here in order to save the town. What Eternity Springs needed to do was to free itself from the prison of its past and utilize the gifts a generous and loving God had bestowed upon it. I held that then, and only then, would our wonderful little town heal and thrive and fulfill the promise of its name.
“Now I am proud to say Eternity Springs has done just that. Mayor Townsend, will you please read the proclamation?”
Sarah leaned forward and spoke to Nic: “What’s this all about?”
Nic shrugged, but she had a sly little light in her eyes.
As the mayor turned his head and coughed, Cam checked his watch. He needed to get home and feed Mortimer before too long.
“Pauline Roosevelt brought a special proposal to the table at last night’s city council meeting. It passed unanimously. Here it is.” He cleared his throat and read: “The mayor and city council of Eternity Springs, Colorado, hereby declare the third Friday in July to be Cam Murphy Day. We wish to formally recognize his assistance in the search for our beloved fellow citizen Ellen Reese, and to officially welcome him home. Cam, would you come up here, please?”
Cam froze in his seat as the auditorium erupted into cheers and applause. What the …
Cam Murphy Day!
“You, too, Sarah,” Celeste called.
Cam sat in stunned silence until Sarah tugged him to his feet. “C’mon, Cam.”
“Cam Murphy Day? What the heck?”
Beaming, Sarah dragged him down the aisle and up onto the stage. The mayor waved a hand, requesting the crowd to quiet. Once they did, he removed a trophy from the lectern’s shelf, handed it to Cam, and offered his free hand for a handshake.
“A bowling trophy, Hank?” Sarah asked, focused on the gold figure atop the marble-and-wood trophy.
“Yeah, I know. Supposed to have been a sphere. I didn’t have my bifocals, and I read the catalog numbers wrong. I called the company and they said they’d fix it, but we have to send that one back first.”
Cam felt the laugh bubble up from deep inside him. “No. This is perfect. Just perfect. Thank you, mayor.”
In the front row, Pauline Roosevelt stood and shouted, “Bravo. Bravo!”
Celeste stepped up to the lectern, then motioned for Sarah and Cam to come closer. “I have something for Cameron and Sarah, too, and I think this is the perfect time and place to give it to you.”
Sarah gasped and clasped her hands. “Is it my turn, Celeste? Finally?”
“I told you at New Year’s that your time was coming, didn’t I?” She pulled two boxes from her pocket and handed one to Sarah and one to Cam.
“What’s this?” he asked upon seeing the silver medal dangling from a silver chain.
“It’s our Angel’s Rest wings,” Sarah said. “Sage designed them for Celeste.”
“It is the official healing-center blazon awarded to those who have embraced healing’s grace. I have one for Lori and Devin, too, because you have healed not just as yourselves but as a family.”
“A family,” Sarah said. “Our family. Oh, Celeste, you’re going to make me cry.”
“Don’t do that, dear. There have been enough waterworks of late.” Celeste smiled up at Cam. “Wear the blazon next to your heart, Cameron. Carry the grace you have discovered here in Eternity Springs along whatever life path you travel.”
“Thank you, Celeste.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I’ll do that.”
“Here, let me help.” Sarah slipped the chain over his head, then he repeated the favor for her.
“Speech! Speech!” someone in the crowd called.
Cam winced, then gave a sheepish shrug. “I’m not much of a public speaker.”
“We’re not much of a public,” Pauline called, a big smile on her face.
Cam stood at the lectern and couldn’t come up with anything more to say than “Thank you. I’m glad to be home.”
As applause swelled once again, he gazed out at the crowd. He saw his elementary school teacher and the barber who used to cut his hair when he was a kid. They were smiling. Clapping. For him.
Unbelievable
.
Celeste slipped her arm through his and murmured, “The past is finally in the past. Congratulations, Cam. You’ve helped this town to heal.”
She leaned toward the mike and raised her voice. “Now, my friends, it appears that my plan A is accomplished. Eternity Springs is thriving. A goodness of spirit once again occupies this valley. Eternity Springs is truly a place where broken hearts can come to heal, and you, my dear, dear friends, will spread wings of compassion and love around wounded souls. My work here is done. I’ll use this opportunity to announce that I’ll be moving on to another town, another place, where people have need of my assistance.”
Beside him, Sarah gasped. In front of him, Nic Callahan, Sage Rafferty, and Ali Timberlake did, too.
Just as Sarah opened her mouth to protest, a voice rang out from the back of the auditorium: “No, Ms. Blessing, I’m sorry, but you can’t go anywhere.”
Cam recognized the gorgeous redhead who rose from a seat at the back of the auditorium. Cat Blackburn had arrived at Eagle’s Way with Jack Davenport the day Lori had come home. She exited her row and hurried up the aisle, saying, “Your work here is far from over. If you know the secret to healing broken hearts, then it’s time you did something about Jack Davenport. The man is impossible.”
Cam folded his arms and grinned at his bride-to-be. “Well, well, well. Looks like my ol’ kissin’ cousin has trouble on his hands. Something tells me this is gonna be fun to watch.”