“No, I couldn’t have,” he said, setting the picture down and pulling her into his arms. “And I want to thank you
so
much. You’re the best daughter a dad could ever ask for.”
“Thanks,” she said on a sniff.
“Of course, if you don’t like that, I also have a hundred dollars to give you.”
She drew back, eyes wide. “You do?”
“Is that mascara you’re wearing?”
“Nope,” she said, ducking out of his arms. “Thanks for the picture, Dad. I’ll hang it in my room.”
She headed for the stairs, only to draw up short when she saw
her
standing at the bottom.
Becca Newman.
“Hi, guys,” she said softly.
Lindsey could tell her dad had seen her, too, even though he stood behind her. A glance back revealed that she was right. He drew himself up, seeming to grow taller in just a split second.
She turned back to Becca saying, “What are you doing here?”
“Actually,” Becca said, “I came to see both of you.”
And Lindsey’s heart leaped, because there was a look in Becca’s eyes, a look that made Lindsey think—
“But if this is a bad time…”
“No, no,” Lindsey said, doing a complete reversal of opinion because she was certain, well,
almost
certain that Becca was here to patch things up with her dad. “We’re just getting ready for my birthday party. But we’ve still got a few minutes before people start to arrive.”
“Is that why the door was open?” Becca asked. “I thought someone had forgotten to close it, but it’s your birthday?”
“Yup,” Lindsey said, suddenly grinning from ear to ear. She had a feeling she was about to receive the best birthday present of all. “You can come if you want.”
“Lindsey,” her dad warned.
Lindsey glanced up at him. He looked tense. And upset. As if he didn’t want Becca around anymore.
What a bunch of bull.
He was still in love with her, Lindsey thought, her hopes soaring. She could see it in his face. He might be glowering down at his former boss, but Lindsey wasn’t fooled.
“I’m going outside to check the decorations,” she said, bounding down the stairs two at a time. “You can talk to my dad alone.”
“But, Lindsey—”
“See ya,” Lindsey said, heading toward the back of the house and the sliding glass doors, which she quickly disappeared through.
“But I wanted her to hear this, too,” Becca said, glancing up at Adam who still stood at the top of the stairs.
“Hear what?” he asked.
And Becca knew. She knew the time had come to lay it all on the line. She swallowed, took a deep breath, realizing that it was now or never.
“I wanted her to hear how much I love you,” she said, clenching her fingers against their trembling. “How much I love you both.”
And still he stood there.
“And how sorry I am that I hurt you. That I was too much of a coward to take the love you offered.” She had to look away, couldn’t keep staring up at him when all he did was stare right back. “I was a fool for asking you to give up racing for me. It was a moment of madness. My only way of trying to control something that couldn’t be controlled. That’s been my problem all along. I wanted to control you. Out of fear. Fear of letting go,” she admitted. “Fear of losing control of my heart when what I should have done was simply give it to you.”
She met his gaze again, her eyes rimming with tears. “But I couldn’t control it, Adam. I couldn’t control my feelings. And so here I stand, still in love with you, only now I’m terrified I’m too late. Terrified that I’ve driven you away.”
At last…at last he came down the steps, slowly, Becca’s heart beating faster with every step.
“You shouldn’t be afraid,” he said stopping right in front of her.
“I shouldn’t?”
“No.”
He stopped in front of her, arms hanging by his side. She waited, breath held, waited for sign, a look, anything to tell her that she hadn’t blown it.
“I love you, Becca.”
“Adam,” she said, her eyes closing at the same time he drew her into his arms.
“I love you,” he said softly. “I never stopped loving you. And I never will.”
“Oh, thank God,” she said on a sob.
He held her, he held her tight—maybe too tight, but she didn’t care. She drew back, his face blurry from between her tears. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“I can’t help myself.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to think of a way for you to make it up to me.”
“I guess you will.”
“Yes!” they heard someone murmur. “Yes, yes, yes!”
And when they turned, both Adam and Becca laughed because Lindsey was doing a dance out on the back patio, where she’d apparently been eavesdropping.
“I knew it,” they heard her say. “I just knew this would be the best birthday ever.”
And you know what? It was.
EPILOGUE
IT WAS THE MURMUR of a voice that woke Becca up, the blissful peace of sleep interrupted by the sound of—Adam?
Darn it,
she thought, opening an eye.
“And so the beautiful lady told the prince that he could come to work for her in her castle.”
Becca huffed. She turned her head the other direction.
And there they were.
In the corner of their spacious bedroom, a night-light cast a soft glow onto his face and their baby boy’s.
“And when the prince went to work in the kind lady’s castle he discovered that he’d fallen in love with her.” One of his fingers stroked the side of the baby’s face, their son looking up at him as if he understood every word. “But when the prince tried to kiss the fair maiden, she wouldn’t let him.” Adam widened his eyes, leaning toward a bundle swathed in a light blue blanket that rested in the crook of his arm, making a scary face. “Obviously, she hadn’t been reading her book of fairy tales.”
“Obviously the prince didn’t know how to kiss the fair maiden properly,” Becca said, sitting up.
Adam’s head jerked up, a look of surprise on his face, one that was followed by a grimace of chagrin. “I was trying not to wake you.”
“You forget that new moms have the hearing of a bat.” She slipped out of bed, one of her thin white sleeves falling off her shoulder. She fixed it absently and went to stand by her husband.
Husband.
After all these months she still couldn’t believe it. Nor that she was a mother, Becca thought, staring down at her son. Kevin Joseph Nicholas Drake had been born sometime between the final practice at Richmond and the Saturday night race—which Adam had won—much to everyone’s delight. Especially Lindsey’s. Becca’s stepdaughter didn’t know which pleased her more: having a new baby brother or being in Victory Lane again because—as she’d told Becca—she just
knew
the girls from her old school were watching and she hoped they were kicking themselves for being so mean to her.
Becca hoped they had miserable lives for being so mean to her.
“He seemed to like my story,” Adam said softly, one of his fingers gently stroking Kevin’s face. It amazed her that a man who controlled three thousand pounds of race car on the weekends could handle a child so gently, so tenderly.
“Really?” she asked. “I think he looks a little bored.”
“Nah, he’s not bored,” Adam said with a gentle voice. “He’s happy,” and his face softened even more. “Just like me.”
Their gazes caught and held, Becca’s heart doing that strange little thump that it always did whenever Adam looked at her like that.
“I’m happy, too,” she said.
“As happy as the day I won rookie of the year?”
“Well, maybe not that happy.”
He smiled.
“Will you two be quiet?” came a voice from down the hall.
The both looked toward their bedroom door, as if Lindsey might be standing at the entrance. But of course she wasn’t.
“I have a biology test first thing in the morning.”
“Then get to sleep,” Adam called, Kevin’s eyes widening at the sudden noise.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” they heard down the hall.
Becca smiled inwardly. Her stepdaughter was a handful, but she wouldn’t have her any other way.
She glanced back at father and son. Kevin looked about ready to cry, but Adam moved his face right down next to his again, giving him a smile that Becca knew Kevin couldn’t see—he was still too young to make out anything more than colors—but that he seemed to understand nonetheless. He gurgled something to his father, his head nesting into the crook of Adam’s arm.
Becca’s world felt complete. During that moment of time a peace filled her like none she’d felt before. No, not even the day Adam had stood up on the awards ceremony podium and accepted his award for not only Rookie of the Year, but the year-end NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship. He hadn’t done it for Newman Motorsports, but he’d used the money he’d won to pay back her loan, much to Will Black’s chagrin. Her team belonged to her once again, and she had the hottest driver in the business piloting her NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series car—Adam Drake.
“You forgot to tell him the end of the story,” she reminded him.
“I wasn’t going to tell him the end, I was going to show him.”
“What do you mean?”
He reached a hand up, hooking it behind her neck and drawing her down. Becca closed her eyes, their lips connecting so softly, so tenderly that it brought tears to her eyes.
“Like that,” he said a long while later.
“That’s a good way to end a story,” she said, drawing back a bit to meet the gaze of the man who had changed her life. Who had given her more happiness than she’d ever thought possible. And that had taught her to love again.
“Hmm,” he said, the look in his eyes mimicking her own. “Maybe you have been reading your book of fairy tales after all.”
“And maybe I’m living one,” she said with a soft smile.
“Maybe we both are,” he said equally gently.
“People,” came a voice down the hall again. “Biology test.”
Adam and Becca giggled, and then kissed again, then giggled some more as down the hall, in her
That’s So Raven
room, Lindsey smiled.
They were impossible, she thought, snuggling into her covers, a smile on her face.
And they were the best parents in the world.
Well,
most
of the time, anyway.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
As many of you might know,
The Variety Show
I wrote about is based on a real life “talent search” sponsored by Roush Racing. Obviously, I took the liberty of changing a few things (to fit within the confines of my plot), but I tried to offer a realistic and accurate view of what goes on behind the scenes. Any errors are strictly my own.
I hope you enjoyed
ON THE EDGE
, as it is my sincerest pleasure to bring readers stories set in the garages of NASCAR. If you’d like to discover more about my books, drop on by my Web site. I love to give away monthly prizes. And, yes, that is a shameless bribe.
www.pamelabritton.com
All my best,
Pamela
ISBN: 1-55254-627-6
ON THE EDGE
Copyright © 2006 by Pamela Britton
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