The Doctor's Secret Son
Deb Kastner
You Can Go Home AgainDelia Rae Ivers said goodbye to small town Serendipity ten years ago for medical school. To start a new life, she’d ended her romance with the town rebel, Zach Bowden—and kept their little boy a secret.But when her mother falls ill, Delia answers the town’s online ad for a new doctor. It’s time to come home to family, friends…and the man she loved a decade ago. Will forgiveness give them a second chance to become the family they were meant to be?Email Order Brides: Online connections lead to forever love
You Can Go Home Again
Delia Rae Ivers said goodbye to small town Serendipity ten years ago for medical school. To start a new life, she’d ended her romance with the town rebel, Zach Bowden—and kept their little boy a secret. But when her mother falls ill, Delia answers the town’s online ad for a new doctor. It’s time to come home to family, friends…and the man she loved a decade ago. Will forgiveness give them a second chance to become the family they were meant to be?
Hadn’t anything else scandalous happened in the ten years she’d been gone?
It seemed to her everyone had far too keen of memories where she and Zach were concerned.
Delia had a hard time breaking her gaze away from Zach. He took one step toward her and then stopped, undecided.
Alexis, Mary and Samantha stood and hovered around Delia until she, too, came to her feet.
But instead of meeting her halfway, Zach stepped sideways and planted his hat on his head.
“Ladies,” he murmured with a clipped nod. A moment later he was striding out the door and down the road.
Delia was equally distressed and relieved. She didn’t care for him brushing her off with such callousness, but she wasn’t quite ready to talk to him, either. She didn’t yet know how to say what needed to be said, nor when would be the best time to do it.
Maybe there was no best way to say it.
Zach, you have a son.
DEB KASTNER
lives and writes in colorful Colorado with the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains for inspiration. She loves writing for Love Inspired Books, where she can write about her two favorite things—faith and love. Her characters range from upbeat and humorous to (her favorite) dark and broody heroes. Her plots fall anywhere in between, from a playful romp to the deeply emotional. Deb’s books have been twice nominated for the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Book of the Year for Love Inspired. Deb and her husband share their home with their two youngest daughters. Deb is thrilled about the newest member of the family—her first granddaughter, Isabella. What fun to be a granny! Deb loves to hear from her readers. You can contact her by email at Debwrtr@aol.com, or on her MySpace or Facebook pages.
The Doctor’s Secret Son
Deb Kastner
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Love Inspired!
2012 is a very special year for us. It marks the fifteenth anniversary of Love Inspired. Hard to believe that fifteen years ago, we first began publishing our warm and wonderful inspirational romances.
Back in 1997, we offered readers three books a month. Since then we’ve expanded quite a bit! In addition to the heartwarming contemporary romances of Love Inspired, we have the exciting romantic suspenses of Love Inspired Suspense, and the adventurous historical romances of Love Inspired Historical. Whatever your reading preference, we’ve got fourteen books a month for you to choose from now!
Throughout the year we’ll be celebrating in several different ways. Look for books by bestselling authors who’ve been writing for us since the beginning, stories by brand-new authors you won’t want to miss, special miniseries in all three lines, reissues of top authors and much, much more.
This is our way of thanking you for reading Love Inspired books. We know our uplifting stories of hope, faith and love touch your hearts as much as they touch ours.
Join us in celebrating fifteen amazing years of inspirational romance!
Blessings,
Melissa Endlich and Tina James
Senior Editors of Love Inspired Books
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Serendipity, Texas, for the second book in the Email-Order Brides series. Many of the same characters who first appeared in Phoebe’s Groom are back for more laughter, learning and love as childhood sweethearts Zach and Delia attempt to mend their relationship and move on as a family with their nine-year-old son, Riley. I hope you enjoy your return to Serendipity and the quirky characters I’ve grown to love while writing this series.
Next up in the Email-Order Brides series is The Nanny’s Twin Blessings. This is the story of Drew Spencer and his adorable three-year-old twins. And if you’ve been following the romance between Cup o’ Jo café owner Jo Murphy and cantankerous old Frank Spencer, be sure to catch this book—you won’t be disappointed!
I love to hear from readers! Email me at DEBWRTR@aol.com, or look me up on Facebook.
Keep the faith,
Deb Kastner
To my grandchildren, Isabella and Anthony.
You are the future of our family’s faith.
* * *
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Bearing with one another and forgiving one another; Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
—Colossians 3:12–14
Contents
Dear Reader (#u3213d709-1ae5-5cd5-8e6d-f69515dbe723)
Prologue (#u4baedc16-db31-5370-ac18-93247ba7f279)
Chapter One (#u0e6e5a64-5962-5112-80a7-57ad12affaac)
Chapter Two (#uf8286dc4-d1cd-5e6d-b63a-04e965202f0d)
Chapter Three (#uf0bcd84b-fd48-53e7-aeb1-a17568dc02f7)
Chapter Four (#u30716521-bb7f-53c7-9e64-b4708dd34afb)
Chapter Five (#uf6b0959d-2330-5bfd-b96d-5d6f0f03760f)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Questions for Discussion (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
Text Message
Riley Ivers: My mom is crying. She just got off the phone with Grandpa.
Justin Sanderson: What’s up?
Riley Ivers: She says we have to move.
Justin Sanderson: Dude, tell her the house next door to mine has a For Sale sign out front.
Riley Ivers: I wish. My grandma’s sick. We have to move near her.
Justin Sanderson: Where?
Riley Ivers: Texas.
Justin Sanderson: No way!
Riley Ivers: I don’t want to move away from Baltimore.
Justin Sanderson: Tell her you don’t want to go.
Riley Ivers: I did. She said she doesn’t want to go, either, but we have to ’cause of Grandma.
Justin Sanderson: Oh, man.
Riley Ivers: This stinks.
Chapter One
Medical emergencies were few and far between in Serendipity, Texas. Delia Rae Ivers wasn’t sure she’d ever readjust to the sleepy pace of the town where she’d been born. She hadn’t so much as visited for years, and now suddenly she was living and working here. After a busy emergency room setting at the Baltimore hospital she’d interned at, being a small-town doctor was going to take some getting used to.
She leaned back in the leather chair behind her desk and stretched wearily. She was a doctor, not an accountant, and squinting at numbers for hours as she examined the small medical clinic’s financials and then entered them into her computer was not her idea of fun.
“Riley, buddy, are you finished counting the gauze rolls?” she called to her son. They’d arrived in town only five days ago, and Riley hadn’t yet met any kids his age, so Delia had given him small tasks to do around the clinic to keep him busy and out from underneath his grandparents’ feet.
“I’m done, Mom.” Riley peeked his head around the corner of the back office door and a lock of shaggy black hair flopped over his forehead. No matter how he tried to comb it, his thatch of hair stubbornly spiked hopelessly in every direction.
“And the boxes of gloves? Did you get those, too?”
“Yeah, I did.”
Delia’s gaze dropped to the toy car her son was clasping in his left hand. Clearly he was getting bored counting medical inventory, and she couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t exactly the most exciting job in the world, especially for a nine-year-old boy. Gentle waves of love lapped in her heart. Riley was her world, and had been from the moment he was born.
“I have another project for you,” she informed him, pinching back the smile that would give her away.
Riley groaned. “Oh, Mom.”
“I think you’ll like this.” She let her smile emerge. “You know that little alcove—room—in the back corner of the waiting room? The one that’s set up for kids to play in?”
Riley nodded. His eyes glinted with interest, but she could tell his concentration was still focused on the car in his hand.
“I bought a video game system and a small television to hook up in there so the older kids have something to do while they wait.”
“Way cool!”
She chuckled. Now she knew she had her son’s full attention.
“I need to get it hooked up. Think you can do that for me?”
At age nine, Riley was heads-and-tails above Delia in the electronics department. When it came to video games and televisions, and even computers, he already knew more than she ever would. She had no doubt that he’d have the system up and running in no time. As she’d said, it was for the kids; but most especially, it was for Riley. She knew there’d be times he would be stuck at the clinic waiting for his mom to finish work. Now he’d have something to keep him occupied.
“The TV and the video system are already in the room, so whenever you’re ready…” Her sentence drifted to a halt as Riley sprinted from the room. Delia smiled.
Poor Riley hadn’t wanted to move, especially two weeks before Christmas and Delia couldn’t say that she blamed him. This wouldn’t have been her first choice, either—or any choice, for that matter. But her mother, with her worsening multiple sclerosis, needed the kind of care only a nursing facility could give her—or a live-in doctor.
Delia had the right training. Could she do any less for the family she loved?
She’d soon discovered she was needed in other ways, too. Her email had been overflowing since she’d announced her return. Friends were quick to remind her that old Doc Severns had retired a few months back, and the entire town was without a practicing M.D. Serendipity’s clinic had been closed. Now that Delia had moved back, she intended to take over the practice. Not only would she be able to help her own mother, but she could also make a real difference in the community—to the friends and neighbors she’d grown up with and still cared about.
She sighed and brushed her long, straight black hair back with her fingers. Even with all of the dynamic changes in her life, it wasn’t so much the future that weighed so heavily on her mind.
It was the past.
Zach Bowden, to be precise.
Serendipity’s own James Dean in faded jeans and a white T-shirt, with dreamy poet eyes and bad boy ways. Trouble with a capital T. The man she’d left behind but had never forgotten. The only man who’d ever completely captured her heart.
And her worst nightmare.
Zach was the reason Delia had left town so suddenly all those years ago, and he was the reason she’d never returned to Serendipity, not even to visit. Even with all the time that had passed, he was the reason she was having such a hard time concentrating on the books. She couldn’t get him out of her mind.
Serendipity was a very small town. Sooner or later the two of them would cross paths, and when they did, Delia had no doubt that her life would go into a tailspin.
So, for that matter, would Zach’s, when he found out the truth about why she’d stayed away.
And Riley?
Her decision to move home had everything to do with her son, who had recently started asking tough questions about his father, painful questions Delia had been unable to answer. It was her deepest fear that Riley would be the one most injured by the choices she’d made—and was making now.
A persistent knot throbbed behind her left eye. She rubbed her temple to relieve the pounding pain. Between accounting and Zach, it would be almost impossible for her to avoid a headache, both literally and figuratively.
No matter how she felt, she had to press on. The only way to look to the future here in Serendipity was to settle the past. Do the right thing—whatever that was. For Delia, the lines between right and wrong had been cloudy and gray for years.
She tried to turn her mind back to the present, but she found it difficult to concentrate. Math had never been her strong suit. She retrieved the pencil she’d tucked behind her ear and wiggled the computer mouse so the screen would come back to life. The software she was using was supposed to help, but instead it managed to confuse her all the more.
She could do this, she reminded herself.
Financials were part and parcel of operating a small-town clinic. For now, she needed to conquer the numbers on her own. Although, later, she planned to hire a receptionist to take up much of the slack.
A steady, persistent knock startled Delia and she jerked up in surprise. No one should be here yet. The sign in the window still said that the clinic was closed for business, and she wasn’t expecting any deliveries this afternoon; but whoever was rapping on the rear door was certainly insistent.
Still a little hazy from the mental strain of bookkeeping and the emotional strain of moving home to Serendipity, she went to see who it was. An ambulance had backed up within feet of the clinic doors, the lights still flashing. She realized that she must have been completely lost in her thoughts, for she hadn’t heard a siren, although she supposed it was possible they hadn’t used one.
Nonetheless, her mind instantly shifted into doctor mode. Adrenaline pumped through her and erased all the fogginess from her brain. She didn’t give a thought to the fact that she was not officially open for business. Someone needed help. That’s what she was here for.
Her focus was completely on the patient as the EMT who’d been driving moved around to the back of the ambulance and swung the doors open. She recognized the first paramedic, Ben Atwood, and she knew the man strapped to the gurney—Drew “Spence” Spencer, the fifth-grade teacher at the elementary school in town. He was attached to an IV and his face was bunched up in pain as he cradled his left arm to his chest.
She held open the door and gestured them inside as the second EMT exited the ambulance and moved to the other side of the gurney to help guide it in.
“You know Drew Spencer.”
Delia’s breath caught as she flashed her gaze to the paramedic who was speaking to her.
Zach.
Her heart slammed to a halt and then lurched back into action. Zach’s voice had deepened some, but even after all these years, she recognized his distinctive honey-rich drawl immediately.
How could it be that Zach was an emergency medical technician? Not only that, but an unpaid volunteer, as the tri-county fire department couldn’t afford a full-time staff.
She was so surprised that a proverbial feather could have knocked her over. Zach had never cared for anyone but himself—he’d proven that more times than she cared to count.
She felt as if she were participating in a strobe-lit, slow-motion theater scene as she turned to lock eyes with her old flame. Surely the distance, the time, would make some sort of difference in her feelings for him, or at least mute them in some way.
Back then she’d been young. Irrational. Naive.
And totally in love.
She knew better now.
But the moment her gaze met the dreamy chocolate depths of his eyes, she realized nothing had changed. It was as if the years between them hadn’t passed at all, if her heart had anything to say about it.
One corner of his lips twitched upward in a lady-killer smile that had sent more than one young woman’s heart aflutter. He took a deep breath and exhaled and Delia realized she was breathing right in synch with him.
He was still incredibly good-looking in that rough-edged, bad boy way of his. Her gaze slid over him, remembering every detail of his lean, muscular six-foot frame.
His wind ruffled, shaggy brown hair was cut only marginally shorter than it had been when he was younger. The straight nose and strong jaw were the same—although his skin was more weathered and there were stress lines on his face. A haunted, pained expression had replaced the jaunty, carefree attitude he’d carried as a youth.
Without giving it a second thought, she took a couple of steps toward him.
“Zach,” she murmured.
He reacted as if she’d pushed him, jerking his shoulder away and stepping hastily backward out of her reach. A muscle twitched in the corner of his jaw as he broke his gaze away from her.
She experienced a stab of something suspiciously like rejection, but that only lasted for a second before panic set in.
Zach was here. And Riley was in the next room.
Her heart beat frantically as she considered her options, not that she had any. She could hardly bolt out of the room to go get Riley and then run away and hope Zach didn’t see them.
She didn’t know when—or even if—she was going to tell Zach he had a son; but definitely not this soon. Not in these circumstances. She could only hope Riley was too caught up in setting up the video system to bother checking out what was happening in the exam room.
Mindfully, and with all the willpower she possessed, she calmed her nerves and turned her attention to her patient, where it belonged.
Zach’s introduction of Spence had been a little off-script for what one would expect in a big hospital. But this was Serendipity, which was an extremely close-knit community. Everyone literally did know everyone. She’d gone to school with Spence, although he’d been several grades above her.
“He has second-degree burns on his left hand and forearm,” Zach continued crisply as he hung the IV bag on a hook on the wall and then helped his partner transfer Spence to the examining table. “His vitals are stable and we gave him morphine for the pain. Under normal circumstances we would have taken him to the nearest hospital, but I thought we should get his wound looked at as soon as possible, and now that you’re here in town…well, I hope you don’t mind that we brought him here to the clinic.”
“No, no, I don’t mind at all. I’m happy you thought of me.” Actually, she had all kinds of conflicting emotions about the idea that Zach had thought of her, but again she willfully tucked her feelings into the back of her heart to scrutinize later.
“My father went and called 9-1-1 after I asked him not to,” Spence explained in a raspy tone. “I really didn’t need an ambulance.”
“Sure you did,” Ben disagreed affably. He and Zach supported Spence as he transferred himself from the gurney to the examining table.
“You’re just too stubborn to admit it,” Zach added with a chuckle.
Even though Delia didn’t say so aloud, she agreed with Zach and Ben. She was glad old Frank Spencer had responded with an emergency call. Spence might not have thought he needed attention, but burns were nothing to play with.
“You’ve got this?” Ben asked Zach.
Zach’s lips flattened into a straight line, but after a moment he gave Ben a clipped nod.
Ben looked from Zach to Delia and back, his expression unconvinced. Everyone in this town knew Zach and Delia’s history together. Ben was no doubt wondering if leaving them alone together was the best idea.
“We’re fine,” Delia assured him.
Ben tapped his clipboard and nodded, and then turned for the door. “I’ll get to the paperwork, then.”
“So what have we got here?” she asked her patient. Wrapping a blood pressure cuff around Spence’s right arm, she leaned over the grimacing man and carefully drew back the blanket that covered his left hand.
The area across the back of his hand and halfway up his forearm was red and blistered, but Delia was relieved to find it looked no more serious than a second-degree burn, something she could treat here at the clinic.
Spence grimaced and Zach moved to his side, laying his large, reassuring hand on Spence’s shoulder.
“Hang in there, buddy,” he murmured gently.
Delia felt a wave of emotion reach her throat at the kindness in his words and actions. She was completely unprepared for the sizzling epiphany that reached both her heart and her head at the same time.
Zach wasn’t the boy she had left behind.
He was a man now, and not just in the way his lanky teenaged frame had filled out with solid muscle, either. For whatever reason, he volunteered his time and capability in a career dedicated to helping others. It wasn’t his usual self-centered M.O., or at least it hadn’t been, and she realized it would take her awhile to change her perspective. She’d grown up—she was far different from the teenager she’d been when she left.
Perhaps Zach was different, too—maturing into the man standing with her now.
She hoped her observations about Zach had at least some basis in truth. Riley needed a good, stable influence from his father, not the hot-cold, on-again/off-again relationship she feared might happen.
Had Zach changed—or was it just that paramedic work provided the adrenaline that he so craved? It was still too soon to tell.
“How did this happen, Spence?” she queried gently as she unwrapped the wound.
“I was boiling water,” Spence explained, wincing. “The twins’ favorite meal is spaghetti.”
Delia smiled and arched her brows as she closely examined the red and blistering skin. Keeping a patient talking kept his mind off the pain. “I didn’t know you had children. Boys? Girls?”
“Boys. Matty and Jamey. They just turned three and they’re a real handful, let me tell you.”
Delia thought of Riley at age three and had to agree, if only to herself. Obviously she couldn’t say what she was thinking out loud.
“Really cute little buggers,” Zach confirmed with a grin, though he didn’t look at Delia when he spoke. “They’re both on the junior T-ball team I coach every spring. They’ll be ready to move up into the major leagues pretty soon.”
Zach was a coach?
For a kid’s team?
She was equally relieved and flustered by the new information, but she’d learned a long time ago the necessity of compartmentalizing her thoughts and feelings when she was dealing with a patient. Right now her mind had to be on her work.
“So your burn is from the water?” she asked, turning Spence’s hand over to examine the palm.
“Yeah, that and the steaming pot. One of the twins screamed and I lost my focus—just for a moment. When I turned back to the stove, the water was overflowing. I scrambled to take the pot off the burner bare-handed, without even thinking about what I was doing.”
“Looks like you scalded yourself pretty good, buddy,” Zach said in a gentle, teasing voice.
Spence grimaced. “Pretty stupid, huh?”
“No, of course not,” Delia replied. “Accidents happen. Don’t worry. I can fix you up.”
Just for a moment, her gaze met Zach’s. His eyes were surprisingly full of compassion.
“Happens to the best of us, big guy.” Zach winked at his neighbor. “I’ve had my fair share of accidents myself.”
That was an understatement if Delia had ever heard one.
Zach Bowden was an accident waiting to happen, and Delia wasn’t positive she was any more prepared for him this time around than she had been as a teenager.
She continued to examine Spence without blinking an eye, but internally she was in turmoil. She might be able to fool the others but she could never fool herself. Today’s encounter with Zach had changed the playing field entirely, and she didn’t know what to do with what she had learned.
She didn’t know the man Zach Bowden had become.
Worse yet, she wasn’t over him.
Chapter Two
On the outside, at least, Zach kept his attention on his ailing neighbor, but, surreptitiously, he watched Delia work, his heart drinking in the presence of the woman who had once been his whole life like a man who’d spent years in the desert with no water.
In a way, that was exactly what he was. He had told himself a million times that he wouldn’t care if he ever saw Delia again in his life, but he now knew that was a flat-out lie.
How could he not care when she had taken his heart and smashed it into thousands of pieces?
Time hadn’t healed his wounds, nor had it changed the way his heart leaped out of his chest every time their eyes met. It shook him to the core to discover that despite the anger and bitterness he felt toward her, his attraction to her had only deepened with the passage of time.
She was beautiful.
She’d always been pretty, but now there was a new maturity shining from those huge sapphire-blue eyes of hers. Her black hair, which she’d worn shoulder-length as a teen, now flowed in thick, glossy waves down her back. Her rich alto voice had matured to be smooth as silk, wrapping around a man’s senses like a warm wind.
“On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst pain you can imagine, how do you feel?” Delia asked Spence in a soft, reassuring tone.
“Still about a five or six,” Spence said with a groan. “Man, this really hurts.”
“That’s actually good news,” Delia informed him, and Zach silently concurred. “When you really start to worry about a burn is if it doesn’t hurt at all.”
“Great,” Spence muttered.
Delia chuckled.
Zach squeezed the man’s shoulder as Delia added additional morphine to the IV and efficiently prepared a cart for dressing the wound.
“It looks worse than it is,” he assured Spence. “Right, Delia?”
“Absolutely. You’ll need to change the dressing a couple of times a day and take the antibiotics I’m going to prescribe you, but this should heal up just fine. I’ll clean up the wound a bit and you’ll be as good as new.”
Spence’s gaze widened perceptibly, but he clenched his jaw and nodded gravely as he resolved himself to endure the discomfort.
Zach felt for him. Burns really hurt, even the small ones, and even though Spence’s burn wasn’t life-threatening, he’d still have to struggle with the pain.
“Do you feel the narcotic kicking in yet?” Zach asked as the tension left Spence’s shoulders.
Spence’s eyes grew dilated and hazy, and he laid his head back on the pillow and sighed. “Yes, thankfully.”
“Just keep your eyes on me, man,” Zach suggested. “This will all be over in a minute. You can trust Delia. She’s a great doctor.”
Delia’s surprised gaze flew to Zach, and it was no wonder. In truth, he had no way of knowing what kind of a doctor Delia was. He’d made the comment for Spence’s benefit, to ease his anxiety.
That said, he was fairly certain his statement was correct. Even though he’d never actually seen Delia practice medicine, he had no doubt in his mind that she was a very good doctor. As long as he’d known her, she’d dreamed of having a career in the medical field. She’d always excelled as a student. And she was nothing if not persistent and dedicated. She wouldn’t let any obstacle get in the way of whatever she wanted to do.
Even if he was the obstacle in question.
He ignored the tug in his gut and reminded himself to keep his mind on his work. This was no time to visit the past.
Delia was quick and efficient as she cleaned and dressed the wound. Zach imagined she’d encountered dozens of similar situations on her emergency room rotations in Baltimore, although this time her patient was a neighbor, a man she’d known from her childhood.
How did she feel about being able to provide medical assistance to someone she was acquainted with? Did she find the same satisfaction in helping a friend as he did?
Maybe that’s why she’d finally come home.
He experienced another acute, agonizing stab in his gut. Unlike Spence’s burn, which probably would do little more than leave a scar, Zach’s wounds had never quite healed properly, and he didn’t think they ever would.
Delia reached for a key to the medicine cabinet and provided Spence with a bottle of prescription painkillers and an antibiotic. She was the pharmacist as well as the doctor in this little town; but, as with the rest of her duties, she handled the transaction with ease.
She rechecked the wound one last time and pronounced Spence good to go.
“Ben and I can give you a lift back to your house,” Zach suggested, supporting Spence’s arm as he rolled to a sitting position.
“I’ve already caused you enough grief,” Spence argued. “I can find some other way home.”
Delia’s gaze shifted to Zach. She knew him well enough to know he wasn’t going to back down. That wasn’t his way.
“Nonsense,” Zach said with a shake of his head. “It makes sense for us to give you a ride. Your father can’t drive anymore, and even if he could, he’s the one who’s watching the twins.”
“Yes, but—”
Zach cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Ben and I will be happy to take you. Not another word, you understand?”
Even after Zach’s friendly warning, Spence still looked like he was about to argue some more, at least until Delia laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Listen to Zach,” she advised. “It’s not like you’ll be inconveniencing them. Short of a kitten stuck in a tree, you’re likely to be the day’s only emergency. Think of it as a favor—you’ll be giving the two of them something productive to do with their time.”
“Don’t argue with Delia,” Zach added. “Take it from me—she always wins.”
That hadn’t come out right. He didn’t know why he’d said it. He sounded churlish.
He definitely wasn’t over her.
In his youth he’d been devastated by her leaving. Now he was bewildered by her return. Still, he knew he could be handling it better.
“I don’t know that I always win,” Delia countered, her bottom jaw rocking forward as she tempered her response. “But I hope in this case, Spence, you’ll take my advice.”
Zach was immediately ashamed of himself. He was a changed man now; and, hopefully, a better one, thanks to God’s grace. It wasn’t like him to bring personal issues into his working life, especially not with a patient present. Seeing Delia again had really done a number on him, much more than he had ever anticipated.
“I guess I’ll take that ride, if you’re sure it won’t be a bother,” Spence said, caving in to Delia’s persuasive smile.
“That will be best,” Delia agreed, patting Spence on the shoulder. “Would you like some help getting out to the ambulance? Morphine can make you a little woozy.”
“I’m good.” Spence stood and found his balance before gingerly taking a couple of trial steps. Zach hovered at one of Spence’s elbows, while Delia stayed next to the other. Her patient was a little shaky, but he appeared stable enough to walk on his own.
“Don’t forget to take those pain pills when you get home, Spence,” Delia instructed. “The morphine is going to wear off soon and your hand is going to hurt for a while.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Delia,” Spence said.
“I’m glad to be here,” she assured him.
Zach’s breath caught in his lungs. Delia might be glad to be here, but Zach wasn’t sure how he felt about the fact that she’d so suddenly appeared back in his life.
She had thrown him off balance. Emotionally, he was having a harder time staying upright than Spence was.
He’d imagined Delia’s return to Serendipity a thousand times, but the stark reality of the moment was completely different than anything his mind could have conjured—never mind his heart.
“Zach?” Delia called just as he was about to close the door behind him.
Just her saying his name made a ripple of awareness flow through him. He took a deep breath, casually arched an eyebrow and turned toward her.
Her eyes were shaded and her expression neutral. It used to be that he had easily been able to read the depths of her heart through her gaze. But he would have thought the time and distance would have changed that ability.
He was surprised to find that it hadn’t. He could see that she was struggling emotionally with this unexpected reunion, just as he was.
He questioned her with his eyes. What did she want—or expect from him, for that matter?
He was aware of the very moment she elevated an emotional barrier. Her gaze turned from a glimmering sapphire to a steel-blue. Clearly, whatever courtesy she had shown him had been for Spence’s sake and not his own. Although, why that should surprise him was beyond his comprehension. Hadn’t he done the same with her—or at least had tried to do?
He dropped his brow. He didn’t know whether she had put their past aside. He only knew that he couldn’t.
She had left him without a word. She had broken his heart.
There was so much he wanted, no, needed, to say to her, but the words would not come. And even if they had, now was hardly the time.
“Well?” he asked when she continued to stare at him without speaking.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” she said in a raspy near whisper that sounded dry and strained.
His brow lowered further. “For what?”
“For helping me out here today. For being there for Spence. I might have been able to do it without you, but I don’t think he could have.”
“It’s my job,” he replied curtly.
“Maybe,” Delia said, shaking her head. “But I don’t think that’s all it is.”
His mouth twisted but he didn’t deny it.
“I’m glad I could help,” he said after another extended silence. Help Spence, he added to himself.
She hesitated, looking as if she had something else to say, but then her jaw tightened and she shook her head almost imperceptibly. “So, I guess I’ll see you around.”
He nodded. This conversation was over. His gaze broke with hers as he gestured toward the door. “Spence and Ben are waiting for me.”
He turned and nearly sprinted for the door. It was more of a getaway than an exit.
How, he wondered, was he ever going to be able to work with her when just seeing her drudged up so many uncomfortable feelings?
If there was a way out of this, Zach didn’t know what it was. He knew how God would want him to respond—with forgiveness and love. Zach wasn’t sure he could manage either one of those right now.
Maybe ever.
Chapter Three
Two more days passed before Delia was ready to turn the clinic sign from Closed to Open, and by then it was Friday afternoon and the end of the workweek. The supplies she’d ordered online had arrived and were organized, the financials were up to date. She’d talked Vickie McCall, who’d been Doc Severns’s receptionist, into returning to her old job. Monday morning the clinic would officially open for business.
She wondered how long it would be before her tiny waiting room was full of people. The word was definitely out about the clinic reopening, at least to some extent, or Zach would never have known to bring Spence in.
Her best guess was that Jo Hawkins Murphy, the owner of Cup o’ Jo, the local café, had learned of her arrival and spread the word. News traveled fast with that good-humored, redheaded lady. Jo was better advertising than a television ad—and a good deal more persuasive—so on the off chance that the woman hadn’t heard of her return, Delia thought it would be worth a walk down Main Street to fill her in.
Besides, she hadn’t had much of an opportunity to reconnect with her old friends—except for the occasional email, and that just wasn’t the same thing as face-to-face contact. She was anxious to hear what they’d been up to recently.
Eventually she’d bring Riley along with her and introduce him to the town. She hadn’t planned to return to Serendipity, but she was here now and she had to face reality. People were going to start asking questions about Riley. Someone was bound to do the math, and like it or not, the truth would eventually come out.
It was imperative that she protect Riley against the gossip that was sure to arise—and better that she tell Zach the truth before he found it out any other way.
Soon. But not today. Right now, she had enough on her plate just getting the clinic open.
She pulled her hair back into a smooth ponytail and checked her makeup before leaving the clinic. She didn’t know why she bothered—Serendipity was a country town with country ways. Hair and makeup were simple here.
Her heavily lined boots clapped loudly against the wood-planked sidewalk as she headed for the café. The ever-present Texas wind had a strong nip to it, and she pulled her wool coat more closely around her neck.
Her mind drifted as she walked. Nothing in the scenery was any different than she remembered from her youth. Serendipity was a settlement unchanged by time, looking nearly identical to what Delia imagined it must have looked a hundred years ago.
It was her perspective that had changed. Her heart. And now she was more confused than ever.
Catching up with old friends and announcing the opening of her clinic weren’t her only reasons for visiting Cup o’ Jo. She wanted to know more about Zach before she introduced him to Riley. It was better to be prepared than to be taken off guard, and she’d seen enough in her interaction with him to realize things were different now.
Zach had been a passionate boy, but self-centered in his every thought and action. He’d gotten her into all sorts of trouble—encouraging her to ditch class, driving recklessly with her on his motorcycle—even getting her arrested. It was hard for her to fathom that he could change so completely, even given the ten years since she’d seen him. Leopards could not change their spots, and neither, Delia believed, could Zach Bowden.
Once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker—right?
Still, he hadn’t asked if he needed to stay around and help her out with Spence, nor had she indicated in any way that he should have. They both knew it wasn’t a paramedic’s job to play the nurse, but that was exactly what Zach had done.
Maybe there was hope.
As she neared the door of the café, she noticed a man up on a ladder, leaning precariously to one side as he fastened a string of icicle Christmas lights on the eaves with a staple gun. The sun was behind him and she could see only the shadow of his profile, but nevertheless she immediately recognized him—not with her eyes, but with another, deeper sense.
It was Zach.
Her heart lurched into her throat and it took all of her willpower not to turn on her heels and walk the other way. Sure, she wanted to talk about Zach and learn more about him, but she wasn’t ready to see him again. Not yet.
The only thing that stopped her from fleeing was the very real possibility that he had seen her walking up. But, because of the glaring sunlight, she couldn’t tell for sure. He certainly didn’t acknowledge her in any way, nor did he stop what he was doing.
Setting her jaw, she moved past him and into the small café without so much as greeting him. Maybe it was best if they ignored each other.
For now.
Delia stepped inside and then stopped, stunned, as she looked around the small establishment. Whereas the town hadn’t changed at all, the inside of Cup o’ Jo had been entirely renovated. Jo had turned it into Serendipity’s own version of a contemporary internet café, with computers lining the back wall and a printer whirring in the corner.
Despite the high-tech upgrades, the homey feeling Delia remembered from her childhood somehow remained. Perhaps it was the mouthwatering smell of fresh pastries emanating from the kitchen.
Jo, her red curls bouncing right along with her ample figure, approached Delia with a vigor that belied her seventy-plus years.
“As I live and breathe. If it isn’t Miss Delia Rae Ivers, all grown up and looking just gorgeous,” Jo exclaimed in that boisterous but exceedingly friendly way Delia remembered well from childhood. She’d missed the woman, who was like a second mother to her—and to most of the town. “I’d heard you were coming, dear, but how I managed to miss when is beyond me. If I’d have known you’d arrived I would’ve had Phoebe bake you a welcome-home cake.”
At the sound of her name, a very pretty and very pregnant woman, who Delia guessed to be about her own age, turned from the pastry bin where she was stocking and waved at Delia.
“Phoebe is my nephew Chance’s wife,” Jo explained. “And as you can see, I’m about to have a grand-nephew or niece.” She paused and chuckled. “Or is that great-nephew-slash-niece?”
Jo chuckled and waved her hands. “Oh, well. Whatever. I’m just excited for the baby, no matter what his or her technical relation might be called. I’m ready and waiting to smother the little one with love.”
Delia chuckled and nodded to Phoebe. “Congratulations on your baby. You’re welcome to stop by my clinic for the rest of your prenatal care if you’d like.”
Phoebe smiled. “Thank you. I will.”
“But back to you,” Jo inserted, making a speed-of-light U-turn to her original subject, “How long has it been now since you’ve stepped foot in Serendipity?”
Delia realized that the patrons in the café, mostly friends and neighbors from her youth, had stopped what they were doing to see what all the fuss was about. She wasn’t shy, so she didn’t let it bother her. This was as good a way as any to announce she was back in town and had reopened the medical clinic, even if it wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind when she’d walked in the door.
“Ten years,” said a bubbly, high-pitched female voice from behind Delia’s left shoulder. “I ask you, what kind of a friend leaves for ten years without even visiting her friends for the holidays?”
Delia turned to find herself wrapped in the animated embrace of her three best friends from high school—Mary Travis, Alexis Granger and Samantha Howell, who were all talking and squealing in turn. There was a good reason the boys on the football team had labeled them the Little Chicks when they’d been freshmen in high school—even now the chirping sound was unmistakable.
“It’s good to see y’all,” she said, although she knew she’d never be able to express in words how much these women really meant to her. While she’d had friends in Maryland, they were nothing like the Little Chicks. She’d been too wrapped up in medical school and her residency, not to mention single-parenting Riley, to make any truly close connections on the east coast.
“Did you see Zach outside?” Alexis queried, giving Delia’s shoulders another tight squeeze. “He’s hanging the Christmas lights for Jo.”
Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach and thrashed around in burning waves.
“I…yes. I saw him,” she said, hoping that would be enough of an answer to stave off further inquiries.
She wasn’t surprised her friends were asking her about Zach. He’d been her boyfriend all through high school. They didn’t know the whole story, of course, because she hadn’t told them. Other than her parents, she hadn’t told anyone.
But she was going to have to tell them, and soon—keeping the most important part of her life a secret was wearing on her. And, at the moment, it was making her feel a little queasy.
“I’m dying of thirst,” she said in an effort to change the subject, and thinking maybe a little carbonation would settle her stomach. “Can we get a table and catch up on what’s been going on with you? Emailing was nice, but it’s so much better to be face-to-face, don’t you think?”
Her girlfriends might not have taken the hint, but Jo, who was still hovering nearby, certainly did. The older woman began unobtrusively herding the ladies toward a large table next to the far wall.
“Four sodas coming up,” Jo said without waiting for the women to order. “Three diets and one regular.”
Delia chuckled. It was exactly the same drink order the girls had made dozens of times in their youth. She was amazed that Jo remembered.
Samantha flashed a mock scowl. “Your figure is as nice as ever,” she groused. “I was always jealous that you got to eat and drink anything you wanted without putting on a pound, whereas I couldn’t—can’t—even look at a regular soda without gaining weight.”
“You look fine,” Delia countered as Jo returned to the table and passed the drinks around. “You all do.”
“So when is the clinic going to open?” Mary asked. “Old Doc Severns hasn’t been working for a month. If anyone sprains an ankle around here, they have to drive for an hour to get it looked at.”
Delia combed her fingers through the length of her hair, offhandedly massaging her scalp. The vision in her left eye was beginning to blur, a sure sign that she was feeling the start of one of her knock-down, drag-out migraines. She couldn’t imagine why one would hit her now. She was so happy to be with her old friends. It would be a shame if a headache ruined it for her.
Please, God, not today, she thought, trying to breathe deeply.
Not that she was actually praying to God. She’d left her faith when she’d left her youth. It was just a way of thinking and nothing more. It wasn’t as if God, if He was there, had time for her headaches. She’d rather rely on science.
She rummaged around in her purse for her migraine medication and popped a pill in her mouth, following it with a long pull on her soda. The medicine wouldn’t stave off the headache completely, but at least it might whittle her migraine down to only one night of suffering. Otherwise she’d be in bed for a week.
“Still having your headaches, huh?” Samantha asked.
“Sometimes,” Delia confirmed with a groan. “Unfortunately.”
“Stress?” Mary guessed. “I remember the day of senior finals. You looked like you were going to outright faint most of the day.”
“I felt like I was going to collapse,” she assured them. “I can’t even believe I passed any of those exams.”
“And yet you made it through med school,” Alexis commented, tilting her head so that her long blond hair brushed over her shoulder. “How is that?”
Delia sat speechless for a moment, stunned by the revelation. Now that she thought about it, how was that, that she’d managed long, sleepless nights during her residency, not to mention her years as a single mom with no support?
Because, she realized, her migraines hadn’t been as bad in Maryland, stress or no stress. It was coming back to Serendipity that was the real strain on her nerves, and no wonder. Until all of her secrets were out in the open, she was carrying a tremendous burden inside her heart.
“That Zach,” Jo said as she swished forward and stopped at their table. “What a good, kind Christian man he’s turned out to be. I don’t know what I’d do without him, offering to put up the Christmas lights for me again this year—and then stopping ’round today to fix them up when the wind blew half of them off the eaves. Now that’s Christian charity for you. Otherwise Chance would have had to do it, and he’s already overworked just cooking for me.”
Theoretically, Jo was speaking to everyone at the table, but Delia was well aware that the woman’s comments were aimed directly at her.
Everyone looked toward her, yet no one spoke a word.
“That’s nice of him,” she stated, not knowing what else to say.
“It sure is,” Jo agreed with a chuckle. “It seems to me that man does more around the community and the church than anyone else in this town. No matter what or when the need arises, he’s always the first to volunteer.”
It hadn’t escaped Delia’s notice that it was the second time in as many minutes that Jo had mentioned Zach’s faith.
Bad boy Zach Bowden a man of God?
It was hard to fathom. How ironic would it be if Zach found his faith when Delia had lost hers?
Whether she liked it or not, Zach was going to be a big part of her life. She couldn’t ignore that fact forever. And she had visited Cup o’ Jo to find out more about him.
She supposed it was simply that she was feeling a little overwhelmed. She’d learned far more about Zach in this short time than she’d anticipated.
“All right, all right, enough about Zach already. Gone. Poof. Zip it. No more Zach. I don’t want to see him, talk to him or think about him.” She chuckled, but it sounded fake even to her own ears.
Suddenly, a chill ran up her spine.
No—that wasn’t quite accurate. It wasn’t a chill, exactly—more of a burning premonition.
She groaned and pressed her forehead with the palms of her hands.
“He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?”
If she hadn’t already known it instinctively, she would have been warned by the way her friends’ eyes suddenly widened and the way the chatter around the table instantly ceased. Even Jo was quiet.
There was nothing to do but to face him. Her stomach roiled as she turned in her chair and glanced his direction. As she suspected, Zach was standing directly behind her and was staring right at her.
And they had an audience. Nearly everyone in the café was watching them.
In Serendipity, they were as infamous a couple as Bonnie and Clyde. She wanted to roll her eyes. Hadn’t anything else scandalous happened in the ten years she’d been gone? It seemed to her that everyone’s memories were far too keen where she and Zach were concerned.
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the hum of activity in the café resumed. Jo excused herself to go back to waiting tables, and Delia’s three girlfriends spoke in hushed tones to one another. Delia couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could imagine.
If she could have, she would’ve ignored Zach’s presence, just as he had done to her when she’d first entered the café; but she found it difficult to break her gaze away from him. He was stunningly handsome in his trademark white shirt, black leather jacket and blue jeans. He held a black cowboy hat in one hand and was curling the rim with his fist.
A muscle twitched in the corner of his jaw. He tilted his head, his gaze still burning into hers.
Alexis, Mary and Samantha stood and hovered around Delia, nudging her upward until she had no choice but to come to her feet. As if that wasn’t enough, she was then not so subtly pushed toward Zach. Her heart raced as she experienced the most disconcerting sensation of being back in high school, with her giggling girlfriends making a scene in front of the boy she liked.
But this was different. She was a grown woman now—and she didn’t like Zach Bowden. He’d practically ruined her life before, and because he was Riley’s father, he’d be a trial for her until the day she died.
Zach dropped his gaze from hers, stepped sideways and planted his hat on his head.
“Ladies,” he murmured with a clipped nod. A moment later he was striding out the door and down the road.
Delia was equally distressed and relieved. She didn’t exactly appreciate his brushing her off with such callousness—but she wasn’t quite ready to talk to him, either. Even though it was constantly on her mind, she still had no idea how to say what needed to be said, nor when would be the best time to do it.
Maybe there was no best way to say it—and she was going to have to find the time, even if it was wrong.
How in the world would she find the right words?
Zach, you have a son.
Chapter Four
Zach strode down the street with such a fierce determination to get away from Delia that he was becoming winded and short of breath. Or maybe it was seeing her again that had done that to him. Either way, his head was spinning and his pulse was racing.
He’d done everything he could to put Delia’s return to Serendipity from his mind. In the last two days, he had cleaned the leaves out of the gutters of his ranch house, patched up the barn to keep his stock warmer against the cold Texas winter, and cut so much firewood that there was no more room to stack it against the side of the house. But even though he’d been tired and sweat soaked from all the hard labor, he hadn’t been able to forget that Delia Rae Ivers was back in town, not even for a second.
And then he had to go and run into her while he was hanging Christmas lights at Cup o’ Jo. It just figured.
Even though ten years had passed between them, she’d never left his mind—or his heart. As a teenager, he’d been devastated when she’d left suddenly without a word to him. He wished he could forget the way he’d spent a long, frustrating year acting out his anger and getting himself into increasing amounts of trouble.
But then God had caught up with his wayward life and had changed his heart.
Zach Bowden, the kid who’d gotten straight-A student-council president Delia Rae Ivers arrested and thrown in county jail on prom night in their senior year was now a reformed bad boy who had repented his sins and given his heart to God.
But of course Delia wouldn’t know that. Nor would she have any reason to believe it.
And why should he care? The best thing for him to do would be to avoid her completely, not that that was an option. He was a paramedic and she was the town doctor. Not a good combination.
Lifting his hat, he combed his fingers through his hair and then jammed it back down again in frustration. Somehow, he had to get Delia Ivers out of his head.
Reaching the end of the block, he turned toward the firehouse, where he’d parked his truck earlier. He wasn’t on call today, but Serendipity’s annual Christmas party was set to take place at the community center that evening and he had planned to change into his costume at the station.
He’d already helped with the decorations at the center and in wrapping presents for the kids, but he had another role to play tonight—the jolly old elf himself.
He’d been Santa for the past couple of years and he loved every second of it—interacting with the children and seeing their faces light up with hope and glee. Just before presents were handed out, Santa traditionally pulled the wide-eyed children into a circle and reverently shared the story of the nativity and the true meaning of Christmas.
What more could a man ask for?
Especially a single man with no children of his own.
“Hey, buddy,” Ben greeted as Zach strode in the door of the station. “What’s up? I thought you were off today.”
Zach grinned. “I am. I’m just here to change into my suit for the Christmas party tonight.”
Ben chuckled and patted his stomach. “Oh, that’s right. The big red suit. Ho, ho, ho.”
“Cut it out,” Zach said, scowling, but he wasn’t really offended. So what if the guys at the station gave him a hard time about playing Santa every year?
“I’m just glad it’s not me,” Ben assured him.
Zach reached into his locker and pulled out the red velvet suit with white trim and held the shirt across his chest as he peered at himself through the small mirror attached to the inside door. The outfit was a good deal too large around the middle, but then it was meant to be. He knew he’d have to stuff a pillow down the front to get the right effect. Fortunately, there were lots of those strewn across the cots in the firemen’s bunkhouse.
He wondered if Delia would attend the annual Christmas celebration; and, if so, what she would think of him all gussied up in his red suit.
She’d be surprised, that was for sure. Not that it mattered what she thought. He scoffed.
“Just remember that if I didn’t volunteer for this gig, you guys would be drawing straws to do the honors,” he reminded his coworker jauntily. “Serendipity has been relying on men from the fire station to play Santa for years. You wouldn’t want to upset their tradition now, would you?”
Ben held up his hands and shook his head. “Red isn’t my color.”
“I didn’t think so.” Zach chuckled. “Are you planning on coming to the party?”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Ben assured him. “I get really tired of my own cooking.”
“Tell me about it,” Zach groaned as he slid his legs into the downy costume. Bachelor fare was nothing to rave about on his best days, and, like Ben, he wasn’t much of a cook. Mostly, he ate whatever he could scoop out of a can or pop into the microwave.
“Let me help you with that,” Ben offered when the wide black belt Zach was trying to draw around his waist twisted in the back. It was next to impossible to hold the fluffy feather pillow to his stomach and latch the belt at the same time, so he was grateful for the assistance.
“Well, you definitely look the part,” Ben complimented as he stepped back to view his own handiwork. “All you need is to gray up your eyebrows and put on your beard and you’re good to go.”
“I’m not getting anywhere near that beard until the last possible moment,” Zach said, scratching his cheek at the very thought of it. “It itches something fierce.”
Ben laughed and shook his head. “Why do you torture yourself?”
Zach grinned. The answer to that question was easy.
“For the kids, Ben. Only for the kids.”
Tonight was the night. Her whole life was about to change—not to mention what this would do to Zach and Riley.
It was bad enough running into Zach at the café, but now she had to face him this evening. She couldn’t avoid it any longer. Tonight, Delia would tell Zach the truth about his son.
What other option did she have? She couldn’t turn back now. She’d made the decision to move back to Serendipity to be here for her mother, who was now wheelchair bound with multiple sclerosis. There was no way she could keep Zach from finding out about Riley. So far, she’d managed to keep Riley’s presence a secret from the town, but she couldn’t sequester him at his grandparents’ house forever—and he was bound to put the pieces together sooner or later. Better he learn the truth from her.
If things went well, and she fervently hoped that they would, she might even be able to introduce Riley to his dad.
And if the opposite happened, if Zach was furious with her for keeping Riley a secret from him—or worse, wanted nothing to do with his son at all—at least they would be in a public place where he couldn’t blow up at her and make a scene.
“I understand that Santa Claus visits the party,” she told Riley as they drove the short distance to the community center. They were alone in the car. Her mother’s multiple sclerosis was flaring up again and her father had opted to stay home with her, urging Delia and Riley to go ahead and have a good time.
“Mom,” Riley protested with a mothers-just-don’t-get-it groan. “I’m nine. I don’t believe in Santa anymore.”
Delia chuckled. “Not even if he happens to be handing out presents?”
“Really?” the boy asked, suddenly intrigued. When he turned his head in her direction, a lock of his hair, black like Delia’s but shaggy like his father’s, flopped into his eyes, which were brown and dreamy like Zach’s. Her heart clenched at the sight. Riley looked so very much like his father. She hadn’t realized just how much until she’d returned home and had seen Zach again.
“That’s what I hear.”
“Well, maybe, then.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“You don’t have to visit with Santa if you don’t want to, but I think it would be awesome if you did.”
He tilted his head at her. “Do other moms besides you say awesome? I mean, in Serendipity. Grandma and Grandpa kind of talk like cowboys.”
Delia laughed. “They do, don’t they? I grew up here, so I don’t hear the differences as much as you do. Are you afraid you’re going to find things too different out here from what you’re used to?”
“I dunno.” He looked away, out the passenger-side window. “Maybe, I guess.”
“Well, don’t worry too much about it. I know you aren’t used to Texas accents, but after a while you won’t even notice. I promise.”
“I guess,” the boy said again.
Delia really felt for her son and the changes he’d been so abruptly faced with. It was terrifying to move across the country where you didn’t know anyone.
She should know. She’d done that very thing ten years ago. But knowing wasn’t necessarily helping, and she wasn’t sure how to make things any easier for him.
For what seemed like the millionth time since she’d arrived in town, she questioned the wisdom of her decision to move back home. Would Riley really be better off here in Serendipity, or was she creating more problems than she was solving?
“There are plenty of kids in town. I’m sure you’ll meet many of the boys your age at the party tonight. It’ll be fun to make new friends, don’t you think?”
Riley had always made friends easily, which reassured Delia—a little. She was hopeful that he would have little problem finding new buddies to hang out with. If he could make friends before school resumed in January, so much the better.
“It’ll all work out for the best,” she said, as much for herself as for Riley.
The look he gave her was wise beyond his years. “I know, Mom. Don’t worry about it.”
Delia wished it was as easily done as it was said, but she didn’t have any more time to think about it because they’d pulled into the community center parking lot. The place was teeming with cars and trucks—mostly trucks, given that the majority of Serendipity’s population were ranchers. It looked like everyone in town was here, but then, that was what Delia had expected.
The neighborly, unhurried pace of small-town life was nothing like the frantic, high-octane life she’d been living for the past ten years. And she was somewhat surprised to find she’d missed Serendipity, where a function as run-of-the-mill as the annual Christmas party was the biggest news in town.
As Riley stepped out of the car, he hesitated and glanced at Delia for reassurance. She took a deep breath and smiled at him.
She could use a little encouragement herself. Her stomach was churning uncomfortably as her emotions alternated between nervousness about and anticipation of the night ahead.
“Ready?” she asked as she slid her arm around Riley’s shoulders.
He looked up at her and nodded. Her little man. So very brave, putting on a strong game face for his mother’s sake.
“We’ll just stick together, you and I,” she assured him. “We’re a team. Just like we’ve always been.”
They were accosted by Delia’s old friends the moment they walked through the door. The first to see them was Alexis, who was, naturally, already in the company of Mary and Samantha; apparently, they’d been watching for her.
“Delia,” Alexis squealed, darting forward across the crowded room. Her friends flanked her as they approached, making at least as much noise as Alexis.
Delia’s grip tightened on Riley and she leaned down to whisper in his ear. “These are the women I told you about. The Little Chicks. My friends from high school. Don’t let them frighten you with their prattle.”
Riley rolled his eyes.
“Mom,” he protested.
“And who is this?” Alexis asked because she was the first to make it to Delia’s side.
“This,” Delia answered proudly, “is my son, Riley.”
All three women started talking at once, addressing questions and exclamations not only to Delia but to Riley, as well. Delia couldn’t even tell who was asking what, and she could only imagine how Riley felt.
“How old is he?”
“He’s absolutely adorable!”
“He looks just like you, Delia.”
“You’ve been holding out on us. How come you never told anyone that you have a son?”
Delia held up her hands and chuckled. “One question at a time, please. I may be used to your chattering, but you’re going to overwhelm the poor kid.”
A couple of boys around Riley’s age dashed right through the middle of the group, and Riley’s eyes lit up with interest. He fidgeted from one foot to the other and looked longingly across the room to where the boys were now swiping sugar cookies from the buffet table.
“Go,” Delia said, even though Riley hadn’t asked. “Meet some new friends.”
“What about you, Mom?”
It warmed Delia’s heart to see how concerned her boy was for her. “I’ll be fine. These ladies are my friends, remember?”
Riley grinned and took off at about the same speed the other boys had been going, somewhere around Mach 3. Delia smiled as she watched him approach the other children. In moments they were all talking and wrestling together as if they’d known each other for years.
Samantha linked arms with Delia and drew her into a corner where it was a little less crowded.
“Dish, girlfriend,” she ordered. “And don’t leave out any details.”
Mary and Alexis had followed, and they both leaned in to hear Delia’s explanation, which she did owe them. They were her best friends, and she’d said nothing about Riley to them. She felt bad about that, although it had seemed the best solution at the time.
But she couldn’t share the whole truth with her friends. Not yet.
Delia looked around the room, searching for that one familiar face, but she didn’t see Zach anywhere. For the tiniest moment, it occurred to her that he might skip the party because he knew she’d be there, but she didn’t honestly believe that would happen. Zach was too strong willed to let a little thing like having to see an ex-girlfriend whom he happened to dislike stop him from going where he wanted and doing what he wanted.
“I’ll answer all your questions, girls. I promise,” she assured her friends. “But first things first. Have any of you seen Zach around here? His parents greeted me when I first entered the room, but I’ve seen no sign of him.”
“Zach?” Alexis repeated as her eyes suddenly flooded with suspicion. Her glance flitted to Mary and Samantha, and then back to Delia again.
“Yes,” Delia continued. “He’ll be here tonight, right?”
“Of course he will,” Samantha said. “Didn’t anyone tell you? I thought for sure you would already know. Zach is the one playing—”
A deep voice cut off whatever it had been that she was going to say.
“Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas!”
Chapter Five
Zach’s ho, ho, ho nearly turned into out-and-out laughter when he saw the surprised look on Delia’s face. Clearly no one had informed her that he’d be the one playing Santa Claus. He immediately decided it had been worth being stuffed into the uncomfortably toasty suit just to be able to see her stunned expression. Her jaw actually dropped.
His eyes met hers and his breath caught in his throat. He wondered if it would always be this way—the current of electricity that zapped him every time he saw her.
Did she feel it, too?
Delia was the first to break away, her gaze flittering somewhere over his left shoulder as if she were looking for someone. Her initial stunned expression vanished as concern worried her brow and set her full, heart shaped lips into a frown.
Curious, he turned in the direction she was looking, but he didn’t see anything or anyone in particular that stood out at him. People of all ages were milling everywhere.
Zach’s Santa laughter had captured the attention of the children in the room and before he knew it, he was surrounded by little ones clamoring for the opportunity to speak with him and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.
A few older boys were wrestling nearby, trying to look like they didn’t have much interest in Santa Claus, but Zach knew better. By the end of the evening they’d all be leaving with one of the gifts he had wrapped and stored in his bag.
Preteen girls huddled in a group and twittered with laughter, reminding him of the Little Chicks, of which Delia had been a part. While the ladies were all grown up now, they were at this moment, with the exception of Delia, clustered together speaking in high tones that still sounded like a flock of birds.
“Ho, ho, ho,” he said again in as deep and rich a booming bass as he was able. Santa Claus had a Texas accent. Well, this Santa surely did. “Who wants to hear a very special story?”
The children knew what to expect next, and they followed Zach to the middle of the large room, where he pulled up a chair and waited for everyone to seat themselves on the floor in a circle around him. The older boys and girls sat among the smaller children, and even the adults drew near to listen to the most holy story of the birth of Christ.
Zach opened the Bible he’d brought with him and silently waited for the ruckus to die down and for the anticipation in the room to build. He wasn’t much of a reader, especially not out loud and to a crowd; but this night was his one exception to the rule.
Unconsciously, his gaze searched for Delia, finding her at the outskirts of the circle with her arm around a gangly black-haired young boy as she bent her head to whisper in his ear. Zach had never seen the kid before. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
Or in this case, one and one.
Delia had a son.
He guessed he shouldn’t have been shocked by the revelation, but there it was. Just because he hadn’t had any remarkable relationships with the opposite sex since she’d left town didn’t mean that she’d had the same experience. He was struck once again by the realization of how little he knew about her now.
Was she married? No one in town had said anything about her having a husband, and he figured at least her girlfriends would have known about it. He’d been relatively certain she’d moved back to Serendipity alone, but clearly she had her son with her, and he hadn’t known about that.
What other surprises waited for him?
The room had quieted, so Zach turned his attention to the reading from the Book of Luke. He liked being able to relate the story of Christ’s birth, especially to the wide-eyed children. That it was Santa Claus reading the blessed story only made it that much more meaningful for him and, hopefully, to the kids.
Afterward, the festive crowd turned to the food. Someone had hooked up a computer to a battered old speaker system and traditional hymns and carols pealed through the air, reminding Zach that he had something important to do this evening—other than playing Santa. Nervousness and anticipation flittered at his throat and he swallowed hard.
He looked for Delia in the crowd but he didn’t see her. He wanted to see if he could find her now, but he knew he couldn’t, not with all the kids waiting for him to hand out presents.
“Okay, everyone. Quiet, y’all,” called Jo Murphy, waving her hand in the air. She had the unique ability to be heard over even the noisiest gathering, and people soon silenced. “Time for Santa Claus here to take requests.”
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