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After taking his wife out for a swing around the floor, Gage Sinclair made a token offer to dance with Maddy. She was sure Lindsay had suggested it; she thanked him and declined. To her surprise, Joshua McKenna, Jeb's father, asked for the next dance.

“You're the prettiest woman here next to Sarah and Calla,” he told her. Okay, so she was running a distant third. She found the compliment amusing and very sweet. “Don't think the men in this area haven't noticed, either.”

If that was the case, they weren't exactly beating a path to her door. The number was a polka, and in her condition, Maddy couldn't be described as light on her feet. She was paying attention to her steps when she saw Margaret, shoeless and with her dress raised halfway to her waist, come barreling across the floor. She let out a cattle call that rattled the roof and slid past Maddy with another whoop, waving one arm high above her head. It did Maddy's heart good to see Margaret enjoying herself, but she wished she'd thought to review conduct with her—that of a more ladylike variety. However, it didn't surprise her to see that she had two or three men following her eagerly. Bernard Clemens, who stood in a corner talking to friends, frowned in obvious disapproval.

The song ended and Joshua was about to lead her back to her table when Matt Eilers came forward. “A dance?” he asked.

Maddy agreed, rather reluctantly. She barely knew Matt, had only talked to him briefly. This was an opportunity to learn why Margaret thought he was so wonderful. He was handsome enough, she supposed, and that was one of the few observations she'd managed to make during their previous encounters. He had the lean look of the rancher he was—hard, angular features, his skin bronze from the sun.

Joshua stepped away, scowling as a slow number began and Matt turned her toward him. “Hey, I knew I'd get you in my arms yet,” he joked, maintaining a safe distance between them. A good plan, seeing that her baby was wide awake and kicking.

“Take a look at Margaret,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “Is that really her or is this a body double?”

“It's her…” Maddy would have said more but she caught a glimpse of Jeb out of the corner of her eye. It surprised her so much that she abruptly stopped dancing and nearly collided with Matt. Jeb walked directly toward her.

“Maddy. Eilers,” he said, tilting back his hat. “I believe this dance is mine.”

Matt glowered at Jeb. Then he turned to Maddy, eyes narrowed, and seemed to look pointedly at her extended belly. “By all means,” he said, and stepped aside.

Maddy was breathless. “What are you doing here?”

Jeb gathered her in his arms. “Dancing,” he informed her curtly. Apparently to him this meant rocking from side to side.

“I wouldn't call this dancing.”

“All right, so I'm no Gene Kelly.”

“You just don't want me dancing with Matt Eilers.”

“Damn right I don't.”

It was almost laughable. He didn't seem to take into account that at seven months pregnant, she possessed about as much sex appeal as a battleship.

“Why'd you come?”

He refused to answer her.

“You're jealous.”

“Yeah,” he said, “you're probably right. I am jealous. That's my child you're carrying and I'm so damn much in love with you, I can't think straight anymore. The way I figure it, that allows me to act like a fool when I see you in some other guy's arms.”

Maddy stopped their rocking and stared at him. “You love me?”

He nodded. Then, with a gentleness that brought tears to her eyes, he pressed both hands against her abdomen and added, “Our baby, too.”

Maddy didn't know what to say. He must have noticed because he resumed speaking, his voice matter-of-fact. “You have to know how I feel about you. I'd do anything for you, Maddy. Haven't I proven that by now?”

She thought about their trip to Grand Forks, and the significance of his walking into Dr. Leggatt's office. Until that day, she hadn't understood his fears.

“You'd do anything for me?” she repeated slowly, looking away. “Anything but marry me.”

He caught her chin and moved her gaze back to meet his. “What did you just say?”

“I…I was commenting on what
you
said, about doing anything for me. I was being flippant—sorry.” The constriction in her throat was so tight that speaking hurt.

“Now, just a minute here. I thought you were the one who didn't want to marry me.”

She blinked at his abrupt change of tone. “You never asked. Your father suggested it—but not you.”

Jeb frowned as if searching his memory.

“As I recall, you were highly amused by my affection after the blizzard,” she reminded him, unable to hide the pain the memory brought with it. “My impression was that you wanted to forget the entire episode.”

He patted her stomach. “I think that's pretty much impossible.”

He was saying the things she'd dreamed he would—but not quite. “In other words, you'd be willing to marry me.”

“I
want
to marry you.”

She stiffened. “Because of the baby?”

Everyone in the room seemed to be on the dance floor, swirling about them as they stood there facing each other. Not moving.

“You'd marry me because I'm pregnant?” she asked again.

“I love you, Maddy, with or without the baby. It's that simple.”

She gazed up at him, eyes wide.

He moved closer, spoke into her ear. “After I lost my leg, I gave up the thought of having a wife or family. I wasn't sure I could make love to a woman properly.” He gave her a shy smile. “You showed me I could. I love you, Maddy. Every time we're together you encourage me to look past the accident, to do more, be more. I'm never going to become Mr. Personality, but I can promise to love you the rest of our lives…and promise to love our baby.”

“Oh, Jeb.” She leaned her forehead against his shoulder.

“When I heard you were pregnant, I drove straight into town, but before either of us had a chance to discuss our options, my dad and Sarah showed up—and they both had their own views on the matter.” He shook his head. “Given the chance, we might have settled everything that night. I loved you then, Maddy, and I love you now.”

Maddy's smile was so big it hurt her face. “Has Father McGrath left yet?”

Jeb laughed, too, and hugged her. Then, utterly shocking her, he raised two fingers to his lips and released a piercing whistle. Everyone in the room turned in their direction. The band stopped playing.

With his arm about her waist, Jeb thrust his arm high in the air and waved. “Could I have your attention, please?”

“Jeb?” she whispered, embarrassed and excited and so damn happy she could hardly stand it.

“Shh,” he told her, kissing her cheek. He glanced toward the expectant crowd. “I have an announcement to make. Maddy and I are going to be married as quickly as we can arrange it.”

His words were followed by a loud cheer.

Dennis Urlacher and Sarah Stern made their way forward.

“I have an announcement of my own,” Dennis added. “Sarah Stern and I are officially engaged.”

Sarah held up her left hand, fingers splayed to show off the diamond ring.

“Two more weddings,” Hassie cried, stepping toward them. “This is excellent news.”

“Wonderful news,” Leta Betts agreed.

The priest was next to comment. He studied both couples. “From the looks of it,” he pronounced, “I suggest we hold Jeb and Maddy's wedding first.”

Everyone howled. Jeb and Maddy did, too, hugging each other tight.

 

Calla heard the news of her mother's engagement as she stood near the band at the wedding reception. Great, just great. She noticed that no one had bothered to ask how
she
felt. No one had even bothered to give her some warning. Already she was a nonentity as far as her mother and Dennis were concerned.

The situation was intolerable. They honestly couldn't expect her to stick around, could they? Maybe they were hoping to be rid of her. She wouldn't put it past her mother. Or Dennis.

Without a word to anyone, she snuck out of the reception and hurried over to her grandfather's house. Leaving Buffalo Valley wasn't a new idea; she'd been planning it for months. This wasn't exactly the timing she'd had in mind but she no longer had a choice. Not as far as she could see, anyway.

On the off-chance someone had seen her, the first thing she did was lock her bedroom door. Hurrying now, moving as quickly as possible, she slid her suitcase from beneath the bed. It was already packed. She'd done that shortly after she'd written her father the last time. He hadn't written back, but she had his address and enough money to catch a bus.

Disappearing the night her mother got engaged was a fitting tribute to their pathetic relationship. Sarah Stern could have Dennis. More power to them. But Calla wouldn't be here to see it. She wanted nothing more to do with her mother. Nothing.

She took her grandfather's spare set of truck keys out of the kitchen drawer, and wrote him a note.

She sealed the envelope and placed it on the end table next to the recliner, where her grandfather watched television. Pausing, she looked around one last time at the house that had been her home for ten years. A sense of sadness came over her, but she quickly brushed it aside. She had to go before this town suffocated her.

At last she was going to find out what life was like in a real city. One with shopping malls and fast-food restaurants and movie theaters that ran first-release films. A town with kids her own age. Lots of them, not just a few.

Thankfully the truck was parked in the shadows, and she ran across the yard, her heart pounding. She tossed her things in the front seat, then checked her purse to be sure the cash was still there. Two hundred and twenty dollars. She'd emptied her bank account the week before. Heath Quantrill had tried to talk her into keeping it open, but she'd refused. In the past he'd often praised her for letting her money grow instead of thoughtlessly spending it like so many others her age; she couldn't tell him that had never been her plan. By the light of the streetlamp she hurriedly counted out her money. When she finished, she inserted the key in the ignition, grateful for the opportunity to escape.

The small amount of cash she had wouldn't get her far, but it was enough to buy her a bus ticket to Minneapolis. She'd phone her father from the depot when she arrived and let him know she was in town.

He'd be glad to see her. But not nearly as glad as she'd be to see him—and to get away from her cheating mother.

 

Sarah had rarely known such happiness as she had since the moment Dennis slipped the engagement ring on her finger. Every chance she got, she stopped to look at it. The diamond was beautiful.
Dennis
was beautiful, although he certainly wouldn't approve of her saying so.

The reception had wound down, the band had packed up, and there were only a few stragglers now. She'd danced with Dennis for hours, although they'd done little more than hold each other. The music was a convenient excuse to do that. After weeks of being apart—first begging God to help him find a wife, followed by another equally desperate prayer that he not—she clung to Dennis, savored being in his arms.

Her father, along with Leta and Hassie and several others, was busy cleaning up. Sarah and Dennis began to help, too. Not until they were nearly finished did Sarah realize she hadn't seen Calla since maybe nine o'clock that evening.

It probably hadn't been a good idea for Dennis to announce their engagement to the entire town. Especially before either of them had talked to Calla. Her daughter was going to be difficult, anyway, and this unintentional slight wouldn't help.

“When was the last time you saw Calla?” Sarah asked her father.

Joshua bunched up yards of the white crepe paper and looked at her thoughtfully. “Well, she didn't hang around long.”

Maybe Sarah was in luck. Maybe, just maybe, Calla had already left before Dennis made the announcement. “Was she here long enough to hear Dennis?”

This time her father nodded. “She took off immediately afterward,” he said with a frown.

“We should've talked to her first,” Sarah moaned.