Hawks Mountain - Mobi (29 page)

He nodded. “I’d lost Ahmed, or so I thought. The idea of losing Davy, too, was much more than I could stand.”

“I’m so glad you found Ahmed and that he’s happy and healthy.” Becky cupped his cheek in her hand. “I told you a long time ago that you are a good man, Nick Hart. I meant it then, and I mean it now.” Then she kissed him very gently. “Please, promise me you won’t ever shut me out again. Whatever it is, we can work it out together.”

She not only had forgiven him, she understood. A heady, contentment invaded Nick’s body, and he kissed her. “I promise.” He stared into her beautiful eyes and realized that he could drown in them and that a lifetime of staring into them would not be nearly long enough. “I love you, Becky Hawks, and I want to spend forever with you.”

To his surprise, instead of saying anything, she pulled away and slipped off the rock. He watched as she walked to the pool’s edge and plucked another daisy, then came back to stand in front of him. Flashing him an impish grin, she plucked a petal.

“She loves him.”

Pluck.

“She loves him not.”

Pluck.

“She loves
him .
 . . ” She raised her face to look at him and then threw the flower away. “I love you with all my heart and soul. And I want nothing more than to grow old by your side.”

Nick jumped down off the rock, took her in his arms and kissed her hard and long, then took her hand and led her to the pool. When they reached the edge, he began unbuttoning her blouse. “Do you think Granny Jo would be shocked if we went skinny dipping?”

Smiling broadly, Becky reached for the top button on his shirt. “Granny isn’t here.”

Moments later, the sound of their laughter as they swam in the pool at the base of
Honeymoon
Falls
was swallowed up by the rumble of the cascading water.

End of
Spring

Well, spring’s coming to an end on
Hawks
Mountain
and with only a couple of casualties. Davy’s cast will come off in due time, and he’ll be out in the woods checking up on his beloved wild creatures before the leaves start to turn. Thank the good Lord, other than his broken
leg,
the boy only had a few cuts and bruises to show from his adventure.
Lydia
is happy as a clam and doing very well at her new job in
Charleston
. I listen to
Lydia
’s show every day. I so enjoy a good radio show rather than all the hogwash on the TV nowadays.

Generally, life has settled back to normal in
Carson
. George is still strutting around like a peacock enjoying the last of the media attention from Davy’s disappearance. Seems his newest project is to get rid of Doc Mackenzie’s wild animal refuge. That man is never happy unless he’s stirring the pot and making trouble for somebody. Oh well, at least he’s leaving
Lydia
and Davy alone now.

Laureene
Talbot is still carrying her tales, or inventing them when necessary. Keeler’s Market has a sale on lard this week, so I’m
gonna
get me a couple a pounds and bake a few pecan pies, soon as I finish making up some jars of blackberry jam. The
Holbart
boys built new houses beside each other on the outskirts of town, and a fella named Jonathan Prince bought up a big chunk of land south of town and has started building a big house on it. A mansion some call it.

Nick and Becky are up to their ears in wedding plans and about as happy as two squirrels in a sack of nuts. He’s a good man, that Nick, and he sure does love my granddaughter. Once my Becky sat him down and he got what was gnawing at him off his chest, he’s a new man.

Nick’s writing his book part time. But what he’s up to his ears in now is opening a private ambulance service in
Carson
. He says, and rightfully so, that it takes far too long to get an ambulance here when someone is injured. Since tourists seem bent on getting themselves into all kinds of fixes up there on the cliffs, there shouldn’t be any shortage of business. On top of that, Nick’s training some of our volunteer firemen to be EMTs to man the ambulance. Now, when some fool tourist does get himself hurt up on the mountain, the boys will be able to take care of him while the ambulance gets him to a hospital. Needless to say, the town is thrilled that they’ll have their own ambulance.

When Becky’s not picking out wedding invitations, taste testing cake, or trying on wedding gowns, she’s managing the branch office of Health and Human Resources they just opened here. I always knew my Becky’s calling was helping people. She did, too. Bless her heart, she just had to take a few detours before she settled on it in her own mind and before she understood that no matter how much she wants it in her heart, not all stories have happy endings.

Thanks to Doc Mackenzie, Jake’s leg has mended, and he’s again keeping my feet warm at night and romping through the woods at full speed chasing squirrels all day. Speaking of Doc
Mackenzie .
 . . I hear tell he’s got himself a new receptionist and that she’s a real beauty. Guess I’ll have to take Jake in for his yearly checkup so I can see for myself. That nice young man has been single for far too long.

Summer’s just around the corner here on
Hawks
Mountain
, and I’m sure it’ll bring a whole new set of adventures for the people of
Carson
. If I was you, I’d make sure I didn’t miss a one of them.

Y’all come back soon now.

Love,

Granny Jo

Being a romantic at heart and having devoured romances like Hershey Kisses, it was inevitable that Elizabeth Sinclair would one day write them.
 
Following her dream, which took more than a couple of wrong turns along the way, in 1993 she sold her first romance,
JENNY’S CASTLE
, to Silhouette Intimate Moments
7
, which reached #2 on the Walden Bestseller List and won a Georgia Romance Writers’ Maggie Award of Excellence. Since then, this multi-published author’s books have sold in ten foreign countries and been translated into seven foreign languages.

Elizabeth
is a member of Romance Writers of America, The Author’s Guild and Thriller Writers.
 
She’s taught creative writing and given seminars and workshops, locally and nationally, on the craft of writing.
 
Her books have
finaled
in the Daphne de
Maurier
contest and won The National Reader’s Choice Award, The Anne
Bonney
Reader’s Choice Award, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award,
the
Heart of Excellence Readers Choice Award and earned a Gold Medal Top Pick from the Romantic Times Book Club.

Elizabeth
co-founded and is a member of the Ancient City Romance Authors of St. Augustine, FL. She is also a member of RWA’s Kiss of Death Chapter, Sisters
In
Crime, and the Indiana Romance Writers.
 
Elizabeth
served as RWA’s Region 3 Director and chaired the 2001 RWA New Orleans Annual Conference.

In addition to having authored the widely-acclaimed instructional books,
THE DREADED SYNOPSIS
and
FIRST CHAPTERS
, she has published a total of eighteen romances with Silhouette Intimate Moments, Harlequin American, Kensington Precious Gems, Medallion Press and recently signed a contract with Belle Bridge Books for the next three books in her
Hawks
Mountain
series.