Sam, I know I can’t compete. Here’s your rent money back. I’ll stay away until Saturday. That should give you time to move out. I hope you have a happy life.
Sydney.
“Marjorie!” Sam roared.
“Yes, darling,” she called.
“How are your clerical skills?”
“Nonexistent, my love. Why?”
“Better brush up,” he yelled. “You’re going to have to get a real job when I get you blackballed in the city!”
Sam drove his sister/former agent into Flaherty and paid one of the Clan members a hundred dollars plus gas to take her back to Anchorage. He watched with narrow-eyed satisfaction as Marjorie bumped off in a truck that didn’t look like it would get five miles without breaking down. Her luggage had been dumped in the truck bed and would probably be covered with dog hair and a nice thick layer of compost by the time it reached the airport. Sam couldn’t have been happier about it.
After assuring himself that Joe had no idea where Sydney had gone, Sam retreated back to the house to plan.
And prayed that Marjorie hadn’t ruined everything.
SYDNEY CREPT BACK to her house Saturday afternoon. Sam’s car was gone. She knew she should have been relieved, but she wasn’t. She was heartbroken. All it had taken was one look at Sam’s “agent” to see that there was no hope of winning Sam away from her.
And so she’d run. She’d scampered off with her tail between her legs like the coward she was and spent three days licking her wounds. She had the feeling that no amount of licking would heal them.
The house was empty when she entered. She didn’t bother to check Sam’s room. She sat down on the couch and tried to cry. It was a futile effort. If she hadn’t cried before, she certainly wasn’t going to cry now.
She sat there until the darkness was complete. The days were growing shorter all the time. Soon there wouldn’t be much light at all. Fitting. She would spend the winter in the gloom.
She flicked on the light in the kitchen and pulled up short.
There, on her very own counter, was the top of a wedding cake. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It must have taken Sam hours to finish. And there was a note beside it. She picked up the note with trembling hands.
My beautiful Sydney, you have two choices: you can either eat this cake or you can go to the refrigerator, pull out the rest of the frosting, and fill in the blank. And if you’re brave enough to come down to the reception hall, you just might find someone waiting with the rest of the cake, someone who has a few things to explain to you and something to give you.
Love, Sam
Sydney pulled out the bowl of frosting, then closed her eyes briefly before she looked at the top tier of the cake. It said: Congratulations, Sam and ...
Oh, what did he mean? Why had he left the cake blank? Did he want her to fight for him?
Wasn’t that what she’d been trying to do with the soufflé before she’d chickened out?
Sydney reached for the cake-decorating kit laid out conveniently close to the cake and spooned some frosting into the pouch. She could hardly spell her own name but that didn’t matter. Her courage returned with a rush. She loved Samuel MacLeod and damn Marjorie if she thought to steal him away. A man didn’t take his life in his hands to learn to fly-fish if he didn’t love you, did he?
She carefully lifted the cake top and ran out to her car. Sam was waiting for her. She couldn’t get to the reception hall fast enough.
And so, like clockwork, she got a flat tire.
It took her over an hour to fix it because she was so upset. By the time she was on the road again, she was filthy. And she was weeping so hard she didn’t notice she was drifting off the road until her Jeep went front-end-first into the ditch. Sydney got out of the car, cursed fluently, then grabbed her precious cake top and started to walk.
And, of course, it started to rain.
It couldn’t have been snow, so she could have died a very pleasant death from exposure. It had to be rain, which soaked through her coat, plastered her hair to her head, and left her with no choice but to tuck the cake top inside her coat.
She started to sob.
She wasn’t sure how long it took her to get to town, but she felt certain it was half an eternity. She stumbled into the reception hall just as things looked like they were about to be packed up. Sam was standing in the middle of the room, looking defeated. And then he turned and saw her.
And he smiled.
Sydney didn’t know where all her tears were coming from, but there was a whole new batch handy for this round of weeping. She threw herself into Sam’s arms, squishing the cake top between them.
“I got a flat t-tire,” she hiccuped, “then the c-car slipped off the r-road.”
Sam wrapped his arms around her tightly. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you now.”
“I crushed the cake,” she wept. “I even put my name on it.”
“The rest of the cake is here, honey,” Sam said soothingly. “We’ll eat it without the top. Or I’ll make you a new one after we get home. Will that make you happy?”
She lifted her face and choked on her tears. “Y-yes, it would.” She clung to him. “Oh, Sam, I thought you loved Marjorie.”
“She’s my ex-sister,” Sam said, wiping the tears and rain from her cheeks. “I have a lot to tell you.”
“She can make soufflés,” Sydney blubbered.
“I’ll tell you a secret,” Sam said, bending his head to press his lips against her ear. “I hate soufflés. I think I even hate eggs.”
“Oh, Sam!”
He gave her a gentle squeeze. “I want a woman who can change the oil in my Jeep and can tell the difference between a flat screwdriver and a Phillips. Now, if you’ll tell me you’ve been waiting for a man who could bake with the best of them, we’ll go in and get married.”
She lifted her head and smiled up at him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Does that mean you’ll marry me?”
“It does.”
“Then let’s go.”
“But I have cake smashed on the front of my sweater.”
Sam unzipped her parka, then hugged her tightly.
“Now, we’re both wearing it.” He grinned down at her. “You look wonderful. Let’s go.”
She couldn’t argue with a man who ruined his tux with wedding cake just to make her feel more comfortable. So she took his hand and let him lead her into the chapel.
And she became Mrs. Samuel MacLeod, wearing not only her cake but a smile that she was certain would never fade.
It matched Sam’s perfectly.
Chapter Twelve
SAM SIGHED AND stretched, then saved the last chapter of the second book in his espionage series. He turned off the computer and stood, wondering what Sydney was up to. He looked down at his calendar, just to assure himself that it really was the last week of August and all her little city boys and girls would be going home soon. He could hardly wait to have his wife to himself again.
He walked out on the porch and looked over the front yard. He couldn’t see the new addition to the house on the opposite side of the garage, but he knew it was there. It was conveniently far enough away that he could work in peace, but close enough so the inhabitants could be rescued at night if the need arose. Which it did. Often.
Camp Alaska was Sydney’s baby. Sam had encouraged her and funded her, discreetly at first, until the application checks had started to roll in. Joe had called in a handful of favors, and the addition on the house had been constructed in May and June, then filled with six city children who had come up for two months of the wilderness life.
Sam had also come clean about the life he’d left behind, but Sydney hadn’t been all that impressed. As she said, all that money didn’t mean much if it was just stuck in a bank. Sam suspected they would eventually do something with all his loot, but they were still discussing how best to use it. She promised to go to New York with him eventually, but
neither of them was in any hurry to leave Alaska.
Sam leaned against a porch post and smiled as his very own wilderness woman shepherded her children across the lawn.
“Will Sam fry up the fish for us?” one of the boys asked. “We’ll clean’em for him.”
“No, Sydney, you cook them,” one of the girls said, holding Sydney’s hand. “Then maybe Sam will make us brownies. Do you think he will?”
“If you ask him, he just might,” Sydney said, looking up and catching sight of Sam.
A little blonde darted away and threw herself up the stairs and into Sam’s arms. “Will you, huh, Sam? We let you write all day long, didn’t we? We stayed out of your hair, didn’t we?”
Sam laughed and gave Jennifer a hug. “Yes, you did, sweetheart. And I’ll make you brownies if you run on in and get out all the ingredients. Doug, you’re in charge. Don’t let anyone mess up my kitchen.”
“Sure thing, Sam,” Doug said. He was fourteen and took his leadership responsibilities very seriously. “Come on, brats, let’s get moving. No, Chrissy, you can’t stay outside with Sydney and Sam. They probably want to do something gross, like kiss.”
There was a chorus of gagging sounds and childlike laughter that disappeared into the house. Sam rolled his eyes as he gathered his wife into his arms.
“How did it go today?”
“Nobody drowned. I call that a success.”
Sam laughed and kissed Sydney softly. “You’re great with them. It’s going to be very hard next year to choose from all the applicants. We may have to build on a few more rooms and bring some of these kids back as camp counselors or something.”
Sydney trailed her finger down the front of his sweater. “Yes, we might have to do that.” She looked up at him. “Build on another room or two.”
Sam kissed her, his heart full of love for the passionate, beautiful woman in his arms. He thanked his lucky stars that the men of Flaherty had been too stupid to see what was right under their collective noses.
“About the rooms, Sam,” she said, looking in the vicinity of his chin. “I know we’ve got the loft, but we’re going to have to build something else too. On the ground floor.”
“Whatever you want, Sydney.”
She met his eyes. “Sam,” she said patiently, “don’t you want to know why we need more rooms?”
“More campers?”
“No, Sam.”
“You aren’t letting Marjorie move in, are you?”
“Sam, sometimes you really aren’t very bright.”
He stiffened. “You aren’t inviting any of the Clan in, are you?”
“Sam, I’m pregnant!”
“Oh,” he said, with a smile.
Then he choked. “A baby!”
Sydney smiled serenely. “A baby. Maybe two.”
“Oh, Sydney.” He gathered her close and hugged her tightly. “Oh, Syd.”
“Tell me you’re happy about it.”
“I’m thrilled.”
“I didn’t think you had enough headaches with just the kids during the summer,” she whispered in his ear. “I thought a few distractions year-round might make you happier.”
He lifted his head and looked down at her. “Did you say two?”
“The doctor in Anchorage says no, but Doc Bolen says he’s sure it’s twins. Sort of a variation on the spit-in-Drano test.” She smiled up at him serenely. “He’s never wrong.”
“Oh, heaven help me. Twins.”
“Maybe triplets. He wasn’t quite sure.”
Sam started to laugh. He leaned on his wife and laughed until tears were running down his face. Then he kissed her soundly.
“Oh, Sydney, you never do anything halfway, do you?”
“Never.”
He pulled her inside, then made her sit while he gave his camp cooking and baking lesson for the day, then he pitched in with his six little helpers and cleaned up the dishes and the kitchen. Then he tucked them all in and tried not to get misty-eyed thinking about how he would be tucking in his own children in a few months.
And so he practiced once more by tucking his wife in. Then he untucked her and slid in beside her. He made love to her slowly and sweetly, then they shed a few tears of happiness together. Sam gathered Sydney close and counted his blessings. They included every chuckhole he’d ever bounced his Range Rover over, every minute on the Clan gossip docket, every Wednesday afternoon spent with the Ladies Aid Society to give his report of his and Sydney’s activities and, last but not least, every bit of matchmaking Joe had done on their behalf.
Yes, it had been a match made in heaven.
And as he drifted off to sleep with his love in his arms, he promised himself he would check Joe for wings the very next time he went to town.
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Titles by Lynn Kurland
STARDUST OF YESTERDAY
A DANCE THROUGH TIME
THIS IS ALL I ASK
THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU
ANOTHER CHANCE TO DREAM
THE MORE I SEE YOU
IF I HAD YOU
MY HEART STOOD STILL
FROM THIS MOMENT ON
A GARDEN IN THE RAIN
Anthologies
A KNIGHT’S VOW
(with Patricia Potter, Deborah Simmons, and Glynnis Campbell)
LOVE CAME JUST IN TIME
THE CHRISTMAS CAT
(with Julie Beard, Barbara Bretton, and Jo Beverley)
CHRISTMAS SPIRITS
(with Casey Claybourne, Elizabeth Bevarly, and Jenny Lykins)
VEILS OF TIME
(with Maggie Shayne, Angie Ray, and Ingrid Weaver)
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
(with Elizabeth Bevarly, Emily Carmichael, and Elda Minger)
TAPESTRY
(with Madeline Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Karen Marie Moning)
Lynn Kurland, Love Came Just in Time
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