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Perfectly Matched
Lois Richer


Safe HavenFormer model Shay Parker has come home to Hope, New Mexico, seeking refuge from the nightmares that haunt her. Then she runs into childhood friend Nick Green. Rugged ex-football star Nick is the only one who makes Shay feel safe again. But he’s dealing with problems of his own, and Shay is more than willing to help care for his orphaned niece and aging mother.When Nick suddenly makes plans to leave Hope for a new job, what will become of the trust they’ve built? Can they look beyond the pain of their scarred pasts to trust the healing power of love? Healing Hearts: Love is always the best medicine.







Safe Haven

Former model Shay Parker has come home to Hope, New Mexico, seeking refuge from the nightmares that haunt her. Then she runs into childhood friend Nick Green. Rugged former football star Nick is the only one who makes Shay feel safe again. But he’s dealing with problems of his own, and Shay is more than willing to help care for his orphaned niece and aging mother. When Nick suddenly makes plans to leave Hope for a new job, what will become of the trust they’ve built? Can they look beyond the pain of their scarred pasts to trust the healing power of love?


“I used to love coming up here.”

Ahead of them stars twinkled and glittered like diamonds tossed onto a black velvet quilt. Nick kept his grip on Shay’s hand, just to make sure she was okay.

In truth, standing there with her, sharing this moment made his own breathing uneven. Beautiful Shay, so near he wanted to draw her into the protection of his arms, and ensure she knew she never had to fear again. But that would betray her trust in him. Besides, though he was her friend, he had no future to offer this wonderful woman.

Nothing more than friendship.

“Our star show is starting. See that?” She pointed upward, tracking a meteor as it flew across the sky. “And that. It’s like God is lighting the sky especially for us.” Shay’s eyes blazed with excitement.

She tilted her head sideways to rest it on his shoulder for a brief moment before she stepped away. “You’re the best friend I ever had, Nick.”


LOIS RICHER

began her travels the day she read her first book and realized that fiction provided an extraordinary adventure. Creating that adventure for others became her obsession. With millions of books in print, Lois continues to enjoy creating stories of joy and hope. She and her husband love to travel, which makes it easy to find the perfect setting for her next story. Lois would love to hear from you via www.loisricher.com, loisricher@yahoo.com or on Facebook.


Perfectly Matched

Lois Richer






www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


Who then can ever keep Christ’s love from us? When we have trouble or calamity,

when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it

because He doesn’t love us anymore? And if we

are hungry, or penniless, or in danger, or

threatened with death, has God deserted us? No.

—Romans 8:35


Contents

Chapter One (#u3203b49d-f0f3-53c3-8cb4-e005c55feec4)

Chapter Two (#u5c49f202-e98a-5706-b672-c899c8ce40e3)

Chapter Three (#u7c356b90-c29e-5fa4-b13f-e54df92c2e09)

Chapter Four (#ub45912be-72f3-5159-96f0-a0c9ad7cbf22)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

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)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)

Questions for Discussion (#litres_trial_promo)

Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)


Chapter One

“I hurt, Uncle Nick.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Nick Green tenderly shifted the weight of the little girl clinging to his neck as he stepped into the hospital hallway. “Is that better, honey?”

Maggie sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. “It’s okay.”

It was so not okay that a five-year-old accepted pain as part of her world. A blaze of anger seared his insides, quickly joined by uselessness and frustration. One drunken driver had inflicted so much pain on Nick’s family, leaving Maggie bereft of her parents and physically damaged. Not only had she sustained a host of internal injuries, but her legs had also been crushed in the accident. She’d endured many surgeries but she still couldn’t walk.

“You did very well with the doctors, darlin’,” he encouraged. “Now let’s go get some ice cream.” He needed it, to wash away the aftertaste of their unappetizing hospital lunch.

“Nick?” A voice with faint vestiges of an English accent made him stop.

“Yeah?” He turned around and blinked at the woman striding down the hall toward him. The hair gave her away—a glorious tumble of copper-colored waves and curls. But if the hair hadn’t done it, the famous emerald-green eyes in that heart-shaped face would have. He grinned. “Shay Parker’s back in town.”

“I always told you I would be back. But what are you doing here in Hope?” Shay tapped him playfully against the chest, her smile dazzling him. “You insisted Seattle was your home, yet here you are in New Mexico, and with such a beautiful lady.” Shay touched a finger to the end of the little girl’s tipped-up nose. “Who is this?”

“This is my niece, Magdalena. We call her Maggie.”

“Hello, Maggie. I’m Shay.” She held out a slender hand for the child to shake.

“Hi.” Maggie kept her hands tucked around Nick’s neck. But she did risk a smile before shyly pressing her head into her uncle’s shoulder.

“Maggie and I are going for ice cream,” Nick explained. “Want to join us?”

He knew she would. For as long as he’d known Shay, she’d never been able to resist ice cream. They’d met when they were twelve, the year she’d moved with her dad from England. When their friend Jessica had died, their shared grief had turned into a close friendship. Taller than most of their classmates, they’d played basketball, picked pecans on her grandfather’s farm and gone together to their senior prom. Shay had become an ardent supporter of Nick’s football prowess, and she’d actually encouraged his love of inventing and tinkering with machines while most of their peers scoffed.

And yet, as Nick studied her now, he realized he’d never fully appreciated her exquisite beauty. Pretty stupid considering Shay Parker had gone on to become a world-class model.

“I’d love some ice cream, Nick. I can hardly wait to get out of this place.” Shay glanced down the hospital hallway and faked a shudder.

“Us either. But why you?” Curious, Nick walked outside beside her.

“I need a break. I’ve been jumping through hoops to get privileges at this hospital,” she joked, touching the unblemished skin at her throat. “They act like physiotherapists are criminals.”

“It’s probably a security thing. I imagine they’re trying to be extra careful given the number of people the new mine is drawing into town.” Nick stopped at his truck, which was sheltered under a huge mesquite tree, the only one in the lot that had already bloomed. He’d managed to snag this shady spot by arriving for Maggie’s appointment with the traveling neurologist before sunrise. “Want to ride with us?” He glanced around. “I don’t see that red dream-mobile you always talked about owning,” he teased. “Change your mind about getting a convertible?”

“I think I’m beginning to. My car is in the shop. Again. So, yeah, a ride would be great.” Shay paused a moment to study the splashes of green dotting the desert landscape. “Don’t you just love the desert in spring?”

“April’s nice, yeah.” Nick paused a second to look around then focused on fastening Maggie into her booster seat before he held the front door open for Shay.

“It’s wonderful to walk around Hope freely, not like in the big city where you have to be on guard all the time,” she murmured, glancing around the parking lot.

Nick frowned. If Shay felt so safe here, why was she looking over her shoulder like that?

But then he remembered. Three years ago he’d been in New York for a meeting with his agent and decided to pay Shay a surprise visit. Confused by her haunted look and nervous manner, Nick had been stunned when she’d confessed that she was being stalked. His temper still blazed at the memory of her trembling tone as she related what she’d gone through. Her stalker had her private number, knew where she lived and had not only snuck onto her set and left gifts for her there, but gloated that he’d even touched her several times without her noticing.

Nick figured Shay’s lack of success with the police meant that either they didn’t believe her or they’d given up. So, in Nick’s mind, it was up to him to help Shay, just as he would have helped one of his sisters. He’d hung around after they’d had lunch, hoping her stalker would call again. Nick figured the guy liked taking chances and probably felt that no one would discover his identity now that the police had given up. No doubt he enjoyed terrifying Shay, making her feel helpless. That infuriated Nick. When the call came, Nick put a lid on his own reactions to the creep’s mockery of Shay’s vulnerability. Anger still surged at the memory of that snide and gloating voice exulting in the death of Shay’s father.

When the guy boasted that Shay now had no one to protect her, Nick saw red. He’d grabbed her phone and told the slimeball Shay had innumerable friends like him waiting en masse to bring down their wrath on his head if he didn’t leave Shay alone. Nick also intimated that the police were ready to haul the guy off to jail. The guy hung up fast. After that, he disappeared and wasn’t seen again, according to the bodyguard Nick had hired for Shay.

“Earth calling Nick? Hello?” Shay snapped her fingers in front of his face to draw him out of his introspection. “Where were you?”

“Daydreaming.” He tweaked Maggie’s nose. He’d ask Shay about her stalker later. “What kind of ice cream are we getting, Maggie-mine?”

“Choc’late, Uncle Nick,” she told him without hesitation. She peeked up through her lashes.

“I should know that, shouldn’t I, after the number of cones I’ve bought you.” As Nick tugged playfully at a hank of her short, dark hair, he noticed Shay’s quick scan of the braces encircling his niece’s legs. “Privileges must mean you’re starting at Whispering Hope Clinic. When?”

“Yesterday. Jaclyn and Brianna have been nagging me to join them for ages.” Shay shrugged her elegant shoulders. “So I have.”

Nick knew all about the youthful vow Shay, Jaclyn and Brianna had made to build a clinic for kids after Jaclyn’s fifteen-year-old twin sister, Jessica, had died. It was their way of honoring her, making sure no other child went without the medical care Jessica had needed. Doctors had been sadly lacking in Hope when they were kids. But now Whispering Hope Clinic was open and, according to Nick’s mom, full of activity with Jaclyn as a pediatrician and Brianna as a child psychologist. Now that Shay had joined the clinic as physiotherapist, Nick figured the place would get even busier.

Though Jaclyn and Brianna were married to Nick’s friends, Kent McCloy and Zac Enders, Nick knew Shay wasn’t married. He’d heard in Seattle that she’d left modeling but he’d only learned several months earlier, at Brianna and Zac’s wedding, that Shay had finished her physiotherapy degree a while ago. He’d had very few moments during that busy weekend to discuss her return to Hope, and Shay had left town the next morning. The following weekend Nick had been injured during a game, and his career as a pro quarterback had ended in the blink of an eye. Then had come Maggie’s car accident. Life hadn’t settled down since.

Nick wondered what had delayed Shay’s homecoming till now.

“I heard about your shoulder injury, Nick.” Shay’s lustrous green eyes lost their twinkle. “I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved football.”

“Thanks.” Nick did not want to discuss the demoralizing loss of his career as a pro quarterback.

“How long have you been back in Hope?” she asked.

“About a week. Mom’s finding it tough to make all the medical trips to Las Cruces with Maggie, so I came to help.” He glanced at his niece, unwilling to discuss the accident that had killed his beloved sister Georgia and her husband. Besides, he’d told Shay the important parts when she’d called with her sympathies. Just hearing her soft, quiet voice that morning had helped him get through what followed.

Nick’s throat tightened at the loss he hadn’t yet fully accepted. How could it be part of God’s plan for his sister’s car to get hit by a semitruck?

“How’s your mom?” Shay adjusted Maggie’s braced left legs to a slightly different angle, then smiled at the little girl as if they shared a secret.

“She’s okay, though her arthritis is really bad. I had hoped she’d stay with me in Seattle, but she couldn’t take the cold or the humidity. She always came back here.” He paused, glanced at his niece. “Now Maggie’s with her. To Mom, Hope is home.”

“To me, too,” Shay agreed. She grinned as if the little town offered everything she needed. And maybe it did, for Shay. But for Nick, Hope could be only a temporary stop. He had to get back to the city and begin the coaching job that would allow him to provide for his family now that pro ball was out.

“Want to eat outside?” He pulled into a stall in front of the local general store where the owners still piled cones high with real ice cream. “The sun’s burnt off this morning’s chill by now.”

“Maggie and I will find a place in the park while you get our treats.” Without waiting for him, Shay slipped from her seat, quickly unfastened the little girl’s restraints and lifted her out.

Nick noticed that Maggie didn’t make her usual squeal of pain and felt a rush of guilt. He’d been doing it wrong. Disgust washed over him at the thought that he’d even inadvertently hurt his niece.

“I’ll have butter pecan,” Shay called as she walked away.

“Still supporting the pecan industry, huh?” he teased.

“Have to.” Shay’s eyes twinkled as she glanced at him over one shoulder. Gold sparks of mischief lurked in their emerald depths. “I guess you haven’t heard. I bought back my grandfather’s farm. Support the pecan farmers,” she chanted in imitation of a protestor.

Surprise held Nick immobile as Shay chose a grassy spot and set Maggie gently against the smoothed-off trunk of a towering palm tree. A moment later the former model’s melodic laughter burst into the sunlit afternoon, her face glowing with happiness and health as she folded her long legs beneath her and settled next to the child.

Nick strode toward the store but jerked to a halt when, for the first time since the accident, he heard Maggie giggle. Choked up by the sound, he hurried inside to buy the ice cream, overwhelmed by the fact that his old friend had made his usually somber niece laugh.

As Nick waited for his order to be filled, he puzzled over Shay’s decision to purchase her former home. She was famous—she’d been one of the best-paid models in the world. She’d spent years wearing elegant clothes and expensive makeup—neither of which, in Nick’s opinion, she needed to enhance her loveliness. Shay could have bought the nicest house in town. She didn’t need to dirty her manicured nails with nuts and soil.

So why buy back the farm?

Nick studied her through the window. The stunning woman now sitting with Maggie seemed worlds apart from the shy, grieving English girl who’d arrived in Hope having just lost her mother. Back then, quiet, reticent Shay had struggled to fit in at school. But Shay had lost that shyness when Jessica, Zac, Kent, Brianna, Jaclyn, Nick and Shay had all become good friends.

Then, in her junior year of high school, Shay’s grandfather died. After that, her dad lost the farm. They’d struggled until, on a dare from Brianna and Jaclyn, Shay had entered a contest at a mall in Las Cruces and won a modeling contract in her senior year. Instead of studying physiotherapy to join the clinic she and her friends were going to build to honor Jessica, Shay had opted to model so she could support her father.

Now Shay Parker was back in Hope. It sounded as if she had her future happily mapped out. Nick wished he felt the same. The assistant coaching job his football team had offered him was not the career he’d planned for himself. Shrugging away his disquiet, he muted his concerns about the future, paid for the cones and carried them outside.

“You’re having vanilla?” Shay demanded as he handed over the ice cream. She blinked at his nod. “Forty-one flavors and you chose vanilla? Who are you and what have you done with the adventurous, always unexpected Nick Green? Maggie, are you sure this is your uncle?”

The little girl giggled, and Nick marveled at the sound again.

“Well, I’m shocked. The old Nick would have chosen green bananas with licorice or huckleberry with liver pâté—anything but vanilla,” Shay teased.

“You know they don’t even make those flavors. Anyway, the old Nick is gone.” And been replaced by whom? Nick asked himself. Shay had given up her career of her own volition, but Nick felt as if his had been stolen from him.

“I’m sorry—I wasn’t thinking. Was the surgery successful?” Shay frowned.

“The doctors said it was a total success. Now it only hurts when I move,” he joked. Shay didn’t laugh. “I can’t throw a football fifty feet,” he admitted. Her eyes darkened with sympathy that Nick didn’t want, so he moved the focus back to her. “Why did you buy the farm, Shay?”

“Because it’s my home. I know every nook and cranny of that land, and I always liked living there.” She smirked. “I like it even more now. The old house was a wreck, so I had it torn down and built a new one. You should visit me. I’ve got the best view in this county.”

“But surely you don’t intend to farm? The orchards must be in very bad shape.” Nick couldn’t fathom what this model-turned-physiotherapist would do with a pecan farm.

“Well, I was told the harvest in December didn’t yield much. But I do think the trees will come back eventually. I’ll wait and see. For now I have to concentrate on my practice.” Her voice softened. “Anyway, it’s not the orchard I wanted, Nick, as much as my home. Dad had big plans for the family place. I’d like to fulfill some of them, but that’s down the road. For now, I have to live somewhere, so it might as well be on familiar territory.”

Nick searched her face. He knew her well enough to know there was something she wasn’t saying. Shay avoided his intent look by tossing the scant remains of her cone in a nearby trash can. She offered Maggie a tissue to clean up her hands then asked, “Would you like to try the swing, honey?”

The little girl frowned, her eyes speculative. Finally she nodded, very slowly.

“I’ll help you.” Shay lifted his niece into her arms and carried her to the swing. With an ease that surprised Nick, she set Maggie on the seat, told her to hang on then gently pushed until the swing swayed back and forth.

Concern grabbed at Nick as alarm filled Maggie’s face.

“Uh, Shay, maybe you shouldn’t—”

She pinned him with her world-famous stare. “It’s okay, Nick,” she assured him, her quiet, firm tone communicating that she had everything under control.

Nick’s argument died on his lips. He nodded and she continued pushing Maggie, offering encouragement.

“Can your toes touch the sky, Maggie?” Shay’s casual gaze intensified as she assessed the child. “Wow! That’s amazing.”

Nick sat on the end of a child’s slide and observed Shay coax Maggie through a series of moves using little dares that began with “Betcha can’t...” Maggie responded every time, engrossed in the tasks as she pushed herself to prove she could do it. After a few minutes Shay slowed the swing, hugged the little girl and said something that widened Maggie’s grin. Shay took the swing beside her and together they swayed back and forth, chattering like magpies. Eventually Shay beckoned him over.

“I think Maggie has had enough swinging,” she said, tilting her head to indicate Maggie’s drooping body.

Nick took his cue, strode forward and bent to lift his niece free. Before he could, Shay reached out and touched his hands, her fingers firm as she rearranged his grip.

“Higher,” she murmured in his ear. “Like this. Not under her knees.”

So he had been hurting Maggie. Inside him, anger exploded at his clumsiness and the seeming hopelessness of her situation. The doctor’s words today hadn’t been encouraging. Maggie wasn’t moving as much as expected. Small wonder. She had missed so many therapy sessions in Las Cruces. It wasn’t his mom’s fault but—well, at least he was here to help now. If only he could do more.

Using great care, Nick set Maggie in the truck and fastened her seat belt. He waited for Shay to climb inside, but she pushed the door closed.

“I’ll walk back. I need the exercise after that gigantic cone.” She patted her flat midriff and grinned. “I’ve gained five pounds since I’ve been back.”

He couldn’t see where. Shay looked fantastic in her white fitted pants and navy blue shirt. Her peaches-and-cream skin, flawless except for the trademark spattering of freckles across her elegant nose, glowed radiant in the unrelenting desert sun.

Nick blinked in surprise as a thud of male appreciation hit him. Shay was gorgeous, of course. Always had been. But he wasn’t attracted to her—they’d been friends, that’s all.

“Uh, we’d better get—”

“Nick, can you come to my place tonight?” Shay asked quietly. “I need to talk to you about Maggie.”

Since that was exactly what he wanted to talk to her about, he nodded. “Seven-thirty?”

She agreed. “Good seeing you, Nick.” Shay lifted her hand and almost touched his arm before she quickly backed away.

“Good to see you, too, Shay,” he said, confused by her abrupt actions, almost as if she were afraid of the contact. “I’ll see you later.”

As he drove away, he glanced in the rearview mirror. Shay stood where he’d left her, staring after them, copper hair glistening, her lovely face pensive.

“Is Shay your girlfriend, Uncle Nick?”

“Huh? No.” Nick laughed. That was absurd, of course. Nick didn’t do relationships—well, not with the memory of his father’s abandonment melded into his brain. The entire town had gossiped and mourned Cal Green’s lack of consideration for his family. When his father had finally walked out for good, Nick had heard enough whispers and pity to last a lifetime. He’d tried once to rebuild his connection with his father and twice to have a romantic relationship and he’d failed badly at all three. Fearing he might take after his father, Nick now avoided those kinds of emotional entanglements.

“Then how come you know her?” Maggie asked.

“Shay’s a friend. We grew up together.”

“I like her,” Maggie said while yawning. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep as he drove home.

But Nick was wide awake. And foremost on his mind was why Shay hadn’t mentioned anything about their encounter in New York. Maybe he’d ask her about that tonight.

He looked again in his mirror and saw her walking across the park, her pace furious.

As if she was running away from something.

Or someone.

Yes, Shay Parker was most definitely not telling him something.


Chapter Two

Shay checked her yard for the third time in less than five minutes, sat down to knit, then rose and peered through the window again, anxious to determine what had caused the crunching sound on the gravel driveway.

Nothing there.

She inhaled and counted to ten while fighting back the burgeoning cloud of alarm now swelling inside her head. This was what no one understood, what she’d only recently learned for herself. Her panic attacks were about losing control. That’s what her stalker had left her with—the fear that her world would go careening out of control and that she’d unravel worse than she ever had before.

And there would be nobody there to help her put herself back together again.

Think about Nick, she ordered her jittery brain. Nick was a friend, a very good friend.

Had been a friend, her brain corrected without her permission. Because if he was a friend, why, when Nick’s fingers had brushed hers when he’d handed her the cone, had she felt fear? Sure, she’d covered by making a joke about his ice cream choice, but later when she’d almost touched his arm, her pulse had skittered and she’d jerked away because she’d had a flashback.

Her stalker’s name was Dom. Or at least, that’s what he’d called himself. He’d said he touched her, and she hadn’t known.

The memory of someone brushing her shoulder and touching her arm before a shoot still haunted her. Back then Shay hadn’t suspected anything untoward, not until she’d received that phone call—I’m closer than you think. I can touch you whenever I want. In fact, I already have, lots of times. Almost three years later and she still hadn’t rid herself of the panic. That’s what had ruined her relationship with Eric. What man wanted to be with someone who froze like a nervous Nellie whenever he embraced her?

Eric had taught Shay that she could never have a normal relationship with a man. The shame, the embarrassment and, most of all, the longing to love haunted her still.

“Shay?”

Shay yelped as she jerked back to awareness. An involuntary rush of fear clutched her throat until she realized Nick stood outside her door.

“Uh, can I come in?” He rattled the handle, studying her with a quizzical look.

“Yes. Of course. Sure. Come on in.” She flushed as she unlatched the two locks and pushed open the door. “Sorry. I was woolgathering.”

He frowned when she flicked both locks back into place once he was inside.

“You’re expecting pecan robbers or something?” he joked. “Not that you shouldn’t take precautions,” he added when she frowned at him. His gaze followed her motions as she checked and rechecked the two very solid locks.

“Can’t be too careful.” Embarrassed that he’d noticed her obsessive security measures, Shay regrouped, led the way into her living room and waved a hand. “Have a seat, Nick. Iced tea or coffee?”

“Whatever you have is fine. Um—” Nick eyed the furniture and remained standing.

Shay suddenly realized all the seats were covered with skeins of wool she’d sorted earlier. “Oh. Sorry.”

He remained silent while she scooped her yarn, needles and a pattern book from the biggest, roomiest chair. Then he said, “That looks complicated.”

“It’s going to be a blanket for Jaclyn’s baby. I just hope I can get it finished before she delivers.” Shay set the project in a woven basket on the floor next to the chair facing her wall of windows. “There. Now you can sit down.”

“Why did you pick something so difficult to make?” he asked.

“If it was easy, it wouldn’t be much of a gift,” she said with a quick smile. “I want my gift for this baby to be as special as Jaclyn is to me. I’ll be right back.”

When she returned with a tray that had two drinks and a dish of tortilla chips and salsa, he said, “You weren’t kidding about your view, were you? The orchards don’t look bad from here.”

“I hired someone to prune things a bit.” She sat down, aware of his wide-eyed scrutiny of her home.

“Maybe you should hire the same guy to cut all that tall grass in your backyard,” Nick suggested. “The rains in January spurred a lot of growth, but now it’s so dry that if a wildfire starts, that grass will feed it like gas. Your house could be in jeopardy.”

“I’ll get it done,” she promised, and added “soon” when he kept staring at her.

“Good.” Nick’s bemused gaze took in the splashes of color on the walls, the floors and the furniture. “This sure isn’t what I expected your place would look like.”

“What did you expect? Steel and glass and leather? Glitz and glamour?” Shay burst out laughing at his nod. “But, Nick, that’s not me.”

“Are you kidding?” He scowled. “How is glitz and glamour not you?”

“That’s what I did,” she said gently. “That’s how I made my living.” She pointed to the wall opposite them. “That’s the real me.”

“You made this?” Nick got up to examine an intricately stitched design of a little girl paddling at the seashore. It could have been Shay once, a long time ago. “It’s very nice. But—”

“Being a model only looks glamorous, Nick. There’s actually a lot of downtime, waiting for the photographer or the makeup person or hairstylist, and more endless hours in airports. Dad encouraged me to do handwork to pass the time. When I finished something, I’d put it away in a box he gave me.” She was not going to call it a hope chest. “That’s it there.”

Nick knelt in front of the intricately decorated trunk. “It’s lovely.”

“I kept putting things in there because I knew one day I’d have my own place, a place I could make into my home.” She waved a hand. “Most of what you see here is stuff I’ve made.”

Nick rose, examined cushions, hangings and the little stool she’d re-covered with a tapestry she told him she’d found in Italy.

“Did you make this, too?” he asked, indicating a canvas dotted with handprints that took up the entire wall behind the dining table.

“No. That was a gift from the kids I worked with before I came here.” As always, the colorful finger-painted mural made her smile. “I have the other half of it hanging in my office.” Shay waited for him to sit down again, sipping her drink as she puzzled over how to broach the subject she’d been musing on since she’d met with Maggie’s medical team earlier. “Catch me up on your world, Nick.”

“Not much to tell since we talked after Maggie’s accident.” He returned to his seat and took a drink before he spoke, his voice flat and emotionless. “Tore my shoulder, had surgery, gave up pro ball.”

“And now?” she prodded. “I know some athletes go into broadcasting. Is that what you’ll do?”

“No. I’m lousy at that. I get too caught up in the game and forget to make the comments they want. The only thing I know is playing football.” Nick’s face tightened into tense lines. His brown eyes deepened to that dark shade that told her he was brooding over something.

“You know a lot more than football, Nick.” Shay could see him mentally reject that but she let it hang, waiting.

“It seems I don’t know much that makes me employable. Anyway, I have six months’ leave and then I’ll go back to the team. They’ve offered me a job with the coaching staff.” Nick sounded—discouraged?

“Six months is lots of time,” she told him optimistically. “I’m sure you’ll be all healed up by then.”

“Oh, I’m healthy now. I asked for the six months so I could help Mom with Maggie, but I have to go back then for sure.” His response sounded less than thrilled.

“Well, a job is good. Isn’t it?” Shay added when he got lost in his thoughts.

“Yeah, a job is very good. Only I don’t like the thought of leaving Mom here, alone, to manage with Maggie,” Nick admitted. “It’s a lot for her to take on a kid Maggie’s age. Mom did so much for us, raising all of us on her own. She deserves to have some time for herself.”

“Knowing your mother’s great big heart, I seriously doubt she feels that way.” Shay sipped her tea and made a mental note to talk to Mrs. Green about her arthritis. But first she had to deal with the past. “I need to say something to you, Nick.”

“Go ahead.” He leaned back and waited.

“I—uh, never did thank you properly for your help in New York.” She swallowed hard and forced herself to continue, feeling nauseous. “What you did for me—well, it was more than I ever expected. I just wanted to make sure you know how much I appreciate it.”

“What are friends for, if not to chase away stalkers?” Nick joked. When she didn’t smile, his eyes narrowed. “You haven’t heard from him, have you?”

“No. Why?” Panic reached out and clamped its hand around her throat, taking away her breath. Her fingers involuntarily pinched the fabric of her capris. “Have you heard something?”

“Me?” Nick shook his head, his face confused as he studied her. “No.”

“Oh. Good.” She knew she’d just made a fool of herself with her reaction, but she still struggled with a sense of dread. “I—I never heard from him again after you read him the riot act.”

“That’s great.” Nick kept looking at her. “Isn’t it?”

Shay offered an unconvincing nod, still unable to shake her memories of those horrible days.

When the police couldn’t help, she’d fought to hold her world together on her own. And she’d been losing that war, until Nick arrived. She’d been so relieved to see a friend that day that she’d dumped the whole sorry tale on his broad shoulders. Being the good guy he was, Nick had insisted on knowing the details. Then he’d heard Dom’s voice, demeaning, threatening and mocking her.

Shay couldn’t believe it when Nick told Dom he’d taped the conversation and threatened police action and reprisals from what Nick claimed were legions of Shay’s friends. It worked—she’d never heard from the stalker again—but she’d never been able to shed the panic from those months of persecution. She always felt Dom was out there, lurking, waiting for her weakest moment to appear again.

“Did you ever figure out why this guy focused on you?”

“No. The first couple of times he emailed me through my fan page, he was very nice. He complimented me on my latest cover, said he’d seen me on a talk show, asked if I might throw my support behind a pet hospital, that kind of thing. He was very friendly.” Shivers speed-walked up her spine. “But by the time you came to New York, he’d become very aggressive. He told me he’d touched me without my realizing it. I didn’t believe him, but then he gave details and I knew he’d been near. Too near.”

“Nobody ever remembered seeing him?”

“No, and believe me, I questioned everyone, though I never actually told anyone what was going on. Later I learned some of the other models had faced the same thing, so they would have understood how worried I was, but...” She shrugged. “At the time I was too scared and embarrassed to talk about it.”

“Maybe he was someone you worked with.” Nick’s lips tightened into a grim line.

“I thought of that. But I never had any concrete proof to give police, no personal details. After the fourth or fifth call, I think they stopped believing me. And he knew it.”

“Hey, relax now. You’re safe here,” Nick reminded her.

“Yes.” Shay inhaled to regain control. “It’s just...I have no idea how he found my number or knew my new address. I changed phones and moved, but that only seemed to aggravate him. Police traced the calls, but they always led to a dead end. Dom was very careful. When he did call—well, you heard him. He’d taunt me with what he’d do when we were alone—” She gulped and forced her breathing to slow. “Sorry. I still struggle a bit with his—you know.”

“Abuse.” Nick’s cold, hard word made her flinch.

“Well, yes.” She exhaled. “I tried a hundred different things. I ignored him. I monitored every move I made to see if I could figure out who he was. I became suspicious of everyone. But I was helpless. I had no idea how to—” Shay paused. It sounded weak and pathetic to say escape, as if she’d been a prisoner. Yet that was exactly what she’d felt like.

“Shay, that kind of guy preys on people through fear. But he’s gone. You can forget about him now.” He studied her.

“I know. I will be fine,” Shay said, determined to make it so.

When she thought about how it all began, she felt foolish. Too well she recalled how the innocent-seeming online friendship had changed into something menacing after Dom had found out she’d given the flowers he sent her to someone else. That’s when she’d started to feel uncomfortable. But she didn’t think of contacting the police until odd messages were left on her voice mail. Crazy, untraceable phone calls showed up on her cell when she went to lunch with her friends or took a break at work. He always seemed to know where she was. But worst of all were his increasingly hateful comments. They seemed to hint that violence could explode if she said or did something to provoke him, and that had scared her into a shivering mass of fear.

Until Nick, her rescuer, arrived.

But even after, even when she’d left New York and modeling, it had taken months of intense therapy to attain an occasional night of uninterrupted sleep, free of his voice, his taunts that he would find her when she least expected it. Those words haunted her, so much so that they’d ruined her relationship with Eric, the man she thought she loved. She could barely breathe when his arms closed around her—all she wanted was to run from him. Finally her memories had pushed Eric away and she’d lost what she wanted most—love.

Still Shay was determined she would vanquish Dom and overcome the terror that he’d planted in her brain.

Please, God?

Nick must have read the tumult of emotions in her eyes. He leaned forward, his dark eyes almost hidden beneath his jutting brow, and spoke slowly but with unshakeable resolve.

“Shay, you cannot spend the rest of your life worrying about whether or not this crazy person will come back.”

“I know.” She inhaled. “I’m here in Hope to start over. And I’m really trying. It’s just—I can’t seem to forget the ugly things he said.”

“You will.”

“Can you imagine if anyone besides you had overheard his words to me?” Her cheeks burned. “I would have felt so ashamed. The things he said—” She couldn’t go there. Not with Nick watching her. “I’m ashamed that I couldn’t stop him on my own.”

“You did the best you could, Shay.”

“Did I?” She shook her head. “I wonder about that now.”

“Why do you doubt yourself?” Nick demanded.

“It would have been better if I’d told more people about him.” Keeping her secret had weighed heavily. Even Eric hadn’t known until that last, horrible date, and by then he didn’t want any explanations—he wanted a girlfriend who showed her love, not some shrinking violet afraid to let him even kiss her cheek. But tonight, with her friend Nick, it felt good to talk about what she’d kept hidden for so long. “But I was worried that stories would leak out. I had sponsors and a lot of media attention then.”

“I remember you came out in support of that kids’ charity around that time, too,” Nick said. His brown eyes gleamed. “Just getting to share a cup of coffee with you made me feel like I’d won a triathlon.”

“Silly.” She smiled at him but felt compelled to keep explaining. “My agent was afraid that if I went public, it might have brought more weirdos out of the woodwork.”

“Too bad he didn’t try to stop the jerk.” Nick’s grim face expressed his opinion.

“My agent was a she,” Shay protested mildly, warmed by his caring. “And she’s the one who first insisted I call the police. That didn’t help, so I did the only thing I could think to do and pretended everything was all right.” She made a face. “But eventually I couldn’t pretend well enough. I knew Dad had always wanted me to reach the top but he was gone and I was scared and lonely so I decided it was time to move on, to fulfill my promise to join Jessica’s clinic. And now here I am.” She was not going to tell Nick about her crippling panic attacks—he didn’t need to know everything.

“I’m glad you’re here.” His brown eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled.

“Thanks.” Her heart gave a bump at his kindness. “Anyway, that brings me to the reason I asked you to come tonight.”

“Maggie. Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about her, too. You go first.”

“Okay. Well, I met with her doctors this morning. They asked me to start on her therapy immediately.” Shay wasn’t sure how well Nick understood what Maggie’s future would entail so she proceeded cautiously. “Has anyone said anything to you about her progress?”

“The doctor today said Maggie isn’t doing as well as he’d hoped, but I don’t know exactly what that means.”

“Maggie’s internal injuries have healed very well, according to the reports,” Shay began. “Though her leg muscles were badly damaged when she was crushed inside the car, the surgery appears to have been successful. Yet Maggie hasn’t regained her strength.” Shay studied his face. “You must have noticed that.”

“She can’t bear her own weight yet, if that’s what you mean.”

“She should be able to do that by now, Nick. In fact, Maggie should be walking.” Shay reached out and touched his fingers, hoping that would ease what she was about to say. But she had to draw back or risk exposing her anxiety. “The fact that she can’t even stand is a bad sign. It means she’s losing her mobility much faster than anyone thought.”

“My medical knowledge wouldn’t fill a teaspoon, Shay. Talk to me plainly and bluntly,” he demanded.

“Unless Maggie regains her mobility soon, there’s a strong possibility she will never walk normally again.” Shay watched horror fill his face.

“But she does exercises,” Nick protested.

“Your mom does them with her?” Shay waited for his nod. “All the time?”

Nick’s face altered.

“I’m guessing she skips them sometimes because Maggie says they hurt too much.” From the look on his face Shay knew she was right. “Your mom probably hasn’t felt able to make the long, twice-weekly drives to Las Cruces for therapy either.”

“No. But they’re just little leg lifts and things. It’s no big deal,” Nick argued.

“You’re an athlete, Nick. You know how quickly the body loses muscle strength if it’s not regularly used.” Shay tried to make him understand. “You probably still follow a postsurgical therapy program to keep your shoulder from tightening up. Right?”

“Yes.” He flexed his arm as if she’d reminded him.

“It’s the same for Maggie. In the months she was in traction and healing from her internal injuries, there was little to be done except let her heal. Now she’s done that.”

“The doctor said that today,” he admitted.

“She should be moving by now. Yet on the swing today, you saw that she could barely point her toes. That’s not good.” Shay wasn’t finished, but Nick’s sudden shifting in his chair made her wonder if he’d hear all she had to say?

“I don’t mean to, but I think I hurt her when I lift her,” Nick confessed, his guilt-filled stare lifting to meet her gaze.

Shay nodded. “But that’s primarily because she has no strength to lift herself and ease the strain. She’s barely using her leg muscles at all from what I saw.” This was the hardest part, getting people to see what was only visible to the trained eye. “Maggie’s become too comfortable with being carried. She makes no demands of her body. My hunch is that no one’s challenged her to do more.”

Nick sat still, assimilating her words. Then he looked up.

Sun-streaked wisps of hair had drifted onto his broad forehead, and in that moment he looked very much like the determined teenage boy who’d once proclaimed he would never be anything like the father who had abandoned him.

“I refuse to accept that my sister’s child will never walk again if it’s even remotely possible that she can,” he said, his voice tight with control. “So what do we do?”

“We get Maggie moving, Nick,” Shay said with a grin, delighted by his response. “It won’t be easy and it won’t be fun, but it will work if we don’t give up. Are you up for it?”

“Me?” He gaped at her, eyes wide with surprise. “But my mother—”

“Your mother can’t do this, Nick. She’s too close to Maggie and in too much pain herself. I saw her at the grocery store. Her hands must be killing her.”

“Uh—” Nick gulped as Shay held his gaze and laid out the blunt truth.

“If you commit to overseeing Maggie’s treatment, this will be totally on you. Are you sure you have what it takes to get it done?”

“Of course I do,” he growled, lips drawn tight.

“You won’t be Maggie’s favorite uncle anymore, Nick. In fact, she might even hate you for putting her through the pain.”

Nick’s eyes darkened to almost black. “You’re saying...?”

“Maybe you should think about finding someone else to do this?” Shay asked, hoping that he wouldn’t.

“Like who?” he demanded. “My sisters? Cara’s got her hands full with twins. Lara travels constantly for her job. And let’s just say Simone has enough trouble that I have no intention of adding to it. There is nobody else, Shay.” Nick studied her, old friend to old friend. “To clarify, you’re saying that if Maggie follows a regimen you cook up, she will be able to walk?”

“I’m ninety percent sure she could regain all of her mobility.”

“Ninety percent?” Nick frowned. “Not completely sure then?”

“No.” Shay had to tell him the total truth. “But I am one hundred percent sure that if things continue as they have been, your niece will be confined to a wheelchair in one year. Maybe less.”

Nick fell back into his chair as if he’d been slapped. “Are you serious?”

“Very.” Shay nodded. The bald truth. He deserved it. So did Maggie. “Left unused, within the year the ligaments will lose their pliability, her leg muscles will degenerate, and then there will no longer be an opportunity for Maggie to regain her mobility.”

Nick spent several long moments in silent contemplation. When he finally lifted his head, Shay’s heart ached for the sadness clouding his beautiful eyes. He cleared his throat, then spoke, his voice ragged.

“How long will it take?”

“I don’t know. Four months, maybe six. Maybe longer.” She shrugged. “After I do more tests, I’ll have a better idea, but the end result is going to depend on whether or not we can get Maggie motivated.”

“I see.” He nodded, his head drooped low.

“Think long and hard before you commit to this, Nick,” Shay told him. “Maggie needs someone who will be there day after day, holding her accountable. She must have a coach who won’t give up, no matter what, and is committed for as long as it takes.”

He lifted his head. His eyes, deep-set beneath his broad, tanned forehead, silently begged her to understand his quandary.

“I only have six months here in Hope. Then I start my new job in Seattle. I can’t stay longer than that, Shay. I mean, I want to but—” He clamped his lips together.

Shay said nothing, allowing him the space to deal with all he’d just learned.

“I can’t just leave Maggie the way she is, knowing she’ll never walk again.” Nick’s tortured tone stabbed her aching heart. “Her mom would hate that. You know how active Georgia was.”

Shay did know. Nick’s sister Georgia had been her coach when she’d decided to run a marathon in her senior year. No one could have pushed her harder than Georgia.

“But Georgia isn’t here anymore, Nick,” she said quietly. “You are. You and I.”

She hated that she’d added more to his already topsy-turvy world. It had only been a short time ago that Nick had found out his career was over. Then he’d lost his sister and his niece had been orphaned. His whole world was in flux.

“If it’s impossible for you, you might be able to hire a personal trainer or someone else to be Maggie’s helper,” she added, offering him a way out.

“Nobody with those qualifications stays in a little place like Hope,” he said, his voice edged with frustration. “So they’d leave and we’d be back in the same situation. Maggie would suffer.” He shook his head. “Any other ideas?”

“No. I’m sorry. All I can tell you is that I don’t want to wait on this. I want to get Maggie started on a strengthening routine as soon as possible. Tomorrow would be good.” Shay held her breath, waiting for his response.

After a long pause he asked, “What time tomorrow?”

“Eight in the morning. Till noon.”

“I see.” He rose wearily. “I’ve got to think about this. About what it will mean,” he added. “And I have to discuss it with Mom. She’ll make the final decision.”

“Of course.” Shay stood, too. As she looked up at Nick, she realized that she’d always liked that he stood six feet two inches, just three inches taller than her, tall enough that at the prom she’d been able to lay her head on his shoulder. She wished she could do that now.

“I never finished my college degree, you know. I don’t have anything else to fall back on but this job the team offered.” Nick’s eyes grew muddy with confusion. “Even so, my first priority is always to my family.”

“Of course.” Anyone who knew Nick knew that about him. “Maybe the team would grant you an extension?”

“They already have—that’s why I’m here. But if I’m not back on the appointed day, I have no job.” He shook his head. “It probably sounds pretentious, but I have to capitalize on my fame as the winningest quarterback in history while it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind. I’m only good for endorsements till the next star comes along. If I let this job go—” He left it hanging. After a moment Nick regrouped and straightened his shoulders. “I’ll have Maggie at the clinic tomorrow morning at eight. And I’ll have a decision for you then, too.”

“Great.” Shay stood on her porch, watching as Nick walked slowly to his truck. He opened the door then stopped.

“Shay?”

“Yes?” Her heart ached for the once-fun-loving guy who’d been her white knight. She wanted to tell him it didn’t matter, but it did.

“Thank you.” His dark eyes met hers. “Telling me all this can’t have been easy for you.”

“No,” she said quietly. “The truth is often very painful. But don’t worry, Nick—I make sure my kids get the very best.”

“Your kids.” A smile drifted across his face then flickered away as he stared directly into her eyes. “And you think I’m ‘the best’ for Maggie?”

“Yes.” she nodded. “I do. You and your mom care about her more than any hired person ever could.”

“Yeah, we do. Okay, then. Good night.”

“Good night, Nick.”

Shay remained standing on her porch until Nick and his truck disappeared from sight. Then she holed up in her study and worked most of the night refining her rehabilitation plan for Maggie. Nick would do it, she was almost positive of that. He was that kind of man. Family mattered to him more than anything else in the world. But what she wasn’t so sure of was if he would leave when his six months were up or if he’d continue for as long as Maggie needed him.

A yearning for a family like his—for the knowledge that someone would be there for you, to share the good times and bad—ached inside Shay and would not be soothed no matter how many of her blessings she recounted.

Her parents were gone. Brianna and Jaclyn had their own lives. Of course Shay was delighted that both of them had found love, but it meant that the tight bond between the three of them had changed. It also meant she was the only one with no one of her own.

Shay had tried so hard to trust Eric when he said he would wait for her to get over her panic attacks. But she’d jerked away one too many times and he had eventually given up on her. He’d left her.

Everyone left.

That’s why she had to get these anxiety issues under control.

Because though Shay intended to spend the rest of her life alone, she was not going to spend it mourning the past. She was going to help kids. Especially Maggie.

Nick would help Maggie as much as he could, too, but after six months, she was fairly certain, he would leave Hope and resume his football career. It was up to Shay to get Maggie as mobile as possible before he went. She’d deal with her problems privately, with God’s help.

“Thank You for this new home and this new life, Lord,” she whispered as the first peach fingers of dawn crept over the jagged tips of the Organ Mountains.

She’d been given so much. Now it was time to give back.

Surely, helping Maggie and the rest of Hope’s kids would satisfy the longing of her heart.


Chapter Three

Nick sat on his mother’s deck with Shay’s words running through his mind as warm spring rain pattered down on the awning above him.

Staying in Hope for who knew how long—at least until Maggie was walking—would cost him his future.

Why? he asked God. You took my career. Okay, so I’ll start over. But I only have six months here. Then I have to go.

It wasn’t that Nick didn’t love Maggie. He wanted to see Georgia’s daughter walk again with every fiber of his being.

But if he took on her therapy and it took longer than six months, what would he do about his future?

Confusion filled him. He’d been so certain the coaching job in Seattle was God’s answer to his prayer. Helping his mom with Maggie was supposed to give him time to prepare for the only job he felt qualified for.

But if I’m not supposed to do that job, what am I supposed to do, God?

When no miraculous way out presented itself, Nick considered his options.

He could take Maggie with him, back to Seattle.

He discarded that immediately. Even if he did hire someone to work with Maggie, his mom wouldn’t want to move back there. And Nick was pretty sure his mom would never allow her grandchild to live so far away from her.

Maybe he could hire someone in town, as Shay had suggested.

Nick scratched that idea, too. He’d already phoned around. Hope didn’t have someone of the caliber he needed for Maggie. And if he hired a certified trainer to come to Hope, he’d be too far away to keep an eye on things. Plus, if he spent his savings on Maggie, what would he do if his mom or sisters needed money? His savings would be gone and his dad sure couldn’t be counted on to help.

Defeat swamped Nick as he finally accepted that he had no choice. He would stay in Hope for however long it took to help Maggie. He’d stay and play the heavy and push her even when she cried for mercy.

He dreaded that most of all.

Nick had been through therapy. He remembered too well the days it took every effort just to show up. But he’d done it because, in the back of his mind, he’d hoped he could get back in the game, get his life back. Maggie wouldn’t have that drive. She was just a little kid. The intense therapy Shay was talking about would hurt her. But if, as Shay said, the only alternative was a wheelchair, he could not—would not—back down. She had to do it.

“What are you doing out here, son?” His mother handed him a steaming mug.

Nick took it and smiled. Peppermint tea, her panacea for all of life’s ills.

“You do know it’s past two-thirty?”

“I know. Just thinking.” He couldn’t tell her what was on his heart. His mother would feel responsible. If she guessed his fears, she might insist on moving back to Seattle for his sake, and he knew how little she wanted to leave her friends, her home and the desert dryness that eased her arthritic pain. “Shay’s plan—it’s going to be hard on Maggie, Mom. Really hard.”

“I know. I should have pushed the child to do more, but—”

“No.” He wouldn’t let her feel guilty. “What you did was good. But now it’s going to get intense. Shay says Maggie has to get walking, and soon.”

“I’ve been praying about that.” His mother sat down next to him on the built-in bench that ran the length of the deck, a small part of the extensive renovations he’d had done on her house after he’d signed his first big contract. “I know God has a plan in all this, but I just can’t see it,” she said, sniffling.

“Me neither,” Nick muttered, trying to suppress his frustration. As his mother’s tears spilled down her cheeks, he lifted his arm and hugged her against his shoulder. “Don’t cry, Mom. We have to be strong now. For Maggie.”

“You’ve always been a pillar of strength to me, son. I thank God for you every day.” Before Nick could say anything further, she’d launched into a prayer that included him, Maggie, Shay and half the town of Hope. That was Mom, always talking to God about every detail in her world.

Nick only half listened. Lately his communication with heaven seemed distinctly one-sided. Probably had something to do with what he felt was the unfairness of his world. First his career, then his sister. Now it seemed God wanted his job, too.

When his mom finished praying, she lifted her head to smile at him.

“I’m going to bed. You should go, too. You’ll need your rest to help Maggie.” She rose, held out a hand.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” Nick took her hand, gently squeezed the gnarled fingers and brushed a kiss against her silvery head. “I’ll be up shortly, Mom. You go ahead.”

“Don’t fret, Nick. God will handle everything. After all, He sent us Shay. Aren’t you glad she’s back?”

“Yeah.” And he was, Nick realized. He didn’t know anyone else he’d rather work with on Maggie’s care.

“You two always made such a great pair. You always seem so perfectly matched, as if you can read each other’s minds.” She smiled. “You were always inseparable.”

“Maybe when we were kids.” But Nick heard a note in her voice that made him study her face. “There’s nothing between Shay and I now, Mom. We’re just friends.”

“But good friends, right? And who knows when that could change.”

Oh, yeah, she was implying something more than friendship all right.

“It’s not going to change, Mom. It can’t. Shay knows that in six months I’m leaving town. And she’s staying here, at the clinic. But in the meantime we’re both going to do the best we can for Mags.”

“I know you will,” his mom said soberly. “You’ll be perfect together.”

“I don’t know about that.” He grimaced. “We’ll probably argue. As Shay reminded me, therapy isn’t fun. I don’t mind for myself, but I wish I could make things easier for Maggie.”

“You and Shay will find a way to help her,” his mother assured him. “Put you two together and the world of possibilities is huge. I just need to have faith that God is going to use both of you to do wonderful things for my granddaughter.” She kissed him on his forehead the same way she did with Maggie, took his empty mug and walked inside.

Nick waited until the light in her room blinked out, doubting she’d heard his warning that nothing more than friendship was going to happen between him and Shay. Knowing there was no way he could sleep with everything whirling around in his head, Nick walked over to the old shed he’d taken refuge in when he was eleven, the day his dad had left them. It wasn’t much back then, but it was where he’d first begun tinkering with his mom’s vacuum and later found out he had a knack for adapting machines. The old shed had been revamped and modified as his inventing took over. When he’d had his mom’s house renovated, Nick had more electrical outlets added and installed more tools and a better workbench to the shed.

Christmas, holidays, celebrations—he came out here every time he came home, relishing the fact that no matter how long he was away or how far removed Hope seemed from the rest of his world, the peaceful ambience in the shed never changed. Coming in here gave him the same satisfaction it had as a kid—here, he could let his imagination take flight. He flicked on the light and studied the assortment of his inventions that he’d unearthed the past few days.

His mom had said God sent them Shay. He had to agree. The fact that Shay was going to help Maggie walk again filled him with a feeling he couldn’t quite describe. It was deep gratitude, of course, but it was also something else, something that made him a little uneasy. All he knew was that he had to bring his A game to this whole process—he didn’t want to let anybody down. Least of all Shay.

Nick reached down and picked up a gizmo he’d invented years ago. It gave him an idea. If he could come up with something fun, something that kept his niece’s attention off her pain and encouraged her to take another step, that would push her to work harder and help both Shay and him be more effective. And it would also help him keep his mind off whatever it was he was feeling about Shay Parker.

* * *

“Uncle Nick? Where are you, Uncle Nick?”

Nick jerked awake, suddenly aware that the desert sun shone through the small shed windows with a strength that said he was very late.

“Uncle Nick!”

“I’m coming.” Nick shut off the lights and laid a tarp over his work. Fiddling with it felt good but it was probably a waste of time because, despite the hours he’d spent scouring the internet for information on Maggie’s injury, he still wasn’t sure of exactly what he was trying to accomplish. He turned his back on the mess he’d created and walked into the yard.

“Hey, pumpkin.”

“Did you go to bed last night?” Maggie’s brown eyes stretched wide.

“Nope. Working.” He let one of her ringlets twine itself around his finger.

“Can I see?” Maggie asked eagerly. She was sitting on the porch swing he’d had installed last Mother’s Day. From the corner of his eye, Nick saw Maggie move. With the tiniest movement of her body Maggie had managed to put the swing into motion. It was the first time he’d seen her extend such an effort. Excitement filled him, but he kept his cool.

“Uncle Nick, did you get something working?” Maggie pressed.

“Not yet. It won’t do what I want.”

“It will. You can build anything. Remember that robot you made at Christmas? I love your inventions.” Maggie’s smile had a child’s blithe confidence of a world where good always triumphed. If she could see the good in things, Nick felt challenged to rid himself of his feelings of defeat

“Grandma says you’re taking me to see Shay today.”

“What do you think of that?” he asked, watching her face.

Maggie shrugged. “Is she a doctor like Aunty Jaclyn?”

“No. She works at the same clinic, but Shay’s a physiotherapist. She helps people use their muscles,” Nick explained.

“Grandma says she’s going to help me walk again.” Maggie’s voice trembled slightly.

“Would you like that?” He held his breath waiting for her response.

“Yes!” Her eyes glittered with excitement. “Staying with Grandma is nice, but I want to go to school like other kids do.”

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work, Mags, and it might hurt,” he warned.

“It hurts now,” Maggie said, fear in her eyes.

“Once your muscles get used to working, I don’t think it will hurt so much anymore. We can ask Shay about that. Okay?” Nick waited for her nod, satisfied that at least she was willing to try, even if she didn’t yet know what was to come. “Well, I’d better shower and get changed. Are you okay here for now?”

Maggie nodded. Then, with the slightest stretch she again touched her toe against the floor and pushed. A hiss of pain escaped her lips, but as the swing moved she grinned. “I prayed and asked God to help me to walk again.

“Good for you.” Nick stemmed the urge to tell her not to try too hard. Because according to Shay, that was exactly what Maggie would have to do in the coming months.

She seemed up for it. But was he?

You have to be. This is no different from when Dad walked out and left Mom with five kids to feed.

As the eldest, Nick had taken very seriously the responsibility of making sure his family was okay. Just as he had back then, he would now put aside his own plans for the good of the family.

He’d ignored his counselor’s advice to get his engineering degree because football was in his heart and a career with the pigskin was the quickest way to give his family all the things his father hadn’t. And he’d never regretted that choice. But now that playing football was over, Nick felt he’d lost the one thing that had provided him with a sense of security and made him feel competent in his caregiver role. He needed the coaching job so he’d be able to confront his father in his mind and say, “See, even though I’m out of the game, I’m still not like you. I’m not walking away from my family.”

Like his father cared. He’d written them all out of his life.

“I need that job, God,” Nick whispered, self-conscious about his prayer. “But I want Maggie walking more. Can You make both of them happen?”

As prayers went, it wasn’t stellar. And Nick didn’t hear a heavenly response inside or outside his head. He’d have to check in with God again later. Right now it was time to take Maggie to Shay’s office for her first therapy session.

* * *

“Maggie, do you want to walk again?”

Shay crouched in front of the little girl, blocking her view of Nick watching from the sidelines.

“Yes.”

“Do you want it enough to keep trying when Uncle Nick asks you to, even though it hurts?” She saw fear creep into Maggie’s big round eyes and laid a reassuring hand on the child’s thin arm.

“I—I think so,” came the whispered response.

Shay lifted one eyebrow.

“I want to walk.” Maggie’s chin jutted out. “I am going to walk.”

“Atta girl.” Shay hugged her, loving the spirit she saw in the child’s brown eyes. “Now that we’ve stretched, let’s see how your legs feel about walking.” She ignored Nick’s gasp and eased Maggie into a standing position. She carefully guided one foot forward, ensuring Maggie had a hold of the rails on each side of her.

“Ow!” Maggie cried out.

Shay sensed more than saw Nick jerk upright.

“I know it hurts, honey. Your legs are mad. You haven’t used them for a long time and they’ve gotten lazy. They like having Uncle Nick and Grandma carry you around.” Shay kept working as she spoke. “You lazy legs! You’ve been on a long holiday, but your vacation is over now. It’s time for you to get to work.”

A couple of minutes were all Maggie could bear upright, but that was okay. They’d taken the first step, literally. Shay helped her lie down on a floor mat then massaged her muscles until they were relaxed.

“See over there, Maggie?” She pointed to the corner of the room. “There’s a video camera there. It took pictures of you when you walked today. Each time you come here we’re going to take more pictures. Then, in a little while, you’ll be able to see how the exercises are helping. Are you ready to do more now?”

Maggie frowned. “I guess so.”

“Good.” Shay motioned Nick over so he could watch and repeat each stretching move she made. When Maggie winced and attempted to pull away, Shay reassured her, keeping her distracted with a silly game for each exercise. When Nick didn’t use enough force, Shay laid her hands on top of his and guided his movements. The contact gave her a nervous quiver in the pit of her stomach. She wished his touch didn’t make her want to jerk away from him.

When would she be able to move on from those memories?

“Good job,” Shay praised after an hour had passed. She grinned at Nick. “And you, too.”

“Are we finished now?” Maggie’s red face shone with perspiration. “’Cause I’m tired.”

“It is time for a break. You worked very hard, honey. I’m so proud of you.” Shay hugged the little girl.

“Uncle Nick worked hard, too,” Maggie said. “Aren’t you going to hug him?”

“I think Uncle Nick’s too big for hugs,” Shay said, nonplussed by the child’s comment.

“Nobody’s ever too big for a hug. That’s what Grandma says.” Maggie waited.

Uncomfortable, already way too aware of Nick, Shay had little choice but to place her arms around his waist and hug him. She pulled away quickly as panic knotted her insides.

“Shortest hug in history,” Nick complained. His teasing grin made her blush.

Shay swallowed hard and admitted the hard truth to herself. It wasn’t just panic that had her pulling away from Nick so quickly. It was something else, something that made her wonder what it would be like to really hug him, not as the friend she remembered from high school, but as the devastatingly handsome man he’d become, a man who made her wish he’d hug her back.

That made her really nervous.

“Now, Maggie,” Shay said, hurrying to get her focus back on task. “I want you to rest—I’ll give you a juice box and a book. Then, after you have rested, there are a few other things we need to go through.”

“I can’t really read yet,” Maggie mumbled, her cheeks reddening.

“Oh, you’ll be able to read this.” Shay handed her a book specially designed for preschool kids. Soon the room was filled with the recorded sounds of barnyard animals telling a story. “We’ll be back in a minute. You stay there, okay, honey?”

Maggie nodded absently, already enthralled by the story. Shay motioned to Nick to follow her outside. She led the way to her office, made them each a cup of coffee and then sat down.

“So that’s the first part. What do you think?” Shay deliberately chose the chair behind her desk instead of sitting next to him, where she usually sat with most caregivers. But then again, most caregivers didn’t have the strange effect on her that Nick Green seemed to be having today. Just thinking about that hug made her take a minute to control her rapid breathing. “Okay?” she asked.

“I think I can manage. As long as I don’t hurt her.”

“She’ll tell you if you do. Go slowly. Warm up thoroughly at first with the stretches.” She leaned forward, intent on making him understand. “Don’t skip anything, Nick. Each move is designed to prepare for the one that follows.” She checked the closed-circuit monitor on her desk to ensure Maggie was still resting and reading. “She’s a great little girl. I think she’ll do well.”

“As long as I don’t mess up,” Nick muttered as he stared at his hands. His troubled gaze met hers. “She’s so—delicate.”

A rush of heat warmed Shay’s heart. Nick was always concerned about his precious family. One glance at her appointment book told her she shouldn’t make the offer she was about to make, but Nick had been there for her when she’d needed him most. She had to help him now.

“I could come to your mom’s place tomorrow morning to watch you go through your paces the first time. If you’d like,” she offered.

“Would you?” Relief flooded his handsome face. “I’d really appreciate it. That way Mom could watch, too, just in case I have to be away or something.”

Shay’s heart sank at the words, but she struggled to sound detached.

“Nick, I told you last night. This can’t be hit or miss. Maggie needs the same routine every day. Besides, I doubt your mom could manage all the manipulations Maggie needs. You have to do it, no matter how unpleasant.”

“You’re making it sound like I’m trying to get out of helping Maggie.” His face tightened with irritation.

“Are you?” she asked, keeping her voice even.

Anger lit a fire in his dark eyes. “I’m here, okay, Shay? I will be here for however long it takes. In the event something comes up, we’ll work it out together. Okay?” When she nodded he put his cup down and rose to his full height. “Let’s get on with it,” he said in a flat voice.

Nick walked out of the room. Knowing he was frustrated with her, Shay kept her distance until they reached her treatment room.

“I’m sorry if I irritated you, Nick. But Maggie has to be my first concern. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yes.” He sighed. “Forget it, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed. She laid her hand on the doorknob then froze when his covered hers a millisecond later. In a flash, panic swamped her and she flinched away from his touch.

“Shay?” When she didn’t answer, Nick tipped her chin up so she had to look at him. She tried not to flinch again. “What’s wrong?”

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She tried to avert her eyes but couldn’t. “N-nothing. I’m fine.”

“That’s not true.” His brows drew together as their gazes locked. “You’re shaking,” he said in surprise.

“I’m fine, Nick.”

“Sure you are. That’s why you’re acting like I’m going to hurt you.” His eyes blazed. She could almost hear his perfect, even teeth grit together. “I am not your stalker, Shay.”

“I know that.” She tried to move away to gather her composure, but he blocked her path.

Nick’s face softened. “He sure did a number on you. Did you ever get some help?”

“I’m fine.” Shay laid her hand on the knob again, eager to get his attention off her.

“You’re not fine.” Nick reached out as if to touch her cheek, saw the way she recoiled from him and let his hand fall to his side. “Obviously,” he murmured.

“I will be.”

“Oh, Shay. You can’t make yourself be fine any more than Maggie can.” He lowered his voice. “Promise me you’ll talk to Brianna.”

“The thing is, I have to handle this myself, Nick, in my own way. And I will.” Embarrassed, she dragged open the door and pasted on her brightest smile. “Okay, Maggie. How was the book? Are you ready for some more work?”

Behind her Nick said nothing. But throughout the entire session she could feel his intense scrutiny. Shay knew she had to get a better grip on her reactions or risk Nick seeing just how out of control her panic attacks had become.

Coming home, back to Hope, was Shay’s fresh start. She would not allow the past to tarnish her life here. A nice guy like Nick—her friend—didn’t deserve the way she shrunk away from him.

Tonight she’d study her self-help book some more, see if she could discover a new technique to suppress her fear. She’d pray longer, harder. Somehow she would figure out a way to be whole again, to heal that scar her stalker had left her with.

She knew there was nothing to fear in Hope. Nothing at all.

So why was she still terrified?


Chapter Four

“A little more pressure right here, Nick. More. Good.”

Two mornings later Nick steeled himself against Maggie’s whimper of pain while Shay’s hands guided his. She’d had to cancel yesterday but had shown up bright and smiling right after breakfast this morning. As she bent to smile encouragement at him, her shimmering hair brushed his cheek. He caught his breath at the soft floral fragrance and immediately recalled that day in New York when he’d helped her untangle her hair from her sunglasses. Despite everything that had happened, Shay Parker was still the most beautiful woman he knew. His heart-thudding reaction to her was perfectly normal. Any red-blooded male would respond to Shay’s smile.

They’d been at it for an hour and Nick was more tired than he’d ever been, including after his first championship game. Would he ever get used to the feeling that he was torturing Maggie?

“Sweetie, that was fantastic.” Shay apparently had no issues with hugging his niece, though she still edged away from Nick whenever he got too close. He despised her stalker for that legacy.

“Grandma and I prayed God would help me.” Maggie swiped at a tear that lingered on her cheek. “It didn’t hurt too much.”

“I promise it will hurt less each time and pretty soon it won’t hurt at all. Okay?” Shay squeezed Maggie’s shoulder. “Just don’t give up.”

“I won’t.” The child thrust out her chin. “I want to walk by my own self.”

Nick heaved a sigh of relief. Maybe he hadn’t done so badly today.

“When can I ride Uncle Nick’s roly-poly?”

“His what?” Shay looked from Maggie to him, then back to Maggie, one perfect eyebrow arched. “What’s a roly-poly?”

“It’s an invention Uncle Nick made. And it’s way cool.” Maggie’s eyes danced as she struggled to sit up. “It’s kind of like—it makes noises and—you tell her, Uncle Nick.”

“It’s just a gizmo I’ve been fooling around with. Roly-poly is Maggie’s name for it.” Once he’d figured out exactly which muscles Shay was targeting, Nick had spent most of yesterday tweaking his prototype.

He was not ready for anyone to see it, but he should have expected Maggie to tell Shay about it. She was enthralled with the bells, whistles and whirly gigs he’d attached so that every movement made a noise.

“Can I see it?” Shay must have remembered his reluctance in high school to show off his devices before he’d completed them because she paused a moment, then softly added, “Please?”

He guessed she wanted to see if what he was making would cause Maggie problems.

“Sure.” Nick rose from the floor, helped Maggie into her chair and pushed it up to the table, where his mother waited with a drawing tablet and art pencils. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, Mom.”

“No rush,” she said with a smile. She was always smiling, in spite of the pain he knew plagued her joints. Nick remembered asking her once why she was always so happy. “Because God loves me,” she’d told him. He’d never quite grasped the comfort she found in that, though he’d often wished he could. Once, in high school, after he’d told Shay he struggled to feel God’s love ever since his dad had dumped them, Shay had admitted she felt the same way after her mom died. He wondered if she still felt like that.

“You’ve been working in the shed again,” Shay exclaimed as she followed him outside. “Remember the time you were trying to figure out a sequence for the Fourth of July fireworks? You almost blew off the roof.” She laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Go ahead, make fun of me,” he growled and blocked the door. As he looked down at her, he realized he wasn’t that much taller than Shay, but somehow she always brought out a protective urge in him. Maybe it was the innocence in her wide-open gaze or the way she always looked directly at him, as if she expected nothing but the truth from him. His heart seemed to skip a beat at the thought, and he cleared his throat. “Maybe I shouldn’t let you see what I’ve been working on.”

“I’m just teasing.” Her smile softened. “I also remember how you constructed that ladder thing that let Mrs. Smith get what she needed from her attic without endangering herself. And the way you rigged that gizmo in Mr. Murphy’s garage so he could raise and lower shelves. And—”

“Okay. Enough ego boosting,” he said in his drollest tone.

“Your inventions have made a difference to quite a few people in Hope, Nick.”

“For that you are permitted to enter, kind madam.” He bowed and waved a hand as if granting passage into a secret cave. Well, it was his man cave.

Shay walked inside and stopped, her head swiveling to take in the assortment of projects on his workbench. “It’s not exactly the same as it used to be.”

“I should hope not. I’m older and smarter now.” He grinned when she rolled her eyes. He directed her to his left. “This is what Maggie was talking about,” he said, pointing to the roly-poly.

Shay bent to study his work. “Interesting. What is it, exactly?”

“I researched Maggie’s injury. Then, after watching you work with her, I put this together. It’s like a walker. Sort of.” Unnerved by Shay’s silence, Nick lifted it and set it in front of her. “When you push it, it makes noise. I figured it might keep her from getting bored with the exercises.”

“Clever guy,” Shay murmured. She pushed the handle and grinned at the noise that followed.

“Once she’s mastered this, it won’t take much to change it up a bit,” Nick explained. “Maybe I’ll make it more like a bicycle that she has to pedal. That would build strength in her legs, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, it would.” Shay asked him to demonstrate so she could watch which muscles he used—Nick began to sweat bullets wondering if he’d made a huge mistake. Then Shay tried it herself. “It’s amazing,” she said. “Ingenious, actually. Obviously Maggie can hardly wait to try it, and those things that whirl and click and beep will be an excellent incentive for her to push harder to make them go faster, louder, whatever.”

“I hope so.” He adjusted one of the handlebars trying to hide his delight that Shay thought his work was amazing. “It needs a few modifications but it’ll soon be finished. When do you think she could start using it?”

“Whenever she wants to give it a shot.” Shay straightened. “But only where it’s flat and smooth. And only if you’re right beside her. She will tire quickly at first and may overbalance. Don’t let her overdo.”

“I could add something like training wheels,” he mused. “That would provide stability.”

“Good idea.” She moved to study another machine he was deconstructing. “What’s this?”

“It was going to be an adaptation to the pedal system on Mom’s old bike, to make riding easier. She promised Maggie they’d take a bike ride when she’s able,” Nick explained. “But I can’t get it to work right so I’ve gone back to the drawing board. These are just a bunch of spare parts at the moment.”

“Actually—” Shay frowned, her gaze far away on something Nick couldn’t see.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, steeling himself for her criticism.

“Nothing. It’s just that I was thinking—” She touched one wheel thoughtfully then looked straight at him. “Can I play inventor for a minute?”

“Be my guest.” Nick stepped back, disconcerted by the way she studied him. Once he’d been able to read her thoughts so easily, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking, only that it made his stomach do a little flip and he had no idea why that was.

Shay grasped two hard, round balls from a nearby basket filled with sports paraphernalia from his youth. “Could you attach these to the wheels?”

“I suppose.” Nick frowned, considering how he could do it. He turned to glance at Shay. That speculative look of hers was leading up to something. “Why?”

“Because then this machine would be exactly what your mom needs to work her hands and arms. It’s a strange thing, but in the world of arthritis, moving, even though it hurts, means gaining mobility.” Shay demonstrated what she wanted and waited while he attached the balls. “Yes. That’s better.” She tried it out. “Can you make it a little harder to move?”

Nick caught the flowery scent of Shay’s perfume as he bent to adjust the tension. Had she always smelled like the desert in bloom? “How’s that?” he said, standing back, trying to regain his focus.

“It’s perfect.”

“We make a good team.” He grinned at her.

“I didn’t do anything, but you sure have a knack for inventing.” Her gaze moved back to the machine he’d created for Maggie. “I wish I had something like this for another client. A boy, Ted Swan. I don’t suppose...” Her head tilted to one side as she favored him with an odd look.

“No, I can’t,” he said when he realized she wanted him to build something else. “I don’t know anything about therapy. This is just a toy.”

“It’s a very useful toy,” she said. “You can help people with your toys.”

“My field is football, Shay. That’s what I intend to stick with.” He felt oddly unsettled by the calculating look she gave him. She liked the machine he’d made, but if he tried to create something for this client of hers and failed, he’d look like a fool to her. He couldn’t figure out why it suddenly mattered so much that Shay didn’t see him as a failure; he only knew it did. “If this thing helps Maggie, great. But that’s as far as I’ll go.”

“Okay.” Her voice was quiet but her eyes brimmed with sadness. “Can you carry this inside so your mom can try it now, while I’m here?”

Nick lifted the machine they’d collaborated on. Shay led the way back to the house, her long legs easily eating up the distance from the shed. He followed more slowly, wondering about the other client she’d mentioned. It had to be a kid because that was primarily whom she worked with. He found it endearing that Shay managed to think about someone else while helping Maggie and his mom. She had always gone the extra mile for something she believed in.

But then Shay and Brianna and Jaclyn had always rushed to fill a need where they saw it, often before others even realized it was there. Zac and Kent were the same. They all pitched in whenever and however they were needed in the small community. Nick was starting to realize how much he’d missed the sense of togetherness and common purpose that Hope offered.

And how much he liked being a part of it. Maybe he’d think about something for this boy, but not till he’d finished Maggie’s machine.

Inside the house, Nick stood back as Shay gently led his mother through a regimen that had her panting with effort, much to Maggie’s delight.

“Hey, Grandma, we can do our exercises together,” the little girl said with a grin.

“Speaking of that, we’d better get cracking with the rest of Maggie’s therapy, Nick.” Shay smiled at him. “I have another client to see this morning.”

The rest of the time passed quickly. Shay’s quiet encouragement never faltered though Maggie burst into tears at several points and Nick grew so tense he kept making mistakes.

“Don’t get frustrated, Maggie. You either, Nick. You can’t think of this as something you’ll do and be done with. You have to practice it every day. Maggie, every morning, before you get up, I want you to do ten of those little leg lifts when you’re lying in bed. Your legs will soon get used to working,” Shay assured her. “But only if you keep making them do it.”

“Like ’sparagus,” Maggie puffed as she worked to flex her knee. “Right, Uncle Nick?”

“Right.” He chuckled at her distasteful expression.

“Huh?” Shay glanced at him, her eyes questioning.

“Well,” Maggie said with a deep concentration. “Grandma says ’sparagus is good for you,” Maggie explained to Shay. “Uncle Nick and I don’t like it, but she said if we eat a bit every time, then we’ll get to like it.”

“Grandma is very smart about a whole lot of things,” Nick agreed as he shared a smile with his mom. “Though maybe not ’sparagus,” he whispered in Shay’s ear. She turned to smile at him, a wistful look on her face. He wondered at that look, but it quickly disappeared.

Ten minutes later Shay headed out the door.

“You’re doing fine,” she said. “Call me if there’s a problem. Otherwise I’ll see you in the office next week, Maggie.” With a flutter of her fingers Shay was gone, her small red convertible vanishing in a cloud of dust.

“It’s like a light goes out when Shay leaves,” his mother mused as she lifted her hands off the machine he’d created. “It’s no wonder she was a success at modeling. How could the camera bear to look away from such inner beauty?”

His mother had always loved Shay. In high school she’d never made any bones about the fact that she liked seeing the two of them together. But Nick knew she’d always hoped something else would develop. He wasn’t exactly sure how he was supposed to tell her not to hope for more than friendship. Because he couldn’t offer Shay more.

A moment later she and Maggie began preparing lunch. Nick wandered out to his workshop, his thoughts on that wistful look on Shay’s face when he’d teased about the asparagus. What was that about? She had looked—what? Envious?

Come on, Nick. Shay Parker, envious of you? Get real. You’ve got nothing she’d want.

Nick’s cell phone broke into his train of thought.




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