The Flying Cross Ranch Romances Volume One

Chapter 7

There was a saying in the South. It was a saying about how women clutched their pearls when they were shocked. Savy wasn"t a fan of pearls. They were the guts of an oyster. She"d never taken to the idea of wearing an animal’s innards on her body.

Still, when she saw Charlie Matthews embracing Tina Billings, her hand immediately went to her throat. There weren"t any pearls there. Just the thin gold chain with a piece of plastic dangling from the end.

It was the plastic that was priceless. A prize won from a Cracker Jack box years ago. A promise given to her with sugary fingers and a sweet smile.

Savy clung to that pact as she watched the impossible play out right before her eyes.

Charlie Matthews was home. He was back in Honor Valley.

That wasn"t the impossible part. He always came back. He just never stayed. Not since he"d enlisted in the Air Force. He was always being called away on a mission.

Which she supposed she should be pleased about. It meant he was good at his job. It meant he was indispensable to their country. He was indispensable to her, too, and he"d enlisted his services to her first. Surprisingly, the U.S. Government did not respect the dibs of an eight-year-old girl.

But he was home right now. Which baffled Savy because she hadn"t been the first person to know about his return. She was always the first to know. It was part of their pact.

The pact that started after the first time her mother, who had abandoned them months before that, snatched Savy, Foxy, and Tricksy out of the foster home to go on the road with her as backup singers. When her mom overdosed after a show in Vegas, the girls had been taken and returned to the foster care home. Charlie had snuck into their room and held her hand tight until the morning when he"d been found and confined to his room during free time. They"d lost those three days apart, but they were back together again. Until her mom got clean and came back to reclaim them for a show in L.A.

From that point on, it was a series of hits and misses with the two of them. Her mom would go on a bender, and Savy would return to Honor Valley, only to find that Charlie was away at summer camp. Or Charlie would be home on leave, only to come home and find that she was back on the road singing with her sisters.

The stars had trouble aligning for Savy James and Charlie Matthews. Looking at him now, as he stood under the fluorescent lights of the hospital, the impossible glared back at Savy. Charlie Matthews—her Charlie Matthews—was embracing another woman. A woman who wasn"t her.

"Back again, Savy?"

Savy broke her gaze from the impossible scene on display down the hall and focused on the intake nurse. The gray-haired woman reminded Savy of her second-grade teacher. All the kids swore Mrs. September was actually the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Nurse Ruddell had the same grimace on her wrinkled face when she glared down at Daria.

"What was it this time, Daria? Trying to fly? Trying to walk through walls? Or proving you"re impervious to pain by putting your hand in a fire?"

Mr. Davidson raised both eyebrows to his hairline. The fingers of his right hand twitched as though he wanted to jot down some more incriminating notes about Savy"s foster kids. Luckily, he couldn"t reach for his pen and notepad. His hands had a Daria-sized bundle in them.

Daria held her upper lip stiffly. Her red cape hung limp at her back, covered in soot. She was always surprised when she bled, bruised, or broke a bone like a normal human.

"This has happened before?" asked Mr. Davidson.

"That child"s in here every other week," supplied Nurse Ruddell. "She thinks she"s a superhero. She"s got a medical record like a rap sheet. If I hadn"t seen her antics firsthand, I would"ve called CPS."

Nurse Ruddell chucked her head to the side to indicate Savy. Little did Nurse Ruddell know, Mr. Davidson was worse than Child Protective Services. A few more unfavorable notes written down about Savy and her kids, and these children would be let loose in the wild. Wrangling the wild horses running in the valley would be simpler than trying to tame them.

"I encourage my charges to develop a healthy imagination," Savy said.

"One that requires stitches and casts," Nurse Ruddell said as she placed the hospital intake band around Daria"s arm. She hadn"t even bothered to hand Savy any intake forms. They were in here so much that the nurses knew the kid"s details by heart.

"I"m okay, Ms. Savy," Daria said as Mr. Davidson deposited her into the wheelchair offered by Nurse Ruddell. "I"m sorry I didn"t find the money in the chimney."

"You told this child to go looking for money in a chimney?" Mr. Davidson turned to Savy in horror.

"No, I di—"

He was already scribbling more notes down on his pad now that his hands were free. Nurse Ruddell was wheeling Daria down the hall for an x-ray. Savy stood in the middle of the reception area, flustered and defeated.

She couldn"t lose these kids. She was all they had. No one else wanted them. Savy knew because she"d tried to place each of them in a permanent home. One by one, they came back to her, returned to sender. Two families quit fostering after taking in Denny and Daria.

Savy had promised the kids would always have a home at Bright Horizons. It had been the one place that was constant in her life. Which was why when she retired from singing at the ripe old age of twenty-two, she"d taken over Bright Horizons. And now it, along with the children, was in danger of being taken from her.

She hadn"t felt this alone since the first time she returned to Honor Valley, and Charlie was overseas, entirely beyond her reach.

Then warm arms were around her. Followed by a warm, familiar smell. Those strong arms fit her snug and tight. That smell brought about instant peace and calm. Then came the voice she heard every night in her dreams.

"Hey."

It was just one word. Just one syllable. It meant nothing. It meant everything.

Savy had been holding herself so tightly wound these last few days. She couldn"t break. Everyone needed her to be strong.

Not him.

He was the strong one. In his arms was the only place she could show her weaknesses. He was the soft place that absorbed her harsh edges. His was the gentle voice that softened her tenor.

Savy slumped into Charlie"s body. Her feet left the ground as she allowed him to whisk her away like her very own Prince Charming. When she opened her eyes, they were alone in an exam room.

A gurney with ripped paper covering the hard cushion. A heart monitor that showed a flat line. A tissue on the floor that had missed the waste disposal bin.

And Charlie.

Her Charlie.

Here. With her. As it should be.

Savy pulled his head down to hers, and she was kissing him. He was kissing her. They were kissing one another.

The only time her world made sense was in this man"s arms. When she was gazing into his eyes. When he was whispering in her ear how much he adored her. Those few moments in her lifetime that the stars aligned and everything else fell away.

The overhead fluorescent light made a buzzing noise, interrupting the soundtrack of soft sighs that accompanied this reunion. The light blinked out and in, like a fading star. When it flicked back on, shining its full force, Savy broke the kiss.

"You"re dating Tina Billings?"

"Who?"

"The woman who had her hands all over you."

"What woman?"

Charlie asked the question, likely more out of the politeness hammered into him by his adoptive parents. He clearly wasn"t interested in the answer. Because he was kissing Savy again.

That kiss told Savy loud and clear everything she needed to know about what she thought she"d seen. There had been nothing between Charlie and Tina. Savy knew there had never been anything between Charlie and any other woman that wasn"t her.

She didn"t doubt his fidelity. He didn"t doubt hers. The first time they"d laid eyes on each other, both their hearts had shouted this one.

this one.They"d both been eight when they met. They"d been thirteen when they"d shared their first kiss. They"d been sixteen the first time Charlie proposed to her.

Saying yes to Charlie Matthews wasn"t the problem. Being with him was.

"You"re here," Savy said, placing her hand on his chest. She felt the same thin chain and the same plastic ring that she wore around her neck.

"I am." Charlie grinned that devastating grin that kept her heart locked down from every man who came near.

"How long?" She hated to ask it, but she had to know. She had to get her expectations set. She had to know how long she could rest in heaven before she was flung back down to earth when he left. "How long?" she repeated.

"Forever."

There had been soft sighs coming from her mouth only a second ago. With that single word, a gush of hot air burst from her chest and out of her mouth. Her nostrils flared but not with desire. Savy pressed her hands against Charlie"s chest, ignoring his racing heart, and shoved him away from her. Hard.