“What happens if I give up trying to change your mind. And then I keep coming back every day. Like I’ve always done. Like Rufus. Like Joe, who taught me to fly–he kept coming back through a war and more bad flying conditions than I’d see in two lifetimes, right up until he died in his sleep at ninety-two.
“Would you deny us all–you, me and Matthew–a life together on the chance something bad might happen? That’s crazy.”
She’d been wrong about a lot of things, including thinking she’d ever had a choice about loving him. Loving him was too deep in her, embedded in her soul by hurricane winds, then cultivated with the clumsy caresses of an uncertain father, the painful integrity of an honest man and the determination of an unrelenting lover.
“I have a question for you, Daniel.”
He eyed her with wary intensity. “Yeah?”
“You said this was routine. Did you mean that? All your search and rescue missions are going to be like this?”
One side of his mouth lifted a fraction. “No, I wouldn’t call this routine.”
“Good. Because even though I want to be with you when it’s the last day of my life–or the last day of your life–I truly don’t think I could take watching my husband do this on a regular basis.”
“Your husband.” A muscle in his cheek twitched, but that was his only movement.
“Yes. If that’s all right with you.”
“I’m not going to ask you if you’re sure.” His voice was low and rough with warning. He’d hold her to this. Give no quarter. Allow no backing out.
“I’m sure.”
He looked into her eyes for another long moment, then took her face between his two large palms and kissed her until they both had to gasp for air.
“There you go, Kendra.”
Wrapping one arm around her shoulders, he started toward the door that led to the stairs to his room, and his bed. And then he let her know exactly how all right it was.
EPILOGUE
“Tell us the story, Marti.”
The drought was long over. Snow had broken the dry season, finally blanketing the fires on the mountainside. Here on the overlook, the snow was fine enough to be stirred by the horses’ hooves, as the people of Far Hills Ranch gazed down on their home.
Two days ago, Marti had announced her resolve to go up to the overlook on the November day her research had shown Leaping Star died. Luke had been just as adamant that she wasn’t going alone. If only in the name of research, Ellyn and Kendra wanted to visit the spot. Daniel expressed an interest, too. After that, Meg and Ben Sinclair insisted on coming. With a warm day, gentle pace and layers of protective clothing, Matthew and Emily had been allowed to complete the group.
Now, even the little ones seemed to feel a sense of solemnity.
Marti silently laid a spray of dried flowers in a protected area between two rocks, then stepped back to the group.
That’s when Kendra urged her to tell the Susland Legend.
“It happened right here, in 1878. The campfire burned for four days and four nights . . .”
As the familiar words flowed from her aunt, Kendra felt Daniel’s arm tighten around her waist, and she leaned into him. His other arm balanced Matthew, perched on his jacketed shoulders.
He’d been right from the start. They had known each other during those days in the hurricane. Known each other in a way neither had been known before. Stripped of the identities that had been her protection and his burden. Those days sheltering from the hurricane had been like the pencil sketch of their love. Now they were beginning the oil painting.
They were going to spend the week after next in Florida with the Delligattis–Daniel’s family, Matthew’s grandparents, and her soon-to-be in-laws.
The wedding was set for January, at the Far Hills home ranch, because she couldn’t imagine being married anywhere else.
Marti’s voice lightened, and she smiled faintly at Daniel, Kendra and Matthew. “ ‘You turn away from your children, so your blood will be alone.’ ”
Kendra wasn’t alone anymore.
She knew Marti thought it had something to do with Daniel’s refusal to turn away from his child releasing part of Leaping Star’s curse by righting Charles Susland’s old wrong. But Kendra knew it was because he’d never given up on her. Now she would never give up on making him see how much she loved him.
She smiled to herself, remembering his expression the first time Matthew called him Daddy.
The silence when Marti finished the tale didn’t last long.
“Wow, five generations, so time’s running out or the ranch will be cursed forever,” said Ben Sinclair with ghoulish delight.
“You missed the point.” His sister’s disgust was complete. “It has to be true love.”
“You’re both right.” Ellyn put an arm around each set of shoulders. “ ‘Only when someone loves enough to undo your wrongs will the laughter of children live beyond its echo in Far Hills.’ ”
“The laughter of children sounds pretty good,” Daniel said, close to Kendra’s ear. “How long after the wedding until we start working on giving Matthew a little brother or sister?”
His tongue flicked against her earlobe. She stretched up to kiss him, parting her lips, and his tongue slid in, then out as a tempting promise of more.
“Who says we have to wait until after the wedding?”
The fire in his eyes was an immediate and unmistakable answer. Without another word, they started toward their horses, as Daniel hoisted Matthew down from his shoulders.
“You two leaving?” Luke asked.
“We thought we’d get a head start,” Kendra said. “We’ve, uh, got a project we want to work on back at the house.”
From the adults’ smiles, they knew exactly how she and
