Her Hometown Hero(50)

"Sage Banks, I love you," he said as she moved toward him, her legs  trembling, her heart thudding. It was simple, and it was sweet. He was  opening his heart to her in front of people they'd known their entire  lives. He was telling the world that she was worth the risk. He was  telling her this was forever.

She dropped to her knees in front of him, and she didn't even feel her  sweatpants get soggy in the snow. "Spence Whitman, I love you," she  replied, then took the initiative and leaned forward, kissing him and  clinging to him for all she was worth. She was through analyzing this,  through thinking it over. Sometimes, as her grandmother said, you have  to take a leap of faith.

Their friends and family continued singing as he returned her kiss. Her  heart was so full now it seemed almost unfair to all the people who  didn't have someone to love.

"Marry me, Sage. That's all I want for Christmas. I just want you to be my wife."

"Then it looks like you've been a good boy, Spence." His eyebrows  furrowed in confusion, so she continued. "Santa is giving you exactly  what you want."

Spence grinned as he drew back, took an exquisite diamond ring from a  black velvet box, and slid it onto her finger. "She said yes!" he called  out, and their neighbors, in sync, released the sky lanterns, the hot  candles helping them to soar.

Spence stood, pulling her up with him. He lifted his arm and released  his lantern, and together they watched them all float into the sky.

"Your last gift, Sage. All our prayers and wishes have just floated  upward. I plan on making every dream you've ever had come true."

"You gave me the dream I didn't know I wanted, Spence. You love me-my faults and all. And I love you-your faults and all."

"I will forever be grateful to our meddling family members, but let's  not tell them-ever," he said with a chuckle. The two of them turned to  find Martin standing nearby with his partners in crime: Bethel, Maggie,  and Eileen.

"I agree. We'll make them suffer. It looks like the meddlers are only missing one member of their scheming group."

"Ah yes, Joseph Anderson. We both know he's the one who got them all started," Spence said.

"Should we feel sorry for your brothers, or happy for them? Because  right now I know I should still be angry at the meddlers, but I'm so  happy I can't find room for any other emotions to fit inside."

"I say we step up and help them out," Spence said.

"You are a terrible man-and I say . . . I agree."

Then the two of them forgot all about talking as Spence took her into  his arms and kissed her, showing her exactly what she meant to him.  Their neighbors and family faded away as he lifted her and carried her  inside.





EPILOGUE


"What a beautiful wedding that was," Joseph said to Martin, Bethel, Maggie, and Eileen.

"That horse-drawn carriage looked like it came right out of the pages of  Cinderella," Bethel said with a sigh as she looked across the room at  her granddaughter dancing in her husband's arms.

"Yes, Spence really went all out to make her dreams come true. I'm mighty proud of my boy," Martin said, his heart glowing.

The words brought tears to Bethel's eyes. "And I'm so happy that Sage has found a man strong enough to hold her heart."

"And I have another daughter to warm our home," Martin observed. "This matchmaking stuff is pretty wonderful."

"I was a little worried there for a while. Those two just weren't  cooperating," Eileen said. She was glad it had worked out, but a bit  bored now, though she didn't want to admit it. She and her friends  hadn't been doing anything to move things along with the other two  victims-er, bachelors-in the Whitman family.                       
       
           



       

"Yes, your kids are certainly as stubborn as my own brood," Joseph replied with a laugh.

Martin joined in the laughter and said, "Oh, look at that. Spence is scowling."

The little group turned to see Austin tugging Sage into his arms for a  dance. Before Spence could claim her back, Austin's wife, Kinsey, tapped  his shoulder. He smiled at her and then offered his arm.

"He doesn't want to let go of Sage for even three minutes," Eileen said.  "That boy is head over heels in love." The woman directed a shy glance  at Martin.

"Yes, love is certainly in the air. Just look over there in the corner," Martin said.

The group turned as one and spotted Camden and Grace, who seemed to be having a heated debate.

"That boy's eyes just about popped out of his head when Grace walked  into the room," Maggie remarked. "Her name is quite fitting, because she  sure has a lot of class."

"I'd given up hope on the two of them ever reconnecting, but from the  look of things, the sparks we've set are starting to catch fire," Martin  replied.

"Camden has no idea that we're the ones who put that file on his desk?" Joseph asked.

"Not a clue. He thinks it was her parents-those worthless people," Martin grumbled.

"And has Camden stepped up like you thought he would?" Joseph asked. He  hadn't managed to make it back to Sterling in the last few months, not  with so much going on in Seattle.

"Of course he has. Not only will he save the girl, but I'm hoping for  another wedding. I'm thinking around Christmastime would be quite  pleasant."

Bethel's eyes lit up. "Well, since it's only June now, maybe we'll get  lucky and swing that wedding, and then a Christmas baby for the next  year."

"That would indeed make a mighty fine Christmas," Eileen said with a sigh.

When Spence took Sage back into his arms, both their faces shone with  the pure love that they shared. They might not have been thanking the  five people who'd plotted their union     , but their radiant joy was  thanks enough.

"To love," Joseph said, and the four friends joined the toast. They hadn't had a single miss yet.





Turn the page for a sneak peek of the next heartwarming novel in the Unexpected Heroes series

HER FOREVER HERO

Coming in spring 2016 from Pocket Books





Some welcome home. The railing and eaves of the porch were decorated  thickly with spiderwebs, and weeds were doing their bit, too, creeping  up between the now rickety boards to act almost like potted plants.  Mother Nature had pulled out all the stops in her honor.

Grace picked up a dull gray stone, tossed it upward, then felt its  expected weight as it landed back in the palm of her hand. She tossed it  over and over, her mind adrift and haunted.

Why was she here? Why torment herself?

Because she had nowhere else to go. Her life had been in shambles for  the past ten years, ever since she'd left Sterling. She could fix up her  childhood house-a house, never a home. The spacious rooms could be  cleaned, the rotten boards replaced, the cobwebs torn down. But she  didn't have any desire to live in a house with no pleasant memories to  be found inside its walls.

Her happiest times in Sterling had been outside this mausoleum that had  been her mother's pride and joy. They might not have been the wealthiest  family in the small Montana town, but they'd had a lot, and Mrs.  Sinclair felt true love for her possessions, including the  six-thousand-square-foot home now standing nearly empty before her  daughter.

Grace's journey down memory lane-tiptoeing through the funeral  tulips-wasn't finished yet, though. Letting the rock drop to the ground,  she walked up the rickety steps, cautiously avoiding the sticky  cobwebs. She tested the door handle, only to find it was locked. She  hoped the key still worked.

It took several tries, but twisting the key a little this way and that,  she finally managed to get the lock to free itself, and then, with the  help of a strong push, the door was swinging open. Sunlight filtered  through the dust-coated windows, showing years' worth of grime covering  the floors, counters, and odd pieces of furniture that had been left  behind.

"Somebody call Better Homes and Gardens!" she said out loud to break through the gloom. Too bad it didn't work.

Her father had told her he wouldn't sell the home, that someday she  might want to return to it. This property had once belonged to her  grandfather, and to her grandfather's grandfather before that. Her  ancestors had moved to the area in the eighteen hundreds and had made a  beautiful settlement for themselves.                       
       
           



       

Her mother had wanted to tear down the original homestead, a quaint  one-room cabin with a woodstove and loft. Her father had refused, and  restored it instead. That was where Grace had some of her best memories,  because they had been outside the walls of her jail-the Big House. She  and Sage had spent many nights sleeping in that small cabin, telling  each other their dreams.