Indomitable Spirit (23 page)

She’d bought a gift for Cody and left it on the doorstep. She couldn’t wait to hear about the party.

As she drove out of town, she stopped by Maggie’s and got a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee.

Maggie’s husband, Harvey Wilson, sat at the counter. “Looks like you’re headed out of town early.”

Kym smiled. “Yes. I have a competition in Grand Junction.”

Maggie handed her the bag with her food and a Styrofoam cup of coffee. “You drive careful. And if you don’t think you can make it back…”

“I won’t even try it.”

She gave her a nod and a smile as she left the restaurant and headed toward her next destination.

Kym pulled through the front of the cemetery and down the small roads which lined it. Before she’d left home she made sure to find the plot she was looking for. There was no time to spend all day wandering a cemetery even if it was filled with some very famous people.

She stopped her car and parked at the marker she’d been looking for. The headstone was easy enough to find with a bouquet of candy cane flowers.

LARSON

Kym let out a long breath and walked to the stone.

She set the flowers down that Heather had made up for her the night before.

“Hello, Abigail. My name is Kym O’Bryne and I’m in love with your husband.” She chuckled when she thought of what it was she was doing. “Your children are wonderful and I would give anything to help John raise them in your absence. But, I felt as though I should come by and let you know I never intend to replace you. But he says he loves me and I love him, though I’ll never be you.”

She thought she’d cry. She’d even given herself permission to do so, but the tears weren’t there.

The sun had fully crested over the mountain now and the air warmed.

“If he’ll let me, I’ll take care of him for the rest of my life—and the kids. But I needed you to know that he loves you and I know he always will.”

A warm breeze blew through the cemetery on the chilled December morning and it hit her enough that she sucked in a breath and she could smell the flowers.

Kym felt as though she’d done what she needed to do. Three years to the day after a woman she’d never known had died; she’d made her peace with that woman. But in her heart she felt as though she had her permission to love him—them.

Kym had signed in at the tournament and been instructed as to what was expected of her as a competitor and a judge.

She wasn’t unfamiliar with tournaments, but each one was just a bit different. And this one was the first one without her family.

Texts had come from both of her brothers wishing her well. An email from her parents had done the same. But it was the email from her grandfather that had put the feeling of accomplishment in her heart.

Competition was first and they would start with black belts and work their way down from there. When her ring assignment was called Kym walked over and reminded herself, continuously, to breathe.

She was the fourth competitor in the ring and her competition thus far had been steep. There were three more to go after her so she had to make it count.

Kym gave her presentation and then took a deep cleansing breath and began her form.

Muscle memory had kicked in and her body moved in the way it had been trained to. Each block was sharp—each punch, strong. Her breath was loud and her cries of confidence—the same.

Each kick was higher than she’d ever kicked and the form was the best she’d ever done. As she bowed to the judges when it was over she thought she’d never performed as well—and no one from her family had seen it.

She turned down on one knee and the judges scored. She listened as they called them off. Each score was higher than the other judge and higher than her competitors. So far, she was in first place.

There were no cheers or applause. It was on to the next competitor and the next.

When they were finished the judges and the scorekeeper convened in the center of the ring. The competitors, four men and two women, were asked to stand.

The announcer announced the third place winner and it wasn’t her. He announced the second place winner and it wasn’t her. She held her breath as she felt the eyes of the man next to her on her. When the announcer announced the first place champion she heard it.

“Miss Kym O’Bryne from O’Bryne Karate in Aspen Creek, Colorado.”

The smile erupted on her lips before she could pull it back and control it. She walked to the head judge and accepted her trophy, but then she heard it. There was applause and whistles and cheering. She heard her name and she looked around.

To the side of the ring there stood John with Cody on his hip. Mason was on Kelley’s hip and Abby and Jacob stood next to Heather and their grandmother in their uniforms.

She hadn’t cried when she’d visited Abigail, but the tears were there now.

She bowed to the head judge and then as a group to the head table where grand masters sat before she made her way to the family—John’s family—her family.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as Jacob bowed and then gave her a hug.

“We didn’t want to miss you,” he said to her.

“You’re in uniform.”

John rested his hand on his son’s shoulder. “He’s worked too hard to not show off what he has.”

Those damn tears rolled down her cheeks. “Is he registered?”

“Your grandfather took care of everything.”

Kym covered her mouth and the cry had turned to a sob.

“The party.”

“We brought the party with us. And everyone with us.”

Abigail’s sister and mother both smiled at her. She couldn’t even believe she was standing there in that moment. But she’d never in her life been happier.

The competition progressed until it was time for Jacob to compete. Kym took him to the side.

“Are you ready for this?” she asked as she gave his belt knot a tug.

“I am, ma’am.”

“There are a lot of kids here. All I ask is that you do your best.”

“I will, ma’am.”

She gave him a bow and he reciprocated. Then she pulled him into her arms for a hug. “I’m so proud of you.”

When he pulled back he gave her a smile and lined up.

John moved in next to her and laced his arm around her waist.

“I didn’t get to tell you that you did a great job.”

She looked up at him. “You saw me?”

He nodded. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

Her heart was racing now, but it wasn’t nerves that brought it on. It was the happiness that filled it completely.

Jacob was near the end of his competition and some of those kids knew what they were doing. Kym tried to keep calm as he introduced himself to the judges and then bowed.

Her stomach flopped and her muscles ached with each move he made—perfectly. How could John stand only a few feet from her with Cody asleep on his shoulder and not look nervous. She was a wild mass of nerves.

When Jacob was done and he turned while his scores were given, he looked at Kym and smiled. Her heart was nearly ready to explode. She’d loved John’s kids since the second she’d met them, but in this very special moment she came to realize just how much.

The judges gave their scores and Kym wasn’t even sure she heard them or saw them. She’d been paralyzed by Jacob’s enormous smile.

“That puts him in first place,” John said softly in her ear.

“Does it? I didn’t know. I’m just so proud of him I could burst.”

“Imagine how good that’ll feel when you have your own kid out there.”

She turned to him, her mouth open. What could she say to that?

“I feel like he is mine,” she said.

“I think he is in spirit.”

She smiled widely and turned back to watch them announce Jacob’s first place win.

As Kym drove back home, the roads clean and dry, she looked at the boy next to her. Jacob had opted to ride home with her.

He slept in the passenger seat with both their first place trophies wrapped in his arms.

The sun had long ago tucked itself behind the mountains, but as she passed the cemetery she swore she could smell the flowers on a warm breeze in the car.

John waited by the front door as she climbed out of the car and a sleepy Jacob did the same.

“Kiddo, there is a pizza and a piece of cake on the table waiting for you,” John said and Jacob gave him a nod as he carried his trophy into the house.

“He’s exhausted.”

“He worked hard for that.”

“Yes he did.”

John walked toward her. “I think Cody had the best birthday ever.”

She smiled. “That makes me very happy.”

“C’mon, there’s pizza and cake waiting for you too.”

With his arm around her waist she walked toward the house with him, but then he stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been thinking, you’re probably really tired tonight. Why don’t you plan on not going home.”

She pursed her lips. “That’s not a good idea. You’re kids…”

“Are expecting to find you waking up with me a lot in the future, but that’s a conversation for tomorrow morning when we wake up.”

He laced his arm around her again and escorted her into the house.

Epilogue

Sunday morning the sunshine was bright and Kym thought she could smell flowers in the air. She jumped when she felt John’s arm wrap around her and for a moment she had to remind herself that she’d fallen asleep in his bed, in his home, in his arms.

“Good morning, my love,” he whispered in her ear.

“Good morning.”

The feel of him there made her long for it for the next morning and the next.

“I should go before the kids wake up.”

He wrapped his arm tighter around her. “Oh, they’re up and gone. My sister took them to church.”

“Oh.”

“It’s just the two of us all day. I thought maybe we’d stay right here.”

Kym rolled until she was facing him. “Do you really think that’s wise?”

He nodded, his eyes closed and his face relaxed from sleep. “They’re not coming home until dinner when we celebrate.”

“Celebrate? What are you celebrating?”

“Oh, lots of things. Cody’s birthday, your trophy, Jacob’s trophy, our engagement.” His eyes opened slowly and a smile formed on his lips.

Kym propped herself up on her elbow. “Our what?”

John rose to meet her. “Oh, I skipped a step.”

“Yeah you did.”

He reached his hand up and smoothed her hair. “I told you, you were the last woman I wanted to say I love you to.”

“You did.”

“I meant it. And I have four amazing and wonderful kids who love you too. They told me they did, when I asked them if I could marry you.”

She pressed her fingers to her lips. “You asked them?”

He nodded and turned to reach for something off of the nightstand. “Here, they made these for you.”

He handed her a stack of papers. “These are homemade cards.” She could feel her eyes moisten.

“Congratulations cards. Look, Abby drew you next to your trophy.”

“I love it.” She looked back into his eyes and he moved in to kiss her gently.

“So I guess all that’s left is to ask you if you’d bring that indomitable spirit into our house forever. Kym O’Bryne, will you marry me?”

Her pulse quickened and her chest felt full—full of love. “I’ve loved you since you crashed that silly grocery cart into me.”

“You crashed into me.”

She laughed. “I guess we can shop together now.”

“Does that mean yes?”

She pressed a warm kiss to his lips. “That means yes.”

We hope you enjoyed

Bernadette Marie’s

Indomitable Spirit

Visit us again in

Aspen Creek

in the Fall of 2014

for

The Lost Ones

Meet the Author

Bestselling Author Bernadette Marie is known for building families readers want to be part of. Her series
The Keller Family
has graced bestseller charts since its release in 2011, along with her other series and single title books. The married mother of five sons promises
Happily Ever After always…
and says she can write it, because she lives it.

When not writing, Bernadette Marie is shuffling her sons to their many events—mostly hockey—and enjoying the beautiful views of the Colorado Rocky Mountains from her front step. She is also an accomplished martial artist with a second degree black belt in Tang Soo Do.

A chronic entrepreneur, Bernadette Marie opened her own publishing house in 2011,
5 Prince Publishing,
so that she could publish the books she liked to write and help make the dreams of other aspiring authors come true too.

Visit Bernadette Marie at www.bernadettemarie.com