The Journey Collection (26 page)

“Just don’t kiss until he tells ya to,” Max whispered — or he tried to, but his voice carried, and everyone laughed.

“We won’t, little man,” Travis promised him. “Thank you.”

Max grinned. “You’re welcome, Dad.”

Penelope and Travis turned to Reverend Brown, who smiled before he started the ceremony. “Dearly beloved, we’re gathered here today to unite Travis and Penelope in Holy Matrimony. . .”

The couple faced each other while the minister continued with the ceremony. When it was time, they vowed to love one another for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and in good times as well as in bad. They smiled and cried when it was time to exchange rings. Each of them murmured emotion-filled: “I do.”

Halfway through the ceremony, they gestured to Max to stand between them so that the three of them could light the eternity candle together — as a family. Once they’d lit the wick, Max moved back into position. Reverend Brown smiled as he brought his bible up to his chest.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” he declared. Shifting his eyes between them, he added, “You may now kiss your bride.”

Travis placed his hands on the side of Penelope’s face and leaned in until his lips were almost touching hers. “I love you, Mrs. McCoy.”

“And I love you, Mr. McCoy,” she whispered just seconds before he kissed her for the first time as his wife.

***

The

Journey

To

A

New Life

***

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

***

Chapter One

Surprises

Travis McCoy leaned back in his chair and yawned, drawing the attention of the fifteen students in his eighth period History class. The four boring, white walls had started to close in around him. Under normal circumstances, his classroom was a place of comfort, but today he had somewhere else to be — somewhere more important.

“Sorry,” he muttered, trying to hide his amusement as they all looked back down at their tests. Reaching for his cup of coffee, Travis grimaced when he took a sip; the bitter, cold taste was a disgusting reminder that he hadn’t refilled his cup since lunch. With a sigh, he began to tap his nails on his desk. The last hour of school always seemed to last forever, in particular when he was anxious for the bell to ring.

“Coach McCoy.” At the sound of Carissa Holland’s voice, Travis turned toward her. The fifteen-year-old, dark-haired freshman smiled. “You’re kind of freaking us out here. Are you okay?”

“Sorry,” he said, realizing that he’d just repeated himself and glanced at the clock. “I’m fine. You have five minutes left in the period so you’d better hurry.”

“It would help if you didn’t keep making so much noise,” she muttered, before turning back to her test. “Some of us are trying to concentrate.”

Travis wasn’t one to take such attitude from a student, but today he decided to let it slide for two reasons. First, he
had
been causing a distraction. As a rule, Travis didn’t tend to be so jittery, but today was the Friday before spring break and he was ready for the time off.

Second, Carissa was just one of those high-strung students, the kind who freaked out if she got a ninety-five on a test instead of a ninety-eight. Not that Travis blamed her — Carissa Holland had big shoes to fill. Her older brother, Cody, was finishing his sophomore year at Texas Tech University, where he was not just on the Dean’s List but also had led the Red Raiders to their first national championship in a decade. Cody had been one of the players on the Broncos’ football team the year Travis first came back from Miami. Considering the pressure he knew Carissa put on herself, Travis figured there were some battles not worth picking, and at the moment, that was one of them.

Five minutes later, the bell rang. Travis was on his feet, packing up his bag before his students had even looked up. At a slow, painful pace — according to Travis anyway — they began to lay their tests on his desk and made their way out of the room. Once Carissa placed hers on top, Travis gathered all the papers, shoved them into his bag, and followed her out. Travis made a beeline for the parking lot, climbed into his black, Chevrolet Suburban, and drove out of the parking lot. On the way home, he stopped by the junior high to pick up his son, Max.

As usual, Max was standing next to the front door with Jana Crosby. For two years now, they had been “dating”, as Max would put it. Travis often questioned how they could be dating when neither of them was old enough to go anywhere alone. Max would just roll his eyes and tell him that it was just a figure of speech.

Rolling down the passenger window, Travis yelled, “Max, come on!”

“Be right there,” Max called back, but he turned to Jana and said something that caused her to laugh. She brushed her long, auburn hair over her shoulder, and smiled at Max, causing Travis’ stomach to ache.

Huffing, Travis tried to keep his temper down. Max had been told this morning by him and Penelope to be ready the minute Travis pulled up in front of the building and now, he was wasting time. “Max McCoy, let’s go!”

Max glared at Travis before picking up his backpack and walked over to the Suburban. “I said I was coming,” he groused, climbing into the backseat. “Geez, have some patience already.”

“Yeah, well, you were being slow.” Travis pulled back out into traffic. “How’d your math test go?”

“I don’t know, not like we got our grades back today or anything,” Max mumbled.

Travis looked at him through the rear view mirror. At almost thirteen, Max had turned into a typical teenager. He mumbled answers under his breath, gave vague replies, and had developed a bit of an attitude, but even with all of those together, Max was still a good kid. He was just several inches taller and bit moodier than he had been at eleven.

“Do you think you passed?” Travis pressed, turning left onto their street.

“I guess,” Max replied.

Travis sighed and parked in front of their house. Just as he was about to push down on the horn, the front door flew open and his wife, Penelope, came rushing out with her arms full of luggage. Max reached across the backseat and opened the door for his mother.

“Thanks, honey,” Penelope said, hanging the two garment bags on the hook just inside the door. Closing the back door, Penelope slid into the passenger seat and leaned over, giving Travis a kiss. “You’re late.”

“Don’t blame me,” Travis snickered. “Lover-boy back there couldn’t pry himself away from Jana.”

“Dad,” Max whined, pulling his T-shirt up over his face in an effort to hide his rosy, red cheeks.

“Ah, don’t be embarrassed, Max,” Penelope soothed. “I think it’s sweet.”

“Ugh, you’re not helping, Mom,” Max complained, tugging his shirt down just enough to expose his mocha-brown eyes.

Penelope smirked. “I know.”

Max growled and pulled his shirt back over his head, causing Travis and Penelope to laugh. Shifting the Suburban into drive, Travis headed toward the highway. Today, they were on their way to Red River, New Mexico to witness Russ and Nadine getting married.

~*~*~*~

The next morning, Travis stumbled out of bed, being careful not to wake Penelope, and walked outside of the small cabin they had rented for the weekend. Closing his eyes, he breathed in the fresh air, feeling the tension in his shoulders dissipate. They had driven straight from Clarendon the night before, stopping just long enough to pick up McDonald’s on the way through Amarillo. Four hours later, they drove past the City of Red River sign. A smile lifted the corners of Travis’s lips when he thought about why they had made the trip to the New Mexico mountain town.

Russ McCoy had proposed to Nadine on Christmas morning. Travis, Penelope, and Max were in the middle of opening their gifts when they came bursting into the house. Nadine thrust her hand out, showing them the small, oval-shaped diamond ring resting on her left ring finger. The look of happiness and joy on Russ’s face when Travis stood up and hugged his father amazed him. Letting go of Travis’s mother, Loralie, and allowing himself to be happy had been a huge step for Russ, one that Travis knew his father would make in time. He just wasn’t prepared for it to happen so soon; nonetheless, he was glad Russ had someone to take care of him.

Since both Nadine and Russ had been through big weddings before, they opted to get married in Red River. Travis, Penelope, and Max were happy to come and bear witness to their day.

“Nice out here, isn’t it?”

Travis smiled and looked over his shoulder at Russ. With wispy brown hair and blue eyes, Russ stood about an inch taller than Travis.

“A little chilly, but not too bad,” Travis murmured. “Are you getting nervous yet?”

“Nope,” Russ said, moving over and standing next to his son. “The last time I felt this confident about a decision, I was getting ready to marry your momma.”

“And that turned out okay,” Travis teased. “After all, you did get me out of the deal.”

“Yeah, well, nothing’s perfect.”

“Dad!” Travis huffed and shook his head. “I see how it is.”

“Oh, calm down, boy,” Russ snickered. “I’m just joking. You’re the best gift that woman ever gave me, Travis.”

Grinning, he turned toward his father and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “In case I haven’t told you this enough, I’m happy for you, Dad. While you and Nadine sicken me a little with your gushiness, you also inspire me. You’ve both faced losses in your lives, and have managed find someone to love.”

“If you’d left out the part about us making you sick, I would have said that was the sweetest thing you’d ever said to me.” Russ laughed and hugged Travis. “Thank you, though. It means the world to both of us that you’re here.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Travis whispered, meaning every word.

“If you two are done being sappy, we have a wedding to organize.”

Travis and Russ looked back to find Penelope leaning against the doorframe with her arms wrapped around her body and a smile on her face.

There was something different about her today — Travis just couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Yes, ma’am,” the two men replied together.

Following Penelope into the house, they prepared for the biggest night in Russ and Nadine’s lives.

~*~*~*~

At the brink of dusk, Travis held his arm out to Nadine. She smiled and slid her fingers around his bicep, clutching onto him. They were standing at one end of a covered bridge in Brandenburg Park, at the base of the Red River Ski Area, while Russ, Max, and Penelope stood at the other end. They had placed lanterns and candles along the way to offer a soft, sensual ambiance.

“Are you ready, Nadine?” Travis asked, looking down at the woman who had captured his father’s heart.

“More than ever.” She smiled. The two of them started across the bridge at a slow pace.

In two years, so much of Travis’s life had changed. After an injury ended his professional football career, he had come home to face his past. At the time, Travis had been prepared to fight with his father about the choices he’d made, yet somehow they had been able to rip off the bandages and expose their wounded souls to one another. With everything out in the open, Travis and Russ had begun to mend their tattered relationship and were now closer than they had ever been.

Travis shifted his attention to Max. He had been the person who brought them all together. Max had come barreling into Travis’s life with a bounce in his step and a positive outlook on life that most ten year olds didn’t have. The moment Travis looked from the boy to Penelope, he’d known Max was his son. At first, he had been angry that he’d missed out the chance to be a father to Max, but when Penelope explained why she hid his son from him, he understood.

Travis had been so wrapped up in achieving his dream of becoming a star football player that Penelope had been afraid of telling him she was pregnant for fear of him resenting her for taking away his dream. As much as he had wanted to deny her claims, Travis couldn’t. He wouldn’t have abandoned her or their child, but he could admit that a part of him would have grown to resent her for trapping him in a life that he had never wanted — or that he hadn’t thought he wanted. At eighteen, he was too dumb to know that he could have had everything.

None of that mattered now, though. Travis had allowed himself to love Penelope again, to be the man she’d always known he was meant to become. He became Max’s father, someone for him to admire and strive to emulate. Travis’s life had endured a couple of bumps in the road, but in the long run, he was right where he was supposed to be: on a covered bridge, walking his soon-to-be step-mother down the aisle so she could marry his father.

“Wow, honey, you look amazing,” Russ said as Travis and Nadine stopped in front of him.

Travis took Nadine’s hand and placed it in his father’s. Shifting his eyes up to Russ’s, Travis told him, “Just love her.”

“I do, boy, I do,” Russ replied.

Travis smiled and moved over to stand by Penelope. She entwined her fingers with his, leaning her head against his shoulder while they watched the pastor from Faith Mountain Fellowship Church begin the ceremony.

“Love is not something to be taken lightly,” the pastor began. “Finding true love once is a gift; receiving it a second time is a miracle. Today, we gather to join Russ and Nadine in Holy Matrimony.”

While Russ and Nadine spoke the same vows that Travis and Penelope had exchanged almost two years before, Travis heard Penelope begin to weep quiet tears. He slid his hand from hers and wrapped his arm around her, nestling her against his chest. Penelope had been more emotional over the last couple of weeks. Travis knew that, with her parents in Colorado, Penelope had become closer to Nadine. She had even helped Nadine with the plans for the wedding.

“I, Russ, take you, Nadine, to be my wife . . .”

Russ went on to promise to love and honor her, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad for the rest of their lives. There had been a time when Travis had felt like his father had disregarded the wedding vows he had made to Travis’s mother. But now, he knew there wasn’t a day that went by that Russ didn’t think about Loralie. He had never stopped loving her; he had just found a way to be happy with Nadine.

“I, Nadine, take you, Russ, to be my husband . . .”

Echoing Russ’s vows, Nadine declared her love for the man whom Travis knew had stopped her from spiraling down destructive path after her husband had passed away. Much like Russ, Nadine hadn’t stopped loving her husband; she had just found a way to love Russ, too.

“It’s an honor to pronounce you husband and wife,” the pastor declared with a smile. Gesturing to Nadine, he added. “You may kiss your bride.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Russ chuckled before placing his hands on either side of her face, leaning toward her, and placing a soft, chaste kiss upon her lips. “I love you, honey.”