The One She Left Behind (Harlequin Super Romance) (21 page)

In desperate need of further explanation, Savannah turned over the envelope and a note fluttered out, landing at her feet. She grabbed the piece of paper from the ground before it could fly into the gulley below the bridge.

She recognized the handwriting immediately, and the importance of the missive that read:

She was totally floored, both by the gesture and the way in which Sam signed the note. Utterly baffled over what it all meant.

When she heard the heavy sound of footsteps, Savannah turned to see Sam heading her way. And as he stood before her, she realized the cockiness he’d displayed that first day in the diner had disappeared. In fact, he looked humble and maybe a little hopeful.

Savannah held up the document and asked, “What is this all about?”

He hooked both thumbs in his pockets and shrugged. “Exactly what it says it is. All you have to do is sign the form in front of a notary and the place is all yours.”

The simple explanation didn’t quite suffice. “How did you manage to make a deal with Wainwright?”

“I owned a piece of property he wanted, so I traded him for it. It just so happened he hadn’t done anything with the paperwork on your folks’ farm, so that made it a lot easier.”

Nothing about this situation seemed easy. “I really appreciate this, Sam,” she said as she slipped the papers back into the envelope. “But what am I going to do with the house? I can’t very well move it to Chicago.”

“I was hoping you’d live there.”

Savannah’s heart executed a little leap in her chest
over the prospect of keeping the farm, a place she could visit from time to time. Maybe she could hire a caretaker. Maybe she could ask Sam to oversee the house. Odd, she’d been so opposed to that in the beginning, before she’d faced leaving for good.

Savannah was on the verge of speaking, only to have Sam add, “Before you nix that idea, I have a few things I need to say to you. Things I should’ve said a long time ago.”

This she had to hear. She was dying to hear it. “I’m listening.”

He drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “After you left the first time, I tried to convince myself that what I felt for you wasn’t real. I was just a kid caught up in all the excitement of first-time sex and—”

“Wait a minute,” Savannah interrupted. “You told me you’d been with that Jones girl before me.” A twenty-one-year-old woman who’d reportedly made it her goal to deflower most of the young men in Placid.

“We never got past third base.”

Savannah’s shock gave way to sheer delight. “That means I was your first.”

Sam looked a little self-conscious before he recovered his tough-guy demeanor. “Yeah, you were my first, the same as I was yours. Can we just move on now?”

She couldn’t quite hold back a smile. “Sure. I’m all ears.”

“Anyway, Darlene always claimed that I never forgot you and that’s a big part of the reason why our marriage didn’t work.”

“And when she said that to me, I told her I didn’t believe it.”

“She was right, Savannah. Every woman I’ve been with I’ve compared to you.”

It dawned on Savannah that she’d done the same. She’d only had two serious relationships since her departure from Placid, and she’d held both men up to standards set by Sam. Neither had achieved those standards, and neither had won her love. Then again, Sam had yet to mention that emotion. “Are we talking only about sex, Sam?”

“I tried to tell myself that’s all it ever was. When you came back into town, at first I decided I wanted to remind you of what you’d been missing.”

Now it all began to make sense. “That’s why you danced with the girl at the bar and then kept throwing out all the innuendo.”

“Yeah, and later, I wanted to prove to you that I could be the man you always wanted me to be. As far as the sex goes, I didn’t plan on that. In fact, I wanted to avoid it. Getting that close to you again scared the hell out of me. It still does.”

Savannah had her own fears, as well. “Okay, so it’s not about sex, but you haven’t really said what this is all about.”

He paused a moment and she finally saw real vulnerability in his dark blue eyes. “I love you, Savannah. I always have and I probably always will. That’s what this is all about.”

Savannah suddenly realized he’d never actually said the words to her before. Many times in the past she’d
expressed her love for him, and he’d always been the typical “Me, too” kind of guy.

She could tell the admission was costing him quite a bit from an emotional standpoint. What would it cost her to reciprocate? She couldn’t very well lie, though the truth could lead her into another maze of confusion. “I love you, too, Sam, more than I ever thought possible. But where does that leave us now?”

He took the envelope from her grip. “That’s where this comes in. When I said I’d hoped you’d live there, I meant I want you to live there with me full-time.”

Savannah found herself caught up in the perfect emotional storm as wave on wave of concerns blew through her mind. If she agreed, she would have to leave her career behind, but then she would build a new one geared toward people who really needed her services, not those who could pay well for sound legal representation. She would have to abandon city life and her condo—a tiny condo with sterile furniture and one wilting ivy—for the constraints of country living. No more shopping at will or dining at four-star restaurants. No more bumper-to-bumper traffic or harsh winter winds. No more waking up alone.

Perhaps she’d reached a point where she craved an easier pace, good friends and a good man to love. A few of her single female colleagues would be appalled to see a career-minded woman presumably sacrificing her dreams. Savannah saw it as exchanging one dream for another—a future with Sam in a town that needed her more than wealthy executives with money to burn.

To that point, Sam had stood there patiently await
ing her answer, but before she could give it, he said, “Dammit, Savannah, it takes Jamie less time to decide what she’s wearing every morning, and that involves about an hour.”

For that he deserved to be kept on the hook a little longer. “I can’t stay, Sam. Not right now.”

All the hope drained from his face. “Fine. At least I tried.”

When he made a move to leave, Savannah grabbed his arm and forced him to face her. “I can’t stay because I have to go back to Chicago and clear out the condo and put it up for sale. Oh, and I have to call my boss and tell him to kiss my ass.”

Sam frowned. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Don’t worry, he’s heard the word
ass
before. I’m almost positive he’s been called that a time or twelve.”

He didn’t appear to be in a joking mood. He verified that when he said, “I’m serious, Savannah. I have to know that after you leave, you’re going to come back.”

Even in adulthood, the sins of his mother haunted him. Savannah thought of one way to reassure him. “I’m going to come back because you’re coming with me. I need help moving all my shoes.”

Finally, he smiled. He also took her into his arms and kissed her gently, sincerely. “I’m not sure the house will hold all your shoes. Then again, we’re going to have to redo the whole thing before we get married, otherwise your mom won’t come for a visit.”

Savannah hadn’t even considered that problem. She hadn’t considered much of anything except that Sam had said the word
marry
. “That has to be the worst proposal
I’ve ever heard, Samuel McBriar.” The only proposal she’d ever heard. The only proposal she’d ever wanted to hear.

“You’re right. Maybe this will help.” He took a step back, shoved the deed into his back pocket and withdrew a ring from his front pocket. But not just any ring, Savannah discovered when he held it up. The promise ring he’d given her on her sixteenth birthday. The same ring she’d thrown at him that long-ago day in the diner.

“This will have to do until I can buy you another one to replace it,” he said as he slipped it on her left ring finger.

Savannah stared at the tiny diamond chip through a haze of tears. “I can’t believe you held on to it this long.”

“I wasn’t about to give it up even after I had to give you up. I did give up on believing you’d wear it again.”

“This time I promise I won’t take it off and throw it at you.”

“I promise I won’t give you a reason to throw it,” he said, and after a slight hesitation added, “And now that we have that settled, will you marry me, Savannah Greer? It doesn’t have to be tomorrow or next month or even next year. Just say you’ll do it before we’re as old as Dad and Gracie.”

She couldn’t resist teasing him any more than she could resist him. “I don’t know, Sam. Tomorrow might be too soon, but next month doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. I think we’ve waited long enough, don’t you?”

“Yeah, about twelve years too long.”

“Should we return to our house and finalize the deal with a little bed boogie?”

He presented her with a beautiful, heartfelt smile and a somewhat sinful wink. “Sounds like a plan, but I have one more thing to tell you.”

For heaven’s sake. Once the man started talking, it was darn hard to shut him up. “As long as you hurry. As you know, patience isn’t my strongest suit.”

“It’s about the gulley.”

He wanted to discuss a drought-ridden creek bed? “Okay, I’ll take the bait. What about the gulley?”

“I’m going to dig a channel so it catches water when it rains.”

Far be it for her to question farming technique. “Because you want to irrigate the crops?”

“Because my dad once told me that a bridge isn’t any good without water under it. Since you’ve been back, I’ve learned he’s right.”

“So have I.”

Savannah slipped her arm around Sam’s waist and led him across that old beloved bridge, the place where it had all begun. The place where she’d recently discovered that if a person didn’t kill those feelings for an old love, they would remain dormant until one summer day years later, they broke through like spring grass, changing your perspective, disrupting your comfortable life—and granting something you never realized you’d wanted so badly, and thought to never have.

Samuel Jamison McBriar, her first lover—her first love—was now undeniably destined to be Savannah Greer’s last.