The next several hours were the worst of Mac’s life. He knew the bullet hadn’t hit any major organs. But it had to be removed. People died in surgery. Oh dear God, please don’t let her die.
By the time he had finished with the doctor, Mac’s family were drifting into the hospital. They came for news or to offer comfort. Mac realized that everyone knew how much Dixie meant to him. Everyone knew they were meant to be together. He had just been too stubborn to admit it. He prayed he wasn’t too late now.
He scanned the room yet again, silently thanking God for blessing him was such a wonderful family. Brandon and Chance were sitting in the corner watching a talk show. Nick and Lucky, as everyone called his brother Lawrence, were headed for the snack shop to get everyone coffee. Lucky received his nickname after coming face-to-face with one of the deadly copperhead snakes that populated the bluffs near their home and living to tell about it. The only family members missing were his youngest brother Tanner, who was away at college, and his other brother, Sam, who was in the Navy.
Mac remembered the last time the family had been faced with such a personal crisis. Sam had been accused of drug possession. The accusation had been false, trumped up by the father of the girl Sam had been interested in back then. As the richest man in the county, he had made it clear that Sam wasn’t good enough for his daughter. Only after the daughter agreed not to see Sam anymore had that “evidence” mysteriously disappeared and all charges dropped. Unfortunately, the gossip surrounding the arrest had developed into a full-blown scandal, and the stigma of a drug pusher had stuck with Sam. He had left town to continue his career in the Navy and to forget the girl who he felt had betrayed him.
Mac glanced over at his parents. They sat on either side of Jamie, offering him words of comfort, holding his hand and just being there for him. They had been together for over forty years. They not only loved each other, they truly liked each other, too. He thought about what he wanted in a relationship. The woman he married would have to understand about the demands of his job, help him when times were rough, and make him feel alive every minute of the day. Dixie did that for him. She made him complete. He no longer simply existed. He felt alive.
He’d thought his life was full until she came into it, throwing his entire world off balance. She made him yearn for her company and her love. A smile from her could make his day. He wanted to wake up with her beside him and tell her everything at the end of the day. He wanted to tease her and love her and watch her grow big with his children. He made a vow to never take for granted their time together. Time was too precious to waste.
Hours later, the door to the operating room swung open and the doctor emerged. Mac searched his features trying to discern the outcome of the operation, but he could tell nothing from his expression. He steeled himself and stood up as the doctor approached. “Mr. Harris, your wife is doing fine. The surgery to remove the bullet went well. I’m confident she will make a full recovery.”
All eyes turned to Mac. He flushed a bit then stammered, “She’s not my wife. I’m Mac Coalson. That’s Jamie Harris, her brother.” He pointed a finger in the younger man’s direction.
The doctor looked disconcerted for a minute, then issued an apology. “I’m sorry. Ms. Harris said something to me before she went under anesthetic which led me to believe…,” He shook his head and continued. “Anyway, she came through surgery and is down in recovery with just a small scar to remind her of her ordeal. You can see her in a few hours. Until then, I suggest you get something to eat and relax.”
He accepted Mac’s thanks, then turned to go, but Mac stopped him. “Excuse me, doctor, but what exactly did Dixie say to you?”
The doctor laughed. “She said to tell Mac I love him and to take care of Jamie.” The doctor slapped Mac on the back. “Don’t look so stunned, son. She loves you.” He pushed through the operating doors.
Mac was still reeling from the bombshell the doctor had dropped on him when his family converged on him en masse, offering hugs and kisses of joy at Dixie’s recovery. Mac disengaged himself, engulfed Jamie in a great bear hug as their tears of relief mingled together. “She’s going to be okay. She’s going to be okay.” He kept repeating that phrase over and over again.
Ginny smiled through her tears. Mac reached for his mother. “She’s gonna pull through it,” he murmured into her hair.
She held her hands on either side of his face. “Yes, and she loves you.” Ginny’s eyes brimmed with tears of happiness.
Mac pulled back. “Mom, she thought she was going to die. People say strange things at times like that.”
“People who think they’re dying say honest things, Mac. They feel they have nothing left to lose,” she tried to convince her stubborn son.
“Perhaps,” he murmured then released her to shake Brandon’s hand.
Ginny wiped her tears with an impatient hand. “Stubborn boy. Why won’t you believe?”
Hank answered before Mac could. “He wants it to be true so badly, he’s afraid to hope for fear that he’s wrong.”
“That’s foolish” Ginny grumbled.
“That’s love,” her husband corrected her.
Mac just nodded in agreement. Love.
*****
Twenty-four hours later, Dixie was ready to explode. If one more person came in to poke, prod, stick, or adjust her, she was going to scream. What idiot thought you could rest in a hospital? Certainly not in this one. She’d been rudely awakened from a beautiful dream about Mac by a large woman with bad breath, wanting to take blood. Again. After being stuck three times in the past six hours, Dixie had resigned herself to becoming a pin cushion.
Since this morning, one person after another had come through her door, except the one she wanted to see the most. Where in the world is he? Doesn’t he care that I was injured, could have been killed? What kind of a jerk are you anyway, Mac Coalson, to leave the woman who loves you to rot away on a lumpy excuse for a hospital bed? Sniffling and whimpering, she wallowed in self-pity and just a little bit of pain, alternating between cursing the man she loved and praying he would show up soon.
She vaguely remembered telling the doctor of her love for Mac, but apparently, he hadn’t passed on the message. Maybe Mac wasn’t interested anymore. Maybe he was running.
Now there’s a depressing thought. Perhaps he’s just too busy with the other woman. Maybe he doesn’t care. Maybe when I’m feeling well enough I’m gonna hunt him down like a dog and give him a piece of my mind.
She remembered that was how they had met in the first place and started crying all over again.
After another few minutes of whining, complete with a bout of good old-fashioned cursing, Dixie decided to be good and mad at him. He was a jerk, a no-good, two-timing jerk. He couldn’t even be bothered to visit her while she lay at death’s door. He didn’t deserve someone as great as her.
It didn’t matter. She loved him anyway. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t get well and truly ticked at his callous attitude.
By the time Mac arrived later that day, Dixie had worked herself up to quite a state of rage. When he walked in the door, whistling off key, she used her one good arm and threw her bedpan at him. He raised an elegant eyebrow at her display of temper and bent to retrieve it, sitting a vase filled with spring flowers on the counter.
“I suppose I should be grateful it was empty,” he drawled.
Dixie took a good long look at him. She was so relieved to see him. He was standing there in a crisp white shirt and faded jeans, with cowboy boots completing the outfit. He looked clean and healthy and incredibly sexy.
Next to him, she felt dirty and horrible and ugly with scars.
Where had he been? Did he have to look so happy to see her in a hospital? She began to fume again.
Mac stared at the nondescript blue gown on her slight frame, wondering if it was the kind that opened in the back. God how he loved this woman!
Even when she was throwing bedpans at him.
No one but Dixie could make him think about making love to her dressed in a horrible hospital gown.
He had stayed with her since she had been brought up from recovery late last night. When the nurses had finally shooed him out of the room this morning, he had gone straight home to freshen up and catch a small nap. He wanted to be prepared for what he was going to say to her.
“I brought you some flowers.” He smiled at her.
Dixie frowned. “Get out. Take your damn flowers and your whistling and just go.” She pointed to the door.
Apparently, the gunshot wound hadn’t sweetened her temper. Mac wanted to laugh at the look on her face. He figured she didn’t know or couldn’t remember what she’d told the doctor. “Uh, uh, uh, little girl. I can see you’re feeling better, so now’s a good time to talk. You got nowhere else to go.” He rearranged her legs and sat down next to her on the narrow bed.
“Have you gone deaf? I don’t want to see you.” Looking all gorgeous and wonderful. It hurts.
“Liar.”
She gasped in outrage. “I said I want you to leave.”
Mac chuckled. He was so glad she was going to be fine, and so in love with her that he just wanted to grab her and run and never ever let go.
But first things first.
He had to know if what she had told the doctor was the truth. “Your brother suggested I tie you up and stuff a rag in your mouth to get you to listen to me, but since you’re not going anywhere but here, this will do just fine.” He patted the blankets near her hand.
“If you don’t leave this instant, I’m going to scream.” She nodded to him to show she meant business.
He laughed.
Dixie was furious. She was practically an invalid and he was teasing her mercilessly. She wanted to throttle him. She wanted him to hold her. She was definitely going crazy. Either that, or the drugs were making her delirious. She couldn’t make up her mind about anything.
“Thanks for the warning, darlin’. I guess I’ll take your brother’s advice after all.” He reached into his back pocket for a handkerchief.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she growled.
Suddenly Mac leaned closer, putting his arms on either side of her head as he pinned her with his gaze. “I’ll dare anything to clear up this mess and have you back in my arms where you belong.”
Dixie searched his face in shock, noticing for the first time the dark circles under his eyes and the love radiating from within their depths. He meant it! She burst into tears.
Mac gathered her in his arms, and let her cry. She needed an outlet for what she had been through.
Dixie continued to wail, wetting his shirt. When her weeping had subsided down to a few sniffles, she blew her nose and snuggled closer to Mac’s warmth, settling her cheek against his chest. The comforting rhythm of his heartbeat did more to ease her pain than all the drugs in the world. Her heart soared. Mac wanted her. She had seen it is eyes.
“Are you ready to listen?” Mac asked softly. At her nod, he told her about his drunken client and the compromising position Dixie had found them in. When he had finished, she felt foolish and told him so.
“Probably about as foolish as I felt when Hawkins grabbed your hand and I fired him for it,” he said softly. “We’ve both been jumping to conclusions, honey, and that has to stop if we‘re going to have any sort of relationship.”
Dixie felt a sudden chill. She didn’t want just any sort of relationship, she wanted love. She wanted Mac forever. Had she again jumped to the conclusion that Mac loved her for what she had seen in his eyes?
“Hey, you still with me?” Mac waved his hand in front of her face.
“What… What? Oh, I’m sorry. What were you saying?” Dixie forced the words past the lump in her throat.
Mac looked at her in concern. “Maybe we should continue this conversation tomorrow. You look pretty pale. I wore you out.” He kissed her cheek and got up to leave.
“How dare you!” Dixie roared. “First you tease me, then you tell me I belong in your arms, next you’re talking about a general relationship, like, like,” she stammered in fury, “like a friendship or something, and now I’m just pale and you kiss my cheek.”
She tried to sit up, slapping his hand away when he tried to help her. “Well Mr. Coalson, how the hell am I supposed to look? I’ve been shot at, stitched up, and examined by tons of strangers and now…” she sobbed, “now the man of my dreams is talking in riddles. I love you! And I want a marriage. DO YOU HEAR ME?”
“Everyone heard you, darling. You were shouting,” Mac said drolly.
“Oh, God! You’re making me crazy!” she howled. She reached for a tissue with her injured arm and cried out in pain. “Oh, just go away and leave me alone!”
Mac decided it was time to stop teasing her. She was getting too worked up. “Open your eyes and look at me, Dixie Harris,” he demanded. “You’re jumping to conclusions again. Now I’m only going to do this once, and I want it to be right.” He fluffed her pillows and slowly got down on one knee, one hand touching her injured arm; the other resting on her cheek.
“I love you, and I will spend the rest of my life loving you. I knew before you were injured that I was in love with you, but my stubborn pride wouldn’t let me tell you. When I thought that I might not get the chance to tell you how much I love you, I died a thousand times over, thinking of all the precious time we wasted. I don’t want to waste anymore.” He kissed her cheek. “I want you to be my wife. I know we haven’t known each other long, and you’re so very young. If you need more time, we can wait. But not too long, sweetheart. I need to know you’re mine forever, and I want it to happen soon.” He wiped away her tears and kissed her lightly. “Marry me.”
Dixie lowered her eyes, her fingers plucking at the folds of her blanket. Shyly, she peaked at him from behind her lashes. “I love you so much, Mac. When I thought you didn’t feel the same, I went a little nuts, I guess. I couldn’t stand the thought of someone else with you. I knew I was being foolish because we hadn’t made any sort of commitment to each other. I didn’t want to talk to you when you called because I was so afraid. If I didn’t hear you actually say you wanted someone else, that we were at an end, at least I had some hope of holding onto you. I know that doesn’t make much sense. My only excuse is that I couldn’t believe you could fall in love with me in such a short time, even though I had done just that with you.”
Mac covered her mouth with his lips making all the love and passion he felt for her erupt in his kiss. She returned his kiss with passionate ardor, regardless of her injuries. After a few minutes of delicious love play, she broke away, smiling tremulously. “I would be honored to be your wife. I can’t say my temper won’t get the best of me at times, but I know I will always love you.”
Mac reached into the front pocket of his jeans and withdrew a small jeweler’s box. Opening it, he revealed an emerald and diamond ring so large that Dixie gasped. “This ring has been in my father’s family for many years. It has been handed down to the eldest son as a symbol of love and happiness to give to the woman he loves.” He slipped it on her finger. “With this ring, I pledge my love to you. Forever and always.”
Dixie stared down at her hand, then raised her eyes to Mac. “And I will love you and cherish you. Forever and always,” she murmured as joyful tears ran down her cheeks.
Mac gently kissed her tears away, then gathered her in his arms once again. “You know, you were wrong about one thing, little girl,” he whispered in her ear. “We made a commitment to each other the first time we kissed. We just didn’t recognize it for what it was.” His lips captured hers once again.
And that’s how the nurse found them when she came in to get Dixie’s blood one more time.