Derrick didn’t sleep well that night as he kept having nightmares of Mallory refusing his proposal, and by the time he woke the next morning, his head was pounding. Thinking a hot shower might help, he turned the water to the hottest setting he could stand, then quickly undressed and jumped into the shower. He stayed in there for a good fifteen minutes, and as the water pounded on his back, the stress in his neck and back slowly began to dissipate. Knowing he needed to start his day, he washed, then stepped under the spray and rinsed off the soap.
After Derrick was dressed, he went downstairs for breakfast and began his wait, as it was only six o’clock in the morning, far too early to go to Mallory’s home. As he watched the minutes slowly tick by on his watch, he drank another cup of coffee. When the time finally showed seven, early or not, he couldn’t wait another second at not knowing if he and Mallory had a chance or not.
He got into his rental car and started for where Mallory was staying. Just as he turned the last corner, he saw Erica standing in the driveway, and not wanting her to see him; he quickly pulled over and parked. He watched as she got into a car, and when she started his way, he quickly ducked his head. When he was sure, she wasn’t coming back, he started his car and headed towards the driveway Erica had just left, pulled in and parked.
Derrick took in a deep breath, and excited at knowing he was about to see Mallory again, he walked to the front door with a bound in his step. When he reached the front door, he knocked on it.
He hoped Mallory would answer it, but instead, it was an older man in his bathrobe who opened the door, which he assumed was Eric Wells, Mallory’s uncle.
“May I help you?” asked a man with a cold voice and an unfriendly expression.
“I would like to see Mallory. Is she here?” He tried to look around the man and into the house.
“Yes, she is. Don’t you think it’s a bit early in the morning for visitors?” Eric wondered who this man was and why he wanted to see his niece so early in the morning.
“I’m sorry about that sir, but it’s important that I speak with her,” he replied anxiously.
Eric gave him a look that told him that he wasn’t happy with his early caller. “May I ask what this is regarding?”
“It’s personal, sir,” Derrick said, as he wasn’t about to tell this man he had impregnated his niece. “I’ve come from Arizona to see her.”
Eric gave him a strange look. Could this be the father of Mallory’s unborn child? “What’s your name?”
“My name is Derrick Hart, and it’s very important that I speak with her.”
Eric looked at him strangely, as he remembered Erica talking about this very man. “Don’t you mean you are here to see Erica?”
Damn. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought it was going to be, as he never thought Erica would tell her father about meeting him at the bar. “No. I want to see Mallory Ridge.”
“Last night Erica told me about you, do you want to explain that to me.” Eric gave him a cold look, as something wasn’t right here.
Derrick had to be careful how he responded, as the man in front of him wasn’t an idiot and most likely could tell if he lied to him. “I met Erica last night, and she told me where I could find Mallory,” he replied truthfully. “If I write Mallory a note, could you give it to her?”
Eric gave him a confused look. “I got the impression from what she told me you were interested in her.”
Could this get any worse? “I’m sorry if she got the wrong idea. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to your daughter, but Erica was a bit intoxicated last night, so she may have missed understood what I wanted,” he said, hoping the man at the door believed him. “I told her I was here in town to see a woman I knew, but I didn’t know where to find her and she was able to tell me where I could find your niece.”
Eric knew the man’s statement was true, as he’d seen for himself that she was slightly inebriated when she came home.
“May I see Mallory?” Derrick was worried, for if her uncle refused to let him see her, he wasn’t sure how to get him to change his mind.
“If she doesn’t want to see you, will you leave peacefully?” Eric asked nervously, as he had the odd feeling this young man was the father of Mallory’s baby.
Derrick smiled at the man’s concern that there might be trouble. “Yes, of course.” He just hoped she would see him, as he wasn’t sure what he would do if she refused.
“I’ll get pen and paper for you.” Instead of asking the young man in, Eric closed the door in Derrick’s face while he retrieved the necessary items for Derrick. When he reopened the door, he handed Derrick the writing material, but his eyes never left the man before him.
Darrick quickly wrote out what he wanted to tell Mallory, folded the paper and handed it back to Mr. Wells, hoping the man wouldn’t read it before giving it to her.
Eric took the note. “You can wait out here, because I’m not sure Mallory will want to see you.” He closed the door again and went upstairs to Mallory’s room. He would have liked to read the note first, but it wouldn’t be right if he did. He knocked on Mallory’s door and waited for her to ask him in.
“Come in.” Mallory didn’t look up as her uncle entered her room.
Eric wasn’t surprised to see her dressed, as she was an early riser. “Mallory, I have a note for you.”
Mallory looked up at him with a surprised expression. “You wrote me a note?”
Eric chuckled. “No, not me.”
“Why would someone write me a note?”
“It’s from a young man.” He handed her the note and watched Mallory closely as she opened the paper.
She started reading it, and it wasn’t long before tears started down her cheeks. When she finished reading it, she looked up at her uncle smiling. “Where is he?”
“He is waiting on the front porch.”
She didn’t even debate for a second if she should marry Derrick, though they had had only one night together, she knew she didn’t want to live her life without him. Mallory jumped up and ran out the door, dropping the note as she ran from the room.
Eric curious of what the note said, he picked it up to read it.
I love you. I have been searching for you since the night we met, and I know about the baby. Will you marry me, as I love you and don’t want to live without you for another day. Derrick.
Eric was puzzled. Who was this man? How long had she known him? Was he the father of her baby or just a man didn’t care who the father was? Was she going to marry this man?
Mallory threw the front door open and nearly launched herself into Derrick’s arms. “I’m so glad you’re here.” Before he could say a word to her, Mallory’s lips were on his.
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After a breathtaking kiss, Derrick took hold of her hand. “I take it your answer to my question is yes.”
“Yes, it is,” she replied tearfully.
“How soon can we get married?” he asked nervously, afraid she would want to wait until they got better acquainted.
“Today, as soon as we can get our marriage license,” she muttered breathlessly.
He gave her a stunning grin. “That’s wonderful. I was having a hard time finding you, so I decided to come to Kansas City in the hopes I would have better luck. I arrived yesterday, checked into a hotel, then went downstairs to for some dinner. I ate at the bar and was finishing my drink when our cousin sat down next to me, and we got to talking. She told me about you and then she propositioned me.”
“No!” she exclaimed. “Erica really did that?” Mallory laughed. “She is going to have a fit when she finds out about this as she’d rather die than do anything to help me.”
Eric clearing his throat made them jump apart. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
They both gasped at hearing Eric’s voice, each hoping the man hadn’t heard what was being said just moments before he spoke.
“I’m sorry Uncle Eric.” Mallory took hold of Derrick’s hand. “This is Derrick Hart and he’s the father of the baby.”
“I see. So, you two are going to get married.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
“Yes,” Derrick and Mallory said simultaneously as they looked lovingly into each other's eyes.
“When?” he asked, as he watched the two.
“As soon as we can arrange the wedding. I love him, Uncle Eric. I fell in love with him from the first moment I saw him.”
“You did?” Derrick exclaimed. “I fell in love with you the instant I saw you sitting at that table looking so sad.” Derrick leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “Let’s see about getting this wedding planned.”
“Let me get my purse.” She rushed inside, grabbed her purse and returned a second later. “Bye Uncle Eric, I’ll see you later.”
They walked down the sidewalk together, leaving Eric standing at the door watching them. As he observed them get into the car, he hoped Mallory wasn’t making a mistake by marrying this young man after such a short relationship.
* * *
They stopped at a fast food restaurant so Mallory could eat some breakfast before they spoke to her minister. After they talked to him about performing a wedding for them, they ran to the courthouse to get their marriage license. Four hours later, they were married, with Skyler Collins standing up with the bride and Garrison as the best man for his brother.
After the wedding, introductions were quickly made for those who didn’t know the other. Mallory was surprised that Skyler was friends with Derrick’s first wife as well, making her wish she’d told her Derrick’s last name weeks ago.
If Skyler she had known that the two Derricks had been the one and the same person, she would have told Mallory how to find Derrick, which would have saved her friend a great deal of pain.
When Derrick told Mallory that he wanted to introduce her to his ex-wife, she was nervous that the meeting would be uncomfortable, but she worried for nothing, as she was warmly welcomed by Brooke. She gave her a hug, telling her that she was glad she’d married Derrick, as he deserved to have someone special like her in his life.
Garrison was ecstatic that Derrick had been reunited with Mallory as she had mended their relationship without even being aware of it. The two brothers hadn’t really spoken much to each other since the day Garrison told Derrick he was marrying Brooke, and even at Christmas, they had kept their distances from each other. But when Derrick ask his assistance to find Mallory, Garrison was right there to help his brother search for the woman he’d fallen in love with on a cold snowy night.
There was a small reception at the church for them, and afterwards the newlyweds headed back to his hotel for their wedding night. The next morning after having breakfast, Mallory returned home to pack up all her belongings. After they put all everything of hers in the trailer they had rented, they were ready to start their trip to Arizona.
She hugged her uncle. “Uncle Eric, I want thank you for taking me in and loving me like your own daughter. I love you and will miss you terribly.”
“I know you love me. I do have to apologize for the way your aunt and cousin treated you over the years. I didn’t know anything about it until one night toward the end of Charlotte’s life. Afraid she was going to go the hell because of the way she treated you, she enlightened me on some incidents from your childhood.”
“Uncle Eric,” Mallory interrupted.
He took hold of her hands. “Let me finish. I was shocked when Charlotte confessed to all the abuse you had to put up with from the two of them. She told about the way she was constantly threatening to throw you out into the street and the treatment you received from Erica. If I’d known, I would have put a stop to her threats. I’m so sorry.”
It meant a lot to her that he acknowledged the problem, as well as his apology. “Don’t worry about it anymore. That’s all behind me, besides I’m happy now. I’ll write to you as soon as I get settled in my new home.”
They hugged once more.
“Bye, Mallory.”
“Bye, Uncle Eric.”
* * *
On the way home from the wedding, Brooke told Garrison that Derrick looked happier than she’d ever seen him.
Garrison looked over at her, wondering if she might be jealous that her ex-husband had moved on with his life. “How do you feel about that?”
“Feel?” She gave him a puzzled look, as she wasn’t sure what he was getting at.
He stopped them in the middle of the church parking lot by putting his hand on her arm. “Are you jealous he found another woman to love?” he asked, while looking deeply into her eyes, seeing her expression at his words, he instantly regretted his question.
Anger filled her eyes. “Of course not. What kind of person would I be if I wanted Derrick to suffer because he’d left me for another woman?”
Garrison reached over and took hold of her hand. “I didn’t mean anything by my question, I was just curious.”
She quickly jerked it away. “Don’t patronize me. You’re afraid that I still have feelings for your brother, aren’t you?” She watched his expression at her comment.
“No, of course not,” he quickly denied, without turning to look at her.
Too quickly in Brooke’s opinion, so she took hold of her husband’s hand. “Garrison, Derrick and I never had the type of relationship you and I have. In my heart, I think my marriage to your brother was a mistake, as we were too young to realize what we felt for each other, wasn’t the ever after kind of love. Now that you and I are married, things are the way they were meant to be.”
He turned to look at her with tears glistening in his eyes. “Honey, that’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me.”
* * *
After the newlyweds were gone, the house seemed so quiet and still. Eric decided to take advantage of it while it lasted, for as soon as Erica found out whom Mallory had married; all hell was going to break loose. Especially when she found out that, she had been the one who had helped Derrick find Mallory.
It was late Sunday night Eric heard the door open; he stood and went to greet his daughter at the door. “Hello sweetheart. Did you have a good time?”
“Yes, I did. It was good to spend time with Aunt Donna. We were so busy all week that I didn’t have time to call you. I’m going to go to my room to unpack and then I will be down to tell you about my trip.”
Eric knew that as soon as she realized Mallory was gone, she would be back downstairs to question him about it. He dreaded having to tell her about Mallory marrying Derrick, and knew he wouldn’t have a long wait, for as soon as Erica walked by Mallory’s room, she would know her cousin had moved out for good.
As Erica passed Mallory’s room, she glanced into the room and was shocked to see how empty the room was, as it looked as if no one had ever lived there. Knowing something was wrong, she ran to Mallory’s closet to make sure her cousin was gone. Seeing every piece of clothing of Mallory’s was missing from the closet, she checked the dresser and found it was empty too. She smiled as this told her that her cousin was gone for good, as even when she had left to go to college, Mallory hadn’t taken everything with her.
Erica rushed back downstairs to find her father. “Dad, where’s Mallory?”
“She married the father of her baby and moved to Arizona with him,” he told her, as he watched her expression.
“What took him so long to find her?” she asked, not really caring about his answer.
Eric knew the fireworks were soon about to start. “He was trying to find her but wasn’t having any luck because he was looking for Mallory Ridge.”
His comment didn’t ring any bells for her from that night at the bar with Derrick. “How did he finally find her?”
Here it comes, he thought. “You told him where to find her,” he said, his eyes never leaving her face.
“Me?” She gave him a bewildered look. “How could I have told him, as I don’t even know who the father of her baby is?”
“You remember Derrick Hart, don’t you?”
Erica was afraid of what her father was about to tell her. “Yes, but what does he have to do with all of this?”
“He’s the father of her baby. He showed up shortly after you left for St. Louis to propose to Mallory, and they were married later that day.”
Erica was dumbfounded. “I can’t believe I told him all about Mallory and the baby. If I had kept my big mouth closed, he wouldn’t have ever found her. That being so, I might have had a chance with him.” She could kick herself, as she wouldn’t have ever done anything to help that bitch of a cousin of hers.
“Erica, Derrick was determined to find the women he was in love with, so I doubt you could have changed his mind from his mission. Don’t forget, Mallory was looking for him too. At their wedding, I found out that Mallory’s friend Skyler knew Derrick, so even without your help, one way or the other; they would have found each other.”
“Whatever,” she muttered without looking at her father. “I guess I will go on to bed now as this day hasn’t ended well for me.”
As he watched Erica walked away, he was ashamed to call her his daughter, as she was as cold natured as her mother had been.