Miracle Pie (26 page)

It wasn’t right for him to follow her to
Wisconsin.

It wasn’t right for him to look so
delicious.

Putting his hands up, warding off the
praise, Gabe laughed. “It’s not me. It’s thanks to everyone
involved. And it’s thanks to everyone who sent a contribution
whether they live in India or Indiana.”

Everyone got to their feet, clamoring to
talk to him. Everyone except Katie. She sank back into her chair,
her knees feeling like the bendy part of straws. Gabe went around
the room, starting with the person furthest from Katie. He treated
every person as if they mattered. As if they were important. He
noticed things about people. He seemed to care.

No wonder they treated him like he was
royalty, saying a few words to him, then sitting down with a silly
smile while he moved on to the next person.

Ridiculous, she thought. But the nearer he
came to her, the shorter her breaths grew.

He finally reached the person next to her,
Becky, who’d been telling Katie about her wedding plans. She kept
touching her belly as if to make sure the baby was all right.

“May I?” Gabe glanced at Becky’s belly.

She laughed. “Why not? Everyone else
does.”

Instead of just touching her stomach, he
bent so that his mouth was an inch from her belly. He whispered,
“Grow strong, grow tall, grow wise.”

“That’s so beautiful,” Becky said as he
straightened. She stood and hugged him. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He smiled at her and
then stepped in front of Katie.

She could barely breathe. Gabe didn’t say
anything at first. Just took her hands and tugged. Slowly she
stood. “I have to go now,” he said.

“Of course.” The words dragged out of her
even as she silently cursed him for coming. Cursed him for charming
the whole room. Cursed him for making her love him even more.

He dropped her hands then turned and walked
out of the room, taking with him the tiny bit of hope that maybe
he’d come for her. That maybe he’d found a way to make it
happen.

But it was never going to happen. Ever.

***

Katie’s pie magic wasn’t letting her brood.
She was making this pie in a frenzy,
knowing
she needed to
make her Everything Will be All Right pie. The emotion possessed
her, as strong as if someone were holding a gun to her head.
Stronger, because it came from her soul. As if pies came from the
soul. The two crusts, life and death. The filling. Everything in
between. The sugar and the spices. And in this case, bourbon and
walnut.

Finally it was in the oven and she collapsed
on the sofa and started to drift off. Trusting that the oven alarm
would wake her, she let the sadness sneak back in, let it drain her
energy. The sadness wasn’t part of her pies. Sad and pies didn’t go
together. But that was what she felt now.

Love sucked. Before this whirlwind of
emotions smashed into her, she was content with life. From now on,
she would feel as if she were missing a part of her soul. Like
pumpkin pie without the cinnamon and ginger.

She’d been up since 4:00 AM baking her pies,
then she’d chased to Tomahawk to replenish her supplies, and after
that she’d gone to the hospital to see Trish and Gunner and the
babies and their many visitors. Alone in her house now, she thought
that Trish’s life was overflowing with babies, and hers felt empty.
She didn’t even have a dog anymore.

She drifted off to sleep as she admitted to
herself that she was still grieving for Happy. Though Gabe was
alive, nothing had changed and she grieved for him, too.

***

The oven alarm woke Katie. She was in the
kitchen before it rang again, her mind still fuzzy with sleep. She
took out her perfect pie, put it on the counter to cool, then
stumbled back to the sofa.

The second time she was awakened, it was by
a kiss. She jerked upright, her forehead hitting Gabe’s.

“Ow,” they said at the same time, pressing
their hands against their foreheads.

“You’re not Sleeping Beauty,” he said.

“Not unless she has flour beneath her
fingernails.” She twisted so she was sitting, sliding her legs over
the side of the sofa.

“Your face, too.” He rubbed his index finger
against her cheek.

“What are you doing here? I told you not to
come after me.”

“I read the letter, but you didn’t say the
one thing that would keep me away.” His smile held sadness. “That
you don’t love me.”

She opened her mouth and tried to say
it...but the words wouldn’t come out, her vocal chords frozen, her
mouth refusing to open.

“It won’t work,” she finally said, her vocal
chords unfreezing, though the coldness remained in her chest and
her heart. “We’ll be miserable.”

“We can make it work. I have plans. I
already set up my own channel. My videos are still on YouTube, but
viewers can go direct to my channel, too. I want to give away a
portion of the proceeds from the kids’ videos to the cancer
research foundation. I want to grow as a brand, and I believe I can
do it. No one else is doing what I do.”

“I believe you’ll be a success, but that
doesn’t change anything for us. I liked Chicago, but I can’t live
there.”

He sat on the sofa next to her. “Chicago
isn’t the only place where kids have cancer. Unfortunately it’s all
over.”

“But your contacts are in Chicago.
Your—”

His hand on her thigh stopped her words and
her breath. The laughter in his eyes started her breathing again.
“There’s a children’s hospital with pediatric cancer care about an
hour and twenty minutes from Miracle.”

“That’s a long drive.”

“I just came from there, and compared to
what these kids are going through, I don’t mind a drive. And look
what I get to come home to. I’ll smile all the way there and all
the way home. I’ll be living my dream, and I’m a damn lucky
guy.”

Hope grew in her. Hope and fear, because she
wanted it so badly. Wanting something so big and so wonderful had
risks. Risks that her heart would break again.

“What if your dream changes?”

“My dreams may change. My love for
you...that’s just going to grow.” He leaned closer to her, his
voice low and intense. “For years I’ve said my other passions—or
lack of them—kept me from a serious relationship, but now I think
all along I was waiting for you. You’re my miracle. Will you marry
me?”

“
Marry?
” She stared at him. She’d
expected him to ask her to live with him. And despite her fears,
she’d say yes... But marry? “It’s so soon.”

“Not soon at all.” He smiled slowly, dimples
indenting, eyes shining in the way that made her spirits lift, as
if all was right with the world. “We’ve known each other for
twenty-three years. That’s a long time to wait to get married.”

She laughed, her breath hitching, filled
with so much joy she could feel it flying out of her, into the
world, the air, sparks of happiness. “Yes. You’re my angel.” She
put her hand on the side of his face. “And sometimes you’re my
devil. I love you.”

He reached for her, and this kiss was
different from any other. Tenderness mixed with passion and hope
and love.

“I suppose you’re going to make a pie about
this,” he said, his voice husky.

“I already did.” She was smiling so widely
her face hurt. “We can have a piece after we make love.”

“First I have something for you. An
engagement present.” He pulled away from her and stood. “It’s at
your dad’s.”

“I’d rather have you than a present,” she
said, but stood and followed him to the back door. Curious and a
little uncertain. A new mixer maybe? The one she had was about
twelve years old. It was about time—

He opened the back door, and a yip stopped
her thoughts. A puppy’s version of a bark.

“You didn’t,” she said, but he was stepping
outside. “It’s too soon. It’s—”

The yip turned into a howl. Not a full adult
Beagle howl, but a baby Beagle howl.

Her breath caught, and she stepped out. It
was too soon. Way too soon. But the small, thin, short-legged,
floppy-eared puppy scampered toward them, falling twice along the
way. Tripping over its puppy legs. And each time getting up
again.

“Oh,” she said. “Oh.” As if the puppy knew
she was talking to it, it ran toward her, its ears flapping, eyes
bright brown and healthy.

“You’re crazy.” She kissed Gabe, fast and
hard. “A crazy man.”

“Crazy in love with you.”

Laughing, she stooped down and held out her
arms to catch the puppy and let it lick her face, feeling an
instant bond.

She didn’t know the puppy’s sex but knew
what she was going to name it.

Miracle.

-The End-

Dear Reader,

I’m delighted that you’ve read MIRACLE PIE,
the fourth
Miracle Interrupted
story.
I’ve
reached my heart place with this series, and plan on writing these
stories for a long time.
If you enjoyed it, I would
appreciate it if you would help others enjoy it by posting a review
at your favorite places.

Read on for excerpts from STARDUST MIRACLE
and MIRACLE LANE.

I love hearing from readers. You can reach
me at [email protected].

You can see a list of my books on the next
page. Updates can be found at
http://edieramer.com
. You
can also sign up for my newsletter and find samples of my other
novels.

Happy Reading!

Edie Ramer

A miracle is going to happen...

Becky Diedrich is the cheesemaker’s
daughter.

The minister’s wife.

The good sister.

What she’s not is her own woman.

What she can’t be is a mother.

And then she catches her husband with
another woman.

And she moves in with her sister.

And she starts to see sparkles.

And this is just the beginning…

Excerpt:

Becky ran across the grass and laughed at
her brashness. She wore her tan trench coat — her church coat —
over her red negligee. Tonight she felt free. With a sexual
appetite and playfulness she hadn’t felt for a long time.

She couldn’t swear that what she planned had
never happened in the church, people being what they were. But it
had never happened in the church before with her and Jim.

Laughter spilled out of her mouth, and she
only stopped because she was breathless from an overload of
excitement. The need to experience something more with her husband
had been building inside her for a long time. Now it was finally
boiling over — leaving her lightheaded and unlike her usual
self.

She liked these feelings. Liked this side of
her a lot.

When she’d stepped out of the car tonight
and looked up at the stars, something happened. Something changed.
For so long, she’d been carrying a dark weight around with her.
Going through the days and nights trying to say and do all the
right things, when inside something had felt all wrong.

She’d lost the joy of life. Not fully
living...just going through the motions. At only thirty-six, she’d
felt old and dried up.

Now she felt young again. Free.

Jim wouldn’t know what happened to his
proper wife.

She reached the church’s back door, using it
instead of the front entrance because she didn’t want anyone
passing by to see her. Not that there was anything wrong with going
to see her husband. But if anyone mentioned her late night visit,
her face would probably turn the color of a ripe tomato and give
away what they’d done.

She slipped the key into the lock but it
turned easily. She stepped inside. Jim must’ve come in this way and
forgotten to lock the door behind him. He was always preoccupied
with his work and his parishioners.

She admired that. She did. But once in a
while, she wanted his mind, plus a few body parts, to be on
her.

And not just when her body temperature was
right for conception.

She started toward Jim’s office, and her
heels clicked on the linoleum floor. Laughing under her breath, she
stopped and took them off. She wanted to surprise Jim with a good
surprise. No. A wonderful surprise.

His door was closed. Habit, she supposed,
since no one was here except him. She heard him speaking. Couldn’t
make out the words. Just his voice. Probably saying lines from the
sermon he was preparing. Then his voice stopped, and she imagined
him frowning at his computer screen while he wrote the next
line.

She started to undo the buttons of her coat,
then decided it would be sexier to do it inside with him watching.
Kind of like a stripper.

Stifling a giggle, she turned the handle and
flung open the door.

“Surprise!”

She forgot how to hate, and now she’s
learning how to love...

Brain-damaged Nia Beaudine can’t remember
her life before The Accident. Someone intentionally ran over her
and left her for dead. Now she’s living in the ‘witch’s house’ she
inherited in the village of Miracle, relearning how to live on her
own. Well, almost on her own – the talking cat helping her cope is
a bonus. But when a hate-filled family member shows up with a gun,
Nia knows she needs
real
help.

Former army sergeant and PTSD sufferer Rob
Ackerman regularly covers for his identical twin, the village
constable, and answers Nia’s emergency call. This strange young
woman immediately sees he’s not his brother. In return, he sees
that the only way she can fully live in her new life is to find out
why someone in her old life tried to kill her...and might try
again.