Blessed Vows

And it was still ringing. Whew. She flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Ah, is this Rachel McKaslin?” a man’s gravelly voice asked, as if uncertain he had the right number.

A man’s voice she didn’t recognize. I think I know who this is. “Yep, that’s me.” She yanked open the freezer door on the fridge. “Is this Jake, by chance?”

“That would be me. Your brother told you I was comin’, but did he warn you about me?” There was a smile to Jake’s voice.

Without a doubt a very handsome smile, she thought as she tossed the ice pops into the freezer section of the fridge for later consumption. “Yep, he sure did. The question is, did Ben warn you about me?”

His warm, easy chuckle came across the line. “He did. Ben said that you are the generous and lovely soul who agreed to look after us at the last minute and on a Friday night. I take that to mean you cancelled a date?”

“Who, me? Date?” She bit her bottom lip to keep in the snicker.

“Well, it is a date night, and I understand you’re a single attractive lady.”

Yeah, right. Not since high school. There were a lot of great men in the world, good and decent men. She firmly believed that, but they never seemed to be interested in her. Maybe it was because she was always so busy, and that didn’t leave a lot of time to date. But that didn’t explain why no one ever asked her out. Most men were looking for a more worldly woman and, as she looked down at her fuzzy pink bunny slippers, she was anything but worldly.

“I thought I’d sacrifice a date night for Ben’s best buddy,” she said diplomatically so he wouldn’t know he was wrong, wrong, wrong about her. The reason why she was about to be a bridesmaid for the umpteenth time, and not a bride. “It’s the least I can do for the man who braved machine-gun fire to help haul my brother to cover a while back.”

“He was shot. I couldn’t just leave him there for the enemy to trip over.”

“My family and I, we’re all so grateful to you.” Rachel couldn’t imagine the kind of courage it took for someone to do their job in the military. “Because of you, our brother’s home safe and sound.”

“You’re giving me a lot of credit. I was just doin’ my job. And Ben’s a pretty tough guy. I should know, since we serve together. It takes more than a bullet to stop him.”

Humble, with a sense of humor. Judging by the deep rumbling baritone of his voice, Rachel figured that Jake had a drop-dead handsome face to match his charm, his smile and his voice. Which meant he was far, far out of her league.

Too bad. She sighed, not really disappointed. She had resigned herself to her unmarried status. She trusted God’s plan for her life. Maybe she wouldn’t always be single. Maybe He was simply making her wait for the very best man.

The thing was, she was getting extremely good at waiting.

“Rachel, can I ask you something?” There was a slight hesitation in his attractive baritone, as if something was wrong.

He’s canceling. That’s why he was calling at the last minute—not that she blamed him. From his perspective, he was probably imagining that being with his best buddy’s over-thirty-year-old spinster sister wasn’t the most fun way to spend an evening. As her slippers scuffled along the kitchen floor, she supposed he was right.

It was just as well because the roast she’d planned to rotisserie was missing in action. “I know Ben probably felt he needed someone to meet you, since you came all this way and he ran off to spend a romantic evening with his bride-to-be. But eating supper here probably wasn’t your first choice. I understand if you’d like to cancel.”

“Backing out isn’t in my nature. The trouble is, I can’t get to your house.”

“Oh, you’re lost.”

“That’s not my problem. I found my way here from the airport just fine. But getting to your house is harder than you’d think. I’m parked down the way in your driveway.”

“You’re here?” No way—she hadn’t heard anyone come up. Then again, hadn’t she just been in the basement nearly upside down in the freezer?

“How long have you been sitting out there without me knowing it?” Rachel headed straight to the sink and yanked the curtain out of the way. She squinted through the long rays of sunlight. The parking area and the gravel lane leading up to it were empty.

“I’m not exactly at the house yet. Look down the road and you’ll see my problem.”

A break-down? A flat tire, what? She scanned the length of the newly graveled driveway, past the lawn’s reach to the point where the tidy white board fencing paralleled the road.

There he was. At least she figured it was him behind the wheel of a bright red SUV. She could barely make out an impression of a tall, dark-haired, wide-shouldered man behind the wheel, but with the glare on the windshield it could have been her imagination filling in the details.

So, why was he just parked in the middle of the road for no reason?

Then she saw the giant ungainly brown creature leap into the middle of the road, between the vehicle and the house. The bull moose lowered his massive four-point antlers, and he meant business. He bellowed an ugly, flat-noted call before he pawed the ground with his impressive front hooves.

Moose attack! Rachel dropped the phone and flew out the back door. She grabbed the first thing she passed by and ran full-out down the path, swinging what turned out to be the old kitchen broom.

“Get! Go on!” she waved the yellow bristles in the direction of the stubborn moose.

The creature didn’t even bother to turn around. He kept his hind end to her, as if he already knew there was no way she was a threat.

Well, as if she’d let her brother’s best friend and rescuer be bullied by a stubborn old moose! “You can’t bully anyone you want. Get out of the road.”

Nothing. The moose had dismissed her entirely. Instead, his unblinking gaze remained on the shiny red vehicle that gleamed in the autumn sun. The animal swung his head as if in a challenge and pawed.

Disaster. All Rachel could see was the animal attacking that brand-new vehicle. That wasn’t going to happen on her watch. She swung the broom closer to his hind end. “Hey!”

The moose didn’t acknowledge her in any way. What he ought to be doing was bolting in fear of a human being with a weapon. Okay, it was a broom, but he was a wild animal. Weren’t they afraid of people? “Go! Shoo!”

Nothing. How was she going to help Jake now?

The driver’s-side window rasped down. That deliciously low male voice called out, “Need any help?”

“Oh, no. I can handle it.”

“I see. You’re doing an excellent job.”

Was he mocking her? The moose shook his head menacingly, and bowed low, as if preparing to charge.

Okay, this wasn’t going well. It would be a shame for the moose to bash up that new vehicle with his antlers, plus scare the city boy half to death. Lord, a little help would be appreciated.

The door of the Jeep whipped open and a lean hulk of a man dropped to the ground as if he’d fast-roped from a Black Hawk helicopter. “Shouldn’t your pet be in the pasture or something?”

“Oh, he’s not a pet. Are you kidding? Who keeps a moose for a pet? He’s a wild animal.”

And that’s why he’s not charging you? Jake didn’t have a whole lot of experience with moose, but he did know they were dangerous. “Why don’t you back off nice and slow?” He caught up a good-sized rock in his hand.

“You’re going to hit him with a rock?” the woman with the broom huffed.

“Only to scare him off. Not hurt him.” What kind of man did she take him for?

Jake didn’t have time to find out because the moose charged. He was a huge creature. Bigger than the Jeep, the moose gained some serious speed with his awkward-looking legs. He could cause real damage if he hit the vehicle…and he’d probably scare little Sally.

Doing what it took to defend his small niece, Jake lobbed the grenade-sized rock. The hunk of granite bounced off the swoop of the moose’s right antler, low enough to give him a slight bonk, but not enough to seriously hurt him. Was it enough to stop the beast?

The great animal shook his head, looking a little cross-eyed. That had to hurt.