Heart of Clay Read online

  Chapter Twenty-One

  On the drive home from an event on a beautiful fall evening, Callan let her mind wander to the day Clay proposed. The newspaper she worked for at the time sponsored a fall festival downtown and all the employees were roped into helping in one form or another.

  In charge of a scarecrow-decorating contest held in an empty storefront, she struggled to handle the overwhelming number of entries in a variety of age categories. She hoped Clay would help her, but he let her know he had things to take care of at the ranch and wouldn’t be at the festival. Feverishly working to bring order to the chaos, she glanced out the store window and noticed Clay wandering up and down the street, looking for her.

  Surprised to see him, Callan waited until the contest was over and winners announced to hurry outside. She headed in the direction she’d last seen Clay and spotted him walking her direction on the other side of the street. Quickly crossing an intersection, she waited for him.

  When he saw her, his face lit up with a big smile while his bright blue eyes glowed with warmth.

  “Hey,” he said, giving her cheek a quick peck. “How’s it going?”

  “Great.” Callan reached out and took his hand in hers. It felt stiff against her fingers. A glimpse at Clay confirmed he appeared tense, nervous. “I thought you were busy today?”

  “Oh, I was, but I’m not now.” Clay looked everywhere but at Callan’s face. “You want to walk around?”

  “Sure.” Callan glanced at Clay, curious about his strange behavior. When he insisted she give him a piece of gum, she thought it odd. She’d left her gum, along with her purse, in the trunk of her car, not wanting to drag everything around with her while she was busy with the festival.

  “Can we please go to your car, Callan? I really need a piece of gum.”

  “Can’t we just buy a pack?” She pointed toward the drug store down the street.

  Clay grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the large parking lot behind the main group of downtown buildings. “I just want one piece. Please?”

  Callan dug her keys from her pocket as they walked to her car, unlocked the trunk, and fished out a piece of gum. When she handed it to Clay, she noticed he’d parked beside her. He intently studied the ground between their two vehicles.

  Quickly stuffing the gum into his mouth, Clay took a deep breath and stuck his hand into his shirt pocket. He dug out a small velvet jeweler’s box and handed it to Callan.

  “What’s this?” Callan asked, glancing from the box in her hand to Clay in confusion. “Another present?”

  He’d showered her with more gifts than anyone should be allowed to have for her birthday the previous week. Clay hit all the major gift-giving categories from flowers, candy, and an adorable stuffed bear to a beautiful gold heart-shaped locket. She couldn’t imagine he’d give her another gift already.

  He shook his head, unable to form words as his neck and ears glowed bright red.

  She opened the lid on the box and found a simple gold band set with a single beautiful diamond. She looked from the ring to Clay and back to the ring.

  “Clay, is this… do you mean… is this…?” She searched his face, but was unable to blurt out the question that stampeded through her mind.

  “Yes.” His voice was quiet, deep, and husky as he gave her a shy, unsure look. “Please?”

  “You want to marry me?” Callan couldn’t believe he could possibly want to marry her.

  “Yes. So…?” Clay’s entire face reddened and sweat dotted his forehead.

  “Yes!” She threw her arms around the man she’d only known a few months but felt like she’d loved forever. “Absolutely, yes!”

  They married two months later, just before Christmas.

  Callan remembered the day they wed thinking it would be impossible to love Clay more than she did at that moment. What she felt then was nothing compared to the depths of love she now felt for him, especially after everything they went through during the past year.

  As she pulled into the driveway, the welcoming glow from the porch light Clay left on for her made her smile. She slid out of the car and walked into the house, pleased no strange smells greeted her at the door. Clay had even put his boots and hat away.

  “Hey, Brick, I’m home!” she called as she set down her purse and strolled into the kitchen.

  Clay hurriedly stuffed the papers in his hand into a folder under a stack of assignments he graded for one of his classes. Glad he’d heard Callan pull into the driveway, it gave him time to hide the evidence of the surprise he planned for her.

  Callan walked into the kitchen and eyed the mess of papers covering the dining room table, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she kissed his cheek and asked if he’d eaten dinner. He had and left her a plate in the fridge. While her dinner warmed in the microwave, Callan changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. Clay slipped his secret folder into his briefcase while she changed and pasted an innocent look on his face before she returned.

  “What are you working on?” she asked, moving enough of his papers to be able to sit down with her dinner.

  “I’m grading assignments,” he said, putting away a stack he had already graded. “We’re getting close to mid-terms and I want the kids to be ready.”

  “You’re such a great teacher, Clay. I know if I’d had you for a professor, I’d have enjoyed classes a lot more.” Callan gave him a playful look.

  “If you had me for a teacher, you’d have spent all your time daydreaming and doodling hearts on your homework and I wouldn’t have been able to keep my eyes off you or focus on my work,” Clay said with a teasing grin. “We’d both have been in trouble.”

  “True,” Callan agreed with a smile, then went back to eating her dinner. As she rose to put her plate in the dishwasher, Clay asked about her day. She gave him a run-down of the highlights then mentioned she’d been thinking about the day he proposed.

  “You were so pitiful,” she laughed as she set a glass of iced tea next to him, with a hand on his shoulder. “You know, you never did get around to saying the words, but I’m very pleased with the end result.”

  “Me, too, Laney.” Clay grabbed her hand and kissed the soft skin on the inside of her wrist. “Hey, if you had the chance to do it over, would you do anything different?”

  “Everything or just the wedding?” Callan asked, her hand still resting on his shoulder.

  “The wedding. Would you do it the same?” Clay tried to sound casual, not like he attempted to pry information out of her.

  Callan laughed. “Let’s just say the only thing I’d do the same about the wedding would be the groom.”

  Although he was glad to hear she’d keep him, he wanted to know what she would change if she could. “What would you do different?”

  “What’s with all the questions tonight?” Callan asked. At Clay’s noncommittal shrug, she sighed and sat down again. “I wouldn’t get married right before Christmas. I’d have a summer wedding and get married outside with tons of flowers and white lights and breezy fabrics. I’d choose pink as my wedding color. The ceremony would be small, with just the people who really matter to us. I wouldn’t listen to all the well-meaning individuals who insist things had to be done a certain way. It would be more fun and less formal. However, no matter how our wedding turned out, I’m very happy to still have my groom. He’s a pretty great guy.” Callan gave Clay a warm smile and a quick kiss on the cheek. She got up from the table and wandered outside to play with Cully for a few minutes.

  Clay hurriedly jotted down notes on a blank sheet of paper and crammed it into his secret folder.

  The many hours he spent flat on his back in the hospital gave him a lot of time to think. He decided if he ever made it back home, he wanted to give Callan the wedding of her dreams as an anniversary gift. He knew people sometimes renewed their vows. After how far they’d come in the last year, the timing was perfect.

  Determined to keep it a surprise, he muddled through figuring out t
he details without asking for anyone’s help. He started by raiding Callan’s event planning files. He found some forms she used when she planned a wedding and that helped give him an idea of the basics involved with that type of event. He also pulled out files from some weddings she had done.

  With her detailed organizational skills, each folder had not only the details and photos of the event, but also a list of vendors she had contacted to provide specific services. In a stroke of pure luck, he found a file she labeled “my favorites” that included all her favorite vendors as well as pictures of things she liked.

  Just that evening, he’d started a list of ideas for a theme. He needed to start moving forward with plans. Clay had less than two months to pull this together and it had to be amazing.