Big Sky Family. Charlotte Carter

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      Daniel came striding across the distance from the barn, a tool belt around his waist. Apparently he had finished mucking out the horse stalls and was ready to go to work on the house.

      “Hey, you guys,” Daniel said to the men still hanging around the coffeepot. “You can’t stand around drinking coffee and eatin’ doughnuts all day. We gotta get this house sealed up tight before the first snow flies.”

      “Yeah, yeah. We know, Danny boy.”

      “Hey, who made you the boss?”

      Amid a lot of friendly joshing and gently barbed comments, the men set to work. Guys grunted as they lifted heavy loads of plywood. Hammers banged nails home. Orders were shouted out. Power saws whined.

      The heat of the day rose. Sweat darkened the back of the men’s shirts and dripped from their chins.

      Arnie wheeled his chair up the temporary ramp into his living room and looked around. His pride, his gratitude, were tempered by the knowledge that he’d never share this house with someone who could be his partner in making it a home.

      A sense of betrayal rose bitter in his throat.

       Ellie!

      Even knowing she’d done the right thing to leave him, he couldn’t quite accept that the woman who had cried at his bedside and held his hand for five solid days after the accident had actually walked out of his life. She hadn’t stayed to fight for their love.

      Now she was back.

      And he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

       Chapter Three

      The white steeple soared above Potter Creek Community Church, glistening in the morning sunlight, a beacon of hope and a promise of the Lord’s love.

      Holding her daughter’s hand, Ellie followed the path to the building that housed Sunday school classrooms. She’d grown up attending this church, and now her daughter would enjoy the same experience.

      Somewhere between her sixteenth birthday, when she decided her friends were far more fun to be with than attending church, and her surprise pregnancy at age twenty-one, Ellie had lost her faith. Or, more accurately, she had simply ignored the teachings of the Lord.

      Nothing like realizing you were going to be a single parent to drag a woman back into the folds of the church. That and praying for forgiveness of her sins.

      “Will I know anybody in my Sunday school class?” Wearing a summery dress and her shiny Mary Jane shoes, Torie stretched her little legs in order to step over the cracks in the sidewalk. “We’ll have to see, honey.”

      Ellie introduced herself and Torie to the teacher. In less than two minutes, Torie was playing with the other children in the class.

      Kissing her daughter goodbye, she went in search of her mother, who was saving her a seat.

      Off to the side of the main entrance a group of churchgoers had gathered around a table. The banner on the wall behind the table read Support Paralympics.

      Ellie’s steps slowed. Her mouth dried. As though she had no control over her own feet, they angled her directly toward the table and the person she instinctively knew would be sitting there.

      As she drew closer, the two men who had been blocking her view stepped aside. Arnie spotted her the moment the men moved away. His dark eyes flared momentarily before he could shutter them and coax his expression into one of disinterest. His short-sleeved sport shirt revealed the deeply tanned column of his neck and his muscular arms.

      “Looks like you’re all dressed up for church,” he said.

      Ellie’s tongue swept across her dry lips. “Yes. I just left Torie in the child-care room.”

      “I didn’t know you ever went to church.”

      “I don’t remember you as a regular churchgoer, either.”

      “Good point. Having a near-death experience forces a guy to take a look at his life, make some changes.”

      “Having a baby out of wedlock does the same thing.” She cringed, wondering what Arnie would think of her. Wondering if he would condemn her for sleeping with a man outside the sanctity of marriage.

      His brows lifted slowly but not in condemnation.

      “No husband?”

      She held herself very still. “Turned out he wasn’t interested in being a daddy.” Or a husband, for that matter. Foolishly, she’d given herself too easily to a man who couldn’t or wouldn’t cherish her.

      A small V formed between his brows. “Torie’s a cute kid. He’s missing something special.”

      She smiled, and some of the tension that had kept her nerves as taut as a piano wire eased. “I think so, too.”

      “So do you want to be one of my sponsors?” He shoved a glossy brochure across the table to her. “I’m trying to raise a couple of thousand dollars for the Bozeman Paralympics organization. We’re hosting a marathon race in a couple of weeks, and I’ve entered the wheelchair division. I want them to start a Western riding event. You know, cow cutting and trail riding. Events like that. The money will help them do that.”

      “Sure, I’ll sponsor you. Vanna said something about you working with the Paralympics group.”

      “A couple of years ago some guys in the organization dragged me to Bridger Bowl outside of Bozeman and took me skiing.” He handed her a pledge form.

      “Skiing? How could you—”

      “I’m on a wheelchair basketball team, too. We won the regionals last year.” He lifted his chin, challenging her to question him.

      “Congratulations.” Her admiration for all he had overcome kicked up a notch.

      “Paralympics is like Ability Counts Preschool. It’s not your disabilities that matter, only your abilities.”

      She heard chastisement in his voice and knew she deserved the rebuke. She opened her mouth to apologize, but he stopped her.

      “The prelude’s started. We better get inside.” He put some paperweights on the stack of brochures and pledge forms. “You can bring that back to me after church, if you’re still interested.”

      “Of course.”

      He wheeled out from behind the table and gestured for her to precede him inside, a gentlemanly courtesy. She stepped in front of him, fully aware that he was right behind her. His eyes were on her, his unseen gaze raising her temperature, sending a rush of heat to her face and a wave of guilt to her conscience. Her hand shaking slightly, she took a program from the greeter at the door.

      Why on earth had she walked right up to his table? She’d vowed to steer clear of the man. With a firm grip on the church program, she promised she wouldn’t forget again.

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