CHAPTER  15

	Sandy snuggled in to Ty’s arms on the chairs of the maternity waiting room. 
They had simply stayed there while they had talked.  Ty had gone into all the minor
details of his bet with Cole, explaining to her exactly  what restrictions he had been
working under.  She had laughed when he had told her how, in his anger at Cole, he had
struck out into the unknown without consulting a map to see what lay ahead on his
chosen route.  Instead, he had chosen the worse possible course for finding
employment.
	“It was fate that brought me to Silverside,” he said, as he kissed her softly. Then
he sighed. “But I have a confession to make.” 
	“What?” She lifted her head to look up at him, and saw him frowning slightly.
	“Well — umm — that first night at your house — when the power went out...” He
paused, as if he was reconsidering whether or not he should continue, or maybe just not
sure how to say what he wanted to say.  He raked his hand through his hair nervously.
	“Yes?” she looked at him, challenging him to finish.
	“Yeah — well — I know I said I never lied to you since I met you.  I’m afraid that is
slightly untrue.  There was just one thing...”  He looked down at her, a worried
expression on his face.
	“You’re telling me you did lie to me? About what?”  She gave him a stony stare.
	He sighed and nodded. “When I went down to check your fuse box in the dark,
there was no hidden breaker switch.  I saw everything that first night.  I knew it was
tripped.  I could have reset it right then and there — I almost did.”
	“But you didn’t.”
	“No.  I figured if I left the power out overnight, it would buy me some time, let me
prove to you that I really was useful, and I could fix everything in the morning and appear
to be invaluable and then you would have to keep me on.”  He laughed. “I wasn’t
thinking any further than securing a job though, honest!  I never had any ungentlemanly
ideas about you.  At least, not until later that night when I came back to your room with
the ice, and you were sitting there in your bed in the candlelight looking like an angel.” 
He smiled down at her and brushed her hair from her face, resting his hand gently on
her cheek.  “That is an image of you I will never, ever,  forget.  I do believe Mrs.
Witherspoon did me the biggest favour of my life,” he said.  Sandy giggled at that,
thinking that the old lady had finally managed to get her way — there was a man out at
Sandy Johnson’s house, and he was going to be staying there.
	 “So what happens now?”  she asked. “Do you have to default on your bet now
that you have told me everything?”
	“Actually, Cole called the whole thing off this afternoon,” Ty said, and she was
surprised to hear a cheerfulness in his voice.
	“He did?” she lifted her head in surprise. “Why did he do that?”
	“Well, ” Ty grinned from ear to ear, “he said he did it to give me a shove to grow
up, right?  He said I needed to learn responsibility, reliability, dependability — and a whole
lot more of those ‘ity’ words.”  He brushed another strand of hair from Sandy’s face, and
kissed her forehead before he went on. “But to tell you the truth, Cole was mighty
impressed with the work I had done on your house, and before he left today he said I
had pretty much already learned my lesson. “ Then he shrugged.  “And besides, it was
all his fault that I had to tell you everything in the first place, wasn’t it?  If he hadn’t shown
up when he did, you would never have heard him talking to me.”
	Sandy frowned. “I’m sorry Ty.”
	“What for?” He looked down at her, confused. 
	“That you don’t get the partnership.”
	Ty laughed and kissed her again.  “Don’t be sorry, Sandy. Didn’t you understand
anything I just said to you? I never cared about the company. At least, not about owning
it. I was happy for Cole, he really enjoys running that place, but to me, it was just a place
to work.  It was never in my heart. To tell you the truth, I had already decided to call the
whole thing off myself and tell Cole he could keep his damn partnership.  I had planned
to call him this week and tell him so anyway, but then he showed up at your house
before I had a chance,”  he chuckled.
	“But why? Why were you going to call it all off?”
	He smiled down into her eyes and wrapped his arms around her. “Because if I
was a partner in McKinley Contracting, I’d have to leave Silverside wouldn’t I?  And that
is the last thing in the world I want to do.  I have everything I want, right here in my
arms.“
	“Oh Ty!” She snuggled in a little closer and he kissed her again before she was
finally able to speak. Then suddenly she lifted her head and searched his eyes, a
concerned look on her face.  “But what are you going to do now?”
	Ty straightened up a little and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Well, before
Cole went back home, we had a long talk about what I really wanted out of life — now
that I’ve grown up you know. We hammered out a deal that suits both of us.”  He
grinned at her. “Working on your house showed me where my heart is — in more ways
than one — I want to do renovations and restorations of older homes, not build new
skyscrapers and shopping malls and other large and impersonal buildings.  I want to
work on buildings with heart and soul.  So — I’m starting out on my own, sort of an
offshoot of McKinley Contracting, with funding from M.C. to get me started, but it will be
my own company.”
	“Cole is willing to do that for you?” She looked surprised.
	He laughed at her. “Don’t be fooled by the way we talk to each other.  We might
sound like we hate each other sometimes, but  we’re real close.  He would do anything
for me — and I would do the same for him any time if I could.”
	She smiled up at him.  “Is that what you really want?” she asked him, and he
leaned closer, whispering against her lips just before he kissed her.
	“That is what I really want,” he assured her.  “That, and you.”  He kissed her
longingly, then lifted his lips slightly from hers. “Sandy, I want you with me forever — as
my wife.”
	Sandy hugged him close. “Oh yes, Ty!”
	“Well, well now! Serena told me there was more going on between you two than
you let on Ty, my man, but I didn’t believe her!”  They were lost in a long and loving
embrace when Bob’s voice broke through their kiss, and Sandy buried her face in Ty’s
shirt front and giggled. 
	“How’s the family doing, Bob?” Ty asked casually, though he still did not let go of
Sandy.
	“Just perfect!” the new father beamed. “Serena is just fine, and they’ve taken the
baby to an incubator because she’s premature, but they say she’s a strong little thing.  I
just came out to see if you two were still here, and — well, obviously you are, and it
would seem you probably lost track of time and wouldn’t have missed me if I had never
come back.”  He winked as he spoke to them, and Ty casually contradicted him.
	“Of course we would have missed you.” Then he glanced at Sandy and grinned. 
“And I’m sure the nurses would have asked us to leave eventually.”
	Bob laughed. Well, I just wanted to give you the official news, then I’ll let you two
get back to — more pressing matter.” His smile widened as he looked at Sandy. “We’re
calling the baby Katherine Sandra. Katie for short.”
	Sandy gasped. “Oh Bob, you named her after me!  You didn’t have to!” she
exclaimed, though she was thrilled all the same.
	“To heck we didn’t!” Bob insisted.  “Serena would  have nothing but.”  He turned
and winked at Ty then. “And if the baby had been a boy, he would have been named
after you, Ty.”
	Ty laughed.  “Well, I haven’t done anything to earn that honour yet!” he winked at
Sandy. “ So I guess I had better remedy that fact hadn’t I”  To Bob’s confused look, Ty
stood up and grinned. “As my first official act as owner of my new company — McKinley
Renovations and Restorations — Bob, I would like to offer you the job of my foreman.”
	Bob’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he looked from Ty to Sandy. “This
is some kind of a joke, right?  He’s not serious, is he?” he asked, but Sandy just grinned
and nodded, and  Bob shot his eyes back to Ty.  “You’re serious?”
	“I have never been more serious in my life than I have been today,” Ty assured
him, glancing down at Sandy and grinning. “I said once that if ever I were in a position to
hire you, I would, remember?  Well, now I can do that — and now I am.  My brother owns
a large construction company out east.  I’ve sort of been — well, shall we say — on
sabbatical from there the last few weeks.  This afternoon we came to a business
agreement that puts me in business for myself, as of today. I think it’s symbolic that my
new company was born on the same day as your little Katie. So how about it?  Foreman
— what do you say? ”
	“Well...” Bob looked at the two of them again, the shock on his face turning to a
big grin. “I say — YES!”  he said, reaching for Ty’s hand and shaking it profusely. 
“Foreman?” he asked, double checking, and when Ty nodded he shook even harder.
“Damn!” he said, still in shock.
	“Oh! And one more thing,” Ty said, casting a glance back at Sandy and taking
hold of her hand to pull her up beside him.  “My brother will kill me, of course, if he isn’t
best man, but I’d sure like you to be the groomsman at our wedding, Bob.”  
	“Oh yes!” Sandy grinned, and stood up so Ty could take her into the crook of his
arm. “And I’d love for Serena to be my bridesmaid next to my sister Mikki.”
	Bob stared at them in disbelief. “Well, double damn! This sure has been a day
full of surprises!”
	“More than you know, Bob.” Sandy said, as she grinned up at her new fiancé and
hugged him close. “More than you know.”