Fall for Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte 1)

Scott was what her mom referred to as a “fly boy,” an F-15 fighter pilot. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen, and he was a gentleman. She worshiped him from the day she met him. The happiest day of her life was the day she found out Scott looked at her as a woman.

The first time he took her out, he opened doors, and pulled out her chair. He asked her what she wanted for dinner and ordered for her. He’d been her prince charming. In fact, he’d called her his princess, and rather than Liv, he always called her Olivia.

They started seeing each other when he was in town for his promotion to captain, two months after she turned eighteen. He took her out every night that week, and when he went back to his base, he called her every night at eight o’clock. Funny she remembered it so well, waiting for him to call, and that he was so punctual.

They’d kissed, but Scott never pushed her to go any further. She’d been so innocent then, that she hadn’t thought about it, but now she wondered why he hadn’t. He asked her one night, during one of their phone calls, if she was a virgin. She remembered being aghast that he’d asked. She hadn’t told him she’d been saving herself for him, but she had been, in every way.

He came back at Christmas, and spent it with her family. He proposed on Christmas Eve in front of the Christmas tree, with her parents watching. She hadn’t questioned it then, but remembered now how happy her mother and father had been. She wondered now if they’d been happy for her, or happy that she landed such a “catch.”

She visited his base soon after they were engaged. Scott took her around, introducing her to his friends, most already married with families. She remembered how he always asked if Liv wasn’t the most beautiful woman they’d ever seen.

One evening during her visit they went out for dinner with several other couples. One of the wives asked Liv about her hobbies and what she liked to do. Liv told her she had a horse, and that she dreamed of being a barrel racer.

Later, when Scott dropped her off at her hotel, he sat her down and told her he didn’t want to hear any more talk of barrel racing. She would be too busy as an Air Force wife for such foolishness, and that he wanted to start a family as soon as they were married. She’d loved him so much that giving up her dream to be with him didn’t seem like a sacrifice.

When she got home and talked to her mother about it, her mom assured her that life with Scott would be an unimaginable series of adventures. She’d travel the world and have opportunities as the wife of a pilot that few dreamed about. Rodeos and barrel racing were for women of a different caliber than Liv, her mother said that night.

The next month was a flurry of activity as they rushed to plan the wedding. They held the ceremony at the Air Force Academy chapel, and the reception at their ranch. Liv remembered knowing very few people at her own wedding—most were Scott’s friends, or friends of her parents.

For their honeymoon, Scott took her to Hawaii, and treated her like a queen. He was charming, romantic, and made her feel as though she was the most special woman who ever lived. He was gentle when they made love, and patient as he taught her how to please him. She’d never dreamed sex could be so spectacular.

While they were in Hawaii, he made sure they did everything she wanted to do. They went sailing, whale-watching, hiking, and snorkeling. He took her to each of the islands and when they were in Kauai, they made love on a beach, under the stars.

As a captain, and a fighter pilot, Scott arranged for a very nice home for the two of them, off base. Not nearly as nice as her parents’ home, but Liv hadn’t expected it to be. She missed her horse, but being with Scott meant everything to her.

Liv was accustomed to the life of an Air Force officer, she’d seen and learned it all from her mother. There’d be wives’ clubs to join, dinner parties to host, and functions to attend.

In early April, Liv found out she was pregnant. Scott was thrilled. If she’d felt like a princess before, now she felt doubly so. He was attentive and caring, making sure she had everything she wanted or needed.

Each month, on the fourteenth, he gave her a gift to celebrate their anniversary. In March, he gave her an emerald four-leaf clover necklace. In April, a pair of diamond earrings, in honor of her birthday, April 17.

In May, he gave her tickets for the two of them to visit her parents for Memorial Day, and in June, he gave her a bracelet that belonged to his grandmother.

Scott never failed to tell her his sun rose and set with her, and she’d loved him, heart and soul.

In August he was deployed, and by November, he was gone. Those had been very dark days for Liv. Her world had ended when they told her Scott died.

Her parents flew in right away, and took care of everything. She wondered now, if her father knew Scott was shot down before she did. She moved home to live with them. She remembered Scott’s funeral, the day they buried him at the academy cemetery. Everyone told her she should be so proud, her husband was a hero.

Irene Louise Fairchild was born a few weeks later, and Liv’s world went from revolving around Scott to revolving around her daughter.

Ben watched the expressions on Liv’s face change as she told him the story of her life with Scott. She had been so young, so innocent, but it sounded as though he had been a decent man, and good to her. And she’d loved him, completely. Which made it easier to understand why she hadn’t ever remarried.

“When Renie was little, I had no desire to do anything but be her mom. My parents would’ve been happy to watch her if I had ever wanted to go out, but I never did. I believed that Scott was it for me. I shut off that part of me. The day Renie started school, I met Paige. Her daughter, Blythe, was in the same kindergarten class.”

Soon Liv became busy with mother-daughter play dates, helping in Renie’s classroom and on field trips. When that happened, her parents started traveling more. Liv never realized how much they’d put their lives on hold to help her.

When Renie turned ten, Liv’s father had a heart attack. He died the next day, without ever regaining consciousness. Liv got Pooh, Renie’s horse, as a way to distract her daughter from the pain of losing her grandfather. Two years later, her mother passed away from breast cancer. The time between her diagnosis and her passing had been brief.

Between then and now, Liv had her hands full raising her daughter. Paige and Mark tried to fix her up with different guys, but there had never been anyone who held a candle to Scott. She enjoyed the time she spent with Renie. They were as much friends as they were parent and child.

“I guess you didn’t ask me to tell you my life story, but it’s hard to tell you about Scott, without doing so. The truth is, we were together such a short amount of time. Even so, he was my life, and he impacted the rest of my life in a profound way. It’s hard to separate one from the other.”

Wow—her life story. First a daughter, then a wife, and then a mother. Until tonight, when she summed it up so succinctly for Ben, she hadn’t realized her whole life she’d been someone’s something. Liv had never been anything all on her own.

What bothered Ben the most about everything Liv had told him, was hearing her birthday had been a little over a week ago, and he hadn’t known. Had she celebrated alone? He hoped Paige and Mark had done something nice for her.

“Are you getting hungry?” They were sitting out on Ben’s deck. The sun was going down, and he turned on one of the outdoor heat lamps.