Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

She took several long breaths then said in a smoother voice, "I know we only just met, but I've never, ever felt like this about anyone before."

"Nor have I, Mandy. So...what is this big, terrible thing?"

"If I tell you...you'll hate me," she said truly believing what she just said.

"I promise you I won't hate you."

"Okay, maybe not. But...but you won't want to be with me."

"Come on. Let's go sit down and talk this out."

For the next thirty minutes or so Mandy poured her heart out to him. She began with the affair and ended with Mrs. Martin and what she'd done and why.

"So...now you know and if you want to walk away, I'll understand," she told him, feeling better about herself for the first time since she'd done it. It didn't make the problem go away, but evidently confession really was good for the soul.

Heath let her finish and rarely spoke except to ask a question here or there. When she was finally done he took his turn.

"This is serious, but I believe it can be made right."

"How? How can I fix this? I can't put the money back that I spent, and putting the rest back would be extremely dangerous. Her son will never know, but...but I will, and..."

Heath gently held up a hand then said, "I have an idea. It won't be the same as turning yourself in to the police, but to Mrs. Martin's next of kin, it will be the same as if all the money was there. And turning yourself in does nothing but ensure Courtney goes into a foster home while you go to jail. That is a no-win situation for both of you."

He smiled at her then said, "And for me, too."

She was too upset to reply so Heath tried to explain how he could overlook what she'd done.

"You've lived an otherwise exemplary life, Mandy, and I can see the agony in your face over this one bad decision. And it was very bad," Heath told her. "But where the law is concerned, theft is theft whether it's a candy bar, some food, or a lot of money. However, the way I look at it, we all deserve a Mulligan. Thieves will steal again. I won't. Neither will you or your daughter. I had mine for a candy bar. Courtney's getting hers for some food. This will be y..."

"Wait. What do you mean Courtney's getting hers? She's going to court when we get home. We already have the date."

Heath had gotten a call from his attorney and the store owner had jumped on the opportunity. He'd been offered $10,000 initially, and thinking he was some kind of dealmaker, pushed for $25,000. Vern made it look like that was an outrageous sum of money before saying, "Okay. But not a penny more."

They signed the non-disclosure agreement moments after he called the police and dropped the charges. Problem solved.

When Heath relayed that to Mandy, she started to cry again. But not out of frustration this time. It was out of pure, unbridled relief, and were she to think about it, she'd have to admit it was out of a kind of...love.

"I...I don't know what to say, Heath. 'Thank you' is so...trivial. It's so...trite."

"No. It's not trivial, Mandy. It's all I need to hear. Well, except that you'll have dinner with me."

Mandy brushed her tears away then said, "I'll have dinner with you. Honestly, Heath? I'll be happy to have or do anything with you."

She moved over next to him and put her arms around him and said, "I really am falling for you. Please don't hurt me. Or my daughter."

"Never. I'll never hurt you or her, Mandy."

She looked at him through the remnants of her tears and heard him say, "We must never hurt the people we love."

It wasn't an 'I love you' as it was too soon for that, but it was...love. The kind of love that was as much respect and deep caring as some kind of emotional high, and yet Mandy was now well aware that was there, too.

They talked for a few more minutes before going upstairs. Mandy showered, changed, then went down to dinner along with her daughter about an hour later. Just before they sat down, she told Courtney what Heath had done, and then it was Courtney whose eyes welled up with tears.

"I...don't even know what to say," she told her mom.

"Hmmm. Someone else recently told me that, too," he said to Courtney with a smile directed at Mandy as he walked up behind them and overheard her comment.

She turned around and threw her arms around Heath's neck, and said, "I know why my mom likes you so much. Thank you, Heath. Thank you so, so much!"

"I'm happy to help. Just make sure there's never a second time, okay?"

"No. Never. I promise," she told him, her heart full of gratitude.

Adam joined them a few minutes later, and the four of them had another amazing evening together.

The following day was as enjoyable as the one they'd just had, and that's when Heath mentioned the charity auction.

"Oh, yes! I have to admit I forgot, but I'm really looking forward to it," she said after the end of the skiing and snowboarding.

The four of them grabbed something to eat before changing and coming back downstairs, just as the room was filling with people. There were no less than a hundred when the auction began, and that's when Mandy was surprised yet again by this amazing, wonderful, younger man she realized she was already falling in love with.

"Ladies and gentlemen. As you know, all proceeds tonight go to help underprivileged children learn to ski and snowboard. We started this three years ago when Heath Davis, the owner and CEO of Boarding Enterprises, set it up. We made a little over $75,000 that first year, and last year we broke a hundred grand. So open those checkbooks and help a kid learn to ski!" the emcee said.

"Wait. You own the company?" Mandy said as she stood next to the man everyone was looking and smiling at.

"I do," he said modestly as he smiled back and raised his hand in a kind of wave.

"You are just one pleasant surprise after the other," she told him right as the bidding began.

The first board went up for sale with a starting bid of $2,500 and sold for $11,500. The bidding wars went on for every board, and when the evening ended, Heath's charity was $115,000 better off.

Mandy watched him interact with the wealthy and some of the biggest names in the business in a way that impressed her. He was humble, modest, and grateful. He wasn't a 'wheeler-dealer' and although that wasn't a big surprise, that, too, made another huge impression on her.

After the last person left around 9pm, Mandy said, "I'm wondering if there's anything about you I won't like."

Heath smiled then said, "I'm sure there will be. Just let me know when you see something, and I'll get to work on it."

Mandy smiled then the smile quickly faded.

"I...I wish I didn't have to go," she told him. "But I have to work tomorrow and Courtney has school, and we have a two-hour drive ahead of us."

"Can I you again? Soon?" Heath asked.

"Yes. Anytime," she told him without hesitation.

Feeling bold, she said, "Day or night," just as he'd said to her.

"Promise?"

"Yes," she said sweetly. "I promise."

Heath saw her the following evening, and every evening the rest of that week. On Thursday, Mandy told him that Courtney had asked if she could go to her father's for the weekend.

"I thought she didn't enjoy going there," he replied.

"She doesn't. She just wants us to have a chance to, you know, be alone."

Heath smiled at her.

"I like the sound of that. Very much."

"Me, too," she told him. "And something tells me I'm going to have even more to love about you after this weekend."

That weekend, she made love with him for the first time and then many other times, and Mandy knew with certainty he loved her and that she was in love him. He was as amazing in bed as he was out, and there wasn't anything she didn't love about him.

The following weekend, the three of them discussed Courtney's possible training with Adam, and Mandy realized her daughter would need to be home schooled for this to work.

"I could do that, but I have to work," she told him. "I really don't see any other way around this, Heath."

"I do," he told her.

He smiled at both of 'his' girls then said, "It's no secret I love both of you very much."

Mother and daughter beamed as they both said they felt the same way about him.

Heath kept smiling then got more serious when he said, "Since it's not just your mom and I, Courtney, I want you to be here when I ask her something; something very important."

When he reached into his pocket, Courtney said it first.

"Oh, my God. Mom...look!"

After he fished out the small box, Mandy's hands began to shake. She covered her mouth as Heath knelt before her on one knee and said, "Mandy? I fell in love with you the moment I first spoke to you."

He looked at Courtney and said, "And I love you, too, young lady."

He turned back toward Mandy then said, "Mandy? Will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?"

Mandy wanted to move but her body was frozen. Courtney looked at her and wondered what in the world was going on. When she realized the problem, she grabbed her mom's left hand and held it out.

"She say's 'yes'!" Courtney said for her mom.

Mandy finally found her voice and said, "What she said!" before standing up and holding her handsome fiancé as they opened their arms to let Courtney join in, too.

As if that wasn't enough, Mandy was almost as happy to be able to put a letter of resignation on the branch manager's desk the following day. She fought off the urge to say something snide like, "My itch has been scratched, thank you very much," but instead told him what a pleasure it had been working there again, but that in two weeks, she'd be quitting—permanently.

A month later, Mandy and Courtney put their house up for sale, and moved into Heath's huge home in Redmond, just blocks from the Microsoft headquarters building, and never worked another day in her life. At least not for pay. Staying at home allowed her to not only home school her daughter, but to also do the kind of volunteer work she loved, and Heath loved having her home every night.

Three months later, one of Seattle's most eligible bachelors was officially taken off the market when he married the love of his life in the Crystal Mountain Ski Lodge where they first met, surrounded by family and friends.

Mandy Davis rarely thought back to what she had done that day so long ago in the bank. Her husband had sent a check, anonymously via Vern, to Mrs. Martin's son, in the amount his wife had taken, 'making things right' to the greatest degree possible.

Neither of them ever spoke of 'the incident' again, knowing that as bad as it was, had she not done so, they would never have met.

Those were desperate times for Mandy, and she'd taken desperate measures. Things could have ended very differently for her and her daughter, but as she learned, life sometimes surprises us in ways we could never expect. And while those surprises are often unpleasant, every now and then life offers one up that is more positive than one could ever imagine. This was one such time.

Another surprise was when Courtney was able to train full-time with Adam and be home schooled by her mom who poured her heart into making sure her daughter got the best education possible, as her skills improved week after week.

That dream grew until Courtney made the US Olympic ski team six years later. She didn't medal during the Games, but she did meet the love of her life while on the team. She and her husband later ended up running one of the many stores her new dad owned in the area.

Adam, unfortunately, was still searching for his Noah, but after seeing his older brother find his Allie and Courtney her wonderful, handsome man, he took hope believing he, too, would one day be just as lucky.

Oh, and as if things weren't wonderful enough, Courtney's baby sister, Candace, is now five years old, and a very promising skier herself, and dearly loved by those who first met on a cold winter's day brought on by the desperate measures one lonely woman took to try and turn her life around.