Mary stood patiently waiting outside the limo. "You know, darlin', you're welcome to wait inside. I promise I won't bite…much," the sound of Mr. Parr's East Texas drawl sent a chill down Mary's spine. There was no way in hell she was getting in a car with that man without someone in between them. She cursed herself again for letting Sam talk her into this.
Mr. Parr was one of Sam's biggest whales and he always flew in two days before New Year's to gamble and party before hightailing it home for his wife's "annual shindig" as he liked to call it. Unlike most of his other visits he'd actually done quite well this time and was leaving Las Vegas with almost a million more than he started with.
Of course he'd requested the Montecito's private jet ferry him back to Texas and since he'd 'taken a shine' to Mary during his last stay he insisted that she be the one to escort him. Mary had reluctantly agreed on two conditions: Sam had to pay her 50 of her commissions for the week and they had to be accompanied by someone from the security team. Any money Mr. Parr would most likely bring into the casino in the future was more than worth it to Sam and she eagerly agreed to Mary's terms.
Mary glanced at her watch again and looked towards the lobby doors. The sun was just setting behind the mountains and if they didn't leave soon they were going to be late. She prayed that Sam had been able to find someone to go with them. New Year's Eve was the busiest night of the year in Vegas and everyone was already overworked and understaffed. It probably wasn't fair of Mary to take someone away from the security team, but the thought of this guy's slimy hands on her all the way to Texas quickly did away with any qualms she had about requesting the chaperone.
"Tick tock, little lady. We better get a move on or I'll be late for the party."
"Just one more minute, Mr. Parr. I'm sure they're on their way," Mary said as she pulled out her phone.
"Sorry I'm late," she heard a familiar voice say as she turned to see Danny headed her way.
"What are you doing here?" Mary asked bewildered.
"Sam said you needed someone to ride with you to take Mr. Parr home."
"Yeah, but I thought she'd get one of the bouncers or something. Danny, I'm so sorry. I know how busy you are. Maybe I can find someone else," she said as she started to dial Sam's number again.
"Mary," he told her as he pulled the phone away from her ear, "Don't worry about it. I'm all yours so let's get going. Maybe we can be back before midnight."
After her shock at Danny's eagerness wore off Mary moved toward the limo. Danny followed closely behind and soon they were on their way to the airport. Once there, all three boarded the Montecito jet and it was soon in the air. The flight over was just as bad as Mary had anticipated. Danny had to warn Mr. Parr repeatedly to keep his hands to himself since he'd managed to drink himself into a stupor. Danny and Mary were so preoccupied with his inebriated antics they barely had time to speak to one another. Once they reached Houston, Danny and the pilot actually had to carry the billionaire to his waiting limo since he'd finally passed out on their final descent.
After they were back in the air and headed home Danny tried to make small talk. "So, weren't you supposed to be off tonight? Did you have big plans?"
Mary hesitated a moment before replying, "No, not really. I was just looking forward to a night to myself. It seems like I've been working non-stop since I came back."
"Yeah, I guess you're a lot busier as hotel manager than you were as special events coordinator."
"It's been crazy. I guess I always knew it was a lot of work, but until you're in the middle of it you really have no idea."
Danny nodded his head and an awkward silence filled the plane.
"I've been looking at houses," Mary blurted out, unable to stand the quiet.
"Houses? Really? That's great, Mary. I knew you were looking at places, but I didn't realize you'd decided on a house. I figured you would just find another apartment."
"Yeah. I did look at several apartments, but I just decided that I wanted something more," Mary smiled to herself as a thought passed through her mind.
"What's so funny?" Danny asked, curious.
"Sam says it's part of the new me. I don't need a man to provide for me when I'm perfectly capable of doing it all on my own. If I want a house then I'll buy myself a house."
Danny's eyes bugged out of his head and Mary laughed at his expression. "Don't worry, Danny. I'm not turning into Gloria Steinam or anything."
"Just as long as you don't turn into Sam."
"I always thought you had a thing for Sam," Mary instantly regretted her words as the air became charged with an uncomfortable energy again.
Before Danny could respond, Mary spoke again, "So, what about you? Did you have somewhere you were supposed to be?"
Danny didn't want to tell her he'd begged Ed to let him go on this assignment. The last few months had been strange for him and Mary. Danny had hoped that once Jake was out of the picture he and Mary could at least get their friendship back on track and once that was done, maybe… "Stop!" he told himself. "She doesn't want that anymore. If you keep thinking like that you might lose her for good. You want to be friends again. That's why you're here." Danny had figured out quickly that Mary had no interest in rekindling any type of romance. At first he'd thought his failed attempts at spending time with her were just a product of bad timing, but he finally realized that Mary was sabotaging any alone time they might have. She always invited one of their other friends to join them and whenever Danny tried to surprise her she'd give him some excuse to get out of it.
"I was going to head down to Mystique—check out the party, but other than that… no."
"With Delinda?" Mary tried to make her tone sound light, but in reality the thought of Danny and Delinda made her insides twist.
Danny noticed the hint of something in her voice—it was the same tone he'd heard when she'd mentioned Sam. Was it possible it was jealousy? Danny's heart leapt at the thought that maybe he'd been wrong before. Considering this possibility, he looked at her for a long moment, trying to gauge how he should answer her question. Had Delinda told her about their arrangement? It had been the thought of what it might do to Mary that had kept him from actually following through with anything yet, but the promise of benefits still lingered in the air between the two friends.
"Look, Mary…"
"Danny, you don't have to tell me anything," she quickly stopped him.
"I know, but I want to. There's nothing going on between Delinda and me. We thought about it, but…. Maybe a couple of years ago I would have jumped at the opportunity, but it's just not what I want anymore. I decided at this point in my life I want something more."
Mary's eyes began to water as she heard the words she'd spoken only moments before. She tried to think of something to say, but the only thing that came out was a quiet "Oh."
Suddenly, the plane jolted and went into a steep dive. Mary screamed as Danny reached across the aisle for her, but the g-forces made it impossible for him to leave his seat as the aircraft continued to plunge.
"MAKE SURE YOU STAY BUCKLED IN," the pilot screamed into the PA system as the plane finally leveled off, "I'M GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE IT DOWN."
Disregarding the pilot's instructions, Danny quickly unbuckled his belt as the plane precariously rocked from side to side and moved across the aisle next to Mary. He fastened himself back in and made sure her belt was secure before pulling her close to him.
"It's going to be okay," he said as he kissed her head.
Mary cried softly into his chest as the plane took another sudden dive. After what seemed like an eternity of rising and falling they heard the pilot yell, "BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!" and Danny pushed Mary's head down and covered her body with his own as they hit hard and bounced and then hit hard again.
Sparks flew as the left wing broke off and the landing gear crumpled as the aircraft slid sideways down the icy country road. As the road curved the plane continued straight, falling down a steep embankment and coming to rest on its side in a small creek.
After the screeching of twisted metal and Mary's terrified screams the silence was almost too much to bear. The plane had been plunged into darkness and the only thing that reassured Danny they weren't dead were Mary's quiet sobs against his chest.
"Sshhh, it's alright. We're okay," he whispered softly as he ran his hands through her hair. The gesture was meant to be comforting, but Danny was also searching her scalp for any signs of injury. "Are you okay? Are you hurting anywhere?"
Mary shook her head as she tried to calm herself. "No," she finally said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but we need to get out of here. If there's fuel leaking we need to get as far away from this thing as possible."
Mary nodded her head in agreement and together they unfastened their belts and carefully moved towards the door. "Once I get the door opened I want you to run. I think we came down near a road so head in that direction and see if you can flag down a car. I'm going to see if I can get the pilot out and then we'll be right behind you. Okay?"
Mary didn't want to leave him, but she knew that Danny was giving her a specific task in order to distract her from arguing about it. The fuselage was resting at an angle which made opening the door difficult. After struggling with it for several moments Danny was finally able to disengage the lock and push it out.
"Ready?" he asked, grabbing his suit jacket and holding it so Mary could put her arms in. Once she had the jacket on, she hesitated only a moment before placing a soft kiss on Danny's lips and then nodding her head. "I'm ready," she whispered.
Danny stood stunned for a moment, but quickly shook it off and helped Mary to the ground. Once he saw she was safely making her way towards the road he turned and headed for the cockpit.
A car had already stopped by the time Mary made her way up the embankment. "You alright, miss? Anyone else down there?" the young man asked as he helped her sit down inside his car.
"There's two more people. One of them is alright, but he's checking on the pilot," Mary told him.
"I called the Sheriff as soon as I saw the plane coming down so he should be here soon. I'm a volunteer fireman so I'm going to see if I can help your friend. You okay by yourself?"
"I'm fine. Please go help him," Mary told the stranger as she pulled her bare feet inside the heated vehicle. Her shoes had stuck in the mud and snowy slush the minute she'd stepped out of the plane and she'd had to discard them. Without any protection her feet were quickly turning to ice.
"Feel free to open up my bag there and get you some socks. I'd hate for you to lose any of those pretty little toes to frostbite," he nodded towards her feet. Mary chuckled at the absurdity of the situation as she quietly voiced her thanks. Danny had given her a spa day at Canyon Ranch for Christmas and on a whim she'd had the girl add snowflakes to her red painted toes. At the time she'd never dreamed she might actually be walking bare foot through the ice and snow.
Just as the top of the man's head disappeared into the ravine Mary saw the flash of red and blue lights making its way around the bend. The Sheriff arrived along with a fire truck and after Mary's assurances that she was not injured they quickly made their way to the crash site. As Mary watched the group of men traverse the hillside with a stretcher in tow the magnitude of what had just transpired finally hit her. She jumped from the car and fell to her knees on the frozen pavement, violently emptying the meager contents of her stomach.
"Mary?" she heard Danny desperately calling for her, but she couldn't answer. She was on all fours, dry heaves wracking her body when she felt Danny's hands softly pulling her hair away from her face. When she was sure the retching was over, Mary took a few shaky breaths and slowly tried to sit up.
"It's okay, baby," Danny softly cooed as he placed a kiss along her hairline. Mary leaned back against him as she let his strong arms encircle her from behind. After a few moments she found the strength to ask, "Is the pilot okay?"
"Yeah, his leg is broken, but he'll be okay. We're about 250 miles from San Antonio and that's the closest major metropolitan area so they've already radioed for a Life Flight chopper," Danny quickly filled her in. "How about you?" he asked worriedly.
"I'm okay," she responded weakly. "It just hit me all of a sudden. We could have died, Danny."
"But we didn't," he assured her. "We're okay, Mare."
"I know, but…"
"But what?" he asked as he helped her stand on wobbly legs and turned her body to face him.
Mary looked into his warm eyes for a moment before she was overcome with emotion. She quickly buried her head in his chest and choked out, "It doesn't matter."
Not knowing what to do, Danny simply held her until the Sheriff appeared again.
"They're bringing the pilot up now and the chopper should be landing just down the road, but there'll only be room for the patient. I'm not sure what your plans were, but the weather conditions up here have deteriorated pretty rapidly. The roads are covered in ice and it's pretty dangerous for anyone but emergency personnel. I doubt you'll find anyone to take you to San Antonio until at least tomorrow and from there you can hopefully catch another flight to wherever you were headed. I can take you to the next town and we can find you a place to stay until then."
"Is that okay with you?" Danny quietly asked the woman in his arms.
"Yeah," she sighed, "I don't think I could get on another plane tonight anyway."
"Thanks, Sheriff. We'd really appreciate that," Danny told the older man as he ushered them towards his truck.
"Oh," Mary said, suddenly remembering something, "will you please thank that gentleman who stopped to help us?"
"You mean Jay? I sure will. His family owns the lodge in town so I imagine he'll be along shortly."
The ride to the tiny town of Dripwater was short, but slow—the Sheriff being extra careful due to the icy conditions. Danny tried numerous times along the way to use his cell phone, but was met each time with silence due to a lack of signal. Once they entered the small community the truck pulled into a rustic looking motor lodge at an intersection housing what Danny was sure was the only stoplight in town. A warm glow emanated from a set of glass doors at one end of the L-shaped building and the Sheriff pulled up and helped the couple from the truck. A couple of raps to the door and it opened to reveal a woman in her 40's.
"Hey, Nina. I brought you a couple of weary travelers. Any room at the inn?"
"Are these the kids from the plane crash? Jay called to tell us he was going to be late so we heard what happened. Come on inside before you freeze to death out there," the woman ordered as she ushered the group inside.
"I'm Nina Wells."
"Danny McCoy. And this is Mary Connell," Danny replied, shaking her hand.
"I'll leave them in your expert care, Nina. And I'll come by tomorrow to give you kid's an update on the roads."
"Thank you, Sheriff."
"Nina," the lawman said as he tipped his hat and headed back to his truck.
Once inside, Mary took the opportunity to look around the residence. It was covered from one end to the other with boxes which seemed to be in various states of packing. "Are you moving?" she couldn't help but ask.
"God, no!" a bear of a man who looked to be in his fifties exclaimed as he entered the room. "She's just putting away her Christmas stuff. If you'd gotten here an hour earlier you would have seen the hacienda in all her holiday glory, but since it takes us a week to get everything put away we decided to start right after midnight."
"Oh, come on, Wally. You know you love me."
"Less and less with each passing day," he said as he gave her a wink.
"This is my husband Wally. Don't pay any attention to him. He's just mad that I make him help with all this stuff."
Mary smiled as she watched their teasing exchange. They seemed so relaxed and comfortable with each other. Her smile turned sad as she remembered when she and Danny used to be that way. What had happened to them to make things so awkward and difficult? Mary was brought out of her thoughts by Nina's voice, "It's such a miracle that you two weren't hurt."
Danny had been watching Mary's expression as it changed from wistful to sad. After Nina's comment Mary raised her eyes to meet Danny's and they both responded without breaking the other's gaze, "Yes, ma'am."
"Let me find you two some clothes so you don't have to spend the night in those muddy, stinky things. And, Mary, you must be freezing in that little scrap of a thing. If you don't mind me asking, where were you headed?" Nina inquired as she moved through the house.
"Las Vegas," Danny replied.
"Oooh--one of my favorite places. Great place for a little New Year's trip," Nina said as she searched for something for them to wear.
"Actually, we're from there. We work for the Montecito. We had just dropped off a guest in Houston and were heading back when…," Danny's explanation trailed off as the evening's events flashed through his mind.
"Well, then let's get you settled for the night and hopefully you can be on your way home in the morning," she told him as she returned with a shopping bag full of things. As she grabbed a set of keys she turned to her husband, "Keep working on those ornaments, Wally. I'll be back in a minute."
"Stop ordering me around, Nina. I'm fixin' to get mad," Wally responded in mock-irritation.
"Only 'fixin' to'? I'll have to try harder then," she chuckled as she let Danny open the door and headed out with her two guests.
As she walked them across the small parking lot to room number 10 she spoke, "We're usually not very busy during the winter, but we had quite a New Year's party earlier tonight and some of the guests decided to stay over. Plus all our kids are in town for the holidays so this is the only room still open, but it's a mini-suite so you should be pretty comfortable," she told them as she unlocked the door and led them inside.
"We have a satellite so there're plenty of channels on the TV and there're some snacks and drinks in the fridge if you're hungry. The bathroom is right here," she told them indicating the door along the far wall, "and there's towels for you in there. If you think of anything else you need just give me or Wally a call. The number's by the phone there."
"Oh, the phone," Danny said, suddenly remembering he still needed to call Ed.
"Go ahead and make whatever calls you need."
Danny pulled out his wallet and tried to hand her his credit card, but she stopped him, "Don't even think about it, young man. You two have been through enough tonight. What kind of Christian woman would I be if I didn't do whatever I could to help you out?"
"Well, the next time you're in Vegas your stay at the Montecito is on us. I insist," Danny said as he handed her his business card instead.
"Well, I might just take you up on that," Nina told them as she moved to let herself out.
"Thank you so much, Nina," Mary said. "I can't tell you how much we appreciate this."
"Don't think anything about it. I'll come check on you two in the morning."
Danny let Mary shower first as he called Ed and filled him in on what had happened. The older man was relieved beyond words that Danny and Mary were okay and let them know that whenever they could make it to the airport he would have a private plane waiting. He also promised to check on the pilot and make sure his family was aware of his condition.
When Mary finally emerged from the shower she found Danny sitting in the arm chair in front of the television with his elbows on his knees—head resting in his hands. She cautiously approached him and reached a hand out to smooth down the back of his hair. He sighed and let her rub his head for a moment before sitting up to look at her. He was not prepared for the sight that greeted him. Mary was clad only in a small white tank top and a pair of flannel University of Texas pajama bottoms, her hair hung in wet tendrils across her shoulders and her skin was flushed from the heat of the shower. She was breathtaking and Danny couldn't help but run his eyes slowly down her body. His brow furrowed as he noticed the purple and blue colored skin peeking out from just above the waistband of her pants. He moved her shirt up and lightly traced his fingertips across the long bruise which marred her stomach just below her belly button.
"I think it's from the seatbelt," Mary said softly when she noticed his concern.
Danny slowly rose from the chair and framed her face with his hands. Before Mary could protest his lips met hers in a kiss that was unlike anything they'd ever shared before. It was a kiss of passion, but it was filled with so much promise and hope that Mary's knees almost buckled. Danny wrapped his arm around her to pull her closer and deepened the kiss. They stayed that way for long moments, their tongues moving in a passionate dance of rediscovery.
When Danny finally pulled back, he noticed that Mary's eyes were still closed. He leaned forward and softly kissed the tip of her nose before whispering, "Happy New Year."
At his words Mary's eyes popped open and she looked at the clock by the bed as its bright green numbers read 2:03 AM.
"It's 2 in the morning, Danny," she chuckled, but Danny was quick to reply.
"It's midnight in Vegas."
Mary smiled at him before the stormy clouds of doubt passed through her eyes and she looked away. Danny gently but firmly grasped her chin and forced her to meet his gaze.
"Do you want to hear my New Year's resolution?" he asked.
Unable to trust her voice Mary simply nodded.
"I can't believe that after everything that's happened in my life it took tonight to make me realize it, but life is short, Mary. I could have lost you tonight and that thought has my insides tied in knots, but it doesn't hurt as bad as the sting of regret. If either one of us should die tomorrow I don't want to have any regrets."
"Danny," she tried to interrupt, but he placed a finger to her lips to silence her.
"I love you, Mary. I've loved you my whole life and I'm so sorry that I messed things up between us, but if you'll give me another chance I promise I'll make it right. We belong together, Mary."
"I love you too, Danny. I'm just so scared."
"I know you are. I know that's why you've been pushing me away, but I promise we'll take it slow. We'll do everything right this time. We'll go on dates and everything," he told her with a sparkle in his eye.
Mary couldn't help but smile. "I never could say 'no' to you, McCoy."
Danny picked her up and carried her to the bed, kissing her softly before setting her down on the soft comforter. Mary tried to pull him on top of her and it took all of Danny's willpower to resist.
"We're going to take it slow, remember?" he softly chastised.
Mary's bottom lip immediately protruded in an adorable pout as she tried to argue, "Danny, if you tell me you're sleeping on the couch I'm going to have to hurt you."
Danny laughed as he replied, "I'm good, but I'm not that good. I'm going to take a shower and I'll be back soon."
When Danny returned from his shower he noticed that Mary was already asleep. He curled up behind her and wrapped her in his arms. His last thought before he joined her in slumber was that 2005 might have ended with a terrifying bang, but 2006 was turning out to be a pretty good year.