oney located Eric and the girls through the glare of lights and the flash of strobes. As the applause finally quieted, she stepped to the Plexiglass podium and gazed down at the gold Emmy that had been placed in her hands.

"Thank you so much." Her voice cracked and the audience laughed. She laughed with them and leaned closer to the microphone.

"If anybody had ever told me that a puny little redneck girl from South Carolina could end up with one of these, I would have told them they'd been out in the sun too long."

More laughter.

"I've got a lot of people to thank, so I hope all of you will be patient with me for a minute." She began her list with Arthur Lockwood and then went on to name the people associated with Emily, the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation on the life of Emily Dickinson that had earned her the award.

The gold lace skirt of her evening gown rustled as it brushed against the podium. "But most of all I have to thank my family. Families are funny things. People who have them don't always appreciate them. But if you've grown up without one, it's sometimes hard to find your place in the world.

"Tonight I want to acknowledge my family. It took me a long time to find them, but now that I have, I'm not letting a single one of them go. My stepdaughters Rachel and Rebecca Dillon, and their beautiful mother Lilly who shares them with me. Zachary Jason Dashwell Dillon who'll be two years old tomorrow and is the cutest toddler in the world. His baby brother Andrew, who's waiting in the greenroom right now for me to stop talking and bring him his next meal."

Everyone laughed.

"Two people I love in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Chantal and Gordon Delaweese. A person I'm proud to call my friend, although it took us a while to get there— Meredith Coogan Blackman. And Liz Castleberry, the stubbornest lady I ever met in my life."

Liz smiled from her seat directly behind Eric.

"One person I love isn't here tonight, at least not physically." She paused, and a stillness fell over the crowd. "Dash Coogan was the last of America's cowboy heroes, and he was my hero, too. He taught me a lot of things. Sometimes I listened to him, sometimes I didn't. When I didn't, I was usually sorry."

She saw several people in the audience dab at their eyes, but she had made peace with Dash's death that day three years ago when Rachel had ridden Black Thunder, and she didn't feel like crying. Instead, she smiled. "I loved that cowboy, and I'll be grateful to him for the rest of my life."

She cleared her throat. "This last one's hard. Marriage is always a balancing act, and it's never a good idea for one partner to get too big a head, but I'm afraid that's what's going to happen here. People write a lot of things about Eric Dillon's talent, and most of it's true. But nobody writes about the important things. The fact that he's a wonderful father and the best husband a woman could have. The fact that he cares about other people so much that he sometimes scares me. That doesn't mean he's perfect, of course. It's hard living with a man who's prettier than all of your girlfriends put together."

Eric groaned good-naturedly as everyone laughed.

Honey gazed through the lights straight into his heart. "But if it weren't for Eric Dillon, I wouldn't be here tonight. He loved me when I wasn't lovable, and I guess when it comes right down to it, that's pretty much what family is all about. Thank you, sweetheart."

Eric watched from the second row, his chest so filled with love and pride he felt as if he would burst. It amazed him that Honey could thank him when she was the one who had given him everything.

She finished to wild applause and was escorted off into the wings. He knew that she would head first for the greenroom and their two-month-old son. Only after she had gathered up Andrew would she go to the reporters waiting to interview her.

In addition to questioning her about her career, he suspected the press would also ask her about the special camp for abused children the two of them had built on the site of the former Silver Lake Amusement Park. Honey had a theory that Black Thunder might help just a few of the children heal. Although he'd ridden Black Thunder dozens of times over the past three years, he had never found it to be anything more than a thrilling ride. However, when he'd been foolish enough to offer this opinion to Honey and Rachel, they had both been so outraged that he'd vowed to keep his mouth shut in the future.

The ceremony was drawing to a close when an all-too-familiar voice echoed in his head.!!!You've done all right by her, son. I'm proud of you.

Eric suppressed a groan. Not now. Ever since Rachel had taken that damned roller-coaster ride...

His rational mind knew that he wasn't really hearing Dash Coogan's voice. After all, Honey never heard him, so why should he? But his irrational mind—That was another story entirely.

Rachel leaned across her sister and whispered, "Honey did good, didn't she, Daddy?"

He swallowed a lump in his throat and gazed at both of his daughters. "She did real good, sweetheart. Real good."

Damned right she did, the voice said.

He shifted in his seat, not altogether displeased with the idea that his family just might have a cowboy guardian angel looking out for them.

Three hours later, after the celebrations and congratulations were behind them, Eric and Honey moved through the bedrooms of their quiet house hand in hand, Honey in her golden gown, shoes kicked off, hair tousled; Eric with his bow tie undone and collar open. They went from one child to the next, straightening the covers, rescuing a teddy bear, removing a thumb from a small mouth. They stepped over toys and books, adjusted night-lights, and removed a leaking squirt gun from beneath a pink-and-lavender pillow.

Only when they were reassured that each child was safe for the night did they go to their own room and turn to each other.

They were finally home.