Unexpected Family

by Molly O'Keefe

  An hour later she turned on the lamp, contemplated dinner, but decided to finish the details on the amber-and-garnet gold tiara. Ten minutes later the scent of Mr. Lezinsky’s cabbage rolls wafted up through the floor and her stomach howled in protest.

  All right, she thought, and stood, cracking her back, shaking out her fingers. Since she was only in town for a few nights she was going to get her fill of Rosita’s down the street. Her mouth watered at the thought of her carnitas and tomatillo salsa.

  There was commotion outside her door and when she opened it, all she saw were balloons and legs.

  “Hey, Lucy!” Casey ducked down below the red balloons and grinned up at her. “We found her!” he yelled at some other legs, and Jeremiah stepped forward, a bouquet of wilting convenience store roses in his hands.

  In her chest, her heart was inflating like one of the balloons. Every second she looked at these men, it was in danger of getting too full, of popping. And yet she couldn’t look away.

  “Hi,” Jeremiah said.

  She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

  “Can I let go of these balloons yet?” Ben asked.

  “I’m letting go of mine,” Casey said, and a silver Mylar balloon wafted into the condo. It read Happy Birthday.

  Jeremiah winced. “We let Casey pick out the balloons.”

  “We brought chocolates, too,” Aaron said, ducking past the balloons to come in and press a box of candy into her numb hands. “But Uncle J. wouldn’t let us stop for dinner so I got hungry. The coconut ones are all that are left.”

  Ben finally stepped in, pulling the balloons in behind him. They crowded through the door, squeaking, but then they bent and shifted and squeezed in. He let them go and red, blue, green and yellow balloons floated past her head, bumping into her nose, her hair.

  This is a dream, she thought. I am dreaming.

  When they bounced up onto the ceiling, strings dangled down around them.

  “What…what are you doing here?” she whispered, her eyes never leaving Jeremiah’s face. He seemed different somehow, softer, as if something had melted, as if some invisible wall had been torn down.

  He looked young, nervous.

  I love you, she thought.

  “We’re on vacation!’ Casey cried, and when he tried to bounce on the rigid couch, he winced.

  “Vacation?” she asked Jeremiah.

  “We went to a counseling meeting and then stopped by the ranch to see you. Sandra said you were here and, well, the kids haven’t had a vacation in years. After their mom died I just kept them in school trying to keep things normal, but I think maybe…maybe they could use some fun. Just a week. Their teachers said it was okay. I thought maybe we’d go to Disney Land or World, or whichever is out here.”

  He was rambling and it was sweet and she was smart enough to read between the lines, but she had her pride, too. Lots of it.

  “But why are you here?”

  He blinked and took a step forward, closing the door behind him, batting the gold strings away. “I choose you.”

  Her knees melted at the look in his eyes, the sweetness of his voice, but she was no fool and she kept her mouth shut, letting him get to the good stuff.

  “If you’re brave and crazy enough to choose me and the boys, I’d be a fool not to choose you. I would choose you no matter what my life was like. You’re the most exciting woman I’ve ever known. The most beautiful and talented person I’ve ever met and I was a fool.”

  “You were.” She nodded in agreement, though her heart was exploding with love.

  “Glad we agree.” He stepped closer, closer again. “Boys,” he said over his shoulder. “Go into the other room.”

  “Are they going to kiss?” Casey asked, and Ben shushed him before pushing him into the kitchen where they’d probably be eavesdropping.

  “I don’t know what is going to happen in a few years or next week—hell, with these boys I don’t know what’s going to happen in ten minutes.” His fingers cupped her cheek, brushed the hair behind her ear. Then he cradled her face in his big rough hands. “I’ve never been in love,” he said. “So, I’m not sure if that’s what this is. But I want you with me. For as long as you want to be there.”

  “That sounds like love,” she whispered.

  “You are the expert.” He kissed her, as sweetly as a first kiss, as tenderly as the thousandth. “I love you,” he breathed into her.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Gross!” Casey cried in the kitchen “They’re kissing!”

  Jeremiah laughed, pressing his forehead to hers. “It won’t be easy,” he said, as if warning her.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on as tight as she could. The ride would be bumpy, no doubt about it. But she couldn’t imagine anything more fun, more exciting, more fulfilling, than taking this ride with Jeremiah and his boys.

  “Who wants easy?”

  EPILOGUE

  One year later

  “ASK ME AGAIN,” Lucy whispered against Jeremiah’s ear as he listened intently to whatever was happening up at the front of the church.

  He didn’t even turn. “Marry me.”

  “One more time.” She grinned, she couldn’t help it, and when he turned slightly murderous eyes on her she grinned harder.

  “For the love of God, Lucia Marie Alatore, have mercy and marry me. Or at least answer me. It’s been two days.”

  “I want to take my time. This is only going to happen once.”

  He shook his head, looking away. “Oh, come on, we’re up.”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the front of the church where Mia and Jack stood with baby Oliver by the baptismal font.

  Lucy and Jeremiah said what they were supposed to say as godparents and Lucy fell even harder in love with Jeremiah, at the earnestness with which he agreed to care for this baby as if he were Jeremiah’s own.

  He knew better than to not take it seriously.

  Baby Oliver was dipped into the fountain, cold water trickled over his head. Oliver wailed and behind her she heard Sandra, Walter and the boys laughing and sighing with their own love that they had for the new baby.

  “Yes,” she said in the noise, squeezing Jeremiah’s hand. “I’ll marry you.”

  He grinned, but didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then he lifted her hand and kissed it, closing his eyes to savor the moment.

  * * *

  BACK AT ROCKY M, Jack and Mia were having a small party at their new house, which had been finished in Mia’s seventh month of pregnancy. Or, as Lucy liked to put it, demon stage two. Mia had not been a happy pregnant woman.

  “I swear to God there will be blood if someone doesn’t get me some cake,” Mia muttered, stroking Oliver’s head as she breast-fed. Mia was the most untraditional happy new mother Lucy had ever encountered. Not that anyone expected anything different.

  “Do you have any idea what my nipples feel like?” she’d said at one point. “You try being happy with these nipples.”

  “I’ll get you some cake,” Lucy said, unperturbed by her sister. She really couldn’t be perturbed by anything anymore. Not even when she stepped out of the nursery to find Walter and her mother necking like teenagers.

  “Really?” she asked as the two jumped away from each other. No one was quite sure what was happening between Walter and Sandra, but Walter had gotten his year sobriety chip a few months ago and suddenly he and Sandra couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

  It seemed she’d moved in with Jeremiah just in the nick of time. She had no desire to share her mom’s love shack.

  “You know, Walter,” she said with a grin over her shoulder, “the least you could do is make an honest woman out of her.” She caught their startled faces before heading into the kitchen.

  Where, of course, her own little family was doing their best to polish off the cake. “You better save some of that for my sister or there will be trouble.”

  The boys all looked panicked and qui
ckly put their second helpings back on the platter. They all knew better than to get in between Mia and cake.

  Jeremiah tugged her into his arms. “When do we tell them?” he asked, knowing the boys could hear. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed a little of the blue frosting off the corner of his lips. “Let’s make them guess.”

  “We’re getting a dog!” Casey cried. He’d been on a real dog kick ever since Sandra and Walter had bought a new pup.

  “No,” Jeremiah said firmly. “No more dogs.”

  “They’re getting married, dummy,” Ben said, and Aaron looked up.

  “I thought you guys already were.”

  “What?” Lucy cried. “When?”

  “You guys took that trip to Vegas…”

  “It wasn’t Vegas—it was Sonoma,” she said. “And I was selling wedding rings, not getting married. Do you guys really not listen when we talk to you?”

  “We listen.” Aaron shrugged. “So you’re getting married?”

  This really was not the kind of reaction she was hoping for. She wanted some yelling. Some hugging.

  “You guys are bummers.”

  “Who is getting married?” Mia said, stepping into the kitchen. She handed Oliver off to Jeremiah, who for whatever reason was like the baby whisperer when it came to that kid.

  “We are!” Lucy said. “We’re getting married.”

  Mia shrieked and Jack ran in at the sound. “What’s going on?”

  “They’re getting married!” Mia cried, her eyes alight, and Jack turned to Jeremiah, clapping him on the back.

  “Good news, my friend. Excellent news.”

  “What news?” Walter asked, walking in. Sandra followed, her lipstick suspiciously reapplied.

  “We’re getting married,” Lucy announced, and finally the room erupted. Jack got out the champagne and poured glasses for everyone but Walter and the kids.

  “To happy endings,” Walter said, lifting his ginger ale. Her family, old and new, all looked at one another and smiled. They’d managed to create a family from the pain and tragedy of their pasts. They’d managed to forgive one another and move on to a place of happiness. These were the greatest blessings of her life.

  Utterly unexpected, this family of hers. But she couldn’t imagine one better.

  She turned to Jeremiah, where he stood holding a sweet sleeping baby in his arms. “I love you,” she said.

  He grinned, kissing her lips. “I love you, too.” But when he glanced down at that baby he sobered. “But…I think we have a problem.”

  “What?” she asked, incredulous. There were no problems on a day like today. It wasn’t allowed. It was a rule of the universe.

  “I think I want a baby.”

  Uh-oh.

  * * * * *

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  ISBN: 9781459230835

  Copyright © 2012 by Molly Fader

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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