“Michael.” She touched his arm with her hand, and he wanted to shout out his hope. Her violet eyes were soft now, but he had to be sure it wasn’t pity.
“Don’t feel sorry for me. Look what I’ve done to you and to Bobby. I don’t—” He looked away, desperate to find the words. Then he snapped his gaze back to hers. “You make me feel too much, Suzanne. You make me want you so much. I don’t know how to handle it. I couldn’t—” He swallowed hard. “I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you, too. And now there’s Bobby, and I love that boy like my own, and you want to leave and—”
Her hand rose and touched his cheek, her eyes shimmering with tears. “You mean—” The tears spilled over. “What are you saying, Michael?”
He grasped her hand in his and tangled their fingers together, never wanting to let her go. “I’m saying that I love you, that I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. That I want you and I want Bobby, that I want us to build a life together. But I’m so damned afraid of losing you.” He brought her fingers to his lips. “God, I don’t want to be this vulnerable again, Suzanne. I fought it and threw my vow to Elaine up between us, trying so damn hard not to love you.”
Suzanne smiled through the tears rolling down her cheeks. “But you do, anyway?” All the hope and love in the world lay shimmering in a violet mist.
He smiled back and stroked his thumb across her cheek, catching her tears. “Heaven help me, I do.” He leaned closer. “More than I’ve ever loved anyone, Suzanne. So much I don’t know what to do with all of it.”
“Give it to me,” she whispered, rising to her toes and pressing a soft kiss on his lips. “Give it to me and to Bobby. We can build a life on that love, Michael.”
He wanted to draw her against him, but first he had to know. “What about you? Can you love me?”
“Oh, Michael. I think I lost my heart with that first kiss in Ruby’s, and I’ve been trying ever since to get it back.”
“Finders keepers,” he whispered. “I’ll give you anything you want, if you’ll just let me keep your heart. If you’ll trust me with it.” He swallowed hard. “I don’t know if it’s smart, though, Suzanne. Maybe you want to be careful, see how things go.”
She smiled and for a moment, it was like sunshine in this dark night. “But you said it yourself, Mr. Mayor. I’m never careful and I always lead with my heart.” She slid her free hand around his neck and drew him close.
Michael abandoned all caution and pulled her tightly into his arms, lowering his mouth to hers. “Don’t ever change, Suzanne. Teach me your way.” And then they were there, right back in the magic again, only this time it was deeper and richer for the knowledge that love lived inside them, that love would light their way.
Michael was so deep into the spell Suzanne cast, so grateful to find a home in her love, that he didn’t hear the sound behind them at first. It registered on both of them at the same moment, the clearing of a throat behind them.
When Suzanne leapt away from him, he saw guilt ride her hard and knew it himself, that even for a second they could let go of the fear for the boy they both loved.
But the nurse and Dr. Jason Colton were smiling, and Michael’s guilt eased. He wrapped an arm around Suzanne and followed Jason’s gesture, joining him in the hallway while the nurse kept watch inside. “What’s wrong with Bobby?”
“It’s not the water,” Jason said.
Michael felt Suzanne’s slight frame relax and drew her closer. “What is it?”
“His appendix, but you got him here in time. We’ll need to take him up to surgery in a few minutes. Come with me while I explain to him what’s going to happen.”
Suzanne was off like a shot, and Michael was close behind her. Jason leaned over the bed where Bobby lay, looking very small and sleepy, groggy from having been awakened. He explained to the boy carefully what would happen, while Michael and Suzanne each held one of Bobby’s hands.
Then it was time for Bobby to go. Suzanne leaned over and hugged and kissed him, her tears flowing once again. But she straightened immediately, and Michael could see her arming herself not to frighten him. “I love you, Bobby. Dr. Colton says you’re going to be just fine.”
Michael looked at the face of the child who’d burrowed deep in his heart, and he smiled. “You scared us, son, but everything’s going to be just fine now.” He grasped one small hand in his and squeezed. “I love you, Bobby.”
Bobby’s grin widened. “You called me son.”
He nodded. “When you come back, we’re going to talk to you about becoming a family, the three of us. Suzanne and I want to adopt you. It was your dad’s wish, and I’d be proud to have you as my son. Would you be willing to have Suzanne as your mom and me as your new father? You and Maverick and us, we’d make a new family, if you’d like.”
Bobby’s eyes darkened a bit as memory flitted past.
Michael was quick to reassure him. “Not to replace your dad, though. No one could do that. But we’d like to be there for you, since Jim can’t.”
Bobby studied him solemnly. “What would I call you?”
“Whatever you’d like, son.”
“I called my father Dad, so maybe I could call you Daddy. Would that be all right?” He glanced at Suzanne. “Think that would be okay…Mom?”
Michael felt a surge run through Suzanne’s body like a lightning bolt and knew that was the first time her son had ever called her mom. Suzanne’s tears trickled down her face, but Michael saw a huge smile on her face. “I think it would be just wonderful, sweetheart.”
Bobby looked at Michael.
Michael nodded, surprised at a thickness in his own throat. “I’d like that, son. Now you go with these good folks and when you wake up again, we’ll be right there to take you home.” He smiled. “Maverick needs his playmate back. And we need our boy.” He squeezed Suzanne against him, then leaned down to kiss Bobby’s forehead. “Sleep now, and don’t worry about your mom. I’ll take care of her.”
He watched while Suzanne kissed Bobby again and knew that one day soon, when Bobby’s heart had had time to heal from the loss of Jim Roper, they would tell the boy together that he was not only the child of their heart but the child of Suzanne’s body.
“’Night, Mom. ’Night, Daddy,” Bobby murmured as they wheeled him away.
“Sleep well, sweet child of mine,” Suzanne whispered. Then she looked up at Michael, violet eyes soft and filled with wonder. “Oh, Michael…”
Michael took her into his arms and held her close. “Want another wedding, Suzanne? A real one with a white dress and blossoms, like every girl’s dream?”
She lifted her face to his, her breath soft against his throat. She held her hand to the light and studied the sparkle of amethysts and diamonds. “I had my violets,” she murmured. “But I wouldn’t mind having a honeymoon, once Bobby’s had time to settle in.”
“Anywhere you want to go, just name it. Paris, the Taj Mahal, Tahiti?”
Suzanne shook her head and smiled. “I know a place a lot closer. It has this big heart-shaped whirlpool and this thirty-channel remote control sound sys—”
Michael burst out laughing. “You want to go back to the Jungle Suite?”
Suzanne’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “We never did get to try out all those mirrors.”
Michael grinned and thought about living out every fantasy that room had inspired. Thought about years ahead to watch a son grow and, God willing, to father Suzanne’s babies. To grow old in the sunshine of this woman’s love when he’d expected to live out his life alone.
He covered her mouth with his and wrapped her tightly in his arms, vowing to make the most of every second fate granted him with this remarkable woman, so much his opposite and so very perfect.
He whispered good-bye to Elaine and their baby, feeling a new and blessed peace settle over his heart as he finally let go of the grief and pain that had been his constant companions for so very long.
And he thanked his lucky stars
that sometimes in life, despite what you deserved, you got second chances. He would make this one count.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given
to Jean Brashear for her contribution
to THE COLTONS series.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8421-4
SWEET CHILD OF MINE
Copyright © 2001 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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