“You found me. That’s all. You found me.”
“It’s over. This time it’s really over. I won’t let anyone hurt you again,” he vowed. “I love you, Kelsey.”
“I love you.”
Epilogue
September
“He looks like Hugh,” Jarred observed, examining his son’s squinched up face.
“What?” Kelsey, at home on the couch in Jarred’s bedroom, fluffed up her pillow in annoyance. “Not a chance. All babies look like Winston Churchill.”
“Maybe we should name him Winston.”
Since he’s going to be christened Bennett Rowden Bryant, Kelsey sent her husband a dark look. “Now there’s an idea. As if Ben’s moniker isn’t dire enough already.”
“Your choice,” he reminded her with a smile, amused that Ben had clamped a tiny red hand around his little finger.
“I’m sure he’ll be scarred for life and end up on some psychiatrist’s couch, blaming his mother for ruining him at birth.”
“I’m sure he won’t. Probably name his own son Bennett Rowden Churchill Bryant Jr.”
She laughed. “We could have added McNaughton in there, too.”
They’d squabbled about the name from the moment Ben had been born two days earlier. Jarred wanted him to be Mac, but Kelsey prevailed with her maiden name as Ben’s first. Nola wanted to disapprove, but Jonathan announced that he thought it very appropriate.
Will had simply held the tiny child gingerly and carefully, as if he were afraid Ben might break. Since Sarah’s miscarriage two months into her pregnancy, he’d been both relieved and silently grieving. In a moment of surprising confidence, Danielle had told Kelsey they were working on a family, too.
“Look over there,” Kelsey directed, pointing to a bright yellow bouquet of tulips on the dresser. “They came this afternoon while you were checking in at work.”
“Who from?”
“Trevor.” The look on Jarred’s face was priceless. She laughed again. “He congratulates us both.”
“Surprised he didn’t send it in a milk carton,” was Jarred’s dry response.
“Well, I’d like to give him credit, but I think Tara ordered it. Still, it’s a gesture.”
Jarred came toward her to hand off Ben, who’d begun to stir and make little, frantic hunger noises. Kelsey lifted her arms and hugged their child close as Jarred sat down beside her, completing the circle of their family.
For a moment they just looked at each other with love. They wouldn’t have made it without each other and they both knew it.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
If you would like to receive a current Janelle Taylor newsletter, bookmark, and descriptive flyer of other books available with pictures of their covers, send a selfaddressed stamped envelope (business size best) to:
Janelle Taylor Newsletter #37
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Martinez, Georgia 3.0917-1646
Reading is fun and educational, so do it often!
Best Wishes from
Janelle Tayfor
JANELLE TAYLOR
has written many award-winning novels, including Wild Winds, Follow the Wind, Forever Ecstasy, Promise Me Forever, and Defiant Hearts. NOT WITHOUT YOU is her fortieth novel.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp. 850 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022
eISBN: 978-1-4201-2754-6
Copyright © 2000 by Janelle Taylor
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
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First Printing: June, 2000
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Not Without You Page 31
