Sam Corely and John Wise crowded around them. Sam spoke first, cradling Emmie close. “It’s a birthmark. Emmie has one like that, too. Right in the same spot.”
Jimmy looked up at Honey with watery eyes. “And I do, too. Just like my father.”
For a moment the air seemed to leave the room. Reed struggled to pull in a breath, then another. Suddenly his shocked mind cleared. “Jimmy is the twins’ father.”
Josie grinned at him and nodded.
“Sorry, Judge,” John called out, grinning broadly. “It looks like you’re going to have to find some other babies to win your awards for you.”
The judge brought a fist down hard on the table. “I want a paternity test.”
“And you’ll get one,” Honey said, but her smirk testified to how little the results worried her.
Josie slipped the clean diaper under Troy, and Reed covered him up and fastened the tapes before they had a waterworks show all over the fancy law firm’s conference room.
Honey gathered her son from the bench and plunked him into Jimmy’s arms, then took Emmie from Sam. The babies cooed in tandem as their mother and father cuddled them close and the four of them became a family.
As everyone filed from the conference room, Reed and Josie stayed behind. Reed reached a hand up and ruffled Josie’s hair.
She gave him a tear-soaked smile. “He’ll have a good family, won’t he?”
Reed nodded. “I think he will.”
“I’m glad.”
“I’m going to have to come back to Dallas now and again. At least until the ranch sells.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this to you, but I sure hate to travel alone.”
She smiled. “Then I’ll make sure you don’t have to.”
“You think Honey and Jimmy will let the twins call me Uncle Reed?”
“I imagine they’ll let them call you anything you want.”
“Aunt Josie?”
Her smile widened, and the tears flowed harder, all at the same time.
“Don’t be sad.”
“I’m not sad. I’m happy that the judge isn’t any part of this. That the twins will grow up with parents who really love them.”
“That’s all?”
“I’ll miss Troy, of course. But like you said, we’ll visit.”
“And maybe, down the road, we’ll find a way to get that baby you want.”
Josie nodded.
“You still want that baby, don’t you?”
“Of course. But there’s something I learned throughout all this, too.”
“What’s that?”
“A baby isn’t the only thing I want.” She leaned forward and gave him a kiss so deep and hot he felt it blaze all the way to his groin. Pulling back, she gave him a teasing smile.
“Not the only thing, huh? Getting greedy?” That was sure as hell how he felt at the moment.
“Greedy? Maybe. It’s just that with you, all things seem possible.”
He leaned in to kiss her again. “That’s what I like to hear.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3948-1
COVERT COOTCHIE-COOTCHIE-COO
Copyright © 2009 by Ann Voss Peterson
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*Wedding Mission
*Wedding Mission
*Wedding Mission
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