A Family for a Week

by Melissa Senate

  “You clean up well,” was all she could manage to say.

  “And you look absolutely beautiful,” he said, taking in her beachy waves, which, of course, he’d seen earlier, and the mauvey-pink maid of honor dress that showed a bit more cleavage than Sadie was used to.

  “Make a habit of crashing weddings, do you?” she asked, her heart hoping against hope that he was here because he couldn’t live without her.

  Maybe he was just passing by. Yeah, Sadie—in a suit. In the lodge.

  He got down on one knee.

  Sadie gasped again. She was aware of the table going silent.

  Axel pulled out a black velvet box and opened it, a stunning round diamond ring twinkling at her, baguettes on the side. “For real this time, Sadie. I love you and Danny with all my heart, and you’d make me very happy if you’ll marry me.”

  Viv let out a small shriek. Vanessa grabbed her husband’s arm. Izzy pressed her hand to her heart.

  “Yes!” Sadie whispered, out of breath. “Yes, yes, yes.” She flew into his arms, and he stood and lifted her, spinning her around and kissing her.

  “Hey, what did I miss?” Evie asked, dancing over with her new husband.

  “Oh, just this,” Sadie said, holding out her hand.

  Evie yelped and hugged her and then Axel. “I have the best evil ideas, don’t I?” she whispered to Sadie.

  Sadie laughed. “You certainly do.”

  Axel and Sadie danced every slow dance for the rest of the night, then hugged everyone goodbye and went to pick up Danny from the kid zone. The room had long turned into a sleep zone, and Axel carried a fast-asleep Danny out to his SUV. Turned out that Sadie and her little boy weren’t leaving at eight sharp tomorrow morning, after all.

  They were home.

  Epilogue

  Four months later...

  Viv Winston gasped so loud in the doorway of the bathroom that her mother and sister came running, Izzy wheeling herself into the hallway to see what the fuss was.

  Sadie, her sister, mother, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother were over at Evie’s house in Prairie City for their weekly Saturday lunch, where they gossiped and ate and laughed and had a grand old time for hours. Danny was there, too, in the play area Evie had long ago set up for visits from her favorite and only nephew.

  Sadie and Evie burst into laughter as their mother, so emotional she couldn’t speak, grabbed the two home pregnancy test sticks out of both her daughters’ hands and held them up.

  “I’m going to be a grandmother!” she screamed.

  “I’m going to be a great-grandmother!” Vanessa screamed.

  “I’m going to be a great-aunt!” Tabby shouted, clapping.

  “I’m going to be a gray-gray-grandmother!” Izzy yelled, throwing her hands up in the air and waving them.

  They all cracked up at that and Sadie and Evie left the bathroom, hugs and kisses and congratulations all around. They hadn’t planned to be pregnant at the same time, but they’d talked about how great it would be if they were, and when Sadie had mentioned that she was late, Evie had said she was, too, and they’d run to the drugstore for matching tests.

  Two plus signs.

  “Should we have told our husbands before our relatives?” Sadie asked Evie.

  “With this crew, are you kidding? You can’t keep anything private. Hurry and tell Danny he’s going to be a big brother before anyone beats you to it.”

  Sadie laughed. Viv was on the phone, making reservations at her favorite restaurant for that night—without even asking if anyone was free. Big news like this took precedence over plans anyone else had. And Vanessa was on the phone with her bridge and knitting clubs. Aunt Tabby was texting Cowboy Joe—their romance was still going strong, and Tabby had never seemed happier.

  Izzy, meanwhile, called Sadie and Evie over. “Just to make double-decker definitely sure I heard right. You’re both pregnant. Both.”

  Sadie chuckled. “Yes. Both. For real.”

  “I knew it would all work out, didn’t I?” Izzy asked.

  “You sure did,” Sadie said.

  After a big hug with Great-Gram and Evie and a wave to Viv and Vanessa, who were both still on the phone calling every person they knew, Sadie picked up Danny from his play area, Zul the superhero lion still his favorite toy. Just when Danny finally learned to say Axel, his hero had become his father and was now Daddy. Zul had stuck for the superhero lion, and Axel loved that.

  “Guess what?” she told Danny as she put him in his car seat. “You’re going to be a big brother. Mommy and Daddy are going to have a baby.”

  “Baby bwuther?” Danny asked.

  “Or a baby sister.”

  “Or a baby Zul!” he said, bursting into laughter and flying Zul above his head.

  Sadie laughed and backed out of the driveway. You never knew. That was her motto these days. She couldn’t wait to get home to the luxe log cabin on the edge of the Dawson Family Guest Ranch where she now lived with her sexy husband and Danny, their son. Axel had formally adopted him, the final court appearance just two days ago. And now he’d be a father again.

  She couldn’t wait to tell Axel the news. She had no doubt he’d be overjoyed. The wedding crasher who’d proposed to her at Evie’s reception had become a true family man. The other day, Daisy had said that happiness radiated from him, and Sadie had teared up at that. It was absolutely true.

  At their wedding two months ago, his brothers had been amazed at the changes in the former lone wolf. Sadie had finally met Zeke and Ford, more tall, muscular, dark-haired, blue-eyed Dawsons, and between her family and his, plus friends and coworkers, the wedding had been a big, happy affair. Sadie had worn the dress she’d fallen in love with in Your Special Day and her mother’s wedding veil, which Evie had also worn for her wedding. For something borrowed, she’d worn Aunt Tabby’s pearl earrings. For something blue, her grandmother’s delicate sapphire necklace. Izzy had contributed the something old with her beautiful diamond bracelet, which her own mother had given her as a wedding present almost eighty years ago.

  She pulled up to the cabin and took Danny out of his car seat. “Want to tell Daddy the news about your baby brother or sister?”

  “Yes!” he said.

  Axel came out on the porch, smiling and waving. Danny, as always sprinted ahead, waving Zul the superhero lion.

  “Big news!” Danny said.

  “Oh yeah?” Axel asked, raising his eyebrow at Sadie.

  “I big bruwtha!” Danny said.

  Axel’s eyes widened. He stared at Sadie, who nodded as tears filled her eyes.

  He raced down the porch, his son in his arms, and wrapped his free one around her. “Our family is getting bigger?”

  She nodded. “And a new little cousin on my side, too. Evie’s also pregnant!”

  “How’d I get so lucky?” he asked. “A great little boy and another child on the way.”

  “Zul sup hero,” Danny said, flying him around. “Zul saves day!”

  Axel hugged them both close. “Zul is the best. I owe him a lot.”

  “We have thirty minutes to ourselves before we’re expected in town for dinner to celebrate,” Sadie said.

  “Just enough time to call Daisy and make her day. She’ll text my brothers the news.”

  “I love our big combined family,” she said. “And I love you.”

  He kissed her tenderly on the lips. “I love you, too. Both of you! All three of you,” he added, touching a hand to Sadie’s belly.

  Then they headed inside, a forever family.

  * * *

  Don’t miss Melissa Senate’s next book,

  The Cowboy’s Comeback,

  book two in the Montana Mavericks: What Happened to Beatrix? continuity.

  Keep reading for an excerpt from His Plan for the Quintuplets by Cathy Gil
len Thacker.

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  His Plan for the Quintuplets

  by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Chapter One

  “I wish you had told me you were coming back to Laramie to take care of this today.” Gabriel Lockhart strolled up the driveway of the home Susannah Alexander had inherited six months before. Exuding the cool masculine confidence of a born-and-raised Texan, he met her at the rear door of the half-filled U-Haul truck, next to the loading ramp. “I would have organized a group of people to help you move.”

  Wasn’t that just like her old frenemy, Susannah thought resentfully. Ready and willing to volunteer others to get involved. While simultaneously emerging the hero without really giving anything of himself.

  She propped her hands on her hips and tipped her head up at the ruggedly handsome doctor, wishing she hadn’t had a secret crush on him since, oh, forever. It would make brushing him off that much easier. She stared into his eyes, trying not to get lost in the mesmerizing depths. “What makes you so sure I haven’t already done that?” she asked sweetly.

  He scoffed, as if he knew her better than she knew herself. Squinting down at her, he let his gaze rove over her face and challenged softly, “Have you?”

  No. Of course she hadn’t. That would have made this situation far too sentimental. And it was hard enough as it was.

  All business now, Gabe reached for the cell phone in his pocket. “It’s not too late for me to make some calls...”

  Glad her new golden retriever puppy, Daisy, was still asleep inside the house, and therefore would not distract them, she lifted a staying hand. “You don’t need to do that, Doc. I’ve got it.” And she did.

  He regarded her skeptically, looking big and tough enough to manage all her problems. “You’re really going to clear out the place and load this entire truck by yourself?”

  The air between them crackled with sexual tension. Her pulse racing, she inquired, “What are you talking about?”

  He shrugged. “I assume you’re going to put Brett and Belinda’s home on the market, now that the will has cleared probate and the property is yours, free and clear.”

  He really had been keeping up on her business.

  Then again, Laramie, Texas, was the kind of community where everyone knew everyone else’s heartbreak. As well as their joy.

  The legal finalization of her twin sister and his former best friend’s estate would have been remarked upon. A lot. Although she had gotten the bulk of the married couple’s financial holdings—the payout from the lethal accident, their life insurance, real estate and two cars—some of the belongings, like Brett’s CD and vinyl collection and his sports memorabilia, had been left to Gabe.

  While she considered just how much to tell her late brother-in-law’s best friend, Susannah tried hard not to notice how great Gabe looked in a rumpled blue button-up that casually draped his broad chest and worn jeans that did equally nice things for his long legs and muscular thighs. His boots were scuffed and cowboy tough, and in deference to the hot June afternoon, his sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows, revealing strong, sinewy forearms. As usual, his thick, golden-brown hair was in need of a cut, his square jaw clean-shaven. With effort, she returned her gaze to his captivating whiskey-brown eyes. “I’m guessing you’re here to take your things, then?”

  Seemingly as mesmerized by her as she was by him, Gabe shook his head. “Actually, I was just driving by to see if you had shown up yet.” His expression gentled, and his voice dropped another low, husky notch. “I wanted to see how you were doing.”

  Not as well as she would like. That was for sure. Knowing it would do her no good to fib to someone who knew her as well as he did, she admitted, “Probably as well as you would think.”

  “Still grieving,” he presumed.

  A wave of emotion had her swallowing around the sudden tightness in her throat. Determined not to cry, she fought back her feelings and said, “Aren’t you?”

  The look in his eyes said the answer to that was yes. Lifting a noncommittal hand, he pointed out in a low, rough tone, “It’s only been a little over six months.”

  Susannah blew out an unsteady breath, recollecting what a tsunami that had been. “And the first year is the hardest. At least that’s what people always say.”

  He looked past her, at the Craftsman-style home on Laurel Avenue that had held all the late couple’s hopes and dreams.

  “Nevertheless, life goes on,” he countered.

  The two of them knew that better than most, Susannah mused sorrowfully, having both tragically lost their parents during their early teens.

  After a few rocky years, Gabe and the rest of his seven other orphaned siblings had eventually been fostered, then adopted by Carol and Robert Lockhart and brought here to Laramie County. Whereas Susannah and her twin had been moved from Beaumont to Wichita Falls, where they had been raised by their elderly aunt Elda, who had done her duty while privately considering them a burden. Susannah and Belinda had left her home when they turned eighteen, headed for college, and, because it was what their aunt had seemed to prefer, had never looked back.

  Now she, too, was gone. Killed by a chronic lung ailment.

  Which left Susannah with no family whatsoever. Except for the golden retriever puppy she’d just adopted. While Gabe was still part of a big, lively, loving crew. Not that he seemed as attached to them as she would be, in his position. Instead, he seemed eager to leave the country completely and make his own way in the world.

  “Which is why,” Gabe continued, oblivious to her thoughts, “I assumed you were selling Brett and Belinda’s house, so you’d be able to make a fresh start.”

  His cool authority rankled. “Well, as usual, Doc, you’re wrong about a lot of things.” She took hold of the handle and pushed the two-wheeled hand truck back up the ramp, into the rear of the U-Haul. “I’m not selling this home.” She paused to look at him long and hard. “I’m moving in.”

  * * *

  Gabe stared at Susannah in shock. She was standing in a wedge of summer sunlight, her face pale except for the riot of color spreading across her cheeks. She had lost weight in the months since the funeral, looking almost too thin in a scoop-necked peach T-shirt, tan knee-length cargo shorts and sneakers. And yet her natural beauty shone through, in her silky, shoulder-length honey-blond hair and oval face with delicate features. Her sea-blue eyes. And kissably soft lips...

  “What about your life in Houston?” he asked, walking up the ramp to join her in the bed of the U-Haul. Which seemed to be packed with boxes of what he assumed were her belongings and a mattress and box spring. Nothing else.

  Turning her back to him, she reached over to add a carton marked Books to the base of the hand truck. “I sold my condo.”

  Not about to stand around idly when a lady needed help, he reached for a second carton and set it atop the first. “And what about your job?”

  She added a third. “I quit.” She tried to turn the wheels, and just as he had predicted, found it too heavy for her to maneuver. With a frown, she looked down in frustration and said, “I hated being a graphic designer, and life is short, so...”

  He took charge of the dolly for her and wheeled it down the ramp, toward the house. He paused at the bottom of the steps leading up to the spacious front porch, with the cushioned wood furniture and chain-hung swing. “Do you really think this is the place to start over?” Where every square inch reminded her of the twin sister and brother-in-law she’d lost?

  She put out a hand to stop him from taking the boxes up onto the porch and moved to block his way. The tension that had exist
ed between them from the very first moment they’d met, years before, simmered between them now. “Do you really think you should be asking me that?” she challenged, a flash of annoyance crossing her face. “I mean, it’s not really your business, is it?”

  Actually, although she didn’t know it, Gabe thought sagely, it was his business. Thanks to the promise he had made to Brett and Belinda right before they’d left on their ill-fated second honeymoon. At a time when the usually fiercely independent Susannah had been incredibly, unexpectedly vulnerable. A fact that had fired up his valiant side and made him want to protect and comfort her. “Someone has to look after you.”

  Without warning, temper flashed in her eyes. “Well, it shouldn’t be you, Doc, of that I’m certain.”

  No question, he wouldn’t have volunteered. But since Brett and Belinda had drafted him to do so, and he’d agreed, he had no choice. Not that Susannah’d made it easy on him the last six months or so, in steadfastly avoiding his attempts to get in touch with her since the funeral.

  Her delicate blond brows lowering over her pretty eyes, she flashed him a smile that was filled with both fire and ice. “Especially given the fact that you’re about to go off to another part of the world with Physicians Without Borders. Again.”

  Funny. Most people saw his efforts to bring medical care where there was none noble. Scoffing, he folded his arms across his chest. “You really resent me for that?”

  With equal parts determination and grit, Susannah tried to move the hand truck up the porch steps. And again it was way too heavy. “I resent the fact that you tried to get Brett to join you on your first mission when he was just about to marry Belinda.”

  Except it hadn’t happened. His best friend and fellow physician had been as devoted to the community where they had grown up and completed their residencies as he was ready to venture away from it.

  He elbowed her aside and easily accomplished what she could not, taking the loaded hand truck all the way up the steps and leaving it where she pointed. Finished, he continued to defend his actions. “It was only for two months, and our expertise was needed in Indonesia.”