by Juanita Kees
‘I love him too, but I’m still not sure I’m mother material. What if there’s too much of my own mother in me?’
‘There’s a lot of Liv and Muzz in you too. Never forget that. Parenting doesn’t come with a user manual, but together we’d be stronger, better. And knowing how much you love him is all Liam needs to grow. Knowing how much you love my son makes me love you even more.’
‘What are you asking, Kieran?’
‘I’m asking if you’ll let me stay, if you’ll be a mum to my son. If you’ll be my wife, my life-partner, so I can spend the rest of our lives showing you how much I love you. I don’t want to drive out of town into an empty void when everything I love is right here, when my heart and everything in it is in Wongan Creek.’ His hands cupped her face and drew her closer.
‘How can you be so sure?’ Her resistance faded with his lips just inches from hers.
‘Because without you, I’m running on empty. Please say yes, Fen.’ The words drifted across her mouth before his lips settled on hers and everything he’d said was echoed in his kiss—love, longing, forgiveness, acceptance and a taste of forever.
Behind them, Liam’s whoop echoed down the valley, cockatoos took flight as he raced towards them, oblivious of the soft rain falling around him. Kieran lifted her off the rock, his arms tight around her even as he broke the kiss. She slipped her legs from his waist until her boots touched the ground. Little arms wrapped around their legs as Liam pushed his face between them. One arm still holding Fen, Kieran swept the little boy up with the other. Liam’s arms reached out for her and the last particle of ice around her heart melted as she stepped back to take his weight.
Liam crushed her neck in a hug. ‘I wanna stay with you and Lucky. Can I? Can I?’
‘I think we can work something out.’ Her heart pounded against her ribs and doubt edged around her mind, but damn it, she couldn’t picture a future without them. They’d survived so much, together and apart, surely they could work through this.
Kieran’s arm slipped around her waist and they turned towards the homestead. On the verandah, Liv stood with Riggs by her side, grinning widely, one hand on her heart, the other held tightly in the sarge’s, her fingers curled around his.
Liam wriggled in Fen’s arms and she let him slip down and run to Liv. ‘My daddy’s going to ask Fen to be my mummy.’ His stage whisper drifted down towards them.
Kieran’s hand slipped around Fen’s as Liv raised an eyebrow and said, ‘Well, he’d better get to it then while we put on the kettle for a cuppa to celebrate. Are you coming with us, Liam? I’m sure I’ve got some lizard cookies in a jar in the kitchen.’
‘K. Can we get Lucky down too? He won’t want to miss the party. Is that okay, Fen?’
‘Of course it is. Be gentle with him, okay? Let Liv help you get him out.’
Liam ran into the house ahead of Liv, leaving Riggs in charge of putting the kettle on. With a grin, the sarge followed them inside.
Kieran turned Fen in his arms and held her close. ‘So, is that a “yes”?’
Fen smiled up at him. ‘Was there a question?’
He grinned back. ‘Fenella Rose-Waterman, will you marry me, with a ready-made son to raise, and can we please have more babies together?’
She pushed on his shoulders with feigned resistance. ‘Steady on. Can we enjoy the one we have for a little longer?’
He nuzzled her nose with his before capturing her lips and a mind-drugging, body-arching kiss that promised lazy hours of loving later. ‘Say it and stop torturing me.’
She cupped his face with her hands and closed her eyes, drew in the scent and feel of him, of what she had to look forward to waking up to for the rest of her life. ‘I love you, Kieran Murphy. Will you be my forever tail that doesn’t break off? Will you be there for me when I fall or fail? Will you let me love your son as if he were my own, because I already do.’ She opened her eyes to see the glimmer in his. ‘And will you please stay right here in my heart, and never leave?’
‘I think we can agree on that.’
‘Thank you.’ She reached up and kissed him, a featherlight touch because she wanted to hear those magic words again and not distract him from them.
‘Is that a “yes”?’
‘Ask me again.’
‘Will you marry me and make me the happiest man this side of Wongan Creek?’
‘Yes.’
Thanks for reading Shadows over Wongan Creek. I hope you enjoyed it.
Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.
You’ve just read a book in my Wongan Creek series. The other books in the series are Whispers at Wongan Creek and Secrets at Wongan Creek.
If you liked this book, check out my Under the Law series: Under Shadow of Doubt, Under the Hood and Under Cover of Dark.
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ISBN: 9781489276841
Title: Shadows over Wongan Creek
Copyright © 2019 by JUANITA KEES
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written
permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Level 13/201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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