16
“I know a great many things that you never told me, darling,” Rourke said quietly. He bent and touched his mouth to hers while she held Joshua close. Then he bent and kissed the tiny child in her arms. “Dear God, I’ve never been so terrified in my life! I had a tip that Lopez was on his way to your house. I was in position—I was ready for him. But I was scared to death to take the shot!”
Her lips fell open. “You...you shot him?” she gasped.
“Yes,” he said, his eye cold and hard. “I couldn’t trust it to anyone else.”
Her eyes stared up at him wildly. “You told me to drop and roll,” she began.
“Bullets hit bone and ricochet,” he said tautly. “Sometimes a sniper accidently kills the victim that way, or an innocent bystander. People have died because snipers know that, and sometimes they hesitate one second too long.” He drew the woman and the baby into his arms and bent his head over hers. He could barely get his breath. “I prayed that you’d remember what I said. I’ve had hell living with a lot of things I did in my life, Tat. But if I’d hit you because my aim was off a hair, they’d have buried me right beside you.” He shuddered. “There is no way in hell I’m staying alive if you don’t.”
She felt the words. Felt them like silk wrapping around her body. She pressed closer to him, her eyes closed as she drank in the wonder of his feelings for her.
“Stanton, how much do you remember?” she asked without looking at him.
Dr. Coltrain and the nurse walked in just in time to spare him any embarrassing revelations. He would, of course, be obligated to tell her the truth at some point in the near future. But he was going to put it off as long as he could. He still felt enormous guilt at what she’d suffered because of his damned job. And that was another discussion he’d be having with other people very soon.
* * *
Joshua was all right. Rourke let out a sigh of delighted relief when Coltrain grinned and handed the baby back to Clarisse.
She kissed his little face and cuddled him.
“He’s a lovely child,” Coltrain said. “Nice name, too,” he chuckled.
“I know, your son is also named Joshua,” Clarisse said, blushing a little. “I honestly had no idea...”
“Three of our friends also have sons named Joshua. One is called Joe, one Josh, and ours is Tip.”
“We, uh, heard about the train wrecking instincts,” Rourke chuckled.
Coltrain just smiled. “So you see, if we all yell Joshua at the same time, only your little boy is likely to come running. Feel better?”
“Much,” she confessed. “Thanks.”
“Now that you’re off the endangered list, are you staying?” Coltrain asked.
“I’d like to,” Clarisse said softly. She smiled. “I’ve never lived in a small town in my life, but I love this one.”
“You’ve made friends here. Besides, Tippy Grier will mourn if you take Joshua away,” he laughed. “She’s very fond of him. Of both of you.”
“It would be nice if she and Cash could have another one,” Clarisse said.
Coltrain didn’t say a word. He just lifted an eyebrow and changed the subject.
* * *
Rourke took Joshua and Clarisse to Jake’s house with him.
“But we’ll be imposing,” she’d protested all the way.
“Honey, you’ve got a body on your front porch,” he pointed out, having taken her out the back door so that she didn’t have to see Lopez lying there. He’d also dampened a washcloth and handed it to her before they got in the car to take Joshua to the hospital, so that she could wipe off the blood. “You can’t possibly sleep there, and I’m not leaving you alone.”
“But you’re staying here already...”
“Jake’s daughter married Carson Farwalker,” he pointed out. “So Jake has a spare bedroom.”
“One spare bedroom,” she began.
“Just a sec.” Rourke pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.
She handed Joshua to him as she read it, standing on Jake Blair’s front porch. Her eyes searched Rourke’s for a few seconds. “It’s a marriage license,” she said.
“Ya,” he agreed. “We’ve both had blood work recently. The results are on file. Jake can marry us right now. I even have the ring in my pocket.” He cocked his head and he’d never looked more solemn. “We can have a sweet social wedding later on, when we recover from the past few days. But we can be married very quietly, and privately, right here, tonight. If you’re willing.”
“Of course I’m willing,” she faltered. “But you don’t remember...things,” she added worriedly.
He bent and brushed his mouth over hers very softly. “I remember that I love you,” he whispered huskily. He drew back. “What more do I need to remember?”
She flushed. “You love me?” she whispered.
“With all my heart.” His face hardened. “More than my own life,” he said, and almost choked as he recalled the last time he’d said that to her.
She pressed close to him with a high-pitched little cry and shivered.
Joshua stirred and she laughed as he started searching against her blouse with his tiny mouth.
She drew back. “Someone’s hungry again,” she teased.
He looked down at the child and smiled warmly. “You’ll have time to feed him,” he said. “Jake’s asked Carlie and Carson to stand with us as witnesses.”
“You reprobate,” she gasped. “You already had it planned!”
“You bet your life I did,” he agreed at once. His face was taut with remembered pain. “This time we’re getting married, and my job can go hang. I’ll never put it before you again. Not as long as I live, Tat. That’s a solemn promise.”
Her lips parted on a quick breath. “Stanton...”
Before she could get the question out, the door opened and Jake Blair gave them an amused smile. “I hear there’s going to be a wedding,” he chuckled.
“You hear right,” Rourke said, smiling. “Darling, this is Jake Blair. He’s about the best friend I have in the world.”
“I’m very happy to meet you, Reverend,” Clarisse said, shaking hands.
“We haven’t discussed denominations,” Jake began.
“It doesn’t really matter,” Clarisse said softly. “I like your church very much, from what I’ve heard about it. And I’d like Joshua to be brought up with a background of faith. It’s made all the difference in my own life.”
“I’ve never been much for ceremony,” Rourke said solemnly. “But I agree that a child needs a firm foundation to build on. I didn’t have that. My father was brutally murdered right in front of me. My mother died in a firebombing a little over two years later. I’ve lived hard, and I’ve been bad. I never got that foundation. Except in lectures from her, when she was eight,” he added with a glance toward Clarisse. “She was the one who believed in miracles.”
“That’s because I’m alive because of them,” she said simply. She smiled at Reverend Blair. “I’ll help you work on him.” She indicated Rourke. “It may take more than two of us, however,” she added with a resigned sigh.
“I very much doubt it,” Rourke replied. He smiled at the baby in her arms, still searching irritably for his bedtime snack.
“I’d better feed him,” Clarisse said. “Oh, dear, I don’t have a crib...”
“We have one set up in the guest bedroom,” Jake said easily. “Rourke called me from the hospital and a kindly parishioner loaned me his spare crib.” He grinned. “All the loose ends caught up, and we even have a rocking chair in there waiting for you.”
“It’s so kind,” Clarisse said, and fought tears.
“Dear lady, you’re the kind one,” Jake replied, and he was serious. “Anybody who could tame that African lion—” he indicated Rourke “—has an overabundance of kindness and patience.”
“I’ve been untamed for a while,” Rourke had to agree. Then he grinned at Clarisse. “But I’m becoming more housebroken daily. Feed the baby, darling. Then we’ll have a small wedding.”
She blushed a little, smiled shyly at Rourke and followed Jake’s directions to the guest bedroom upstairs. The men went to drink coffee while she fed Joshua.
* * *
Carlie and Carson showed up a few minutes later, holding hands and looking breathlessly happy. Carlie was very pregnant, swollen and heavy, but she looked as if she owned the world.
Clarisse had just put Joshua to bed. She came downstairs smiling. She was introduced to the newcomers and shook hands.
“I couldn’t believe it when he told me,” Carson said, nodding toward his father-in-law. “I mean, Rourke getting married!”
“Cut it out,” Rourke chuckled. “After all, mate, you did it, too.”
“They were taking bets down at the police station on whether or not he’d do a flit in the middle of the night the week after the wedding,” Carlie said in a stage whisper, indicating her husband.
“Fat chance,” Carson said, smiling at her. “I know a good thing when I see it.”
“Is it a boy or a girl?” Rourke asked Carson.
“God, I hope so!”
Rourke burst out laughing. “One of the guys in Barrera asked him—” he nodded at Carson “—if Eb Scott’s child was a boy or a girl. He said ‘yes’ and kept walking.”
“I have no manners,” Carson said easily.
“Yes, you do.” Carlie reached up and kissed his chin. “And you’re a wonderful doctor. Louise Coltrain sings your praises all the time. Even Copper does!”
“Rare praise indeed,” Rourke chuckled. “Copper Coltrain doesn’t praise anybody. Ever. From what I hear.”
“Well, are we getting married?” Rourke asked after a couple of moments of silence. “I mean, what if she changes her mind in the next five minutes? I have to get her to say the words before she has time to think it through!”
“She’ll never change her mind,” Clarisse said huskily.
He smiled at her, with his whole heart in the expression. “Fair enough. But let’s make it legal.”
She moved forward and slid her small hand into his. It was every dream of her life coming true. Since she was seventeen, wearing a green dress on Christmas Eve, this had been all she’d ever wanted.
“Eight years too late, my darling,” Rourke said huskily, because he’d been remembering the same thing. “But better late than never.”
“Oh, yes!” she exclaimed.
Jake got out his Bible and arranged the couples before him. He smiled. “Dearly beloved,” he began.
* * *
The ceremony was brief, but poignant for all that. Clarisse looked up at Rourke with such love in her expression that he felt warm all over. He bent and kissed her very softly, his lips like a breath against the soft fullness there.
“I will love you,” he whispered, “all my life. And I would die to keep you safe. Through wind and storm, gale and thunder, sickness and health and even poverty, I will shelter you from the world. And at the end of my life, when I slip into darkness, I will whisper your name as the last breath leaves my body.”
Tears were rolling down her flushed cheeks long before he finished. He bent and tenderly kissed them away.
“I’ve loved you since I was eight, Stanton,” she managed with a wet smile. “And I’ve never stopped. I never will. Not even when I die.”
He drew her into his arms and rocked her, his cheek against hers. “What a long road we’ve traveled to get here, Tat,” he said heavily.
She smiled. “What a sweet rest at the end of that long journey.”
“Yes.”
He drew away and averted his face for a few seconds to get rid of an annoying and very visible wetness in his eye.
“Well, how about cake?” Jake asked.
They stared at him. “Cake?”
“Cake,” he said. “Barbara at the café sent over a wedding cake. She made it herself.”
Clarisse’s breath sighed out. “Oh, how sweet of her!”
“I love cake,” Rourke mused.
“Me, too,” Carlie seconded.
Carson grinned. “It’s a very big cake. So we thought you might like to share it.”
“Share it?” Rourke said vacantly.
Carson went to the door and opened it. Half of Jacobsville poured into the house, including Barbara, Cash and Tippy Grier, and dozens of other people. Rourke pulled Clarisse close and laughed out loud with pure joy.
“I’ve got five pounds of coffee, too,” Jake said with a grin. “I’ll start it brewing!”
* * *
The reception was amazing. It was the early hours of the morning, but nobody seemed to be sleepy. They drank coffee and ate cake and discussed the events of the night.
Cash pulled Tippy up with an apologetic smile at Rourke and Clarisse. “We have to get home.”
“Chet’s at my place, watching the kids,” Barbara assured him. Her eyes were twinkling. “We’ll see you in the morning.”
Cash’s own dark eyes had a twinkle.
“Tris is at Barbara’s?” Tippy began.
“Say good-night, sweetheart,” he returned, tugging her toward the door.
“Good night, sweetheart,” Tippy said obediently, with a grin, and Cash chuckled as he pulled her out to the car.
Minutes later, he locked them in the bedroom of their home and tossed Tippy a small bottle of pills.
“What are these?” she asked.
“Baby pills.” He undressed and then undressed her.
“Baby pills?” she began. He turned around and she gasped as she saw him. Not since a night long ago in New York had he looked so formidable.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” he mused. “I’ve had a little too much pressure, and we’ve had a lot less privacy than we’ve needed. So Coltrain took care of one problem, and Barbara took care of another. It’s just one night.” His lips pursed as his eyes slid over her beautiful nude body. “But what a night it’s going to be!”
Her eyes lit up. “Baby pills?” she teased.
He pushed her back down into the mattress, his eyes full of loving good humor. “You’ll see in a few weeks. Now move this leg, just like this, honey, and hold on tight...!”
She tried to laugh, but his mouth was on hers and the joy she felt melted into the most awesome bout of passion she’d ever experienced in her life.
* * *
Rourke took Clarisse and Joshua to church the next morning. She was amazed at how good he was with the baby. He already knew how to strap the baby into the backseat of the Jaguar. Clarisse stared over the back of her seat at him.
“Just a little ride, Joshua, honest,” she promised, cooing at him.
“Damned distance,” Rourke mused. “I don’t like having the child in the backseat away from us like that.”
“Neither do I. But air bags are very dangerous for babies.”
“When I was eleven, K.C. used to put me right up front with him in that old Land Rover and take me places. In fact, he was still driving it when you moved next door.”
“I remember.” Her heart was in her eyes as she studied him. “I can’t believe we’re actually married,” she said huskily.
“It’s my damned fault we weren’t, when you were pregnant with Joshua,” he said in a voice vibrant with regret. “So much pain. All because I put my job before you. Never again. I swear it. I’ve already turned over this last assignment to another agent, and I had a long talk with them. I’ll be administrative, or I’ll quit. I can afford to. The game park makes more than enough revenue to take care of both of us into old age and manage college for Joshua and any brothers and sisters we might give him. So no more fieldwork. Ever.”
She’d wondered about his memory returning. She gazed at him curiously.
He glanced at her. “We’ll talk when we get back from church. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He winked and pulled into the church parking lot.
* * *
Rourke had never felt anything as profound as the way he felt at that first church service. He shared Joshua with Clarisse, holding him when he fussed to relieve her, because even though the incision had healed, she was still somewhat fragile.
“You’re very good with him,” Clarisse murmured when they were walking into Barbara’s Café for Sunday dinner, along with half of Jacobsville.
Rourke put his lips against the baby’s forehead. “He’s a treasure. Like you, my darling,” he said huskily, glancing at her.
She flushed and laughed. “You thought I was a plague until a year ago,” she recalled.
“Not true.” He bent to brush his lips across hers as they waited in line to get into the building. “You know why I tried to make you hate me, Tat,” he added huskily. “One lie, and the ripples spread out for years.” His face hardened. “I understand why your mother did it. But she cheated us, Tat. She cost us years.”
She moved closer to him, her head just coming to his shoulder. “I know. I’m so sorry.”
“So am I, honey.” He cuddled Joshua closer. “At least we have a future now.” His eye closed on an inward groan. “Dear God, what that decision cost me!”
“Accepting the last job?” she asked.
He looked down at her with anguish on his hard face. “Yes. You meant everything to me, but when the call came to move into action, I agreed. It was a terrible mistake.”
“But we’re together now. That is all that matters.”
“I’d lived wild and free all my life. But I was scared to death that you might actually marry Carvajal,” he added in a rough undertone. “You threatened me with him in Barrera at the awards ceremony. I went out and got drunk and wrecked a bar. Did you ever figure out why?” he added suddenly.
She frowned. “No.”
“Because I knew if you cared at all, even a little, you’d come and save me from myself,” he said, and his smile was like sunshine itself. “That was when I knew I still had a chance to keep you in my life. I’d never been so happy.” The smile faded. “But it all went wrong in Manaus, when I left you,” he added on a long breath.
Her face colored. “You remember,” she said unsteadily.
“Yes. I remembered when I went home to see about K.C.,” he said. “It was the blood type. Joshua’s blood type. My son’s...blood type.” His voice was vibrant with pride and affection as he looked down at the child in his arms. “My son,” he whispered. His face contorted. “I almost lost him. I almost lost both of you.” His pale brown eye was tormented as it met hers. “I tossed you out of my house, and you had my child under your heart,” he added on a harsh breath. “Dear God, everything I got, I deserved.”
She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t realized that his memory had come back. “Stanton,” she began softly, “we can’t go back and change what was. We can only go forward.”
“Carvajal married you to spare you the shame of having a child out of wedlock, in a city where your mother was so well-known,” he said huskily. “Yes?”
“Yes. He was kind to me. You see, he had an injury that robbed him of his manhood. He...couldn’t. He knew he could never marry. But when he married me, people assumed the child was his. He was so happy.” She bit her lip. “I felt sorry for him. But more than that, I was grateful. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t give up my baby...”
He pulled her close, wrapping her up tight against him. “I’ve given you nothing but hell,” he said quietly. “I’m so sorry, my darling. So very, very sorry, for every harsh word. If there was any way I could undo the past eight years...”
She reached up and put her fingers across his hard mouth. “We have a little boy to raise,” she said with a warm, quiet smile. “The past doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”
“K.C. had photos of you in the hospital when Joshua was born,” he said gently. “I never would have thought K.C. would take to being a grandfather. He really loves Joshua.”
“Joshua will love him, too. Just as he’ll love you,” she added softly, searching his face with loving eyes. “Just as I love you. I never stopped.”
His eye closed on a grinding pain. “I don’t deserve that.”
“You didn’t remember, Stanton,” she said. “That wasn’t your fault.”
“If I hadn’t agreed to that job...!”
“If, if, if,” she chided. She reached up and kissed his chin. “Let’s have a nice lunch and then we can go and sit in the park, if you like.”
He searched her soft eyes. “I know something I’d rather do,” he said huskily.
Her face colored.
“Jake had a cleaning crew go over to your house when the crime scene unit left. We can go home tonight, if you want to.”
She couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “That would be...nice.”
“Oh, better than nice,” he murmured at her ear. His lips smoothed over her earlobe. “I’ll have to stop by the pharmacy first, however. Unless you’re taking something...?”
She looked up at him with her heart in her eyes. “I’m not. I don’t want to,” she whispered.
His face tautened. “I missed it all,” he said. “Knowing you were pregnant, watching you carry my son, being there when he was born... I missed everything,” he ground out.
She put her fingers over his hard mouth. “There will be another time.”
He caught her hand and held her palm to his lips. His eye held hers. “It’s too soon,” he said unsteadily.
She felt her heart racing. “Joshua is almost two months,” she said unsteadily. “We could...if you wanted to.”
His face went scarlet, at just the thought of it. “I wanted to make you pregnant in Manaus. I told you that I did.” His jaw tautened. “But this time, if it happens, there is no way I’m leaving you. Not even for a day!”
She pressed close to his side. “Not even for a day, my darling,” she whispered.
Her heart soared. She’d never felt such happiness in her whole life.
* * *
That night, he loved her to sleep in her own bed, his body slow and tender, his mouth touching and lifting and teasing her until she thought she’d go mad.
“I thought I remembered how good this felt,” he murmured against her breasts, chuckling.
“I remembered.” She reached up and kissed his wounded eye. She’d teased him out of the patch already. He gave in with good grace. He didn’t really mind letting her see the injury. She loved him so much that she never even noticed it, and he realized that.
He moved slowly on her yielding body, enjoying the soft little cries that pulsed from her throat, the way her short nails dug into his hips as he lifted and fell against her. The whole time, he watched her face, enjoyed the intimacy of being with her, all over again.
“I didn’t think...you could be so patient,” she whispered brokenly.
“Why? Because you think I had other women while my memory was gone?” he teased unsteadily. “I couldn’t touch another woman, not even Charlene,” he murmured at her lips. “I didn’t want anyone else. I couldn’t understand why, until I ran headlong into you in the Jacobsville pharmacy. My God, what a shock! I was so aroused that I attacked you,” he groaned.
She gasped. “Aroused?”
“Aroused.” He moved harder against her. “I hadn’t felt it since the wound. I just looked at you and went rigid.” His mouth ground into hers. “Lift your legs around me, darling,” he whispered as he shifted, making her moan even louder. “That’s it. Yes...like that...hold on, baby. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on...!”
The words echoed with every hard, deep motion of his hips. The rhythm went wild all at once. His hands tightened at either side of her head and his face mirrored the sweet torment of what he was beginning to feel.
“Oh, God, Tat...!” he cried out and began to shudder rhythmically.
She went with him, her body arching, lifting, grinding up into his as the fever melted them together like molten steel. At the end, she cried out and sobbed against his shoulder, giving in to a wave of pleasure that threatened to kill her. She almost lost consciousness, it was so violent.
She felt his heartbeat shaking her. She felt the beloved weight of his warm, damp body on hers as they both gasped at breath.
“I died,” he murmured against her soft breast. “I died.”
“So did I,” she whispered, still shivering.
“I got you pregnant the first time we made love,” he said huskily. “I wanted it, so much!”
“Me, too,” she whispered, holding him closer.
“If only,” he managed, lifting his head to look down into her soft, sated eyes.
She touched his cheek with the tips of her fingers. “If only.”
“We’ve had a hell of a rocky ride to the altar,” he said drowsily. “But maybe, with a little luck, it will be smooth sailing from now on.”
“I hope so,” she agreed. She smoothed her hands over his broad, hair-covered chest. “You’re so beautiful, Stanton,” she whispered. “I never get tired of looking at you.”
“That’s my line,” he argued, laughing as he bent to her mouth. “My lovely Tat.”
She sighed and pulled him closer. “Now I’m sleepy.”
“Me, too.” He rolled over, pulling her with him. “Do you have the monitor on in Joshua’s room?”
“Yes, of course,” she murmured. She grimaced. “I still can’t believe I trusted Mariel with him.” She shivered. “I was so stupid...!”
“You had no reason to believe she meant you any harm.” He traced her eyebrows. “I’m so sorry, for the pain you’ve endured because of me. I’m sorry about Carvajal, as well. Not that I wouldn’t have done everything in my power to get you and my son away from him, if he’d survived the malaria,” he added darkly.
“He wouldn’t have tried to make me stay. He knew how I felt about you,” she added sadly. “He’d been in love, himself. He never told her after the accident. He said she deserved a full life.”
“He was a good man,” he said reluctantly.
“So are you,” she replied, tracing his hard mouth. “And I love you insanely.”
He laughed softly and kissed her back. “I love you insanely. Otherwise, I assure you, I wouldn’t have gone eight damned long years without a woman!”
She wreathed her arms around his neck and leaned over him. “I’ll make it all up to you,” she murmured against his mouth.
“You will?” he teased.
“Oh, yes. I can start right away, too.” Her long, soft leg smoothed in between his hair-roughened ones. “Do you like this?”
“Like it?” he groaned, arching. “I love it!”
“In that case, suppose I do this, too...!”
He rolled her over onto her back and groaned as he found her mouth. For a long, long time, they didn’t say another word.
* * *
Joshua was christened at the age of four months in Jake Blair’s church. His name had already been changed to Kantor, just as Rourke’s had. Clarisse had felt a pang of conscience at first, but it wasn’t right to keep the name of a man who wasn’t Joshua’s father. She knew that Ruy would understand.
Joshua’s proud parents stood with the Griers, Cash and Tippy, who were to be his godparents. On the other side was K.C., his grandfather, who released the honor of godparent to one not of the family. There was a crowd for the event.
The reception was held at the fellowship hall, but just as a buffet lunch was being served, Tippy left Tris with her brother, Rory, and Clarisse left Joshua with his father and grandfather, and both women made a sudden beeline for the ladies’ room.
As they bathed their faces shortly afterward, they exchanged looks of unholy amusement.
“I know, it’s too soon, but we really wanted another one,” Clarisse began.
Tippy was laughing through tears. “I wasn’t convinced that I could get pregnant again,” she confessed. “Cash is going to be shocked!”
* * *
Shocked wasn’t the word. Cash picked her up in his arms and carried her around the fellowship hall, kissing her nonstop the whole time. Rourke was similarly involved with his own wife.
“Must be the water,” Jake Blair murmured, glancing at his daughter, who was almost ready to deliver.
Her husband, Carson, just grinned.
* * *
Many months later, Rourke and Cash were pacing the waiting room while their wives were admitted and taken into the delivery room.
“I want to be in there with her,” Cash muttered as the obstetrician, a woman, came into the seated area.
“So do I,” Rourke added. “We did the natural childbirth thing...”
“Mrs. Grier went into labor almost before we could get her prepped,” she told Cash with a big smile. “You have a son, Chief Grier. A fine, healthy little boy.”
“A boy.” Cash’s face went white. “A boy! Tippy, is Tippy all right?” he added quickly.
“She’s just fine. You can go in and see her. Marie, will you take the chief back to his wife and son?” she added, motioning to a nurse.
“My pleasure. Come along, Chief Grier,” Marie said.
“What about Tat?” Rourke asked, beside himself.
“We had to do a C-section. It’s all right—she’s doing very well,” the doctor assured him. She laughed. “I know you were hoping for a matched set, but it’s another boy.”
Rourke just smiled. “I was hoping for a healthy baby,” he corrected. “I’d have been happy with either, as long as my sweetheart is okay.” That concern showed.
“She’s doing fine. Come along. I’ll take you back myself.” She shook her head. She laughed. “Maybe it really is the water.”
* * *
Rourke stood over the bed where Tat, pale but happy, was holding the newest addition to their family. He bent and touched the tiny head with his fingertips. There was a wetness in his good eye.
“All my life, I’ve felt as if I never had a place where I truly belonged. Now I do,” he said, lifting his gaze to her rapt face. “I could die of happiness right now.”
She smiled softly. “So could I, my darling.”
“K.C. is on his way over. He’s bought out half a toy store for Joshua, and he’s bringing a bag full of things for the new baby.”
“I’d like to call him Kent,” she said gently. “For K.C.” It was Rourke’s father’s real first name.
His face softened. “He’d be very proud.”
“And Morrison for my father. It was his middle name.”
“Kent Morrison Kantor it is,” he said softly. He bent and kissed her eyes. “Have I told you today how much I love you, Mrs. Kantor?” he whispered.
“Only ten times,” she murmured, drawing his face down so that she could kiss him warmly. “Not nearly enough.”
He chuckled. “I love you madly.”
“I love you madly back,” she said against his mouth.
“Forever,” he whispered, and his face was so radiant with love that it almost blinded her.
She brushed his lips with hers, fighting tears that felt like a watery overflow of happiness. Her mind was drifting back, over the long barren years with glimpses of terror and pain and sadness. All that, and now this. Heaven.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered, kissing her eyelids, sipping away the tears. “I’ll never leave you again. Never.”
She managed a watery smile. “I know, my darling,” she whispered softly, overcome with joy. “I know.”
Rourke kissed his son’s little head. “After the storm, the sunlight,” he said under his breath, in Afrikaans.
She nodded. “And it’s blinding—it’s so beautiful!” she whispered.
“Beautiful,” he agreed, but he was looking at her lovely face.
She looked down at the child in her arms and drew in a long breath. “Better call K.C.,” she told Rourke.
He chuckled, pulled out his cell phone, took a selfie of the three of them, and sent it off to his father.
An instant later, there was a reply. There, on the screen, was K.C., with a grin like a Cheshire cat, wearing a long red cap with a white ball on the end, waving a small soccer ball and a stuffed lion. There was a text message underneath.
On my way, with the contents of another toy shop. Harnessing the reindeer as we speak!
“My God, it’s Christmas tomorrow,” Rourke exclaimed.
“Yes, and you didn’t believe in Santa Claus, you silly man,” Clarisse chided. “But look what he brought you!” she added, indicating the child in her arms.
He bent and brushed his mouth over hers, and then over the child’s head. “I must have been a very, very good boy this year!”
She pursed her lips. “Oooooh, yes,” she drawled, and gave him a steamy appraisal.
Cash Grier poked his head in the door. “I’m going for coffee. Want some?” he asked Rourke.
“Yes,” Rourke said. “I’ll go help you carry it. Back in a jiffy,” he promised his wife, grinning.
“What did you name him?” Clarisse asked.
“Marcus Gilbert Rourke Grier.”
Rourke caught his breath. He looked oddly flushed.
Cash grinned. “We’d have added Cassius, but Carson’s got that on his side of the family. So we thought we should have Rourke for yours.” He put an affectionate arm around Rourke. “After all, that’s what Jacobsville is. A family. Right?”
Rourke was trying not to show the emotion he felt. He looked at his wife, his newest child and thought of K.C. on the way to join them. “Ya,” he said after a minute, when he’d composed himself. “A big family.”
Clarisse’s eyes were brimming over with joy. “Hey,” she teased, “bring me back a steak, could you?”
Rourke made a face at her. “I’d be hung from the ceiling with IV tubes, my darling,” he confessed. “Sorry. But you can have a teddy bear.”
“A lion,” she corrected, her eyes soft with love. “We’ll name him Lou, after yours back home.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He winked at her and went out the door with Cash, whistling softly.
Clarisse drew in a breath. She had the world. The whole world. She kissed her little boy’s head and closed her eyes. Life was sweet. Sweeter than dreams.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from by Diana Palmer.