“Hang on,” Lee told him. “It’s almost over.”
Over. When they’d barely begun.
Over for him and Danny and Lee.
“Lee—” His teeth chattered; he couldn’t get another thought together. Damn it, when would his fear of flying end? He was sick of it. Sick of the paranoia, the nightmare, the helplessness.
Something hot surged through his chest. No more. No. More. “When this is done—” The Cessna rattled and bucked and booted his words into the abyss below.
“I’m here, Rogan,” Lee soothed. “Don’t be afraid.”
A light clicked in his brain. Not fear…anger. For years anger had manifested into fear.
He’d been angry with Darby for taking Sophie on that death trip. And Abner Air for their role in the crash. But most of all because he’d deemed work more important than his family that day.
Suddenly, Rogan shook his head. “Lee,” he said, feeling free of a thirty-eight-month weight. “I’m not afraid. Not anymore. And this isn’t over. It’s just beginning. We’re just beginning.”
Had they been on the ground and not in the clouds, he would’ve taken her face in his hands. Oh, but he wanted to wrap her up like a beautiful jewel and tuck her into his heart. “I want another chance, honey. With you. Because, damn it, we are going to make it.”
At that moment, the seaplane broke through the clouds and flew into sunshine, and Rogan laughed again. “There,” he said. “Do you believe me?”
An auburn brow lifted. “Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.” He couldn’t contain the goofy grin. The plane began its descent and approach to Bremerton. They were a team, he and Lee. As a team they could get through anything, including operating Sky Dash, and raising two—or more—children in a house filled with love, on a quiet country road.
Rogan waited until she finished her dialogue with the control tower and taxied to the pier. The plane finally in position for anchoring, he unbuckled his belt, removed his headgear, eager to kiss the woman he loved beyond reason.
She set a hand on his chest, her eyes shining with spring brightness. “Was that anxiety talking back there? Or did you mean what you said?”
“Every word,” he said softly.
A smile bloomed. “I’m so glad for you, Rogan.”
He wanted to kiss her, but he had to ask again. “Do you love me?”
She looked away. “What I feel isn’t important.”
He turned her face gently so they were inches apart. “Do you?” he repeated.
“You know I do,” she whispered. “I’ve said it, remember?”
He did. “Do you trust me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because I don’t want you to sell Sky Dash. We can do this together, honey. As a team, as a family. But, you need to trust me the way I’ve trusted you whenever I’m in this plane—and whenever you’re with my son. You need to trust our love, Lee.” His hand cupped her cheek, and he set his mouth tenderly on hers. “Marry me. Build a home and a future for our children. For us.”
A tear tracked her cheek. “How? If I don’t sell this business I’ll have no investment for the future.”
He smiled. “Trust me, sweetheart. Trust in us.”
She hung on his gaze. “Okay.”
One ordinary, everyday word. It held his universe.
Rogan kissed her. Eons later, he lifted his head and chuckled. “I think we’ve drifted a little.”
Through the windscreen, past the propeller, the dock lay ten feet away.
Lee laughed. “Well, considering we’re pointed in the right direction…Ready to fly home again?”
Fly home. The best two words Rogan heard in years.
“You bet.”
Epilogue
December, the same year…
S he stood at the base of the porch steps and surveyed the strings of colorful lights her family purchased that afternoon.
Her family. She loved the sound. Rogan, Danny, Olivia. Hers.
Lee smiled. Dad and son had spent the last hour coiling the lights around the porch’s pillars and along the top of the railing, while she tacked big red bows on the corner post of the stairs and hung a cheerful wreath on the front door.
“Look, Olivia,” she whispered to the baby bundled close as cotton candy in the pink sling against Lee’s chest. “Your first Christmas lights.” Dark blue eyes stared up at Lee.
“She awake?” Rogan came down the steps. As always, his grin took her breath.
Tonight, she thought. Tonight they would make love again. Today’s appointment at the clinic settled the question and, after months of abstinence, she couldn’t wait for the next three hours to pass. Oh, yes. Tonight she’d surprise him with the diaphanous bit of lingerie she’d picked up last week in Seattle. Picturing his expression when he saw the scrap of black, she smiled deeply.
“What are you grinning at?” he asked, setting his mouth against hers and lingering, before he kissed Olivia’s rosy cheek.
Suddenly abashed, Lee slid her gaze away. “Just being happy.”
So much had happened since that day in early May after they’d flown through the batch of air turbulence. That day her mission had been to sell her plane—until Rogan gave her another option.
After calling off the buyer, she talked to Peyton Sawyer. Flying full-time for Sky Dash? How could he not take the offer? Five minutes from home, and with Lee taking the hassles of operative administration in her apartment-turned-office, the job was perfect.
Shortly thereafter, on a sunny June Saturday following the birth of Addie’s son, Lee and Rogan spoke their vows under the old oak.
Kat, Addie, Skip and Johnny—with Danny bearing a pair of golden rings—stood beside them. A smattering of family and friends watched from chairs scattered across the grass. Charmaine had cried and Lucien had handed her a hanky.
“You make me happy,” Rogan said, kissing her again. “I can’t wait for the doctor’s go-ahead.”
Hiding her smile, Lee nuzzled Olivia. Some things were worth keeping secret for a little while. “Think Danny needs help with the hot chocolate?”
Moments ago, their son—she thought of the little boy as hers now—had gone inside to make three mugs of the winter drink.
“Nah.” Rogan tugged Lee into his arms. “He’s an old hand at brewing the stuff. You taught him well.”
She rested her head against her husband’s shoulder. “The lights are beautiful, Rogan.”
Before he could reply, Danny and his Lab/shepherd pup, Inky, rushed through the front door.
“Dad, Mom,” the boy whispered excitedly. “Look over there.”
Turning in the direction he indicated, Lee let out a soft, “Ohh.”
At a distance of a hundred yards, on the pasture knoll, a doe and half-grown fawn grazed side by side in the twilight. But it wasn’t the sight of the deer stinging Lee’s eyes. Danny had called her Mom.
“Oh, Danny,” she said. “They’re beautiful.”
He came to stand beside them. “I saw ’em from the greenhouse window when I was picking mint for the hot chocolates.” His grin stretched ear to ear. “October Farm is the coolest place.”
Hugging Lee close, Rogan drew their son against them. “That’s because we’re a cool family, son.”
“Yeah,” Danny whispered, petting the pup at his feet. “We’re the coolest, awesomest family in the whole wide world.”
Awesomest family. Lee couldn’t agree more. With the warmth of her husband and children enveloping her, she watched the doe lift her head, elongated ears erect, dark eyes centered on them.
One family in harmony with the other.
A lovely omen.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2416-6
AND BABY MAKES FOUR
Copyright © 2008 by Mary J. Forbes
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*The Wilder Family
†Home to Firewood Island
†Home to Firewood Island
And Baby Makes Four Page 17