Not that his parents had completely accepted her, but they had accepted that what Mark had done was his own fault. And they’d accepted that Leah was going to be Roman’s wife forever. Roman had made it clear they didn’t have a choice about that. And maybe, just maybe, this new Bradshaw who had just come into the world tonight would make a difference.
His mother had sounded like herself again on the phone. By noon tomorrow, Roman suspected every shop on Madison Avenue would be cleaned out. His mother couldn’t wait to shop for baby clothes.
“I think we’re going to be getting a lot of boxes from New York,” he told Leah. “And as for my dad—he said to tell you we’d better not stop yet. He wants a lot of grandchildren.”
“He’s hoping one of them will want to go into the business.”
Roman shrugged. “It’ll be up to them.” He leaned down to kiss his wife. “They’re going to have a different childhood than either you or I had. They’re going to grow up on Thunder Key. And they’ll choose their own futures.”
He’d chosen his. With Leah. And it was sweeter than it had ever been before. Over the months, Leah had come out of her shell. She was the old Leah again—happy and fun and amazing, but thank God he wasn’t the old Roman. He was happy, too.
“Did you invite them to come see the baby?” Leah asked.
Roman nodded. They’d been to New York, once. It had been a difficult trip. But slowly his family was piecing their lives back together, and getting to know their daughter-in-law—finally—was part of that process. They’d seen how happy Roman was with her, and it had been a start.
“They’re going to come visit in a few weeks,” he said.
“What about Gen? How is she?”
Roman touched the soft hair on his baby’s head. She was asleep, milk drooling out of the corner of her little baby lips. Leah adjusted her gown, covering the bared nipple.
“She’s going to be all right,” Roman said. “She’s been living with my parents since the baby was born.” Gen had been only a few weeks pregnant when Mark had died. Neither she nor Mark had even known a child was on the way. “The baby’s doing fine, growing. She says she’s not going back to work at the firm. She’s thinking about moving out to the country somewhere, building a house and raising horses.”
“Horses?” Leah lifted her brows.
“Yeah. Who knew? Gen says she always loved horses, but Dad wanted her to go into the business. But she doesn’t care about any of that now.”
“Good for Gen.” Leah smiled, then added, “Your poor dad.”
“He’s got lots of nieces and nephews who are probably falling all over themselves with joy at their luck that Gen and I have left the firm, giving them the chance to head to the top,” Roman said, then leaned in to kiss his wife again. “But what do they know?” he whispered against her sweet lips. He loved his wife, loved his baby, loved his life. “We’re the lucky ones.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7360-7
HER MAN TO REMEMBER
Copyright © 2004 by Suzanne McMinn
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