“Not at all. I want to be here.”
He walked over to the weights and started her on them. “I know you walk every day. You get your cardio. I think we need to concentrate on strength training with you.”
“I agree.”
“You just keep practicing saying that, and we’ll get along great.”
Melinda sighed. “You keep dreaming.”
On Saturday, Jake picked Melinda up at ten to drive her to his grandparents’ house. He’d forgotten to tell Melinda to bring something to eat, so he stopped and grabbed a couple bags of chips and some dip. When he got to Melinda’s, she had a Tupperware bowl in her hands.
“I made some potato salad. I didn’t want to just be dead weight.”
“I grabbed a couple bags of chips and some dip as our contribution.”
She sighed. “I’m a chef. We can do better than chips and dip.”
“We can, sure, but we don’t have to.”
“Let me know in advance next time?”
“I’ll tell you now that all of these things at my grandmother’s are potluck, and everyone is expected to bring something. How’s that?”
Melinda frowned. “Does your grandmother do these things often?”
“Just for every single holiday you can imagine. Seriously, Columbus Day is huge with my grandmother.” Jake shook his head. “I have a hard time believing that I actually missed all these family get-togethers.”
“Wow. I had no idea you guys got together for everything like that.”
“Oh, yeah. And you’re mud in Grandma’s eyes if you don’t make it. So . . . everyone tries to be there. She’ll probably say something to me about all the parties I missed while I was in the military.”
Melinda smiled at that. “I hope she gives you heck.”
“She will. No doubt.” He shook his head. “I have a huge, strange family.”
“Why am I here?” she asked, needing to come right out and ask. “Why didn’t you bring Felicia?” She’d been holding in her worries about the other woman for a week, and she needed them assuaged.
“Felicia? She’s getting married next week to some guy she met in college.” He gave her a strange look. “What makes you ask about Felicia?”
“When I got to the wedding last week, you were dancing with a woman I’d never seen. Then a couple of older women were talking about the two of you together. They thought you two should have married right out of high school.”
“We went on like four dates in high school, but one of them was prom, and we were voted king and queen. Even then, I knew I was going into the Marines, and she knew she was going to college. There was never anything between us. Not serious at least.”
“So, you’re not planning to dump me and run off and marry her?”
“Not at all.” He shook his head. “In fact, I was planning to ask if you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me, because I’m in love with you.”
“You can’t ask me something like that so casually!” Melinda stared at him in shock. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I’ve been hinting about it for a week!”
“But we’ve known each other for only a couple of weeks.”
“And I’ve known I was in love with you for half that time. As far as our relationship goes, that’s forever.”
“You’ve lost your mind, Jake Bobling Quinn.”
Jake tilted his head to one side. “Is that a no?”
“Of course not. That’s a yes, though I feel like I’ve lost my mind when I say it.” Melinda looked at him for a moment, realizing that it didn’t matter how long they’d known one another. What mattered was how much they felt for each other. “I love you, too, by the way.”
He parked the truck in his grandmother’s driveway and reached for her, kissing her quickly. “Okay, so I need you to help me with my outfit.”
She tilted her head to one side. “Are you wearing your Marine uniform?”
“Nope. Something better.” They got out of the vehicle, and he went around to the back and pulled out a large sandwich sign. It read, “Hello, my name is Jake.”
Melinda looked at it and started laughing. “Trying to make your feelings known?”
“Yup.” He grinned, knowing she understood, and that pleased him. “Help me get this thing on!”
When they stepped into the house a few minutes later, she laughed as everyone looked at him in shock. “Hopefully this will help everyone remember to call me Jake,” he said.
His grandmother shook her head at him. “You go away for years and come back with a different name. How are we supposed to remember?”
“Just read the sign, Grandma.” He pulled Melinda forward. “Have you met my fiancé?”
Grandma Gertie forgot all about the sign her grandson was wearing and clapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, I knew it the first time I saw the two of you together. More Quinn babies!”
Melinda frowned. “I’m not sure I want children.”
There was a great deal of laughter following her statement, and she looked at Jake with surprise. “Why are they laughing?”
“Every generation of Quinns has five children. Never any more or any less. Birth control doesn’t change a thing, from what I understand.”
She gaped at him with surprise. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Still wanna marry me?”
Melinda looked from him to his grinning relatives that filled the kitchen. “Can I get a nanny?”
He laughed. “I’ll get you two if that’s what you want.”
“Then yes, I still want to marry you, but you could have let me know before I agreed to marry you.”
Jake shrugged. “Sorry about that. I thought everyone in town knew how strange our family was with the whole five kids per generation thing.”
Melinda frowned. “Most probably do. But I didn’t.”
“Well you do now.” Jake looked over at his mother. “You finally get a daughter-in-law.”
“And the very one I would have handpicked for you.” April Lynn sighed happily. “I don’t have to worry about the next generation anymore. That’s the last of my brood, engaged and ready to marry. When?”
Melinda shrugged. “Next week? Then we don’t have to do anything huge.”
“That would make me so happy.” April Lynn took the potato salad from her hands and linked arms with Melinda. “Now, let’s go talk wedding plans. This is going to be fun.”
Jake didn’t care that the women were planning his future. As long as Melinda was going to be his wife, there was no doubt he’d be the happiest man alive.
Epilogue
Five years later, April Lynn sat with her grandchildren all around her. There were ten and two more on the way. Her greatest joy was those children along with their parents, but really . . . it was mostly the grandchildren.
Her lasagna was in the oven, and they were doing their small family celebration on Christmas Eve, so that they could head to her in-laws’ house for Christmas Day. She glanced up as Melinda walked in, just a bit rounder than Renae.
“I put the garlic bread in the oven,” Melinda said. “I also made a salad, and I made some raspberry lemonade. Dessert is ready to put in the oven as soon as we take the garlic bread out.”
“That sounds lovely,” April Lynn said. Bobling—Jake—had made her so happy when he’d married a chef. Her lasagna was still great, but sometimes they each made their lasagnas. It was just nice not to have the burden of cooking everything every day of her life. No, Melinda was definitely a welcome addition to the family.
She sighed contentedly as she looked around her at all the Quinns. And more were definitely coming. Her heart was full.
Also by Kirsten Osbourne
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Moonstruck Marine Page 10