“I think this reunion needs to be a private one,” she said, accepting their thanks with a little wave as she walked away.
There was a moment of silence when they were alone, and then Ethan turned to Lauren with an abrupt “Family.”
“What are you saying?”
“I want us to be a family.”
“What does that mean?”
“Marriage,” he said decisively.
“You’re asking me to marry you?”
“Yes. That is, if you wouldn’t mind living in Seattle where my work is, because you can take your own work just about anywhere, can’t you? We’d keep the log cabin in Montana for vacations and things. And since we’d have my income, this could be your chance to write that novel.”
“You’ve been thinking about this, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, all the way back from Kingstown over that miserable road.” He gazed down at her, those wonderful blue-green eyes registering both his eagerness and his suspense. “What do you think?”
“That I love you very much, and—” Sara was awake now and stirring in her arms. Lauren looked down at their baby, realizing that Ethan’s anxious proposal needed to be acknowledged with action, not words.
“Here,” she said softly, “this is long overdue.”
Her answer, when she gently placed Sara in her father’s arms, couldn’t have been more clear or definite. She was telling him not only that the time had come for them to share their daughter equally and together, but of her trust and deep love of him.
Lauren knew by the joy in his eyes as they met her gaze that he understood she’d accepted his proposal. That she wanted them to be husband and wife as much as he wanted it.
She watched Ethan as he looked down at Sara, a tender, paternal pride on his face. Her heart swelled at the touching sight of father and daughter together.
The perfect moment was augmented by the boom of the first rocket outside. Lauren and Ethan turned to watch the rocket soar into the night sky, where it burst high over the lake in a shower of brilliant stars.
Ethan was as excited as a boy. “Let’s go out there on the terrace and introduce Sara to her first fireworks.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
“I have another one.”
“What?”
“I was thinking,” he said, a gleam in his eyes and a promise in his voice, “that afterward we’d go upstairs where you and I will make our own fireworks.”
She smiled at him. “I like that one, too.”
“Yeah? Good.” One arm cradling Sara and his other arm sliding around Lauren’s waist, Ethan led his family toward the French doors.
“Donna told me that the fireworks mark the end of the season here,” she said.
“That might be true for Windrush, but for us…”
Yes, she thought, for us they mean a beginning.
Her mind and heart embraced that precious thought as they walked through the open doors into their future.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3267-9
PATERNITY UNKNOWN
Copyright © 2005 by Jean Barrett
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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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* The Hawke Family Detective Agency
Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
Dedication
About the Author
Books by Jean Barrett
Cast of Characters
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Copyright
Paternity Unknown Page 24