“Why on earth would she think a thing like that?” Jake demanded. “This was Lyle’s doing, every sorry, sordid bit of it.”
Megan shuddered to think of how much worse it could have been. Lyle could have taken Jake down with them. She sat gingerly on the side of Jake’s bed opposite his injured leg. Only when she had his hand firmly tucked between hers did she begin to relax just a little.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said slowly.
“Heaven help us.”
“Hush. I’m serious. Do you think Henrietta would be willing to take the kids? They’re at home with her and I can see she loves them.”
“I think that’s what Barbara Sue would want,” Jake agreed. “We talked about that very thing when she was in jail, though neither of us could have predicted that these would be the circumstances.”
“It’s a lot to take on at Henrietta’s age.”
Jake grinned. “Don’t say that to Henrietta. She may be sixty, but she thinks she’s thirty. She has the stamina to raise two kids.”
“Mrs. Perkins will fight her for them,” Megan said. “She’ll claim they’re all she has left of her precious boy.”
“I think the rose-colored glasses are off in the legal system where her son is concerned. I’ll help Henrietta if she decides she wants those two children to stay with her.”
“Then she can’t lose, can she?”
“You know, darlin’, I’m delighted that you have so much faith in my abilities as a lawyer, but I was kind of hoping that your interest in me was more personal.”
“Personal?” she echoed, being deliberately vague.
“You know, a daddy for Tess, a husband for you. Something permanent that no one can rip apart.”
“An interesting idea,” Megan said, surprised to find that the prospect of marriage didn’t terrify her half as much as it once would have. “Are you sure you’re up to it? Tess and I, we’re a lot to take on.”
“Maybe I’m not up to it right this second,” he conceded. “Give me a couple of days, though, and I’ll be waiting at the church.”
He would, too. And he would be waiting at the airport when she needed him to. He would be there for her forever. She was just beginning to realize how vitally important that was.
Megan slid down until she could lie next to him with her cheek resting on his chest. Satisfied by the reassuring beat of his heart and the warmth of his arms around her, she uttered a soft sigh of contentment. The future was taking on a shape far different from the one she’d had in mind even a few short weeks ago, but it was every bit as exciting. She could have it all, if that’s what she decided she wanted.
“Maybe Tex knew what he was doing, after all,” Megan whispered.
Jake laughed. “Oh, darlin’, there was never a doubt in my mind—or his—about that.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3709-8
AFTER TEX
Copyright © 1999 by Sherryl Woods.
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