It was clear to anyone who knew the kids that they were devoted to each other and hoped to get married someday. Still, Samantha and Mary were both relieved their children were sensible enough to give each other space to mature and were spreading their wings on their own before making any serious commitment.
“I don’t know about you,” Nick said, “but I’m planning to visit her in between her trips home.”
“I’m glad Dani’s getting the chance to go away to school. Honestly I am.” It was what they’d been praying for ever since she was diagnosed with leukemia. “I’m just worried she won’t take care of herself.”
“Querida, pre-med students don’t have time to do much partying. And Adam says the likelihood of her falling out of remission at this point is slim.”
“I know.” And God forbid, if that happened, they had the frozen umbilical stem cells from Chris, who’d been a perfect match to his big sister. Fate had not only been kind to them, but it had also smiled on Adam who, coincidentally, had fallen passionately in love with Ken Swann’s daughter, Megan, and married her.
“You sound real brave now, pal,” Sam said, poking Nick’s chest, “but I remember a time, not too long ago, when you were the one having nightmares.”
“Not since I’ve been sleeping with my personal worry pal.” He winked at her and squeezed her bottom.
“Oh, so that wasn’t you making weekly counseling appointments and taking my blood pressure a gazillion times a day while I was carrying Chris?”
“It was me. But I was simply concerned, not worried.”
“Uh-huh.” She still remembered the whoosh of relief that had rushed out Nick every time the sphygmomanometer gave a normal reading. “So if you weren’t worried, why are you so eager to adopt now instead of having another baby?”
“Because we can afford it, and there are lots of homeless children in the world.” Nick shrugged. “And after we get Isabella, you’ll be too busy to miss Dani.”
An international adoption agency had recently matched them with an adorable four-month-old little girl from Central America. Ever since they learned she would be joining their family in a few weeks, they’d been arguing over nicknaming her Issy or Bella. Dani had broken their impasse that morning when she’d insisted her sweet baby sister should be called Bella because it meant beautiful.
Nick couldn’t argue that point.
The toot of a horn made Sam flinch. She stepped aside so Justin and Trish’s van could pull into the driveway. Her brother-in-law’s struggle toward a happy-ever-after with Haley and Dani’s guidance counselor had made Nick and Sam’s reconciliation seem like a day at the county fair.
It had taken a while for Haley to adjust after they’d lost Marc, but in the process she and Dani had played matchmaker between Nick’s brother and the girl he’d let get away in college. Sam wished Marc and Lindsey—who had been Trisha’s best friend—could see what an amazing young woman their daughter had grown into.
Dani raced from the house at the same time Haley climbed out of the van’s back seat. The two girls met in the middle of the lawn, shrieking their excitement over their chance to be roommates at college as well as cousins.
Justin climbed from the vehicle, shaking his head. “I pity the RA in their dorm. I’m thinking we should gift wrap a set of earplugs for the lucky individual.”
Trisha hoisted their two-year-old son, who they’d named Marc in memory of Haley’s dad, out of his car seat. When she put him down next to Chris, the two boys echoed their big sisters’ squeals of delight and hugged each other.
Sam chuckled and glanced at her sister-in-law. “You do realize we’ll have to go through this again in fifteen years?”
“Oh, pleeease, Sammy.” Nick snorted softly. “Sending a boy off to college is completely different.”
“Right. They’re much more independent,” Justin said. “And we don’t have to worry about some wacko attacking them when they’re on the street alone at night.”
“And they can’t get pregnant,” Nick added. “When our boys move out, we’ll be able to sit back and let all their girlfriends’ parents worry.”
“What do you mean when they move out?” Sam laughed. “Keith’s already worried Chris and Marc are going to corrupt his sweet baby girl.”
Fortunately, Jenny’s daughter, Brooke, was the spitting image of Keith’s younger sister. Their uncanny resemblance to each other had erased any doubts he might have had about being Brooke’s biological father.
“Admit it” Sam smirked at Nick. “You are worried about Dani being on her own in the city.”
He merely shrugged, making no admission of guilt.
Trisha patted her ready-to-burst belly and smiled at Sam. “Just think what our husbands will be like when our little Lindsey and Isabella go off to school.”
“That’s nearly eighteen years from now. I’ll be....” Nick stared at the horizon as if looking into the distant future. “Oh, man.” He groaned. “At fifty-six, I’ll never survive having a teenage daughter.”
“I think Trish was referring to kindergarten, sweetheart.” Sam slipped her arms around him and squeezed. “But in either case, you’ll be fine, because I’ll be worrying right alongside you.”
“Mmm.” He brushed her lips with his and whispered, “I like the sound of that. Especially if we do our worrying in the bedroom—naked.”
“You’ll never change, will you?”
“Would you want me to?”
“Heaven forbid.” She chuckled and laid her head on his chest. “When you moved back from California, did you ever think we’d get a second chance? Or be this happy together?”
“And be so rich?” Dani added as she wandered over and scooped up her brother.
“Yup.” Nick pulled their daughter and laughing son into a group hug with Sam. “But only in my dreams.”
If you’re interested in joining the National Marrow Donor registry and possibly helping to save a life, information can be found at http://marrow.org
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About the Author
Laurie Kellogg is a two-time winner and seven-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America®Golden Heart® award, the winner of Pacific Northwest Writers Association® Zola award, and a Romantic Times®American Title I finalist. She began writing to avoid housework and has since resorted to naming the dust-bunnies multiplying as fast as real rabbits while she plots love stories that are Steamy, Heartwarming, Romantic Fun!
Laurie also writes red-hot romantic comedies under L.L. Kellogg which she’s branded as A Little Naughty and a Lot of Fun! If you would like to know more about Laurie and her books visit http://www.LaurieKellogg.com and be sure to subscribe to her blog at http://www.LaurieKellogg.wordpress.com
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If you’re interested in reading more of Laurie’s Steamy, Heartwarming Fun romances you can find them here:
The Memory of You (prequel to the Return to Redemption Series)
A Little Bit of Déjà Vu (Book One of the Return to Redemption series)
If you’d like to try her L.L. Ke
lloggA Little Naughty and a lot of Fun romances you can find the first one here:
Hypnotic Seduction (Book One of the Seduction Series)
Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® finalist
(as Subliminal Seduction)
She has a problem relaxing with men
Frumpy wallflower Hannah Oliver is nearly thirty and has a serious self-image problem. Growing up in her centerfold mother’s shadow and being raised by her pious grandparents has left her so self-conscious about her matronly, D-cup figure she gets tongue-tied around good-looking guys. So when Hannah discovers her fiancé/employer boinking her roommate, she’s not only devastated— she’s unemployed.
He’s got a problem fending off women
Pharmaceutical CEO Jordan Calder has a huge image problem too— his professional image. Most guys would kill to be publicly proclaimed a world-class lover, but other men don’t share his dark, shameful past. The only thing women have ever wanted Jordan for is what he can give them in and out of bed. So when his grandfather drags dowdy Hannah into his office as an executive assistant candidate, Jordan hires the mousey woman on the spot.
Could hypnosis be a solution?
After miraculously landing her plum new position, sexually frustrated Hannah resorts to hypnosis to boost her self-confidence with men, hoping to attract another mate. Unfortunately, a post-hypnotic suggestion compels her to kiss her sexy playboy boss, who she then stupidly falls for in and out of bed. Despair induces her to use similar hypnotic principles on him— in the form of subliminal messages— to convince the man she loves that he wants a happy-ever-after with her. But as everyone knows, desperate measures usually spell disaster.
Coming Soon by Laurie Kellogg
The Parent Pact
Find other books by Laurie Kellogg
A Little Bit of Déjà Vu
Winner of the Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® award
Winner of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association® Zola award
Sometimes destiny has the last word....and laugh
Fate thrust them together
Blackmail and deception tore them apart
Nineteen years later, their children’s love reunites them
Now, only truth and forgiveness can make them a family
Margie Bradford is picking up the pieces of her shattered life following her husband’s death. When her meddling cousin encourages her to make a fresh start with her teenage daughter, unsuspecting Margie takes a reading specialist job in the small town of Redemption, PA. The last person she expects to encounter is Rocket Manion, the ex-NFL quarterback and Dr. Phil wannabe who broke her heart nineteen years ago.
Divorced teacher and head football coach Jake Manion experiences an eerie sense of déjà vu when his son announces he’s gotten his girlfriend pregnant. The feeling simply grows stronger when Jake learns the girl’s mother is Maggie, the same woman on whom he’s wasted nearly two decades of bitterness.
While planning their kids’ wedding and helping them grow up too soon, Jake attempts to pick up right where he left off— in Margie’s bed. But no matter how irresistible his kisses are, she isn’t stupid enough to let him hurt her again. Or is she?
Excerpt of A Little Bit of Déjà Vu
Prologue
“What’d you say” — Margie Bradford choked on the warm chocolate chip cookie that had shattered her willpower — “your teacher’s” — cough— “name is?”
Her throat continued its spasm to expel the lodged crumbs while her daughter, Emma, slapped Margie’s back hard enough to leave a permanent handprint.
Didn’t they cover the Heimlich maneuver in health class anymore?
Then again, it would serve her right if the coroner listed cookies as the cause of her death. The last thing her thirty-six-year-old body needed was more fat and sugar. Since Dan’s death five months ago, her hips had spread like an albatross’s wings.
Emma dashed to the kitchen sink, splashed water into a glass, and shoved it into Margie’s hand. “You okay, Mom?”
“Yes,” she gasped. Or she would be— just as soon as she confirmed she’d suffered from an auditory hallucination.
She gulped the water, and inhaled the mouthwatering aroma of chocolate melting in the oven. For the preservation of her waistline, she had to find something besides sweets to reward her students in the future. “Your Human Development teacher— what’d you say his name is?”
“Mr. Manion.” Her daughter’s light gray gaze narrowed. “Why? Have you met him?”
“No,” Margie squeaked. At least, she sure as heck hoped not. There must be thousands of Manions in the world. Squashing her paranoia, she forced her voice back down the full octave it had risen. “What’s his first name?”
“How should I know?” Emma rolled her eyes. “Someone probably mentioned it, but I forget. Do you tell your classes your first name?”
Her daughter had a point. Most of Margie’s middle school students wouldn’t know her name, either— especially since she was new to the district.
“Whatever it is, he’s the only teacher in the whole darn high school who pays any attention to me. My class before his is practically next door, so I always get there early. Mr. M sits and talks to me every day while he’s waiting for the rest of the kids.”
Margie pulled the last tray of cookies from the oven and flipped the control dial off. “So how old is he?”
“Ewww.” Emma wrinkled her nose. “It’s not what you’re thinking. He’s just being nice. We talk about movies, books….what I want to do after graduation. Stuff like that.”
“I wasn’t suggesting the man was hitting on you.” Margie sucked in a deep breath in a futile attempt to force her pulse to return to its normal rhythm. “I was simply trying to get a mental picture of him.”
Yeah, right. And if her daughter didn’t spit out what the man looked like in the next thirty seconds, Margie would expire from asphyxiation rather than death by Toll House cookies.
“I guess he’s a little older than you.” Emma shrugged, brushing her long dark hair back from her face. “It’s hard to tell. All I know is his son, Alex, is an absolute hunk. I’d give my entire CD collection for a date with him.”
Seeing her daughter act like a normal seventeen-year-old again warmed Margie’s heart. Regardless of her teacher’s identity, his extra attention was just what the child needed.
Ever since Dan’s 737 crashed the previous spring, Emma had been having nightmares and spent a lot of her free time sleeping. She’d been her daddy’s little princess, and she missed him terribly. Perhaps even more than Margie did— which was a lot.
Cookies might dull her pain during the day, but at night, they just left crumbs in the vacant half of her bed.
Emma’s resemblance to Dan brought a lump to Margie’s raw throat. She swallowed hard and transferred the baked goodies to the wire racks spread across the center work island. “Okay, so what’s he look like?”
Her daughter filched a warm cookie and nibbled it, pacing the length of the condo’s kitchen. “Mmm, I’d say his hair’s about the same shade of light brown as yours before Aunt Barbie talked you into the highlights. And his eyes....” Her dreamy sigh said her description was of Alex, not his father. “They’re like two shimmering pools of mercury.”
“No-o. His dad. What’s he look like?”
Emma did a double take and peered at her. “Why the inquisition about Mr. Manion?”
What could Margie say? That she wanted to know if the teacher was the same guy who’d gotten her pregnant and broken her heart eighteen years ago? “I’m just curious.”
“Actually, he looks a little like daddy— only taller.”
In other words, dark hair and silver eyes. Just like Jake Manion. The bitter taste of dread overpowered the sweet chocolate lingering on her tongue.
“You’ve probably seen pictures of him when he was younger,” Emma added. “He was a famous quarterback a gazillion years ago. He coaches our high school team now.”
Margie’s knees buckled, and she sank onto one of the counter’s stools. That tidbit of information erased all doubt. Little wonder Emma didn’t know his first name. The media had always referred to Jake as....
“Rocket Manion,” Margie whispered.
“So you’ve heard of him?”
One would have to be Amish not to have heard of Jake. Until ten years ago, his face covered every major sports magazine and appeared regularly on the boob-tube. He’d played in the NFL for eight seasons and taken his team to three Super Bowls, two of which they won, before a couple of three-hundred pound behemoths broke his back.
It was only natural Emma hadn’t recalled his first name. Ever since Jake had streaked sixty-yards for his first NFL touchdown, he’d been Rocket to the media and all his fans.
“You’ve been in his class for three weeks now. Why on earth didn’t you mention your teacher is a sports legend?”
“Why would I?” Emma looked at her as if she suspected Margie had taken some mind-altering drug. “You hate football. Anyway, he’s really nice. I’m definitely registering for his Marriage and Family class for the spring semester. With any luck, he’ll tell me some more stuff about Alex.”
Wonderful. Margie knew Jake had a son, but she hadn’t realized the boy was so close to Emma’s age.
“How old is Alex?”
“He’s a senior, too. Mr. Manion told me he was born the night he played his first Super Bowl. So I guess he’ll be eighteen in January.”
Around the same time their baby would’ve been due. Apparently, Jake must have had a grand time the previous spring, buzzing from flower to flower— pollinating.
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