Silver Thaw: A Mystic Creek Novel
Page 38
Jeb flashed Amanda a look of alarm, a question in his eyes that couldn’t have been clearer if he’d said it aloud. What the hell do we say?
Amanda giggled. Placing a cupped palm over her swollen middle, she told her daughter, “You’ll just have to put your dolls away where they’re safe from your brother, Chloe. It’s a little too late to cancel our order for a baby. This little guy will arrive next month whether you still want him or not.”
Chloe’s frown turned into a scowl. Then her expression brightened. “Can I hold him sometimes?”
“Of course,” Amanda replied. “In fact, I’ll appreciate all the help I can get. I’ll show you how to change his diaper and how to burp him after he eats.”
Chloe scrambled to her feet and ran from the shop toward Emma’s new mother-in-law apartment, yelling with each step, “Grammy, guess what! I’m going to get to hold my baby brother and maybe change his diaper!”
Jeb and Amanda shared a long look, both of them smiling. His diamond-studded wedding band twinkled in a shaft of sunlight. Amanda had used the money she’d gotten in a court settlement from her former landlord to buy the ring, and Jeb wore it with pride, refusing to take it off even while he worked.
“How’s Chloe going to handle it when we reach our goal of having four kids?” he asked.
Amanda considered the question. She had lived her life as an only child and actually wanted six children, a secret yearning she’d share with Jeb at some point, possibly on a pink slip. “I suspect she’ll try to cancel the next two orders at the eleventh hour. But as time wears on, she’ll adjust.”
Jeb gazed past her at the house. “Four kids,” he mused aloud. “I designed every inch of that place for a big family, and now it’ll be filled to the brim someday.”
Amanda got pregnant so easily that someday might arrive quicker than he thought. “What if we end up with more than four?”
He gave her a long look. “A man who loves his wife—and I adore you—does something before she gets overloaded. Four kids will be a lot of work for you.”
Oh, how Amanda loved him. “What if I decide I want six, though, so one day we’ll have kids coming home for huge family dinners, just like your parents do?”
He shrugged, the looseness of his shoulders telling her he’d be fine with that. “We’ll see how you feel as we go. Pregnancies can take a toll on a woman’s health. If we end up with only Chloe and this baby, I’ll be happy. But having grown up in a large family, I’m not averse to the idea of six, either. If God blesses us with that many, I can always add on to the house.”
Amanda hugged his answer close. His first concern was for her welfare. How awesome was that? There had been a time in the recent past when Amanda had stopped believing that her dreams could ever come true. Now she knew for certain that they could, because she was living her dream with this man, who’d found his way to her by reading messages she’d sent flying away on the wind.
Life truly was a dance, and as the rhythm changed, she would learn the new steps, safe in Jeb Sterling’s strong arms.
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