More to Give (An Anchor Island Novel)

by Terri Osburn

  “Sid Dempsey has gone into labor,” Sam said.

  “Right here at your wedding?” Evelyn Henderson asked, a hand pressed to her chest in horror. “How rude to steal my daughter’s day.”

  “Don’t be a ninny, Evelyn,” Eugenia said. “Babies come when they’re ready, not when it’s convenient.”

  Sufficiently silenced, Callie’s mother slithered back to her table, and, with a twinkle in her eye, Sam’s mother returned to her relatives.

  “That’s going to be an interesting dynamic,” Callie said, leaning against her husband’s side.

  “I suggest we not put them in the same room too often.” As they stood arm in arm on the fringe of the crowd, Sam squeezed his bride. “You want to go, don’t you?”

  “Would that be a terrible thing to do?” Callie asked, debating whether she could abandon her guests.

  “It’s our wedding,” he said, shuffling Callie toward the end of the building. “They can eat and be merry without us just as well as they can while we’re here.”

  “Have I told you how much I love you?” Callie asked, giggling as she hopped through the damp grass in her ivory pumps.

  Sam swept her up into his arms and continued to jog toward the parking lot. “Not in the last five minutes. You can make it up to me by repeating those words for the next sixty years.”

  “You’ve got a deal.” Callie held on to her veil as Sam dropped her on the passenger seat of his Murano. Minutes later, they pulled into the Edwards Medical Center parking lot, Callie’s veil draped across the backseat and Sam’s bow tie hung over the rearview mirror.

  Less than two hours later, they celebrated the new arrival as Lucas passed out pink bubblegum cigars with a mixture of fear and pride in his eyes.

  “That look on his face is killing me,” Sam whispered in Callie’s ear. “The unflappable lawyer looks scared out of his mind.”

  “You don’t think you’d be scared in his situation?”

  Her husband pulled her close. “I’d be the happiest man on Earth,” he said, with complete confidence.

  “Good,” Callie said, dropping a kiss on his cheek. “Because you’ll be the one passing out cigars in about seven and a half months.”

  Tension filled the arms wrapped around her as Sam froze. He didn’t look like the happiest man on the planet. In fact, he looked ready to pass out.

  “Are you . . . ,” he started.

  Callie nodded, worried this might not have been the best way to tell her brand-new husband that he was going to be a father.

  Sam continued to stare, wide-eyed, as if she’d confessed herself to be from another planet, instead of pregnant. When he did finally react, Sam took Callie completely by surprise.

  With one swift movement, he lifted her off her ivory toes and twirled them both in a giant circle. Plopping her back down, he said, “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure,” she said, laughing as she caught her breath. “The doctor confirmed it two days ago. I’ve just been waiting for the right time to tell you.”

  “We’re going to have a baby,” he whispered, with awe in his voice. And then, more loudly, “We’re going to have a baby!”

  Lucas jammed two cigars between Sam’s lips as backs were slapped and hugs exchanged. Callie hadn’t doubted that Sam would be happy about their impending life change, though she doubted he understood the realities to come. Truth be told, Callie wasn’t sure she understood them either, but she had friends who would help her through it.

  And the most wonderful husband any woman could ever ask for. Callie sighed as the celebration died down, wondering how she’d ever gotten so lucky, but something told her that all the happiness in this tiny waiting room could be attributed to the ground beneath their feet.

  There was something special about Anchor Island, and Callie felt extremely lucky to have landed on her shores.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Writing this book has been both wonderful and bittersweet. I have lived on Anchor Island, at least in my mind, every day since early 2010. I have grown to love all of the characters who inhabit her shores, and I will miss them dearly as I move with enthusiasm and excitement on to new worlds and meet new characters.

  As I’ve mentioned before, Anchor Island is fully and affectionately based on the very real Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. I could never have brought this magical place so clearly to life without the Ocracoke Island Journal (http://villagecraftsmen.blogspot.com/), as well as the Village Craftsmen Newsletter (link found on the blog site.) Thank you to Phillip (Mr. Craftsman himself) for sharing everything from current events to personal histories of islanders throughout the years. You brought Ocracoke to life for me, which brought Anchor to life on the page.

  Also, thank you to the SeaSide Inn at Hatteras, which was the inspiration for the Sunset Harbor Inn. There’s a great photo gallery on the inn’s website (www.coverealty.com/seasideinnrates.asp), in which you’ll recognize the lovely little hotel that brought Callie and Sam together.

  Thank you to Katrina Bunn for the Eton Mess dessert idea, which added a fun layer to Callie’s character. I never would have imagined a Brit food–loving heroine without your help. My ever-reliable writing support group—Fran, Marnee, Maureen, Jessica, and Sabrina—pulled me through yet again. I don’t know what I would do without them. This book is better for the love and input of the amazing editor Kelli Martin, and none of this would be happening without my agent, Nalini Akolekar.

  I must give a special shout-out to all the readers who have visited and returned over and over to Anchor Island. A simple thank-you isn’t remotely sufficient to express my gratitude for your willingness to take a chance on a new author, for loving this little island as much as I do, and for making my dreams come true. You have changed and enhanced my life in beautiful ways, and I will never forget that it is you, dear readers, who truly bring these books to life.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © Crystal Huffman

  Terri Osburn started putting words on the page in 2007. Five years later, in 2012, she was named a finalist in the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart contest for unpublished manuscripts. Shortly after, she signed with an agent and moved into publication with her debut novel, Meant to Be, released by Montlake Romance in May 2013. Terri lives on the East Coast with one high-schooler, three frisky felines, and a hyper Yorkiepoo with attachment issues. To learn more about Terri, check out her website at www.terriosburn.com.