by Lacey Baker
When they stopped on the last step, Parker reached for Drew’s hand. Lorrayna touched her hand to his instead.
“I trust you to take care of my daughter, Parker,” Lorrayna said in a quiet voice. “I expect you to respect and love her and to respect and love your children.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Parker replied. “I will.”
Several moments later, after the minister had them repeating their vows, Parker heard himself saying those two words again. “I will.”
And the moment the clock in the living room of The Silver Spoon struck midnight, he was married. Parker Cantrell, the Double Trouble Cantrell brother, was married to Drewcilla Sidney, the love of his life.
* * *
“The shop’s reconstruction will be finished in a couple of weeks. It would have been sooner, but that ice storm put a halt to a lot of things,” Parker talked as he lay in bed, Drew curled up beside him. “Dr. Lorens said you’ll be far enough along in the pregnancy to go over and see the final results.”
“Yeah, the minute I got the okay to get out of bed, Delia was draping more material on me for the dress she wants me to wear to the cabaret,” Drew said around yet another yawn.
Today, or rather yesterday, had been a busy day. Truth be told, the last couple of months had been extremely busy. After her confrontation with Louisa, Parker had returned to their room at the inn to tell her that he’d resigned from his position in Baltimore and had accepted Sheriff Farraway’s offer to take over his job once he retired. Of course, that was a year from now, but Parker had assured her that they were financially secure. Over the years he’d apparently followed Preston’s investment advice and made himself a good amount of money. That didn’t include his personal savings account, which Parker immediately sacrificed to add to the amount the insurance company shelled out for the damage to her building.
They were rebuilding Blossoms, expanding it to the second floor, where Drew could have an office and two meeting rooms. There would be no need for her to live in the apartment any longer since the week before Thanksgiving they’d put in a contract for one of the newly built Cape Cod homes near Yates Passage.
Now, in the wee morning hours of New Year’s Day, they lay in their brand-new king-sized bed on their first night in their new home together.
“Thank you,” Drew whispered.
“What are you thanking me for? You’re the one who agreed to marry me with only five days’ notice of when the wedding would take place. You’re the one who was patient with me while I figured out that I should have proposed to you from the start. And you’re the one,” he finished by letting his hands fall to her now very full and very round seven-and-a-half-month-pregnant stomach. “You’re the one who’s going to make me even more happy and proud by bringing our daughter safely into this world.”
Drew loved when he touched her stomach. At night he always lay on his side, cuddled up close to her, his one arm draped over her stomach. His palm rested there all night while the baby moved against her father’s touch. Drew slept soundly and for the most part dreamlessly in bed each night beside Parker. She wondered if it was because all her dreams had finally come true.
“But you’re the one who gave up his savings to buy us this house and to help fix up my shop. You’re the one who went to my mother and convinced her to come over and have dinner with us on Thanksgiving Day. You’re the one who loves me despite all my baggage.”
Parker smiled at that. “We’re some pair, huh?”
“Yes,” Drew replied. “We’re some happy pair starting the new year in our new life.”
“Happy New Year, Mrs. Cantrell,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her stomach. “And Happy New Year to you, little princess Cantrell.”
Epilogue
February
Drew felt like a giant apple in the red satin dress Delia had designed for her. Her friend in L.A. had taken Delia’s sketch and turned it into the soft sheath Drew was now wearing. After a while of being stubborn, Drew had admitted that on paper the design had been pretty, but hanging beneath the plastic on the back of Drew’s bedroom door for the past two days, it had been beautiful. Now, on Drew, as she stood at the floor-length mirror in the master bedroom of her house, the dress looked like a shiny covering … to an apple.
“You look gorgeous,” Parker said, coming up behind her.
“You don’t lie well,” she snapped. “If Heaven hadn’t helped plan this insane party, I’d be staying home tonight watching Cary Grant.”
Parker groaned. “Oh please, not more of Cary Grant. That man spends more time with you than I do.”
His hands had come around Drew’s protruding belly, stopping a few inches before his fingers could touch near her navel, and Drew’s heart melted. She would never get tired of seeing Parker’s hands on her stomach, on their baby. Especially Parker’s left hand, third finger, where he now wore a wedding band. Instinctively Drew covered her hands over Parker’s, and the quick sparkle from her wedding ring joining with his caused them both to smile.
“I love you, Drewcilla Cantrell,” Parker whispered in her ear.
“Let’s see if you’ll say that in a couple hours when I fall into the bed with my swollen feet and legs,” she teased.
Parker would say exactly that later this evening after he’d helped her into their king-sized sleigh bed and made sure she had her glass of water filled with crushed ice on the bedside table. Then he’d climb into bed beside her, wait until she’d managed to turn onto her side, and wrap his arms around her once more. They would sleep intertwined until morning, a ritual Drew would never grow tired of.
A half hour later, they were walking into the town hall’s lower level, where the Cupid’s Cabaret was being held. The room had been decorated from floor to ceiling in red and white crepe paper, balloons, and flowers that Drew’s new assistant, Ginger, had arranged in the bud vases that hadn’t been destroyed by the explosion. There were twinkle lights hanging from the beams overhead, candles adorning each red cloth-covered table. On one side of the room was a row of tables that held the buffet meal, and on the other was the band that Heaven had hired to come all the way from Annapolis. It was a festive event, to say the least.
But Drew wasn’t in the mood to be festive. She was tired of carrying around all this extra weight, tired of going to the bathroom, and even more tired of feeling as if she would explode at any moment. Her feet were already swollen, her hands, too, and her back had begun to ache on the ride over. All of that meant she was awarded a seat at a table near the bathroom the minute she arrived and after everyone had the opportunity to lie to her face, telling her how beautiful she looked and denying that the red gave her a fruit appeal.
After an hour of watching people mingle, Drew’s gaze settled on Mr. Sylvester, who was in the middle of the floor doing his version of the Forbidden Dance with her mother, a line of females, young and old, forming to get their chance to dance with Sweetland’s newest popular bachelor. It made Drew smile to see her mother happy for a change. Then, suddenly, a sharp pain to her lower abdomen made her gasp. She’d been holding a glass of punch, and when the next pain came about two seconds later, it fell from her hand, crashing to the floor. This time she let out a little sound, or at least she thought the sound was little until it seemed everyone in the room stopped. In the background the music still played, but nobody was dancing now. They were all staring at her.
Heaven was at her side first.
“You all right?”
The next pain was sharp enough that Drew couldn’t even speak. Then her water broke and words were no longer necessary.
“Parker!” she heard Heaven yell.
The next moments went by in a blur. Parker’s strong arms were around her, lifting her from the floor and carrying her to his SUV. Heaven, Michelle, Raine, Savannah, and Delia were a bustle of activity, all chattering and squealing as they hit the parking lot looking for their vehicles. Quinn had come up to the truck as Parker belted her in.
“I’ve already cal
led Dr. Lorens. She’ll meet you at the hospital. We’re going to follow you there,” he told Parker, clapping him on his shoulder when Parker nodded.
They were silent in the truck but for Drew’s gasps and low moans of pain. Parker maneuvered the truck, all the while holding Drew’s hand, murmuring how much he loved her and how proud he was of her.
The hospital in Easton brought back memories, and Drew tried not to panic. This wasn’t like before. She wasn’t coming here praying that she would live, that her child would live. They hadn’t both just been through an explosion. No, this time was different. This time she was going to have her baby, to welcome the little life that had been growing inside her for the last nine months. She gripped the handle of the wheelchair with the next pain, clenching her teeth at the duration.
Once in a room, she was stripped naked and put into one of those ridiculous gowns that allowed room for zero modesty. Parker had been helping her so Drew could focus only on the pain radiating throughout her lower body. It seemed such a short time from the moment her water broke to the second the pain intensified and her eyes watered. Now, she was panting, gripping Parker’s hand with each pain, and trying like hell to breathe normally.
“Hello, Drew, Parker,” Dr. Lorens spoke as she entered the room. “We made it!” she announced, pulling plastic gloves onto her hands.
“We did,” Parker agreed. “Thirty-seven weeks.”
They both grew quiet as Drew endured another contraction. “Yes, thirty-seven weeks,” she hissed. “Now can it come out?”
Dr. Lorens nodded. “It looks like that’s the plan.”
She sat on a stool with wheels and came to the bottom of the bed, touching Drew’s legs. “Let’s just do an exam to see how far along we are. I’ll wait for your next contraction to pass.”
And pass it did! Drew closed her eyes to the pain that dominated every thought she had for the next minute.
“Well,” Dr. Lorens said with a giggle. “We’re ready!”
Drew looked to Parker, who looked as afraid as she was but smiled at her nonetheless.
“Right now?” she asked. Then another pain hit and she screamed, “Right now!”
* * *
“It’s a girl!” Parker announced in the waiting room twenty minutes later, his voice still a little shaky after seeing and holding his daughter in his arms for the first time. “Mackenzie,” he said with a surreal sigh. “We named her Mary Mackenzie Janet Cantrell.”
Since its founding, the first female born to couples in Sweetland were named Mary, after Mary Fitzgerald, the wife of the town’s founder, Buford Fitzgerald. With that announcement, Michelle went to Parker first, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close. She held him so tight that Parker almost cried, again. “She’s beautiful,” he whispered to his older sister.
“I’m sure she is. And she’s the luckiest little girl in the world to have you for a father.”
“I’m going to make her proud,” he vowed. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make her proud that I’m her father and not ashamed.”
Michelle shook her head, pulling back so she could look into his eyes. “I’m proud that you’re my brother. I’m proud that you’re going to be the new sheriff of Sweetland. And I’m elated that you’re home, finally home.”
This was exactly what Michelle had wanted, what Parker knew his sister had prayed for. She wanted them all back in Sweetland just as Gramma had. So far they were four for six, Savannah and Raine being the only two who hadn’t declared their residency in Sweetland. In that instant, Parker wanted nothing more than for that to happen. He wanted all his family together, for his daughter to grow up with his brothers’ children and his sisters’ children, for the Cantrells to be together once again.
The Silver Spoon Recipes
Cantrell Crab Cakes
1
pound fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
2
large eggs
1½
tablespoons ground mustard
1
teaspoon yellow mustard
1½
tablespoons mayonnaise
1½
cups finely shredded bread crumbs
½
teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½
teaspoon salt
½
teaspoon ground black pepper
2
tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
Directions
1. Pick crabmeat in a bowl, removing any remaining shells.
2. In a separate bowl, mix eggs well. Add ground mustard, yellow mustard, mayonnaise, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and Old Bay Seasoning.
3. Combine contents of both bowls by hand to limit crumbling of crabmeat lumps.
Pan-fry in skillet with Canola oil, or broil.
Makes 8 medium-sized crab cakes.
Don’t miss the first two novels in this heartwarming series by
Lacey Baker
“Huge doses of charm, romance, and humor.”
—RT Book Reviews
Homecoming
Just Like Heaven
Available from St. Martin’s Paperbacks
www.laceybakerbooks.com
www.sweetlandromance.com
ALSO BY LACEY BAKER
Homecoming
Just Like Heaven
About the Author
Lacey Baker, a Maryland native, lives with her husband and three children in what most would call Suburban America, a townhouse development where everybody knows each other and each other’s kids. Family cook-outs, reunion vacations, and growing up in church have all inspired Lacey to work towards her dreams and to write about the endurance of family.
Visit
www.laceybakerbooks.com
www.sweetlandromance.com
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SUMMER’S MOON
Copyright © 2014 by Lacey Baker.
All rights reserved.
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eISBN: 9781466808423
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / September 2014
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