So was Lilah. Two months ago, who would have thought her life would turn out so wonderfully? Bruce was now just a memory. He’d been arrested, charged not only with kidnapping Jonathan but also with frauds he’d committed before he moved to Whittaker that had just now come to light. This time he was facing many years in prison, and, to Lilah’s relief, he had lost his parental rights to Jonathan. When she and Daniel got back from their honeymoon at a romantic seaside resort in Maine, Daniel would start the process of adopting Jonathan. Her heart swelled with love. They’d be a real family.
Mike stepped through the kitchen door, interrupting her thoughts. She’d gotten closer to Daniel’s brothers since they’d realized how much she and Daniel meant to each other.
“It’ll be good to have a woman in the family,” he said, giving her a bear hug. “Keep him in line, okay? Ian and I are sick and tired of doing it all by ourselves.”
“He is a wild one,” she said, laughing as she hugged him back.
“Am I interrupting anything?”
It was Ian, and she still wasn’t sure what to expect from him. She was touched when he patted her arm and said, “Make him happy.”
“I’ll do my very best,” she said. Better than best.
“Daniel’s fit to be tied,” Jesse said, banging the door behind him. “Are we about ready in here?”
DANIEL FIDGETED AS HE TRIED to concentrate on greeting each guest in a personal way. He could only think about Lilah. In just a few minutes, she’d be his, and he intended to make her the happiest woman in the universe. In a couple of months, Jonathan would be his, too. He loved Lilah’s son. He hoped they’d have a dozen more just like him, maybe with a girl thrown in somewhere.
He gazed at each of his boys, one at a time. Maury, happy beyond belief to be working for Mike at the diner. He’d already found his dream.
Will, who’d soon be back at home with his parents.
Nick. Would he ever solve the mystery of Nick? The boy was happier every day and no longer had nightmares, but he still kept his secret locked tightly inside him.
Then Daniel’s gaze drifted toward Jason, who was standing straight and tall at the back of the rows of chairs, his eyes on Melissa, whom he’d just seated. He might ask Lilah how she’d feel about having one more child right now, a big one, already toilet-trained. He smiled. He knew what her answer would be.
But where in the heck was she? If she’d backed out, he’d…
“She’s ready,” Jesse said at his elbow. “Everybody and his next-of-kin wanted to congratulate her. The kitchen’s plumb full.”
The music swelled, filling the air with a melody as close to “The Wedding March” as the high school’s chamber music quartet could reach. Ian and Mike stepped out the kitchen door and stood beside him at the arbor, where Reverend Galloway, looking properly solemn, stood waiting.
“Keep it short,” he whispered, and Galloway gave him a reproving look.
Dana came down the aisle and stood on the other side of the arbor. Now Daniel could only gaze longingly toward the kitchen door, waiting for the glorious moment when—
His heart lurched. There she was, so beautiful in her pale-blue organdy dress she made his heart skip a beat. Jonathan stood by her side, his arm through hers, looking happy to be giving his mother away. As she came down the aisle, their gazes met and held.
And kept on holding as they said their vows, and as he shared his love for her in his kiss and accepted hers with joy. It wasn’t easy to end that kiss, but when he did, he smiled down at her.
“Have I told you today that I love you?”
“One or two…” She paused. “Or maybe thirty times. But don’t stop now. I’ll never get tired of hearing it.”
“So I can say it again?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, “but I’ll go first. I love you, Daniel, with my whole heart, and I always will.”
There were tears in her eyes. He put his arm around her as they walked up the aisle to cheers and clapping, then bent his head to whisper in her ear. “My turn. I love you, Lilah Foster,” he said. “I love you, I love you, I love you, I…”
What miracle had sent her into his life? What miracle had sent him here to wait for her to come into his life? At long last, they’d both found the place where they belonged—beside each other.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3833-0
ONE OF A KIND DAD
Copyright © 2009 by Barbara Daly/Mary E. Lounsbury.
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