She brushed her hand across his unshaven cheek. “You have a wonderful family, Matt. A job you love. And you have me…forever if you want.”
A smile tucked into the corners of his mouth. “I want,” he said simply. “I love you. I love making love to you. I love that I’m married to you. And I love that we’re having a baby. Together.”
“That’s a lot of love,” she said, overcome with emotion. “Luckily, it happens that I feel the same way. You make me happy, Matt. Happier than I ever thought I could be.”
He leaned in and pressed a gentle, lingering kiss to her lips. “Ditto. That goes double for me. However, there is one thing I need to clear up. It may change your view of our future.”
“Nothing could do that.”
He sighed. “I hope you mean that, because the one thing I don’t love about my life is my job. You were right when you said if I didn’t want to make the tough choices, I should step aside. I should have done it a long time ago. I probably should never have taken the position with the Foundation at all.”
“You don’t like it?” she asked, realizing that must be the source of his sadness, the reason he felt he was always in danger of disappointing his parents. “Then what are you doing there?”
“Fulfilling my birthright, Peyton. I’m the first-born son of the firstborn son. I’m the Jonathan of my generation. The Foundation is everything to my parents. I thought it was my duty to make it everything to me, as well. It never seemed as if I had a choice.”
“Do you have some other career in mind…or are you going to take a little time to think about what you want?”
“Promise you won’t laugh, but I’ve always thought I’d make a good teacher.”
She did laugh, but only with happiness. “You’ll make a wonderful teacher,” she said. “I think that’s a great idea. My mother will absolutely hate it.”
He grinned. “Maybe she’ll come around in time. My parents may not like it much, either.”
“Maybe they’ll come back and run the Foundation.”
“No. I expect Miranda will step in. She’s always secretly yearned for the opportunity, I think, and she’ll be great at it. Much better than I am.”
“I imagine she’ll have a lot less trouble dealing with Jessica.”
“Which must mean I’ll have a lot less trouble with you. If we don’t have Jessica to stir up a fuss, what will we find to argue about?”
“Don’t worry,” Peyton assured him. “We’ll think of something.”
Raising her hand to his lips, he breathed a sigh of relief into her skin. “Maybe you should sleep on it.”
She smiled as she felt the baby move. Taking Matt’s hand, she laid it over her stomach and watched with pride and so much love as his eyes widened when he felt the kick.
“Wow,” he said. “She’s got quite a foot on her.”
“Yes,” Peyton replied. “He certainly does.”
Matt kissed her again. “If it is a boy, we’re not naming him Jonathan.”
“Hmm,” she said. “We’ll see.” Then she pulled his head down, lured his lips back to hers and lost herself in the sweet taste of happiness.
Epilogue
The wedding took place at dusk on the cliffs behind Danfair.
Hayley wore a simple white dress and carried a bouquet of red peonies. Andrew wore a dark blue tuxedo with a white boutonniere on his lapel, the single flower set into a curlicue of red, white and blue ribbons. Ainsley, in red, was the matron of honor, and Matthew, in traditional black, stood up with his brother as best man.
Afterward the whole family watched the Fourth of July fireworks explode out in the waters beyond Newport Harbor.
Nate and Miranda sat on a blanket behind Will and Cate, who’d both turned their hair a patriotic red, white and blue in honor of the occasion. Not to be outdone, Kali and Kori wore matching sundresses…Kali in red and white, Kori in blue and white…although both had somehow acquired identical grass stains down the front.
Andrew and Hayley, as the day’s guests of honor, sat in lawn chairs decorated by Kali and Kori especially for the bride and groom. But it was doubtful the newlyweds saw any fireworks except the ones in each other’s eyes.
Ivan sat on the grass, but Ainsley was too excited to be still for long, and she continually popped up to clap and exclaim over an especially colorful fireburst. And as they were all, in her opinion, spectacular, she was on her feet quite a bit.
Matt and Peyton had the whole of a large baby blanket to share between them, so she sat in front, leaning back against him, wrapped in his arms.
Charles and Linney watched from inside the house, deeming the noise and the night too much for their new grandchild, who had arrived on the last day of June, just before midnight, at a healthy seven pounds, eleven ounces.
As it turned out, Matt had been right.
They should have painted the nursery pink.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-6900-5
THE MATCHMAKER’S PLAN
Copyright © 2004 by Karen Whittenburg Crane.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit us at www.eHarlequin.com
† The Texas Sheikhs
* The Billion-Dollar Braddocks
†† Matchmaker, Matchmaker
The Matchmaker's Plan Page 17