Damn. This wasn’t going the way he wanted.
He pulled a letter out of an envelope, but his eyes couldn’t seem to focus on the paper. He kept seeing Sam here in his office as she’d been that first day, so soft and eager. Or how she’d been a few weeks ago when she’d been spitting fire at him. He kept feeling the presence of her swans. He kept hearing her laughter.
There was a knock at his door and William Cartwright looked in. “It’s past two,” he said. “Where’s your candy for the kids?”
Kevin sighed as if he’d been in the middle of delicate negotiations, and got to his feet. He needed this like he needed a root canal. He grabbed the candy and went into the bank’s lobby. It was crowded with little kids in costume, but it was quieter than he’d expected. Maybe because they were all settling down on the floor around some woman dressed up like a—
Like a swan.
He took a deep breath and tried to settle his racing heart. Tried to slow the shaking of his hands. It was Sam wearing a swan mask. He closed his eyes and let her voice flow over her. God, how he loved her.
“There once was this mother duck,” she was saying. “And all of her babies had hatched except one. She had one big egg left in her nest.”
Everything came rushing back. All the little smiles, the touches, the way they loved. John Wayne and Scarlett O’Hara. His birthday. Her throwing him out of her house.
“…came over to see the babies,” Sam was saying. “‘Oh, he is so big,’ one mother said. ‘He looks so different,’ another said. ‘He is beautiful,’ said his mother.”
He remembered the way her eyes would light up when she spoke. The way her whole body would shimmer with excitement. The way her laughter could fill even the gloomiest day with sunshine.
“Little by little, the big duckling began to believe he was different. That he wasn’t as good as the others. He began to stay away from the other ducklings. He swam by himself, and avoided even the little ducklings who still wanted to be his friends.”
She tried so hard to make everyone happy. Her father. Her sisters. Himself. When was she going to worry about making herself happy? When was someone going to put her happiness first? That was all he wanted for her—to be happy.
“Other birds were now in the pond. Big, beautiful white swans. When they saw the big duckling, they called to him. They said he was a swan and shouldn’t be there with the ducks. They wanted him to come with them to the place where they lived.”
He opened his eyes and let them rest on her. She had to know he was there, but her gaze was focussed only on the kids. Her voice was so full of the story, so full of excitement. He wanted to be there with them, to sit mesmerized by her voice, to admit to being her captive.
“But the big duckling didn’t know what to do. He was so used to being alone that he was afraid. He was afraid to go with the swans and afraid to stay with the ducklings.”
“He shouldn’t be afraid,” one of the kids called out.
Sam’s eyes suddenly met Kevin’s, locked with his as if speaking straight to his soul. “No, he shouldn’t be,” she agreed.
“My mommy says we’re all different,” another kid said.
Sam’s gaze hadn’t budged. “Yes, we are,” she said. “That’s what makes us special.”
“If the ducks want to be his friends, he should let them.”
He could feel her smile from across the room. “He certainly should,” she said.
Then she sneezed and it broke the spell—ended the trance he’d been in. But then she sneezed again. And again. The swan mask wobbled.
The kids all stared at her. Kevin frowned.
“Sorry,” she said amid a sniff. “My antihistamine must be wearing off.” She sneezed again.
Kevin pushed through the small crowd of adults, hopped over the low railing that separated the office area from the lobby and wove through the kids. He pulled the swan mask off Sam.
She sneezed again. “I’m allergic to swan feathers.” Another sneeze.
“Then why are you wearing the stupid thing?” he asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
“The story wouldn’t have worked quite so well without it.”
“Maybe there are things more important than the story,” he argued.
“It was only for a few minutes,” she said and punctuated it with a sneeze.
“That obviously was a few minutes too long,” he snapped.
“I took an allergy pill.”
“Maybe you should have taken a break.”
She glared at him. “Who died and made you John Wayne?”
“At least he had some common sense.”
“I see,” she snapped right back. “And Scarlett didn’t.”
“No, she didn’t,” he told her. “She just charged around, doing whatever she wanted, regardless of what anybody thought or wanted. Obviously, she’s your role model.”
“Better that than some stuffed shirt who has no feelings,” Sam barked.
“I have feelings,” he cried.
“Oh, yeah,” she agreed. “Big bossy ones. Tell everybody what to do. Don’t go barefoot. Don’t wear a swan mask. Don’t fall in love.”
With that, she burst into tears. Kevin just stared at her for a long, frozen moment. And stared around in horror at everyone staring at them both. What in the world had come over him?
But then the pain in his own heart suddenly woke him up and he pulled her into his arms.
“Why is the swan lady crying?” one of the kids asked.
“Is that banker man being mean to her?”
“Is he a bad guy?”
“Sam,” Kevin whispered into her glorious hair. “Sam, stop crying.”
“No.”
“Sam.” Panic was growing in his heart, as the sea of frowning little faces around him grew more frowning. “Come on, you can stop if you want to.”
“Is the bad man hurting her?” a little kid asked loudly.
Sam quivered in his arms, but she didn’t move. “Sam,” he hissed. “They’re going to attack me.”
“Tell me you love me,” she whispered back.
“Sam!”
“Say it.”
He looked up and saw not only the frowning faces of the children, but those of the adults, too. And then he felt the soft, warm presence of Sam in his arms and he gave up all pretense. It was hopeless, as it had been hopeless right from the beginning.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Say you’ve been a fool,” she demanded under her breath. “Say that age doesn’t matter.”
“You aren’t crying at all, are you?” he muttered.
She let out a wail that could have been rented as a siren by the fire department. The kids all gasped.
“All right, all right. I’ve been a fool. Age doesn’t matter,” he whispered and then sighed. “Any more demands?”
She pulled away from him with a slight smile. “No, I think that’ll do.”
He wanted to be annoyed with her. He wanted to scold and be huffy and retreat to his office to build his defenses all over again. But when he looked into her eyes, he forgot all that. All he knew was how beautiful she was—and how much a part of his life.
He couldn’t imagine even breathing without her at his side. He couldn’t imagine wanting to.
He slowly reached out and she came into his arms again, but this time to plant a quick, fervent kiss on his lips. It was a reminder of yesterday and a promise for tomorrow. It was a pledge of all the happiness that they would find together.
“Are you okay, swan lady?” one of the kids asked Sam.
She smiled down at the little girl. “Yep, I’m fine.”
“What’s the end of the story?” another kid called out.
Kevin just let his arms slide around her once more, resting again under the spell of her magic. “They lived happily ever after,” he said.
Epilogue
“No. just sit.” Sam told her grandmother. “I’ll get the rest of the stuffing.”
“
And don’t let Kevin go in the kitchen with her,” Cassie called out. “We won’t see them again for hours.”
“Hey, I think you’re picking on me,” Kevin protested.
“Get used to it, Dad,” Stacy told him. “It’s good for you.”
Sam just laughed and hurried into the bed-and-breakfast’s kitchen. It was the best Thanksgiving ever. Her grandparents had come in from South Dakota and Kevin’s kids were up from school. Fiona, Alex and the two children were here, along with a glow on Fiona’s face that said next spring they were going to have three kids in their house. Cassie and Jack had brought the twins and an ultrasound photo that they claimed showed Cassie would be having twin boys. And Sam had her own little secret that she hadn’t even told Kevin about yet.
She glanced out the window and saw Romeo and Juliet out on the lake. Sam thought they knew how happy she was. She heard the kitchen door swing open behind her, then felt Kevin’s arms slip around her.
“I thought they weren’t going to let you in here,” she said with a laugh.
He held up an empty dish in one hand. “We’re out of cranberry sauce.”
She just shook her head. “And how much of it went on your plate to give you this excuse?”
“Hey, what can I say? I love cranberry sauce.”
She laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes, so perfectly content that this moment could go on forever.
“Your dad and Aunt Hattie were holding hands under the table,” Kevin told her.
“I know. I saw them.” She felt his fingers touching the wedding ring on her left hand and opened her eyes.
“You’re not getting moody again, are you?” she asked.
“My moods will all be bright from now on,” he promised.
“Oh, sure,” she replied. “Can I get that in writing? I want to use it the first time you complain about a two o’clock feeding.”
He pulled back enough to look down into her eyes. “You’re pregnant?” he asked, his voice so full of hope and fear and awe that it tore at her heart.
“That’s what the test I took this morning said,” she told him gently. “Is it all right? I know you’ve already got Stacy and Jon, but—”
“All right?” he cried and pulled her back into his embrace. “All right? Of course, it’s all right. It’s wonderful.”
“We just never really talked about it,” she began, but then his lips were on hers and she lost all coherent thought.
The kiss was a celebration of everything they had. Everything they would have. It was his love meeting hers. It was definitely all right.
“Hey, you two,” Cassie said as she opened the kitchen door.
They split apart, but only by inches.
“I should have known,” Cassie said with a laugh. “Never send newlyweds into the kitchen together. Not if you want them back out the same day.”
Sam shoved a dish of cranberry sauce into Kevin’s hands and grabbed up the extra bowl of stuffing. “See what you’ve gotten yourself into,” Sam told Kevin as they went back into the dining room. “One big happy family.”
* * * * *
eISBN: 978-14592-8084-7
ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY
Copyright © 1996 by EAN Associates
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 editorial office, Silhouette Books. 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
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.
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