“Yeah,” Mac said, sounding shy for once. “I can do that.”
Hallie took her hand but left the other one on her son, cradling his body. Jim’s was there again already, because Jim would never let go of either of them. Any of them.
“We need to take this little guy to the nursery to do a few things,” the nurse said. “We’ll bring him right back, though. You coming, Dad?”
“I’m there,” Jim said.
First though, he put a hand on Hallie’s shoulder, bent, and gave her a kiss. So soft, and so sweet.
“Thank you,” he said. “You’re amazing. And I love you.” Then he was gone, and Thomas was, too, but that was all right. They’d be back. Jim would bring their baby back to her. The doctor was down there doing some stitching now, and it was uncomfortable, but that didn’t matter, either.
Mac moved at Hallie’s side, and Hallie took her hand. “Stay with me?” she asked Mac. “Please? It feels a little . . . lonesome.” She tried to laugh. Slow reactor again. Now, at last, the tears were threatening. “You know,” she told the girl, “less than two years ago, I didn’t have anybody. And now I’ve got everything. A husband, and a son, and I hope I’ve got a daughter too.”
“Stepdaughter,” Mac said.
“To me,” Hallie said, putting all the conviction she had into it, “daughter. I couldn’t have a better one. I know you had a mom, and that she was an awesome mom. I’m just learning how. But I want you to know one thing. You’re my daughter. That’s all. I have a family. And I’m so . . .” She was crying now, and she couldn’t care. “I’m so grateful.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my awesome critique team: Barbara Buchanan, Carol Chappell, Anne Forell, Mary Guidry, Leslie Harlib, Kathy Harward, and Bob Pryor.
And to my editors at Montlake Romance, Maria Gomez and Charlotte Herscher.
Finally, to my husband, Rick Nolting, for putting up with my absentmindedness during the Australian summer and the North American winter that I spent writing this book. Especially for learning to cook.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2015 Shoey Sindel
Rosalind James, a publishing industry veteran and former marketing executive, is the author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels published both independently and through Montlake Romance. She started writing down one of the stories in her head on a whim four years ago while living in Auckland, New Zealand. Within six weeks, she’d finished the book, thrown a lifetime of caution to the wind, and quit her day job. She and her husband live in Berkeley, California, with a Labrador retriever named Charlie.
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