“So when we were on our walk this morning and when you met your father.. .during our picnic.. .you remembered everything?” she whispered.
He nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she cried. “I—”
“I tried,” he cut in. “Well, sort of,” he modified when she gave him a look of pure disbelief. “I told you not to worry and that everything was going to be all right. I said you were mine and I’d never let you go.”
“You’d been saying those things before your memory returned,” Courtney reminded him. “How was I to know—”
“The truth is, I wasn’t quite sure how to tell you or how you would take the news,” he interrupted her again, his lips curving into a tight, sardonic smile. “Maybe I was worried that you would get scared and take off.”
They were in Michelle’s bedroom now. Courtney was shaking so much, she could hardly stand. She stared at the rumpled bed and her blush deepened. Oh, she had interrupted something here, all right. And then Burton, Michelle’s Siamese cat, emerged from under the bed, greeted them with a meow and hopped onto the pillows. Courtney stared at the cat, who gazed inscrutably back at her.
“Let’s go back into the other room,” Connor suggested dryly. “There’s too much in this one competing for your attention.” He reached for Sarah. “Here, let me take her.” Courtney’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t give her up, Connor,” she whispered.
He gave her a measuring glance, then took the baby from her arms and carried her into the living room. Courtney followed him, watching as he removed a blanket from the canvas bag and spread it over a sofa cushion. He carefully laid Sarah down on it, tucking a smaller flannel blanket around her.
Then he straightened and turned to face Courtney. “Why did you leave me? No, let me amend that to ‘Why did you run out on me?’ Because that’s exactly what you did, Courtney.”
“I had to!” She gulped back a sob. “What was between us wasn’t real, and once your father called your mother, it would’ve been all over, anyway.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” His eyes glittered, his tone was fierce. “I told you I loved you, you said you loved me, too. It doesn’t get any more real than that.”
“But you said it under false pretenses! You thought we were married! ”
His face softened. “And you thought I wouldn’t want you if I remembered that we weren’t?” He moved closer and slid his fingers into the dark silkness of her hair. He lowered his voice. “So the little Gypsy packed up and moved on.”
“I had to,” she repeated, blinking back the emotional tears that once again welled in her eyes. Her hand reached up and covered his. “Before the accident, the one thing you didn’t want was to be married. You insisted that I had to give the baby back to Nollier, and you accused me of trying to trap you—”
“That was before I had some sense knocked into me.” He grinned suddenly. “Literally.”
“Don’t make jokes about it!” Courtney shuddered. “It was awful seeing you lying unconscious in the hospital.”
“Which brings us to Dr. Ammon’s esoteric concept of disassociative amnesia.” Connor used his other arm to haul her against him. “The internal conflict I was waging was over you, baby. You were everything I wanted, everything I needed—”
“Everything you’d spent your adult life avoiding,” she finished, staring up at him with enormous dark velvet eyes.
His hard, strong body felt so good against hers. She slipped her arms around his waist, daring to allow herself to lean into him.
“I was an idiot, and that car accident was a blessing in disguise because it gave me the chance to know what it was like to be your husband and Sarah’s father.” His arms tightened around her, his hands soothing and caressing. His lips moved, warm and tender, against her temple, her cheek, the curve of her neck.
“It was pure heaven. Marry me, Gypsy. I want to replace that fake wedding ring with a real one. I want to love you and live with you for the rest of my life.” He smiled into her eyes. “I want to laugh with you and fight with you and play games with you and go on stupid picnics with you... Help me out here, Gypsy. Give me a yes.”
“Yes! Oh yes, Connor.” She clung to him, gazing up at him, laughing through tear-blurred eyes. “It’s like a wonderful dream coming true! I love you so much. I want to be your wife and raise our children—”
“Which means we’d better get married immediately since we already have our first child.” Connor grew serious. “Courtney, we’re going to go through the correct channels and make sure that Sarah’s adoption is completely legal and aboveboard.”
“We won’t have to give her up, will we, Connor?” Courtney asked anxiously. “Please, no, not even for a short while.” *
“Relax, Gypsy, we don’t have to.” He smiled broadly. “My father already made all the necessary calls and proper arrangements. We have a first class, ethical attorney handling the case.”
“Which brings us to Wilson Nollier.” Courtney grimaced.
“I told my father everything about him, Courtney. He was appalled and called Nollier immediately. From now on Wilson is going to refocus his practice and not handle any more adoptions. Ever. My father has certain ‘watchdogs’ who will make sure he doesn’t.”
“So Nollier’s racket has ended, after all,” Courtney said thoughtfully. “He’ll be out of the Insight story and the NPB documentary, but he’s not working in the adoption field anymore, anyway. Does he hate us?”
“Not at all. Wilson isn’t stupid. He knows it’s better to be a friend of the Tremaines than an enemy.”
“The Tremaines,” she echoed softly. “You’ve finally made your peace with your father, your real father.” She held him tight. “I’m glad for you both, Connor.”
“I haven’t decided if I’ll add Tremaine to my name or stick with McKay. Do you have a preference?”
Courtney smiled. “Only that you make the decision yourself and are content with it.”
“I am going to accept the position my father offered me with Tremaine Incorporated. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll work somewhere else—as an attorney,” Connor added succinctly.
“Your days as a self-styled, free-wheeling fact-finder are over, hmm?”
“Definitely. I have a wife and a child to provide for.” He slipped his hand between them and gently stroked her belly. “Maybe another one as well. I didn’t use protection, Gypsy. The first few times I thought we didn’t have to.”
“And the other few times, when you knew?” she asked T provocatively, gazing at him with sexy, flirtatious eyes.
“I wanted to make you pregnant,” he admitted boldly. “And I’m going to, Gypsy.”
“Do I hear the sound of the metaphorical cage door permanently closing?” She laughed up at him.
“No, sweetie, you have it backward. The door has opened. You set me free from that miserable cage of loneliness and distrust.”
“I love you, Connor,” she said, gazing at him, her heart in her eyes.
He took her mouth in a passionate kiss, sealing their engagement, marriage and parenthood all at once. There would be no more partings, no more goodbyes. They were inseparable, together forever.
END
Table of Contents
Three
Six
Eight
Eleven
The Baby Track Page 18