“I’m not,” Ron said, “but my daughter’s promised to help me work on it.”
“Dad!” Cynthia said with a typical teenage mixture of exasperation and embarrassment.
“I’m glad you could be here.” Kathryn gave her father a kiss, hoped he didn’t notice the tears in her eyes. “You, too,” she said as she gave her mother a hug.
“It was a close call,” her mother said, “but he was able to get a ride with the mayor.”
“He doesn’t usually do that,” her father said, “but I told him I had an engagement I couldn’t miss.”
Kathryn was so sure she was going to cry she was relieved when the preacher came bustling in.
“I’m told there’s going to be a wedding here. Who’s the lucky bride?”
Nearly every person in the room turned and pointed to Kathryn. “She is,” they chorused in unison.
The preacher looked at his watch. “Time to begin. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Kathryn said turning to Ron and looking into his eyes. “I’m very ready.”
Four months later
“He’s such a big boy,” Lisette said. “I can’t believe you didn’t demand a C-section.”
“I didn’t have any trouble at all,” Cynthia said, looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms. “The doctor said I was made to have babies.”
Lisette, Julia and Betsy had all had their babies, two girls and a boy. Kathryn had five new girls at the shelter, and Cynthia’s father’s pilot program had recently gotten underway with the first four unwed fathers enrolled. Arthur had been the first to sign up.
“I’ve got to run,” Lisette said. “I was suppose to meet Kerry downstairs fifteen minutes ago.”
“Will she ever change?” Ron asked Kathryn as Lisette disappeared through the doorway.
“Yes, but not right away,” Kathryn said. “Now I want to hold my grandson. Are you ready to give him up yet?”
“I get him first,” Ron said. “Us boys have got to bond.”
“You’ve been reading too many books,” Kathryn said.
“I had to get prepared,” Ron said reaching out for his grandson. “Being a grandfather is serious business. I don’t know why everybody thinks he’s so big,” he said, carefully settling the baby in the crook of one arm. “I can practically hold him in one hand.”
“Don’t try it,” Kathryn said, laughing.
“He’s nearly twenty-three inches long and weighs over eight pounds,” Cynthia said, indignantly defending her baby. “He’s huge. If you’re going to find fault with him you can give him back.”
“He’s so proud of you and the baby he doesn’t know what to do with himself,” Kathryn said. “He’ll probably give him a football and a set of pads for his first birthday.”
“I’m not going to let you and Arthur push him into sports if he doesn’t want to,” Cynthia said.
“He’s going to be a quarterback,” her father said. “See his long arms?”
“I thought you said he was small,” Cynthia said, grinning.
“Don’t pay attention to anything he says,” Kathryn said. “He’s already planning his schedule around the baby’s naps and feeding times.”
“Are you sure you don’t have some companies that need merging,” Cynthia asked, “maybe somewhere like Timbuktu?”
“Don’t worry,” Kathryn said. “He’ll soon have a lot more to worry about.”
“Is the unwed father program expanding?”
“No. I am.”
“You mean you’re—”
“Pregnant. Your father is going to be a father again in six months. Ron, don’t you dare drop that baby!”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3686-8
FAMILY MERGER
Copyright © 2002 by Harold Lowry
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Family Merger Page 24