Father of Two
Page 26
“I thought you were cooking dinner,” Gail chided her husband.
He spun around and smiled. “I am, I am!” he said, grabbing a spatula from the table and pretending to look busy. “Did John tell you they nailed Kopoluski?”
“He started to,” she said, turning back to John. “Where did they find him?”
“In Boston. A postal inspector picked him up. He was trying to ship stolen Blackberries to St. Petersburg, in Russia.”
“You’re kidding!”
Setting down the spatula, Murphy stood and slung his arm around Gail. “Are you going to defend him? He thinks you’re the best good lawyer in Arlington. Which shows how ignorant he is.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gail asked, brandishing the tube of icing. “You know, I could turn your nose yellow with this stuff if you push me too far.”
“Okay, I give up. When it comes to the likes of Leo Kopoluski, you’re the best good lawyer.”
“Damn straight I am.” With a self-righteous huff, she started back toward the screen door.
“If he gets extradited back to Arlington,” Murphy called after her, “remind him he still owes me forty-five hundred dollars.”
“Yeah, sure,” she muttered, pivoting and aiming the frosting tube at him. Far from looking cowed, he grinned—that dimpled, devastating grin that had won her heart—and won it all over again every time he sent it her way.
She was still a newlywed. She supposed it was only normal that every time she saw her husband she should feel a warm shiver of delight, that every time he smiled, every time he laughed, every time she felt his loving gaze on her she should want him. Yet she couldn’t shake the understanding that it would always be this way with her and Murphy, she would always want him this much.
She reentered the kitchen, where Allison and Molly were finishing up their part of the cake. Nearly the entire white surface was covered with spots of color, like sugary confetti. Only a small area near the bottom of the cake was untouched by color.
“We left that space for ‘Sean’ and ‘Erin,’” Molly told her. “What do you think?”
Gail’s gaze moved from one radiant face to the other, from her sister Molly to her honorary sister Allison. Then she circled the table, aimed her yellow tube and squeezed. “Sean...” she wrote, one gooey letter at a time, “and...Erin.”
Stepping back, she surveyed the cake and felt another, deeper rush of pleasure. Her dearest friends were with her, their menfolk and their children were outside, and her twins were about to be dragged out of the “wreck” room and up the stairs to celebrate their eighth birthday. The cake was finished. The day was perfect. The party was about to begin.
***
About the Author
Judith Arnold is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than ninety published novels. A New York native, she currently lives in New England, where she indulges in her passions for jogging, dark chocolate, good music, good wine and good books. She is married and the mother of two sons.
You can find out about Judith’s other books, contact her, and sign up for her newsletter by visiting her website.
About The Daddy School
The Daddy School is an award-winning series of contemporary romances about heroes, the children they love, and the women who love those men and their children. Founded by best friends Allison Winslow, a neonatal nurse, and Molly Saunders, the director of a preschool, the Daddy School offers classes on how to become a better father. The first three books of the series tell how the school was founded and celebrate the love stories of Allison, Molly, and Molly’s sister, Gail. Those first three books were so beloved by readers, I just kept writing more Daddy School books. Enjoy them all!
Father Found
Jamie McCoy is the ultimate guy. His syndicated column, “Guy Stuff,” keeps thousands of men in a macho frame of mind. But the day Jamie finds Samantha on his doorstep, his life changes drastically. Samantha is a baby and Samantha is a girl. Jamie knows nothing about babies and girls. More important, Samantha is his daughter, so he phones Allison Winslow, a nurse who runs the Daddy School, for advice. But when he actually meets Allison, he finds he wants much more than her assistance.
Father Christmas
Police detective John Russo is responsible to a fault. When his girlfriend got pregnant, he married her. When she walked out on the marriage, he committed himself to raising their son himself. But when his baby-sitter has a family emergency and must fly to California, John's carefully rigged existence comes crashing down. He needs help, and fast. Molly Saunders co-founded the Daddy School to help men become better fathers. When it comes to learning the skills he needs to raise his son well, John is an A student. But Molly's lessons in love prove much more challenging.
Father of Two
Dennis Murphy’s rambunctious seven-year-old twins swear he’s the best lawyer in Arlington, Connecticut. They don’t make his job easy, however. When the nanny he hires to watch the twins walks out on them one afternoon, Dennis is forced to bring his work home with him. A lawyer in the public defender’s office, Gail Saunders agrees to represent a former client suing the city’s newspaper for libel, even if it means going up against Murphy and his prestigious, wealthy law firm, and even if it means she has to deal with his wild children once their nanny goes AWOL. Being the sister of one of the founders of the Daddy School, Gail believes Murphy could use a few lessons in how to be a better father. But she’s got a few things to learn, too, and Dennis Murphy might just be the man to teach her.
Somebody’s Dad
Fund manager Brett Stockton wants love, commitment, maybe even marriage—but no kids, period. Falling in love with photographer Sharon Bartell is easy. She’s everything he could possibly want in a woman…except that she’s the single mother of a two-year-old son. Can Brett learn to love Max? Or for both Max and Sharon’s sakes, should he walk away?
Hush, Little Baby
When Levi Holt’s single-mom sister dies and he learns he’s the guardian of her six-month-old baby, he needs a crash course in fatherhood. Juggling child care with his demanding career as an architect, he has trouble conducting business with Corinne Lanier, who wants him to alter his design for her boss’s new house. Corinne has no time or patience for a frazzled dad and a cranky baby—until both Levi and D.J. start working their magic on her. With love, lullabies and a few desperately needed classes at the Daddy School, Levi might figure out how to put the fragmented pieces of his life back together. But will there be room in it for Corinne? And can he be certain Corinne loves him for himself and not for his precious little baby?
Almost an Angel
Widower Conor Malone wants Christmas to be joyous for his daughter. But Amy believes Santa is going to bring her mother back to her. How can Conor make the holiday bright for Amy when he can’t give her the one gift she wants? With a little help from Eliza Powell, the new school psychologist—and the Daddy School.
Daddy’s Girl
As a court-appointed guardian for Alix Medina, Hayley Baines has only one job: to represent the best interests of the little girl at the center of a difficult custody battle between the child’s widowed father, Kevin Medina, and Kevin’s in-laws. That Kevin is a working-class guy who runs a lawn service and the Porters are outrageously wealthy, able to provide Alix with everything she could ever want, doesn’t influence Hayley. That Kevin is strong and sexy and irresistibly attractive shouldn’t influence her. But how objective can she be when talking to him, gazing at him, simply being with him turns her on in a crazy way?
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