Dear Lonely Heart (The Matchmaker Series)

by Fiona Starr

  I smile. “Someone’s awake.”

  Thomas pulls away and rubs his nose against mine. “My turn. You finish getting ready. Your family’s going to be here soon.”

  Laughter explodes from the living room as my father tells the punch line of a story. I smile as I finish frosting the cake and set about sticking the single candle near the top. It’s been a year since baby Leo came into our lives, and although we celebrated his birthday last month, today marks not just our wedding anniversary, but also the anniversary of the day Leo became ours.

  With the cake lit and Leo waiting patiently in grandma’s lap, I slide onto the couch next to my mom. Thomas sets the camera up on the tripod in the corner. He checks the focus one more time and then hurries over and arranges himself next to me and Leo.

  “Okay,” he says, pointing the remote at the camera. “On three, ready? One… Two… Three!”

  Everyone shouts, “Happy Gotcha Day!” Then Thomas and I help Leo blow out the candle.

  Leo’s too young to understand, but he loves cake, so he’s clapping and smiling as my mom buckles him into his high chair.

  “Cay, cay, cake!” he shouts.

  “Yes! Cake! For you, buddy!” I place a small slice of cake on the highchair tray and bend down to give Leo Eskimo kisses. He wrinkles his face and pushes his nose into mine, bumping my forehead.

  Thomas has the camera in his hand now, recording everything. He leans over to me and moves in for a kiss, turning the camera around so it captures the moment. “I love you, wife,” he whispers.

  I nuzzle in for an Eskimo kiss with Thomas and then smile wide for the video. “I love you, husband.”

  He turns the camera off and his look turns serious for a moment. I know he’s thinking about us and where we are, how amazed he is at our life together; it’s something we talk about regularly. We’ve both been through enough in our lives to know how precious and fragile all of this is and we point out the things we’re grateful for, or that we love about each other, as often as we spot them.

  Thomas growls as he bends and nibbles on my ear. “Your right earlobe,” he whispers, his hot breath raising goosebumps on my skin.

  I turn and touch the tip of my nose to his, looking right into his dark eyes. “The dimple in your chin.”

  Leo squeals, “Dada!” and Thomas is back to doing whatever he can to make our son giggle for the camera.

  Amelia arrives in the kitchen with a stack of dinner plates, laughing at the faces Thomas is making for Leo.

  She places the plates on the counter and turns to me, her nose scrunched. “He’s so great, Claire.” She puts her arm around my shoulders and squeezes me.

  I nod and smile as a lump rises in my throat. I lean against her. “I know, Mel. I am so blessed. I never thought…”

  “If David could see this, he’d love it,” she says.

  She’s the only one who talks about David so easily. I think most people think it’s weird, but I think about him too. I smile at the thought. “Yeah, he would.”

  She heads back inside to clear more plates. “Good idea on the white…” she says, recalling the fiasco that ensued last month when I decided on a bright blue cake for Leo’s birthday. Between his clothing, the carpet, and his skin, it took a week to get the dye out of everything. The tip of Animal’s tail is still blue.

  “Right? Lesson learned.”

  A metal bowl bounces along the floor by my feet. I look over to see Animal standing at his spot by the door. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did we forget to feed you, kind sir?” I pick up the bowl and the attention sends Animal’s tail spinning as he marches in place, waiting for me to feed him.

  Thomas and Amelia reappear in the kitchen, both carrying armloads of dishes and glasses. More laughter carries in from the living room. Thomas stacks the dishes and then takes the pile from Claire. “Why don’t you two go inside. I’ll handle this.”

  I give him a peck on the cheek. “Leave it. We can do it later.”

  “All right. I’ll just rinse them then.”

  I head back into the living room with Amelia, and as we leave the kitchen she pulls on my arm, making me stop and turn.

  “You tell him yet?”

  I shake my head and swallow hard. “Tonight.”

  Thomas puts Leo to bed and I finish cleaning the kitchen. When everything’s settled, we meet on the couch. The remains of the fire flicker in the fireplace, and Animal is curled up in his bed next to the hearth, enjoying the last of the heat.

  Thomas hands me a glass of wine and sits down, putting his arm around me. “It’s been a good day,” he says, tapping his glass against mine.

  I take a tiny sip. “The best,” I say, yawning and snuggling against him.

  “Happy Gotcha Day, Baby. I am glad I got you and I am glad we got Leo. We’ll have to make sure all of our big days are scheduled for this date.”

  I smile. “Did you see how my dad made Leo laugh whenever he fake sneezed?”

  He laughs softly. “There is no better sound in the world than a baby laughing his face off.”

  We sit for a minute in silence, watching the fire and enjoying the quiet. Thomas’ heartbeat drums against my ear as I lean against his chest. That’s a good sound, too.

  I lean forward and place my glass on the table. “I have something for you.” I get up and hurry to the bedroom. When I come back I have a small box hidden behind my back. I sit down and blow out my breath as I place it in Thomas’ lap.

  Thomas sits up and looks at me, curious.

  “Open it.” My heart races as he unties the satin ribbon.

  He lifts the lid off the box and stares inside for a moment. Then he blinks and looks at me with his eyes wide. “Claire?”

  He can’t believe it.

  I don’t blame him; I couldn’t believe it when I found out the other day. I’d asked Amelia to run to the store and buy me a test and stay with me while I took it. I didn’t want to tell him before I was sure, and then when I realized our anniversary was here… it felt right to make it special and tell him tonight.

  Thomas lifts the pregnancy test stick out of the box and stares at the little results window. This is the kind of test that has the words pregnant or not pregnant appear in text.

  “Pregnant?” Thomas whispers.

  I smile and nod and wait for him to process the news. “Leo’s going to have a little brother or sister.”

  He turns to me, his eyes wide with wonder and awe. “Claire, I… how? I mean, I know how, but… how?”

  “I guess there’s a reason they didn’t tell you it was impossible. Two percent isn’t zero.”

  He smiles and his eyes glisten. He stares at the pregnancy test in his hand as if it’s going to change. Then he turns and places a hand over my belly. “I never thought this part of it was meant for me.” His voice cracks and my heart swells for this beautiful man.

  I place my hand over his heart, the reassuring steadiness of his heartbeat filling me with so much love I feel like I could burst. “And I never thought this part was meant for me.”

  The Matchmaker Series:

  Thank you for reading Dear Lonely Heart. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Clarie and Thomas, and Animal too! Be sure to check out the rest of the titles on The Matchmaker Series:

  Dear All Star Player by Tracy Lorraine

  Dear Baby Daddy by Alexis Adaire

  Dear Double Team by Olivia Hawthorne

  Dear Future Husband by Angel Devlin

  Dear Hungry Wolf by Vivian Ward

  Dear Lonely Heart by Fiona Starr

  Dear Mr. Firefighter by Kelli Callahan

  Dear Mr. Heart On by Frankie Love

  Dear Mr. Maybe by Dori Lavelle

  Dear Mr. Right Now by Kim Loraine

  Dear Mr. Temporary by Rebecca Gallo

  Dear Phoney Finance by Alexx Andria

  Dear Sexy Swimmer by Dee Ellis

  Dear Shy Guy by Laney Powell

  Dear Worst Enemy by Sher Dillard

  Welcome to Blaze Moun
tain!

  Claire Blaze McHugh and Thomas give love a chance in the face of fear in DEAR LONELY HEART.

  Meet Claire’s sister, Amelia Blaze, when she finds her happily ever after with Damon in NAUGHTY SLEIGH RIDE.

  Follow Jules Wilson (Amelia Blaze’s best friend) when she and Ben collide in RESOLUTION: FREE FALL.

  Fiona Starr lives her happily ever after in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado with her hunky husband and their fleet of fur babies.

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  I write Contemporary Romance with varying levels of steam. Some collections are short quickies, some are longer for lingering over, but all of them are sexy, sweet, and happily ever after!

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