Ann’s eyebrows shot up. “Isn’t she a little young for that?”
“Apparently not. She thinks Liz and Todd brought Amy especially to play the baby. Amy can’t crawl quite fast enough to get away from them.” He grinned at her. “Does that account for all of them, mother hen?”
She grinned ruefully. “I suppose so.”
He reached out and took her hand. “Then come with me. I have a surprise for you.”
“For me? It’s Melissa’s birthday.”
“Just come,” he said, leading her in through the front door so they wouldn’t be disturbed. When he had her alone, he handed her a thick, official-looking envelope. He’d already examined the contents.
Hope and fear warred in her eyes as she took it. She fingered it nervously, but made no move to take the papers from inside. “Hank?”
“It’s official. Melissa’s ours.”
A smile trembled on her lips and tears streamed down her cheeks. “She’s really ours?”
“Really. It says so in black-and-white.”
She clutched the envelope tightly, then threw her arms around him. That familiar sense of wonder filled Hank’s heart. They had it all, more than he’d ever imagined himself having.
“Hank, isn’t this the most wonderful day?” Ann said with a heartfelt sigh. As she rested her head against his shoulder she placed his hand over the swell of her stomach. As if aware of his presence, their baby gave a sure, emphatic kick.
“Definitely a football player,” he said with pride.
“A ballet dancer,” she countered.
“Why are you fighting?” a little voice asked from the doorway.
“We’re not fighting,” Ann told Melissa. “We’re discussing.”
“Mommy tends to discuss rather forcefully,” Hank explained as Ann poked him in the ribs.
“Isn’t it time for my party yet?”
“It’s time, short stuff,” Hank concurred. “How about a ride to the backyard?”
Melissa’s eyes lit up as Hank swooped her onto his shoulders, then held out his hand to help Ann to her feet.
“Let’s go celebrate,” he said, his gaze catching Ann’s and holding. “Melissa, don’t forget to make a wish before you blow out the candles on your cake.”
“I already made one last year,” she confided, leaning down to peer into his eyes from an upside-down angle.
“And what did you wish for?”
“I wished for a mommy and daddy, and you know what?” She tapped a tiny finger against his lips.
“What?” Hank said, exchanging a look with Ann.
“It worked,” she said happily. “I got a mommy and daddy now.”
Ann slid her arm around his waist as Hank said, “You sure do, half-pint. And nobody in the whole wide world could love you any more.”
Melissa tugged impatiently on his beard. “Now can I open my presents, please?”
He lowered her to the ground. “Go to it, kid.”
As Melissa raced across the yard, the whole family gathered around. Ann looked up into Hank’s face, her eyes shining. “No matter what’s in all those packages,” she said, “I don’t think there’s anything to compare with the gift we got.”
“That’s right,” he agreed, lowering his lips to capture hers. “Ours is going to last a lifetime.”
Keep reading for an except for Sherryl Woods’s Sand Castle Bay, available from Harlequin MIRA.
1
The television in Emily Castle’s Aspen, Colorado, hotel room was tuned to the Weather Channel, where there was minute-by-minute coverage of the hurricane aiming directly at North Carolina’s coast, the place that had been like a second home to her. Childhood summers there had been slow and lazy and sweet. The beach town her grandmother called home was where she’d ultimately experienced her first heartache, yet despite those painful memories and despite everything she had on her plate at the moment, it was where she needed to be.
Even before her cell phone rang, she was checking flight schedules on her laptop. She clicked on a connecting flight between Atlanta and Raleigh, North Carolina, just as she answered the incoming call.
“Already on it,” she told her sister Gabriella. “I should be able to get to Raleigh by sometime late tomorrow.”
“Not a chance,” Gabi argued. “Flights are going to be canceled up and down the East Coast for at least a day or two. You’re better off waiting until next week and booking for Monday, maybe even Tuesday. Avoid the craziness.”
“What’s Samantha doing?” Emily asked, referring to their older sister.
“She’s rented a car and is already on her way down from New York. She’ll be here later tonight, hopefully ahead of the storm. They’re predicting landfall overnight. We’re already getting some of the wind and rain bands clear over here.”
Of course Samantha would beat the storm! Emily couldn’t seem to stop herself from frowning. Though she’d never totally understood it, the odd competitiveness she’d always felt with her oldest sister kicked in with a vengeance. She supposed with three sisters, there were bound to be rivalries, but why with Samantha and not Gabi? Gabi was the driven, successful businesswoman, the one most like her in terms of ambition.
“I’m getting on a flight out of here tonight,” Emily said determinedly, motivated by Samantha’s plans. “If I have to drive from Atlanta, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Rather than admonishing her, Gabi chuckled. “Samantha said you were going to say that. From the time you understood the difference between winning and losing, you hated it when she beat you at anything. Okay, fine. Get here when you can. Just do it safely. This storm isn’t looking pretty. If it wobbles even the slightest bit to the west, Sand Castle Bay will take a direct hit. You can bet the road down to Hatteras will wash out again unless they were a lot smarter when they did the repairs after the last storm.”
“How’s Grandmother?” Cora Jane Castle was in her mid-seventies but still going strong and determined to continue operating the beachfront restaurant opened by her late husband even though no one in the family had demonstrated any interest in running it. In Emily’s view, she ought to sell it and enjoy her golden years, but the mere mention of such an idea was considered blasphemy.
“Stoic about the storm, but mad as a wet hen that
