would have done anything to win you back, Jamie. Anything.”
“I’m glad.”
The puppy stirred sleepily. He stroked her head. “I’m a lousy single parent,” he said. “We need help, Jamie. We need you.”
She leaned against him. “You’ve got me, Zach. For always. I still love you. Nothing can change that.” She handed him the sleeping pup, then pushed open the door and invited him inside. “I’m impressed by your commitment,” she continued. “I only had the courage to buy a houseplant.”
He wrapped his arm around her. “I thought we could practice on the puppy, then when we’ve got this family thing figured out, we could try the real thing. That is, if you want to.”
“Kids?” she asked.
He nodded.
She felt more tears against her cheeks. Zach understood everything. “I’d like that,” she said, her voice husky.
He set the puppy on the sofa. “I think she’s going to sleep for a while,” he said.
Jamie smiled. “Really. What did you want to do while she was resting?”
He cupped her face and kissed her gently. “Live a miracle.”
Epilogue
Jamie paused at the front door to Jones & Jones Security. She glanced at her watch, shook her head, then stepped into the reception area. Running late, as usual.
“You’ve got forty billion messages,” Amanda, the receptionist, said as Jamie walked by.
“They’ll have to wait.” Jamie started down the hall.
“Great suit,” Amanda called after her. “Stop dressing so nice. You’re making the rest of us look bad.”
Jamie grinned but didn’t stop moving. When she reached the door with a placard that said Zach Jones, Co- president she turned the knob and stepped inside.
Zach sat with his back to the door, facing his computer. The bursts of sound coming from the machine told her he wasn’t working on a spread sheet. A large explosion was followed by an excited squeal.
“I’m back,” she said, and moved toward the desk. She put her briefcase on the floor and unbuttoned her jacket. “I thought you were going to take the games off your computer.”
Zach spun toward her and grinned. “They’re not for me.”
“You’re hopeless,” Jamie said, then lowered her gaze to the toddler sitting confidently on Zach’s lap. “Has Daddy been letting you play computer games again?”
Three-year-old Alice nodded. “I’m winning, Mommy. We’re gonna save the
“I’m sure the ‘universal’ is very happy about that, too.” She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it on the desk.
Zach picked up Alice with the familiarity of a father who fully participates in his child’s upbringing. He settled his daughter on his shoulders, then came around the desk and kissed Jamie.
“You look tired.”
“I’m exhausted.”
He held on to Alice’s pudgy legs with one hand. With the other, he stroked her cheek. “But you knocked ’em dead, didn’t you?”
She smiled. “The meeting went very well.”
“I know.” He grabbed a paper from his desk. “They’ve already faxed over the signed agreement. We got the new account.”
“Kiss Mommy again,” Alice instructed.
Zach leaned close and brushed Jamie’s lips with his. “The things I do for my daughter,” he said.
“Hazardous duty,” Jamie murmured. “Maybe we should see about getting you a raise.” She reached up and took her daughter. Alice snuggled close.
“We missed you, Mommy,” the little girl said.
“I missed you guys, too.”
Theirs was a partnership that worked. Jamie sold the security systems that Zach designed. Their years at the agency had paid off, and they were one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. The signed contract was from a California bank with over two hundred branches. Nearly six months of negotiations had paid off.
“We need to celebrate,” Zach said, collecting Alice and wrapping his free arm around Jamie’s shoulders. “What do you want to do?”
She rested her hand on her pregnant belly. Their second child, a boy, was due in four weeks. “I want you to rub my feet.”
“Done.”
She glanced at her husband and her child. Five years ago she had left Zach at his cabin and thought she might have to spend the rest of her life alone. But he’d realized what they had together and he’d come back for her.
It hadn’t been an easy road. They’d both had adjustments to make. The business had consumed them for a couple of years. But they’d always been together, growing stronger in love. They’d found their own version of normal. A dog, a cat, a beautiful, bright child with another on the way. And a husband who could make her heart race with just a smile.
As Zach and Alice talked and laughed together, Jamie remembered her question to Zach all those years ago. If he could turn back time, what would he change? When she thought about that now, she knew the answer. Neither of them would change one second of time. They’d found a miracle-their love.
SUSAN MALLERY
SUSAN MALLERY is a
