“Yeah,” he said, with that half smile of smug satisfaction that she’d missed so much. “I know. So back to my first statement...we’re getting married, Kate. And we’re going to live here.”
“In Wyoming?”
“Not just Wyoming, but here,” he said. Keeping one arm around her shoulders, he turned her to point out to the strip of land that ran along the lake and backed up to the forest. “I’m hiring Wells Construction to build us a house, right there.”
“A house,” she whispered, looking from his face to the beautiful stretch of land.
“Our house. You’re going to design it any way you want, Kate.” He looked down into her eyes, and everything in her lit up like Christmas. “Make it your dream house, Kate, because all of our dreams are going to come true in it.”
“But, Sean, what about the ocean?” she asked, stunned. “You love it so much. How can you give it up? And you’d be so far from your family...”
“You and the baby,” he insisted, his eyes boring into hers, “are my family.” His thumb stroked away a single tear that tracked from the corner of her eye, and his touch sent ripples of warmth sliding through her. Then he smiled again. “And with the company jet, we can travel as much as we want. We’ll keep the condo, stay there when we visit. But meanwhile, I’ll have the lake, and paddleboarding might be fun. You could even teach me to ski in the winter.”
She laughed shortly. “You’re crazy.”
“Crazy about you.”
God, Kate wanted to believe, to have everything he was offering her. To love and be loved. To make a family with him, to build a dream house on the shore of the lake and to make a lifetime of memories with this man who touched her so deeply.
“I’m just so scared of losing again.” She reached up and cupped his face in her palms. “Sean, if something happened to you, I think it would kill me.”
“I can’t promise that nothing will ever go wrong, Kate. Nobody can.” He led her to the bench seat, sat down and pulled her onto his lap. Kate stared into his eyes and heard every word when he spoke again. “If something goes wrong, we’ll handle it. Together. But Kate, what if everything goes right? What if our lives are perfect and happy and filled with a dozen kids screaming and running through the forest?”
She laughed at that even as he laid the flat of his hand on the swell of their child. “A dozen?”
He shrugged. “Negotiable. But with all this room around here, I’d say we’ll need at least six.”
Kate could see it all. The two of them, a houseful of kids, taking part in the conventions he would hold on the grounds every summer. Working the hotel, being with Sean every day and night and she suddenly wanted it all more than her next breath.
“What’s not negotiable,” he was saying, “is marriage. I want you, Kate. Forever. So say yes.”
“Yes,” she said and felt a huge, smothering weight slide off her shoulders. This was right. They were perfect for each other, and together they would be able to handle anything that came at them.
“Hey!” Sean’s gaze shot to her belly. “What was that?”
Kate laughed, delighted in the man. Throwing her arms around his neck, she said, “That was your daughter telling you she’s glad her mommy and daddy are getting married.”
“That’s amazing,” he said, wide-eyed as he laid his hand across her belly, waiting to feel it again.
“So, where’s my engagement ring?” Kate asked, feeling loved and wanted and needed.
“Ha!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. “No engagement ring, you’d only get it caught on a saw or some damn thing.” Opening it, he showed her a pair of stunning emerald earrings. “This is for the engagement and plain gold bands for both of us when we get married.”
“Oh, Sean...” Kate smiled through her tears. How perfect was it to be loved by a man who knew her so well? So intimately? “You really are perfect, aren’t you?”
“Don’t forget charming,” he quipped, and then he kissed her.
Epilogue
Two months later
“Kate, come on,” Sean shouted, “the storm’s rolling in, and I want to be off this mountain before we get snowed in again!”
He glanced around the main room in the hotel and waited impatiently for his wife. The whole place was furnished now—beds, couches, chairs and top-of-the-line entertainment systems with gaming capabilities in every room. They were ready for guests, but with the new baby coming, he’d made an executive decision to wait until spring for the grand opening. Give them a chance to settle into being a family first.
It was only early October, but winter was heading their way in a hurry. He never should have agreed to bring her up here today, but Kate was like a dog with a bone when she wanted something.
She’d been determined to get another look at the house site before the snow hit. She was working on the design so the architect could have the plans in time for the crew to get started on it as soon as winter was over. The woman was like a force of nature. She wanted everything done right and in her time.
“Kate! If you’re not out here in ten seconds, I’m going back to your place without you!” An empty threat, and they both knew it.
“You know,” Kate said as she came toward him, “if you were walking around with a bowling ball on your bladder, you’d move a little slowly, too.”
Nine months pregnant and she still took his breath away. How could he love her more every day? She was frustrating and intriguing and everything he’d ever wanted in his whole damn life.
“Yes, you’re right,” Sean said, hustling her into her coat and easing her toward the door. “Men are miserable human beings and women should rule the world. Just get in the car, okay?”
“Relax, Sean,” she said, stopping on the front porch to look around. “We’re not going to be stuck, and I’m not having the baby here.”
“Damn right you’re not,” he said, closing the door behind them and locking it up. Once the baby was born, he and Kate were thinking of moving up here and waiting out the winter. Kate’s little bungalow was too small for the three of them, plus all of the office equipment Sean needed to get his work done for the company.
He was looking forward to the quiet. The solitude. And even being snowed in with Kate again—after the baby was born.
“It’s nice that Jenny and Mike had their little boy yesterday,” Kate was saying dreamily as he helped her down the front steps. “Now our Kiley and their Carter will only be a day apart in age.”
“Yeah,” he muttered, keeping her moving toward the car, “it’s great. Wait.” He stopped dead when what she’d said sunk in. “How do you know Kiley’s coming today?” Suspicion then panic settled over him like a radioactive cloak. “Are you in labor?”
She grinned at him, went up on her toes and kissed him. “For the last hour or two. You’re going to be a daddy today, Sean! Isn’t that amazing?”
Joy, wonder, then one more time, panic. “We’ve got to get you to the hospital. Walk slow. No bumps. Don’t breathe too hard.”
She laughed and when he got her tucked into the car and raced around to the driver’s side, he heard another peal of laughter and told himself women really were the stronger sex. Why wasn’t she terrified?
Sean threw the car into gear and headed down the mountain as quickly as he could. Storm clouds gathered and began to surge forward, like an army on the march. He couldn’t worry about them, though, because in the passenger seat, Kate groaned.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she muttered and shifted uncomfortably on the seat. “That one was much stronger, though. Just hurry, Sean.”
When she started the panting and breathing, Sean’s heart leaped into a wild gallop so frantic he almost forgot to breathe himself. The mountain road had never seemed so long or so twisty. He had to take his time or they’d go flying off the edge, but he had to hurry because he was not going to deliver his first child in his car.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled into the hospital lot and parked the car, not caring if it was legal or not. Kate was wincing and moaning regularly now. When he helped her out of the car, she grabbed hold of his hand and twisted with the strength of someone twice her size.
Sean gritted his teeth and went with it, steering her inside and standing by helplessly as orderlies appeared and whisked her into a wheelchair. She looked back at him as she disappeared down a long hallway, and Sean felt that thread of panic again when he lost sight of her.
But a few minutes later, he was in the labor room with her, and she battled and raged to bring their baby girl into the world. Sean’s heart twisted every time a pain claimed her, and he would have given every dollar he had to change places with her. Anything would have been better than watching the woman he loved suffer.
“Don’t look so worried, honey,” she said, voice broken in between gasps. “This is normal. Everything’s just moving really fast.”
“This is fast?” He felt like they’d been doing this for days. “I was wrong before. Not six kids. One’s enough. God, I swear I’ll never touch you again, Kate.”