“OH, MAN, he is screwing this up so bad,” Will said from his vantage point behind the next-door neighbor’s hedge. The way things were going he was almost sorry he’d let his brothers talk him into monitoring the situation.
“Have you ever seen anyone who has less talent with the opposite sex?” Brad complained, shaking his head. “Even a complete moron knows you should shower and shave and put on some nice-looking clothes before you get close to your woman.”
Riley agreed wholeheartedly as he peered through the leafy green leaves of the Buford holly bushes. “You’d think he would learn from his mistakes and try laying on a little charm before he gets to the serious stuff.”
“It’s probably our fault, for letting her in at all,” Will said, spreading some of the branches for a better view. “We should have made her leave before she saw him looking all hot and sweaty. And not sent him back out onto the field until he had a better game plan.”
“Will you stop with the football metaphors,” Riley said. “Not everything in life relates back to some stupid game.”
“You’d be surprised how much you can learn from sports,” Will countered.
“Yeah, well, Dad’s problem isn’t sports,” Lewis observed with near-clinical wisdom as he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “It’s showing Kate how much he wants her to come back to us. And from where we’re crouched now, it doesn’t look like he’s being very successful.”
Six-year-old Kevin sighed and shook his head. He sat, put his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his propped-up hands. “I sure hope he doesn’t make her cry.”
KATE KNEW she should have put this conversation off until later. Until she had figured out exactly how to make amends to Sam. But now that she was here, there was no turning back. She inhaled a bracing breath. Stood. Knowing if she was going to keep her head and say everything that needed to be said, the way it should be said, she needed some physical distance from him. She strode several steps away from him and turned to face him, knowing better than ever how very much depended on her getting this right.
“You were right, Sam. I should never have shut you out the way I did.” She swallowed hard around the growing lump in her throat. “I wanted love to come under perfect circumstances, without any conflict or risk or family difficulties. But that’s just not the way it works. Love comes when you least expect it. It disrupts your life and wreaks havoc on your plans. But love is the one thing in this life worth living for,” Kate said, the tears sliding down her face as she realized she no longer cared how it had come about or why or when, it was enough just knowing that the passion, the tenderness, the caring between them existed. And it did—in spades. “And I know my dad would not want me to go the rest of my life without it.”
Sam stood and swiftly closed the distance between them. “What are you saying, Kate?” he asked gruffly as he took her all the way into his arms.
“That I’ve stopped being afraid to take a chance on us. I’m through putting up roadblocks to keep us apart.” And she knew now that’s all they had been. “Because I love you, Sam,” Kate confessed emotionally, “more than I could ever say.” And to make sure Sam knew it, felt it, wondered and reveled in it, she kissed him. Long and passionately. Slow and gentle. And every way in between. When they finally pulled back, they were both trembling.
“I love you too, Kate.” Sam brushed her tears away as her heart thundered crazily inside her chest. “When you barged into my house and told me you were single-handedly going to help me get over my grief, I didn’t think it was possible. I didn’t think I could ever get past it, never mind want to love again. But I did. And I do. To the point I can no longer imagine my life without you in it.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks as Sam continued to regard her tenderly. “I meant what I said the other day when I told you I wasn’t going to let you—let us—go. We’re a part of each other now, Kate, a big part, and we always will be.”
He tightened his arms around her protectively and kissed her again, not stopping until she was filled with the most wonderful peace, the kind that only came from being with him.
Trembling, too, he pulled back. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he said in a rusty-sounding voice. “And to make that possible—” Sam took Kate by the hand, guided her back inside the house “—the six of us have undertaken a very necessary reorganization.”
His hand linked confidently with hers, Sam led Kate to the second-floor master bedroom. Gone were all of Ellie’s belongings and the furniture. In its place were bunk beds and what looked to be a lot of the boys’ stuff. Sam turned to her, his brown eyes darkening seriously, and continued in a way that let her know he’d given it a lot of thought. “The guys and I had a family meeting and agreed if you were going to be a part of our lives—and we all wanted that very much—we had to make some changes around here. We didn’t want to sell the house—it belonged to my parents and had too many memories. So we decided to do what Ellie and I did when we inherited the place from my folks—transform it. We spent last night sorting through Ellie’s things, keeping the items that were of sentimental value, and carting off the rest to charity where they could be put to good use. We moved Brad and Riley and Will down to the second floor, so that all four older boys will be on the second floor.”
Looking more determined than ever, Sam led her up the staircase to the top floor, continuing to explain all the while. “Mrs. Roundtree will still occupy the first-floor guest suite. I’m moving up to the third floor and taking over the largest bedroom up here.” Sam stopped in the hall to show Kate the new Southwestern-style furniture he had put in his bedroom. “Kevin gets the second largest one across the hall. And we’re turning the storage room into a combination office-sitting room for you because we all know how crazy it can get in a household of six men, and we figure there might be times you’re gonna want a refuge of your own. Although it could eventually become a nursery…if you think…” There was no doubt what he wanted. “Just in case I’m not being clear here,” Sam continued, all the love he felt for her in his low, husky voice. “I’m asking you to marry me, Kate, as soon as possible.”
Kate looked into Sam’s eyes and saw their future stretching out happily in front of them. She’d had doubts before. She had none now. She knew he was the man for her, the only man for her. Her dad had been right—her heart was telling her what to do. “Oh, Sam.” Kate’s heart filled with joy as they kissed. Contentment unlike anything she’d ever felt before swept through her, and her soul filled with optimism for the days and weeks and years ahead. She knew there would be hard times. But she also knew there was nothing they couldn’t handle as long as she and Sam were together. Smiling, she told him exactly what he wanted to hear. “My answer is yes.”