“Mom. I’m open. Throw it to me.”
Arms waving frantically, fourteen-year-old Megan galloped coltlike toward a space between two lilac bushes, otherwise known as the end zone.
In an all-out sprint, football tucked against her side, Julianna glanced behind her. Her pulse rate, already in overdrive, shot up another notch. Tate and his partner, five-year-old Nathaniel, bore down upon her like two raging bulls, one with a pronounced limp and the other on chubby, baby legs. Both wore identical expressions—determination and glee.
With a squealing laugh, Julianna let the football fly, then raced toward her daughter, trying her level best to block the two oncoming McIntyre males.
“Touchdown!” Megan shouted, thrusting the ball high overhead. Then, in a crazy celebration dance, she wobbled her knees and spiked the ball between her legs. Julianna arrived and the ladies jumped skyward in a fancy high-five. “We finally did it! We won!”
Tate and Nathaniel loped up beside them.
“Pretty good catch, Miss America.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Megan slapped him a high-five. “I had a great coach.”
Julianna treasured the besotted expression that crossed Tate’s face every time his daughter called him Dad. Megan had been overjoyed to discover that the man she already loved was her real father.
“How about another game?”
“Yeah,” Nathaniel said, chubby hands on his knees in imitation of his father. “We want ’venge.”
“That’s revenge, squirt,” Megan said, tossing him the ball.
“Vengeance will have to be deferred to a later date, guys.” Julianna patted her heaving chest. “I’m beat.”
“Awww.” Nathaniel’s full lower lip protruded in disappointment. Big blue eyes batted up at them. Julianna held back the laugh. Her baby boy, as darkly handsome as his father, already knew the power of his male charm.
“Hey, squirt. Come on.” Megan looped a comradely arm over the much shorter child’s shoulders. “The two of us can play something.” Green eyes twinkling toward her parents, she bent low and whispered loudly. “Old people have to rest a lot.”
“Yeah. Old people have to rest a lot.” The boy perked up. “Will you push me on my bicycle?”
Nathaniel was learning to ride without training wheels. For the last three days, Megan had served as his official safety net, running alongside him with one hand on the back of the seat while his short legs pumped madly.
“Sure. Race you to the porch.” And off they went, Megan’s long, athletic legs holding back, while her little brother ran with tight-fisted determination. At the last minute, Megan sprinted alongside him, making it a race to the finish, but letting him win in the end.
The two adults crossed the sunlit yard much more slowly, hands entwined. A hummingbird whirred overhead, then darted toward a crimson hibiscus.
“Where do they get all that energy?” Breathless, Julianna plopped down onto the shaded front steps and shoved back the hair pulling loose from her ponytail.
Tate landed beside her, flopping backward to lie on the cool concrete. Sweat rings circled the underarms of his tank top. “Wherever they get it, it’s a wonderful thing.”
“Yes, it is, Sheriff. Who would have thought five years ago that we’d have two gorgeous, healthy kids running around in our backyard?” For indeed, Megan had passed her five-year checkup with flying colors and had been pronounced “cured” of the deadly leukemia.
“Who’d have thought we’d even have a backyard—together?”
Her heart lifted in pure wonder at the amazing changes the last five years had brought. “No kidding.”
The newest stray dog ambled up and shoved in for some attention. Absently, Julee gave his ears a rub. “Mom called today.”
“How’re they doing?” Beverly and Eugene had married two weeks after Julianna had announced her intention to remain in Blackwood.
“Eugene’s retiring next month. They’re buying a Winnebago.”
“Get out of here.”
She laughed. “They want to travel. See the country. They’ll come through here and leave an extra key to the house for me to use whenever I’m there.” She’d long since sold the condo and had Eugene invest the profits, staying with Beverly and Eugene on her occasional trips into L.A. “Which won’t be too often now.”
“I like this Dallas thing.” Tate propped up on one elbow and trailed his fingers over her bare calf. “Do you?”
She’d recently switched to an agency in Dallas where she could do more catalog modeling. The money wasn’t as good, but the drive to Dallas from Blackwood was short enough that she could come home every night. Now that Megan was well, the need for large contracts no longer pressed, but the need to be in Blackwood with her family did. Tate had been right when he’d insisted they would make it somehow.
“Yes, I do. Working out of Dallas leaves me more time for you guys and to work on my new job.” The pleasure of accomplishment warmed her. With Tate’s help and encouragement, she’d begun working part-time as campaign organizer for several political candidates, a job she relished.
“You know something, McIntyre? Life is just about perfect. Thanks to you.”
He sat up then, looped an arm around her neck and pulled her to him. “Nope. All the thanks go to you. My life was an empty, workaholic shell before you stormed into Blackwood demanding my blood and my baby.”
“You still work too hard.” Though he organized his work much better to allow for family, Tate remained the adored sheriff, giving of his time and energy to Seminole County.
“Yeah, but I’m not empty anymore. You fill me up, Julee. Those kids fill me up. I never knew I could be so happy.”
Julee stroked his bristled cheek. Love and joy and thankfulness welled inside her. “Oh, my sweet, sweet husband. You have no idea how you complete me. How you helped me believe in skills I didn’t even realize I had. How you made me secure when I was so afraid. And of course, our babies. Our precious, beautiful babies.” She sighed. “We should have had a dozen.”
“What do you mean should have?” Tate brought his face in line with hers, green eyes dancing mischievously. “I’ll give you all the babies you want, woman. Just say when.”
Pleasure warmed her. She’d been thinking about it a lot lately. “So, you’re willing to make another baby with me, huh?”
A gleam she’d come to love leaped into his green, green eyes. A responding excitement stirred in her veins.
“Willing.”
He gave his eyebrows two sexy pumps.
“Ready.”
Playfully, he body-slammed her onto the concrete porch.
“And very able.” He kissed her.
Her laughter disappeared inside Tate’s warm, loving mouth. The fire, so easily ignited, flamed to life.
“Mommy. Daddy. Look!” Nathaniel’s excited cry jolted them both upright.
“Hold that thought.” Tate laughed wryly, then gave her one last promising kiss. “Unless I miss my guess, some monumental event has just transpired in our son’s life.”
“He’s riding by himself.” Megan trotted alongside the bicycle, hands off. “It’s a miracle.”
“Yes, a miracle.” And so are you. Julianna watched, heart full. Both of you. She slid an arm around her husband’s waist and rested her head upon his heart. All of you.
For indeed, Megan’s miracle had become a miracle for them all.