His Best Friend's Baby (20 page)
She gave a husky laugh and rubbed her cheek against his before sitting up. She gripped his hand. “Quinn?”
He cupped her face, the pad of his thumb moving over her lips. “Yeah?”
“Um...I’m wondering if we can wait. It probably sounds stupid, but I’d feel better if it had been a year.”
So she knew she wasn’t like her mother. He almost groaned.
“We can wait.” It might kill him, but he could do it. “Maybe we’d both feel better.”
Relief and regret in equal measure flooded her face. “Oh, Quinn, I love you so much. I didn’t know I could be so happy.” She grabbed his hand and jumped up. “Let’s go tell Jessie!”
He let her pull him along. He felt stunned. Incredible. He hadn’t hit the top of the bounce yet.
She was his. Jessie was his.
I love you
wasn’t that hard to say, after all. Maybe trusting in forever would come, too.
* * *
S
EVEN
WEEKS
LATER
, on the anniversary of Dean’s death, they took flowers to his grave. Jessie, carried by Quinn in the sling, looked solemnly around at the bronze plaques embedded in the grass.
Quinn didn’t know whether Mindy silently asked for Dean’s blessing. He guessed he did, even though he didn’t expect an answer.
A month after that, they got married in a small ceremony in a white-steepled church a mile from Quinn’s house, George, Nancy and Mindy’s mother all smiling and crying in the front pew. A fair number of Seattle’s finest filled the rest of the church.
That night, the little girl he loved like his own asleep in her crib down the hall, his wife in his arms, Quinn felt whole for the first time in his life.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781459245464
Copyright © 2012 by Janice Kay Johnson
Originally published as WITH CHILD
Copyright © 2005 by Janice Kay Johnson
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