The M Word (18 page)

Brenda watched as Marius expertly cradled
Gina in his arms and gently kissed her fuzzy head.

He was a good father. Kind and loving, yet
stern when necessary. Brenda could hear their two eldest children
Charles and Sophia whispering in the seats behind them. They spoke
in Polish, considering it their secret language. Brenda spoke
Polish now, as well, although with an atrocious accent that made
them laugh.

The middle children, Peter and Antonia, sat
across the aisle, coloring pages with the nanny Cinzia. Since
Marius was debuting at La Scala in two months, they both had
thought it would be good for the children to learn more
Italian.

What an international family we’ve become,
Brenda thought. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she and
Marius had five children. Her first pregnancy had been difficult,
but the ones that followed had been easier, with only mild nausea.
“That’s because I was there,” Marius liked to tease her.

And it was true. Other than for short
business trips, they tried to keep the family together, which made
everyone happier. And since she homeschooled the children, it was
easy to jump back and forth from the house in Dallas, next door to
Kelly and Lars, to the apartment in New York City. She and Kelly
talked several times a week, but now it was often through the
internet instead of in each others’ kitchens. Kelly and Lars had
three children and were still very happy together.

Brenda glanced at Marius. Except for a few
gray hairs at his temples, he looked the same as the day she
married him. He still did his stretching exercises and thank
goodness, his vocal cords were free of nodes.

Neither of them were perfect, and like all
marriages, they had their occasional trials. Her mother-in-law was
still annoying, but her attitude seemed to soften with the birth of
each grandchild, so that relationship was improving.

Overall, her arranged marriage had worked out
very well, indeed.

He saw her looking at him and smiled briefly.
“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said lightly. “Just that I
love you.”

He smiled. “Moje serce.”

My heart
.

THE END

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

I hope you enjoyed
The M Word
. Years
ago, when I first had the idea of an opera singing hero,
traditional romance publishers weren’t accepting novels with
artistic or athletic heroes. I thought that was overly restrictive,
but that’s the way it was. That’s one of the reasons I’m very happy
to be an indie publisher. Now all my quirky heroes can find
love.

If you’re one of the twenty people who first
purchased
Forgotten Honeymoon
(Book One in my Best Friends
Wedding Series), you may have noticed that Marius had a name
change. I had to change his last name to Jaworski because my
original choice actually belonged to a Polish soccer player. Thank
you, Google.

If you’re interested in reading more of my
books, you might like
Baby Comes First
or
Her Ex Next
Door
.

My blog is
www.beverlyfarr.com
. I discuss
sweet romantic movies and books.

I love hearing from readers and you can email
me:
[email protected]

One last note

If you enjoyed this book, please consider
writing a review where you bought it. I’d greatly appreciate
it.

Thanks.

Beverly

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