Authors: Kathi S. Barton
“She’s getting things set up for us at the house. Are you sure you want her there all the time?” Carter nodded and put his plates in the dishwasher. “I mean, I don’t know her all that well myself.”
“That’s the point.” She asked him what the point was. “For you to get to know her. I mean, you and her have a lot to catch up on. And Max as well. We all do, for that matter, when it comes to getting to know each other. Then there is the baby.”
“You know that I’m not pregnant.” He didn’t say anything back to her. “I mean, that doesn’t mean that we didn’t give it our best shot, but it just wasn’t time, I guess.”
“I think you are.” She shook her head. “I can smell a difference in your scent. Not just that, but you can as well if you try. I think that you’re going to have a baby in about nine months, and I, for one, am thrilled to death.”
Murph would have to find out. And soon. With Max, she’d been sick for most of the first trimester, and she had almost lost him when she’d lost so much weight. This time she wanted to be prepared. Looking at Max when he came into the room, she wondered what he’d think about a little brother or sister and smiled at him.
“What?” She smiled bigger. “You’re scaring me, Mom. What did I do? And I have my list of things ready when you guys are done kissing and stuff.”
“We are as well. And if you go back to your room and pack up what you have, we’ll leave here by lunch. I’m ready to get back home as well.” Carter nodded at them both, and Max took off, whooping it up. Carter followed her into their room and sat on the chair while she pulled out suitcases.
“I love you, Murph. Very much. And our son.” She put her hand on her belly. “That one too, but I was talking about Max. He’s great.”
“He really loves you as well. I was…that really worried me at first.” He said it had him as well. “But you guys get along just great. And no one knows that he’s not yours.”
“I want to adopt him. Give him my last name too.” Murph sat down on the bed hard. “I want you both to think about it. I’ll talk to Max and see what he wants from me. But I’d very much like for him to be my son in all ways.”
She was still sitting there when Carter started pulling clothing out of the drawers. When she finally got up and started to help, Carter made the necessary phone calls to get the house closed back up and cleaned. He had the cleaning crew donate all the food to anywhere they wanted or keep it, and then called for the plane. In two hours they were at the airport.
“My mom is picking us up. Misha and the others are still out.” Max asked him if he was going to join them and Carter shook his head. “They’re nearly ready to come back. It went better than they’d thought it would with Nildale and Nic helping. By the time we get into bed tonight, they’ll be home.”
As soon as they boarded the plane, Carter got a call from Misha. He put it on speaker phone as soon as he said he had to talk to them both. They were going out again and wanted him to join them. Murph wondered if she would as well, but they had to take Max to the house first. Misha asked that she join them as soon as she could.
“It’s bad. Thirty-nine dead and ninety-three missing. It’s going to be a long time before we can rest again.” Murph listened to Misha tell Carter what was going on and Max came to hold her hand.
“You have to go and help.” She nodded. “Grandma will come and get me. You guys just go on in the other plane. I’m going to be fine.”
She didn’t want to but he was right. If anyone was going to be good, it would be her son. Once they told Misha what was going on, he seemed to be relieved. With the two of them helping, he said it might go a good deal faster.
“Thanks, Max.” Misha was so kind to her son that she felt her tears fill her eyes. “You’re a trooper for doing this. I’ll make it up to you. Maybe we can have a really huge birthday party for you, my treat.”
Murph hated to leave him on his own, but she also knew that if she was going to work with the Lanning Search and Rescue that he’d have to be staying on his own. Mostly with his grandmother’s, but she’d not be there. When Carter wrapped his arm around her when they were seated on another plane, she let the tears fall.
“He’ll be great, you know that.” She nodded. “And we’ll be back almost before he misses us. I think he was getting tired of us for a little bit anyway.”
“I know but…he’s almost twelve. I don’t want him to grow up.” Carter laughed and held her. Before long they were in the state of Washington, searching the grounds for any survivors from a plane crash. Murph was glad now that she’d not known that part when she’d let her son take off for home.
Life, while a little on the odd side, wasn’t nearly as stressful as it had been before. Murph thought she might be all right from now on.
Kathi Barton, author of the bestselling series Force of Nature, lives in Nashport, Ohio with her husband Paul. In addition to writing full time Kathi likes to spend time with her eight grandkids, three children and three children-in-laws. She writes to relax and have fun.
Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman brings them to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi on line and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans.
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