He was sure the McKees, in particular, had called the house and been worried when no one answered.

Ellen McKee burst into happy tears at the news then handed the phone to her husband who had a hard time controlling his own emotions. Jake and Lindsey could barely contain their excitement. Cole told everyone, when they asked, that they could check on his family in the morning. His family! What a nice ring that had to it.

Both Tara and Molly were still sleeping when he returned to the room. Torn between finding a place next to his daughter or his wife, he finally solved his problem by moving the crib even closer to Tara's bed. Situating himself in the chair, he reached out one hand to touch Molly and placed the other on Tara's arm. He sat for a long time, his heart so full he thought it would burst. At last, the specter of Maggie had been chased away.

When Tara opened her eyes, light was pouring in through the window, the sun casting shadows against the wall. She turned her head and smiled at what she saw. Cole was slumped in the chair between the bed and the crib, rumpled and unshaven. One hand rested on her arm and one of his large fingers was clasped tightly in Molly's tiny ones. The little girl was still sleeping, but Tara could see her breathing was even and regular and her color much better.

She shifted a little, and Cole came awake at once.

"Are you all right?" He lifted his hand from her arm and rubbed his eyes. "How do you feel?"

"Better, I think. How's Molly?"

"Pretty good. She woke once during the night. I think her arm was bothering her, so they gave her some baby aspirin. That's why she's still sleeping now."

"Not any more. Take a look."

Molly had her eyes wide open and was trying to sit up. Cole bent over the crib and lifted her gently.

"They showed me how to hold her," he explained. "The bandage on her arm is so big because they want to protect all the st.i.tches. But they took out the IV early this morning, so she can move around better now. They took yours out, too. They said you were pretty well re-hydrated, and you could now take medication by mouth. They want another twenty-four hours, though, to see if you can keep food down."

Cole settled Molly on his lap, taking care with her arm and showered her face with soft kisses. He couldn't take his eyes away from her. He touched her hair, her cheeks, her tiny mouth, kissing her over and over again.

Molly, reveling in the attention, giggled and reached up to pat him with her good hand.

Tara felt tears gathering in her eyes and blinked them away.

"I called Lindsey and Jake and your folks," Cole informed Tara. "And Sean. I figured Nicki's mother would have pa.s.sed the word on the Varner grapevine. And I didn't want your folks to worry when we weren't home, knowing you'd been sick."

"Did you tell them we're fine now?"

"Yes. They said they'd probably come by later today. I expect to see my partner and his wife this morning, though and maybe even Sean."

A nurse's aide bustled in, carrying a tray that she put on the bed table. "Breakfast for the ladies," she called out. "Mrs. Ca.s.sidy, your orders say you should try some weak tea and dry toast.

How's the nausea this morning?"

"Much better," Tara told her. "And I don't feel quite so dizzy." She didn't. The room had settled around her, everything staying in one place even when she moved.

"Good." This from the nurse entering the room. "Here's your morning meds and baby aspirin for your daughter. She'll need this for a few days until the worst of the soreness is gone.

Doctor will send you home with some medication for the nausea, Mrs. Ca.s.sidy, but he wants you to see your obstetrician as soon as possible."

"We'll take care of it right away," Cole stated, his voice firm.

"I'll let you get started on your breakfast." The nurse smiled at Molly. "I'd say you need a highchair to feed this little angel. I'll send one in right away."

Cole shook his head. "I'll hold her on my lap and feed her."

The doctor had put a rush on the preliminary DNA test the night before, and the day seemed to drag by while they waited for the results.

"I'm convinced it's positive," Cole said at one point. "Not a doubt at this point."

"Even if it's not," Tara pointed out, "it won't make a difference."

"It will be positive." Cole's voice was firm and confident. "I just know it."

He helped Tara eat and fed Molly. Then, while Tara dozed, he held the child on his lap, crooning to her, until she, too, fell asleep. He knew he should put her back in the crib, but he couldn't get enough of holding her.

The nurse arrived with the evening medication, and the doctor walked in right on her heels.

"First things first," he said. "I have the results back on the preliminary DNA test." He grinned. "Good thing you said cost didn't matter because I think they charged through the nose to rush it. However, there's no doubt you're Molly's father, Mr. Ca.s.sidy. I hope that pleases you."

Cole could only nod, so gripped by emotion he couldn't speak.

"Well, everyone seems fine here. I'll just check my patients over, but I think both can go home tomorrow."

Finished with his exam of mother and child, he made notes on the chart then told them he was writing discharge orders for the next day. He wanted the two of them there one more night, but they could all go home in the morning.

Cole collapsed back in the chair, still amazed by the turn their life had taken.

Tara, feeling immeasurably better, grinned at him. "Life sure is good, isn't it, daddy?"

"Better than I deserve." He leaned over and kissed his wife firmly on the lips then picked up Molly and sat back in the chair. Nestling the little girl against his chest, he reached for Tara's hand and twined his fingers through hers.

And that's how they were, Cole feeding Molly and Tara sipping at her tea when Jake and Lindsey appeared in the doorway. Tara looked up and saw them and waved them in.

Lindsey came over to the side of the bed and hugged her. "Cole called last night," she said.

"I figured he would. We're fine. Honestly."

"He told us the good news, too. Oh, Tara, we're so very happy for you. For both of you.

It's a shame it took this kind of an emergency to turn things around, but I knew everything would work out sooner or later."

"The best news is we had another DNA test done, and it proves without a doubt that Cole is Molly's father." Tara beamed.

"Oh, my G.o.d," Lindsey gasped. "That is just too much." She kissed her friends soundly, while Jake shook Cole's free hand. Emotion was very thick in the room.

Tara turned her head and looked at Cole, cuddling his daughter. Then she looked at Jake, with his arm around Lindsey, glowing with her own pregnancy. Two of the best friends in the world.

Their marriage might have begun as a bargain, but it had certainly turned out to be a good one for both of them. Tara touched her abdomen where the baby was growing, the child she and Cole had conceived with their love. A new home, a new child and a new life.

And she smiled.

Epilogue.

The scene could have come straight from a painting. The blue Texas sky, dotted with puffs of cloud, was a backdrop for a golden sun. A soft breeze fluttered the leaves on the oaks and sycamore and drew ripples in the little stream. Next to the barn, in a paddock fenced with white split rails, four horses nickered gently as they nuzzled one another. The aroma of hay and horseflesh drifted on the air.

The house of gleaming limestone and weathered wood sat on the crest of the hill. Huge windows, that filled the house with light, reflected the sun.

On the wraparound porch, two cats snoozed on the wide railing, tails curled comfortably around them. In one chair was a large, muscular man in jeans that molded to his strong thighs. A denim shirt accentuated the breadth of his shoulders and on his feet were scuffed boots. A graceful-looking woman sat next to him. Her golden sweater picked up the tawny highlights of her thick coffee-colored hair and soft suede jeans clung tantalizingly to her hips.

The man held a little girl about two years old, her head with its tousled curls nestled happily against his chest. The woman, her hair loose about her face and cascading over her shoulders, held a tiny baby against her body. Her cheek rested against the soft, downy head, her lips pressing against the skin.

They rocked in rhythm, unwilling to disturb their sleeping children. Their faces held a look of total peace and serenity. And a love that was so strong it shut out everyone and everything else. People who saw them envied the strength of what they had.

They sat and rocked as the sun began to dip from the sky and the light of day faded. Their children slumbered peacefully in their arms. They had weathered a difficult journey, but now they had reached nirvana. Life was good.

About the Author.

Desiree Holt has lived a life of excitement that brings the color to her writing. She was a summer fishing guide, a summer field hand where she was one of only three women working, a member of a beginning ski team that skied in compet.i.tion (and no, no broken bones!). She spent several years in the music business representing every kind of artist from country singer to heavy metal rock bands. For several years she also ran her own public relations agency handling any client that interested her. She is twice a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award, a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio, and is published by four different houses. Romance Junkies said of her work: "Desiree Holt is the most amazing erotica author of our time and each story is more fulfilling then the last."

You can find her at www.desireeholt.com and www.desireeholttellsall.com.

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Available from Resplendence Publishing.

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Miranda Ellson graduated from college with a degree in design in one hand and a ticket to London in the other. Ten years, five job changes and three boring, unfulfilling relationships later she's back at WIU to re-connect with old friends, enjoy the campus activities and take a break from...oh who the h.e.l.l is she kidding?

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Smokin' Ace by Regina Carlysle A college reunion and seeing her best agal pals' is just the thing widow and single mom, Chloe Wells needs to put a little oomph back into her boring, routine life. For her, those carefree years and the friendships she made with six other women in the old Victorian were unforgettable and, hey, what's wrong with revisiting a past that was fun and full of laughter? But when she b.u.mps into Michael "Ace" Banner other memories surface. Memories of hot nights and rumpled bed sheets. Memories of the loss of the one man who burned her to ash.

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Neither goes to their 10th college reunion expecting sparks to fly, but when they collide in the airport, painful old memories quickly evaporate to make way for two people desperately needing to scratch 12-year-old itches.

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She thought she would hate him on sight. She didn't. She thought she could walk away. She couldn't. She certainly didn't expect to find herself making out like a madwoman on the hood of a borrowed car in the airport parking ramp. But she did expect one thing...she was not going to walk away again. Not when he was so d.a.m.n good at scratching those itches...

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When shy scientist Karen Sikorski meets up with her college crush, Warner Beckett, sparks fly, but she knows the handsome contractor would never fall for a plain nerd like her. Warner, though, has other ideas. Smart, voluptuous Karen is everything he's ever wanted in a woman, and this time around, he's enough of a grown up to appreciate it. Now all he has to do is convince the lady he really does want her-in every way possible.

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Ten years ago, bad boy Nick hadn't usually looked twice at shy, thrift-store fashion reject Bliss Harper. He just hadn't been able to avoid it when she'd started doing a tabletop, drunken striptease at a frat party the police were raiding. These days Nick's not delivering pizza, he's delivering deals and he's headed to his ten-year college reunion determined to negotiate one night into many with the woman who holds the marker on his heart.

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When the reunion invitation from Karen arrived in her e-mail, her Aunt Mary urged her to take the time to enjoy a little adult time at the reunion.

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Special Agent Dakota Reese has always been too smart for his own d.a.m.n good. Specializing in serial cases, Dakota attends his college reunion at Western Indiana University for what he believes will be a reprieve, only to discover that his life just became much harder...literally, when he see's Lily Sutherland at the grand old Victorian down the street. Dakota and Lily had split amicably ten years prior, each of them marrying for all of the right reasons. Unfortunately, they married someone else, and were now both divorced. There's a natural animosity between the cops and the feebs, but can Lily put their differences aside long enough for her aG Man' to find her g spot and rock her world, forever?

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