Page 101 of Winning His Wager

Dylan just stared. The baby was blond and sweet and perfect. And familiar. “That’s… Katie. Baby Katie. How? Why do you have her?”

Glenna smiled. “Because I’m her aunt, Dylan. Her father was my first husband’s youngest brother, Jackson Carnes. They always called him Sonny. Phil and I are going to be keeping Katie with us so she can know her family here, grow up with her cousins. We were in Finley Creek last week, dealing with my former mother-in-law and her attorney. Katie is going to grow up in Masterson County. As a Tyler. Sage gave us a copy of Sonny’s letter, and we wanted you to know—Katie is going to be just fine and you can visit her whenever you want. Be her honorary godmother, the way her father wanted.”

She lowered the baby into Dylan’s good arm. Fletcher reached up to steady the baby’s bottom with his uninjured hand. Dylan just looked at that precious baby, tears sliding down her cheeks. Katie was beautiful. She was safe. And she was going to grow up a Tyler—Katie was going to be okay.

Fletcher kissed her gently half an hour later, when his aunt and uncle left to go pick up their four younger kids at Fletcher’s cousin Pan’s. “You okay?”

“I am awesome right now. Did you know that they were getting her?”

“No. They kept it quiet.” Phil and Glenna had told them they’d been asked a week after what had happened to Katie’s father if they wanted guardianship of the baby through a kinship placement. Eventually, after the time requirements had been met, they were going to officially adopt her. But Katie would always know where she came from, and that her first parents had really loved her.

It had just taken a bit longer than expected for them to actually get Katie, due to Glenna’s ex-mother-in-law demanding money to let them have her. A Texas judge had gotten involved, in an emergency placement hearing. Phil and Glenna had kept everything quiet until they knew for sure what was going to happen. But all that was settled now.

Katie was going to be fine. She’d found a home in Masterson County. As Fletcher pulled her closer on his lap, Dylan knew she finally had, too.

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