Page 59 of The Cowboy Comes Home

“What’s that?”

“Ew. Some vegetable thing. I didn’t like it.”

“We’ll pass then. How about the soup there?”

“It’s kinda hot for soup,” Jeremy said.

“Can’t argue that. Hey, watermelon!”

“And it’s good,” Jeremy crowed. “And if we just have a little, there’ll be enough left for dad ’n’ Nic.”

Emily couldn’t even describe the feeling it gave her to watch these two. She’d already known Tucker took his role as surrogate uncle more seriously than many who were related by blood, and his comment about it being by choice made her like him even more.

They were all three diving into the indeed sweet, luscious watermelon when Jeremy suddenly slowed his fork down. He looked at the half of the melon they’d left, ready to go back in the fridge, then back at the slice on his plate. Then he looked up at Tucker.

“C’n I ask you something, Uncle T?”

“Always.”

“My dad and Nic are gonna get married.”

“They are,” Tucker said, with a smile. But when Jeremy poked at his plate again, he tilted his head slightly. “Are you…unhappy about that?”

“No! I just…” The boy finally looked up. “I don’t know what to call her. After they get married, I mean. She’s not…”

“She’s not your mom,” Tucker said gently.

Jeremy lowered his gaze and almost whispered, “Yeah.”

Tucker reached out and put a hand on the child’s shoulder. “She knows that too, buddy. I don’t think she’d expect you to call her Mom. But you know what I do think?” Jeremy looked up, shaking his head. “I think you should ask her what she’d like you to call her.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened.

“She’s not hard to talk to, is she?” Tucker asked.

“No.”

“Then I’ll bet together you two can come up with the perfect name. Like Nicole the Great, or Queen Nic.”

Jeremy laughed. “I don’t think she’d like that.”

“Then you already know her well enough to pick something out.”

Jeremy was smiling widely now. And he dug back into his watermelon, problem apparently solved. With the help of the uncle he was lucky enough have by choice.

It wasn’t until they were gathering up the dishes that Emily was able to get close enough to say softly, “Well done, Mr. Culhane.”

That made him smile. And she couldn’t resist. She stretched up and kissed his cheek. His eyes widened in apparent shock.

But the smile stayed.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Hope you savedus some of that watermelon.”

Jackson’s unmistakable voice rang out from the doorway, and they all turned to look. It really was amazing how the man seemed to fill a room with his presence. And Emily had the feeling he’d had the knack long beforeStonewallhad made him a household name.

“We did, Dad,” Jeremy explained, abandoning the last couple of bites of the bright red treat and running toward his father, who caught him and pulled him up into a big hug.

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