Page 2 of Megan's Mate
“Why aren’t they here yet?”
“Because it takes time for people to get off the plane and out the gate.”
“How come it’s called a gate?” Jenny wanted to know. “It doesn’t look like a gate.”
“I think they used to have gates, so they still call them that.” It was the best Suzanna could come up with after a frazzling half hour at the airport with three children in tow.
Then the baby cooed and made her smile.
“Look, Mom! There they are!”
Before Suzanna could respond, Alex had broken away and made a beeline toward Kevin, Jenny hot on his heels. She winced as they barely missed plowing into other passengers, then she raised a resigned hand to wave at Megan.
“Hi!” Alex, having been schooled in airport procedure by his mother, manfully took Kevin’s carry-on. “I’m supposed to take this ’cause we’re picking you up.” It bothered him a little that, even though his mother claimed he was growing like a weed, Kevin was still taller.
“Have you still got the fort?”
“We got the one at the big house,” Alex told him. “Andwe got a new one at the cottage. We live at the cottage.”
“With our dad,” Jenny piped up. “We got new names and everything. He can fix anything, and he built me a new bedroom.”
“It has pink curtains,” Alex said with a sneer.
Knowing a brawl was dangerously close, Suzanna neatly stepped between her two children. “How was your flight?” She bent down, kissed Kevin, then straightened to kiss Megan.
“It was fine, thanks.” Megan still didn’t know quite how to respond to Suzanna’s easy affection. There were still times she wanted to shout,I slept with your husband. Don’t you understand? Maybe he wasn’t your husband yet, and I didn’t know he would be, butfacts are facts. “A little delayed,” she said instead. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“Hours,” Alex claimed.
“Thirty minutes,” Suzanna corrected with a laugh. “How about the rest of your stuff?”
“I had it shipped. This is it for now.” Megan tapped her garment bag. Unable to resist, she peeked down at the bright-eyed baby in Suzanna’s arms. He was all pink and smooth, with the dark blue eyes of a newborn and a shock of glossy black hair. She felt the foolish smile that comes over adults around babies spread over her face as he waved an impossibly small fist under her nose.
“Oh, he’s beautiful. So tiny.”
“He’s three weeks old,” Alex said importantly. “His name is Christian.”
“’Cause that was our great-grandfather’s name,” Jenny supplied. “We have new cousins, too. Bianca and Cordelia—but we call her Delia—and Ethan.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Everybody had babies.”
“He’s nice,” Kevin decided after a long look. “Is he my brother, too?”
“Absolutely,” Suzanna said, before Megan could respond. “I’m afraid you’ve got an awfully big family now.”
Kevin gave her a shy look and touched a testing finger to Christian’s waving fist. “I don’t mind.”
Suzanna smiled over at Megan. “Want to trade?”
Megan hesitated a moment, then gave in. “I’d love to.” She cradled the baby while Suzanna took the garment bag. “Oh, Lord.” Unable to resist, she nuzzled. “It’s easy to forget how tiny they are. How wonderful they smell. And you...” As they walked through the terminal, she took a good look at Suzanna. “How can you look so terrific, when you had a baby only three weeks ago?”
“Oh, bless you. I’ve been feeling like such a frump. Alex, no running.”
“Same goes, Kevin. How’s Sloan taking to fatherhood?” Megan wanted to know. “I hated not coming out when Mandy had the baby, but with selling the house and getting things in order to make the move, I just couldn’t manage it.”
“Everyone understood. And Sloan’s a terrific daddy. He’d have Delia strapped on his back twenty-four hours a day if Amanda let him. He designed this incredible nursery for the babies. Window seats, cubbyholes, wonderful built-in cupboards for toys. Delia and Bianca share it, and when C.C. and Trent are in town—which, since The Retreat opened, is more often than not—Ethan’s in there, too.”
“It’s wonderful that they’ll all grow up together.” She looked at Kevin, Alex and Jenny, thinking as much about them as about the babies.
