Page 163 of Delivery After Dark
“I’m making dinner for Shane and Katie. She’s not feeling well.”
“Is the baby okay?”
More kisses to her neck and lips that made her stupid in the head. “I, uh… Uh-huh. She has a UTI.”
“Ouch.”
“Hey, Owen?”
“Yeah?”
“This, right here… It’s all magic.”
“Even the screaming kids?”
“All of it.”
“For me, too.”
“Don’t ever think that I don’t feel that every day, okay?”
“I never would. Don’t worry. So our Piper is moving out, huh?”
“That’s what she said.”
“Good for her—and Jack.”
Laura made a pout face. “But no more Hot Cop in uniform every morning.”
Owen gave her a light spank on the rear. “I’m in the room.”
“I guess I’ll have to focus on my own hot man going forward.”
“I have to get me a uniform. Gotta keep my wife’s attention on me.”
“You have her full attention, as you well know. Hot Cop is a hobby. You’re my whole life.”
“And you’re mine.” He kissed her again and let her go to tend to kids who were beginning to melt down. Over his shoulder, he said, “Meet me at bedtime for a little magic, okay?”
“I’ll be there.”
* * *
Hope Martinez found her husband, Paul, sitting on the front porch as snow flurries danced in the frigid air. She handed him the mug of hot chocolate she’d made for him with the little marshmallows he liked on top because they reminded him of his mother.
She zipped her coat and sat in the rocker next to him. “What’re you thinking about out here in the cold?”
“My mom loved this porch.” They now lived in the house his parents had called home for more than forty years. “It was her favorite spot, even when it was freezing.”
“I remember. It’s where I first met her.”
“That’s right. The porch was such a blessing to us during the worst of times. She was always happy out here.”
“It’s where I’ll always picture her when I think of her.”
He glanced over at her. “Thank you for your support through it all. I’m not sure I would’ve survived it without you, Ethan and Scarlett. Alex, Jenny and George, too.”
“I was thinking earlier how you two have built beautiful families for yourselves during the worst thing you’ve ever been through. That sorrow and joy have coexisted in this family for years now, and it’s the joy that’ll sustain us.”
