Do you take this rebel - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,75

about a little mud. We’re celebrating the fact that she’s just gotten a clean bill of health after five years. She’s a survivor, Cassie. Nothing else matters.” His grin turned wicked. “Besides, I think the doctor is long past being shocked by anything we do. He’s been asking her to marry him for the past four years. Clearly he’s accepted the whole package.”

Cassie still couldn’t get over her mother’s long-distance courtship with the surgeon in Denver who’d saved her life. It was the happiest she’d seen her mom in years.

Of course, she was still declining his proposal for reasons that eluded all of them. Cassie feared it had something to do with her, though her mother flatly refused to talk about it.

“Take your daughter and get cleaned up,” she ordered Cole. “I’ll try to scrub up the picnic table. And if you can pry Jake away from his computer, I’d appreciate it.”

“Don’t spoil my cakes, Mommy,” Jenny pleaded, eyes bright with tears. “They’re for Grandma.”

Cassie sighed and went outside. A few minutes later her mother and Dr. Foster arrived, followed shortly by Frank Davis and the Calamity Janes. No one seemed the slightest bit dismayed by Jenny’s contribution to the food, least of all Cassie’s mother, who seldom took her gaze away from the doctor, anyway.

“They look blissfully happy, don’t they?” Cassie whispered to Cole.

He grinned. “Not as happy as the two of us, but yes, they do look as if they’re in love.”

“Maybe I should give her a nudge, tell her to marry him.”

“She’s a grown woman. I’m sure she knows her own mind. Maybe our news will help.”

She touched his cheek. “It will certainly reassure her that there are no more bumps in the road for us.”

A few minutes later Cole stood and announced a toast. “First to our mom,” he said. “You’ve proved just what a survivor you are.”

He turned to Cassie. “And to my wife, who is about to make me a father again. Family and friends are what life is all about, and I can’t tell you how grateful we all are to be here together today.”

To Cassie’s dismay her mother looked shaken by the news of the new baby. And Dr. Foster’s expression turned resigned. Cassie crossed the yard and confronted her mother.

“Okay, what is it? You’re not sick again, are you?”

“No, of course not,” her mother said at once. She glanced at the man beside her. “It’s just that we were considering getting married.”

“Mom, that’s fantastic. I couldn’t be happier.”

Her mother shook her head. “No, it’s not possible. You’re having another baby. I have to stay. And what Cole said about family. He’s right. We need to be together.”

“Now, Edna—” the surgeon began.

“Don’t,” her mother said sharply, cutting him off. “This is the way it has to be.”

Cassie exchanged a look with the doctor.

“Okay,” he said finally. “Then I guess we’ll just have to go about this another way. I’ve talked to a few people. I can move my practice to Laramie. I’ll be retiring in a few years, anyway, and this will be a good transition. If need be I can go to Denver and consult if something comes up with one of my patients there.”

Cassie watched her mother’s eyes begin to sparkle.

“You would do that?” Edna said to him. “You would give up your life in Denver?”

He nodded. “I’m a lot like your son-in-law. I know a good woman when I find her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to hang on to her.”

Cole joined them then, his gaze questioning. “A happy ending?”

Cassie looked up at him and nodded. “For all of us,” she whispered. “Definitely a happy ending.”

ISBN: 978-1-4268-5325-8

DO YOU TAKE THIS REBEL?

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*Vows

‡And Baby Makes Three

**The Bridal Path

††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation

◊And Baby Makes Three: The Delacourts of Texas

§The Calamity Janes

††And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation

Do you take this rebel - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,75

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