“Thank you for the advice,” he said. Despite the impossibility of it, he was touched she was concerned about his future. “Good night, Samantha. Sweet dreams.”
She gave a raw-sounding laugh that somehow matched everything he was feeling inside, then slipped into her house.
He watched her go, knowing his own dreams that night would be filled with the scent and taste and wonder of Samantha Fremont.
CHAPTER TWELVE
SHE DIDN’T SEE Ian for several days after the dinner with his family and the revelations and heated kisses that followed.
It was for the best, she told herself. She was too busy right now to worry about her growing feelings for him.
The puppies had unfortunately discovered they could chew things other than their toys and each other’s tails. The wooden knobs on her mother’s dresser had been catastrophes, as had the edging of one of the old blankets she had put into their playroom.
She was trying to finish Margaret’s dress. In addition, two more brides—one from Shelter Springs and one from clear over in Meridian—had come to the shop requesting custom wedding dresses. This brought her current orders for the next six months to eleven, a number that filled her with panic whenever she thought of it.
By Thursday, she wanted to climb into her bed, pull the covers over her head and block out the world. Instead, she came home from work and hurried to finish the vegetable tray she was taking to Eliza Caine’s house.
Eliza was hosting a party at Snow Angel Cove that night, a shower for Gemma Summerhill.
She considered two social events in one week about two too many with her plate so overflowing, but since she loved Gemma, she would make it work.
As she walked to the back terrace of Snow Angel Cove a short time later with her gift in one hand and the vegetable tray in the other, she looked around at all the friends gathered and decided the effort in this case was more than worth it.
A chorus of hellos greeted her arrival, each one buoying her more. Katrina immediately came over to take the vegetable tray from her and hand her a glass of wine.
“I need you to drink this,” she said under her breath. “I’m not ready to tell everyone about the baby yet, but I couldn’t figure out how to refuse when McKenzie handed it to me.”
“Sure. I’ll take one for Team Callahan.”
“You’re definitely the godmother,” Katrina said, grinning as Sam took the wineglass from her.
The Helping Hands had outdone themselves on the decorations. A huge balloon arch greeted those coming to the shower and six round tables all held more balloons and luxurious-looking flowers.
“I can take your present to the pile,” Katrina offered, and Sam handed over the machine-embroidered pillowcases she had made for Gemma and Josh, then made her way to the circle of women who were chatting about their summer plans.
She found an empty chair next to Charlene Bailey, who beamed with pleasure when she spotted her.
“Oh, Samantha. I’ve been thinking of you this week. How are you doing, honey?”
It took her a moment to register why Charlene would be looking at her with concern. Her mother’s birthday would have been the week before. Of course Charlene would remember that. She was always the first to keep birthdays and anniversaries in mind.
“Better,” she said, which was mostly the truth, even as she suddenly had to blink away tears.
Katrina’s mother had always been the warm and loving mom Sam had dreamed of when she was a girl. Charlene was kind, supportive, fun. Sam had been drawn to the Bailey home through much of her childhood, probably because of that.
Oh, Charlene wasn’t the perfect mom. Far from it. She had actually been a little suffocating of Katrina because of the epileptic seizures her friend had suffered from when she was younger. Still, Charlene had always opened their home to Sam and treated her like another of her children.
The family had not been untouched by tragedy. First Katrina’s older brother, Wyatt, had died in a winter storm after being hit by a car while working as a state highway patrolman. Then the family patriarch, John Bailey, the longtime police chief of Haven Point, had been gravely injured in a shootout, leaving him with severe disabilities for the short remainder of his life.
The two surviving brothers, Marshall and Elliot, and Katrina and her sister, Wynona, had become closer than ever through those hardships. She deeply admired the strength they had demonstrated and wished she could emulate