Summer's Distant Heart - Laura Landon Page 0,44

his father.

He reached a hand to take hers. “Come here, my love. You’re too far away.” She responded to his gentle pull and laid her head on his chest, but not before marking his heart with the softest of kisses.

“I shall never be more distant than this, my dearest love.”

He felt her smile as her cheek tugged against his skin. And he agreed.

“Never.”

Epilogue

Hunter paced the study floor waiting for Lia to present him with another son or daughter. He looked toward the door when it opened and saw Frannie enter with the children. Aunt Mildred was not far behind. She’d come to be with Lia for the birth of their third child.

“Papa!” young George cried out as he ran to Hunter. He was four already and reminded Hunter more of Evan every day. His hair was the same burnt gold that had crowned Evan’s head and he’d been blessed with the same adorable curls that Evan had always hated, but all the females loved.

Then, there was Charlotte, Hunter and Lia’s firstborn. She would be three in a few short months, born exactly nine months after they were married. She ran to him with her arms outstretched, calling out to him. Hunter scooped her up as he always did.

“The children wanted to come down to see you before they went to bed. I told them you would have a surprise for them when they woke in the morning,” Aunt Mildred said, trying to keep up with the rambunctious duo.

“Is it Christmas, Papa?” Charlotte asked. “We only get presents at Christmas and on our birthdays. And none of us have our birthdays tomorrow.”

“No, it’s not Christmas,” Hunter said placing her on his knee. “But your present will have his or her birthday tomorrow.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” George said. “How can our present have a birthday tomorrow?”

“Because your present will be born tomorrow,” Hunter answered. “It will be his birthday.”

“Is it a puppy?” Charlotte asked, jumping from his lap to the floor.

Hunter couldn’t help but laugh. “No, it’s better than a puppy.”

“What’s better than a puppy?” Charlotte asked.

“A new brother or sister, that’s what.”

“But I’d rather have a puppy,” Charlotte said with a frown that puckered her sweet cherub lips.

Hunter laughed, then gave his daughter a hug.

“Is that where Mama is?” George asked. “Did she go to buy our new brother or sister?”

“Yes,” Hunter answered. “That’s exactly where she went, to get your new brother or sister.”

“I wish she would have asked us first,” George said. “I’d have told her to get me a brother. I like brothers every so much more than sisters.”

“I’ll wager Charlotte doesn’t agree with you,” Miles said from across the room.

“But you like boys better don’t you, Uncle Miles?”

Miles gave Hunter a wink. “When you get to my age, George, you’ll realize you like girls better.”

“Yuck,” George said. “Girls are bossy. Boys are more fun to play with.”

“Well, some day you’ll outgrow playing and that’s when girls are more fun.”

“That’s enough education for one night, Miles. Your sister won’t thank you for putting such ideas into her children’s heads.”

“Very well,” Miles said, then rose to his feet and held out his hands. “First one to reach me gets to go up the stairs on my shoulders.”

Charlotte was the first to reach their Uncle Miles and he put her on his shoulders and let George ride on his back. Frannie followed close behind.

“I think I’ll go up. The doctor said it won’t be long now,” Aunt Mildred said.

Hunter watched Lia’s aunt go up the stairs and went back to his study to wait. This was the worst part of having children. The waiting. The worry. Knowing that Lia was going through unimaginable pain while he was spared the agony.

He poured himself a tumbler of brandy and drank it slowly. Miles returned shortly after and sat with him to offer moral support. But there was something about the waiting that no amount of moral support could make better.

It wasn’t until Hunter heard the cry of his child that he ran up the stairs to be with his wife.

“Are you alright, sweetheart?” he asked when he entered their bedroom. He knelt at his wife’s bedside and looked at the bundle in her arms

“I want you to meet your new son, Hunt.”

“A son?”

“Yes.”

Lia pulled away the blanket so Hunter could see the babe’s face. He wasn’t beautiful. No newborn was, he’d come to believe. But he was a miracle.

“I love you, sweetheart,” he said kissing his wife on the forehead. “More than