get sick. Maybe no abnormalities will show up in his blood or anywhere else." Tenderly, she caressed his cheek with her free hand. "I love you, Micah. Nothing will change that."
Oblivious to the fact that they weren't alone, Micah leaned across the seat and kissed her deeply, possessively. "And I love you," he whispered.
"Hey, that's enough, you two," came a low voice from the seat behind them. "Save it until you get home."
"Oh, Dad, don't be such a prude," Lainey retorted. Glancing over the back of the seat, she made a face at her father. "We're on our honeymoon, for goodness sake."
"Yeah, yeah," Ralph grumbled good-naturedly.
"Leave them alone," Dolores scolded, shifting the baby onto her shoulder, "or I'll tell Micah how you behaved onour wedding day."
Lainey grinned as a dull red flush crept up her father's neck. "Tell, Mom," she urged.
"Don't you dare, Margaret Dolores Maria Forrester St. John."
"Mom, you're not going to let him bully you!"
Dolores nodded. "I am when he usesthat tone, and calls me Margaret."
"Chicken."
"Guilty as charged," Dolores said, laughing.
Shaking her head with mock disappointment, Lainey settled back in her seat again.
"I'll find out one way or another," she muttered, resting her head on Micah's shoulder.
Micah breathed in the scent of her hair, a little bewildered by the relationship between Lainey and her parents. There was respect, but there was also a sense of playfulness that disturbed him even though he found it charming. Would he have that same kind of easy, caring relationship with his son?
Lowering his head, he pressed a kiss to Lainey's hair, wondering if they would have other children, perhaps a daughter with Lainey's beautiful black hair and earth-brown eyes. Maybe another son.
He was still surprised by the powerful emotions that had boiled up inside him the first time he held his son. Were such feelings abnormal, and if not, why did the people of Xanthia agree to let others raise their children? Why would anyone deny himself the joy of holding his offspring, the sense of wonder, of awe, that came from cradling a newborn child? It was beyond comprehension.
And if he had felt the bond of fatherhood so strongly, what must the bond of motherhood be like for Lainey, who had carried the child within her body, gone through pain he could not begin to imagine to give his son life?
His heart swelled with love for this woman who was now his wife as he contemplated all she had gone through since she met him. He knew that if he spent his whole life trying, he could never repay her for her love, her trust.
Part One Chapter Twenty-Six
As it had once before, their life fell into a routine. Lainey started plotting her next book, then spent a week going over the galleys of her last story.
Micah insisted on taking care of her, refusing to let her do too much at one time, insisting she needed to rest more and work less. He did the cooking. He learned how to run the washer and dryer. He even ventured out to do the marketing. One afternoon, when he had sent her off to take a nap, Lainey had informed him that it was a good thing she had her writing to occupy her, since he spent so much time looking after the baby. Another time, she had laughingly accused him of being jealous that she was breastfeeding, because that was one thing he couldn't do for her.
And yet, it was heartwarming to watch him with their son. She remembered what he had said about life on Xanthia, about how children were raised away from their parents, and she wondered how this man, this gentle, loving man, would have been able to endure being parted from his son forever when he could barely stand being away from Mike for more than an hour or so.
Her parents came over often, always with a present for Mike, until the nursery began to look like a toy store.
After six weeks of being treated like an invalid, Lainey rebelled. Insisting that she felt fine, she arranged to have her mother babysit, made reservations at an expensive restaurant down by the beach, bought a new dress, and dragged Micah out of the house, intent on a romantic evening.
"Are you sure you feel up to this?" Micah asked as Lainey backed the car out of the driveway.
"I'm sure I'll go crazy if I don't get out of the house. Honestly, Micah," Lainey said, seeing the doubt on his face, "I