between them, feelings she had thus far refused to acknowledge.
Don’t, he warned himself. Don’t start wishing for things that weren’t part of the bargain. If he did and Sharon Lynn could never live up to his expectations, if she could never let herself love him the way he loved her, then their marriage—however long it lasted—would be hell.
No, he had to take this one day at a time, just as he’d vowed to her he would. And every day he’d have to pray just a little harder that she’d learn to love him as deeply as he loved her. Perhaps then he’d finally be able to tell her that for him their marriage had never been just about the baby.
* * *
Sharon Lynn awoke on her wedding day with sunlight streaming in through her bedroom window and the aroma of cinnamon buns coming from the kitchen. She and the baby had spent the night at her parents’ house at White Pines, just as she had on the night before her wedding to Kyle.
She closed her eyes and leaned back against the mound of pillows, trying to remember how she’d felt that day. It was funny, though. The memories hadn’t faded, but the sharp, bittersweet feelings had. Cord was responsible for that. He was giving her a whole slew of new and tangled emotions to deal with, starting with this odd little flutter of anticipation deep in her belly.
She glanced over toward Ashley’s crib and was surprised to find her gone. Obviously her mother had slipped into the room and taken her downstairs to feed her in order to give Sharon Lynn more time to prepare for her wedding.
The ceremony was scheduled for eleven. It was barely eight now and she had the luxury of rolling over and going back to sleep if she chose.
Or so she’d thought. Pounding on her bedroom door suggested otherwise.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Lizzy and Jenny called out as they opened the door. Dani was right on their heels.
“Shouldn’t you all be home with your husbands?” she grumbled as they surrounded her on the bed and waved a freshly baked cinnamon roll under her nose.
“That’s a fine welcome, when we’ve come bearing gifts,” Dani retorted, turning over not only the pastry, but a small, flat package that weighed next to nothing.
“I thought we’d agreed there would be no presents,” Sharon Lynn said, even as she regarded the gift with curiosity.
“These aren’t presents, exactly,” Lizzy explained, dropping her own offering into Sharon Lynn’s lap. “They’re tradition. Something old, something new, etcetera.”
“Don’t open them yet,” Jenny warned. “Not till your mom gets up here. She’s finishing up with the baby. That child does like to eat.”
“She has a perfectly normal, healthy appetite,” Sharon Lynn said defensively.
“Oh, don’t mind her,” Lizzy retorted. “She’s just trying to stir up trouble. It’s second nature to her. You would have thought marriage and a couple of kids would have settled her down, but it hasn’t happened. If you ask me, Chance hasn’t done nearly enough to tame her.”
“You should talk,” Jenny shot back. “Hank spoils you rotten, just the way Daddy did.”
“Ladies, ladies,” Dani soothed, in her traditional role of peacemaker between the sisters. “Let’s not forget what day this is. We shouldn’t be upstaging the bride with all this petty bickering.”
Just then her mother rushed into the bedroom, looking harried, with Ashley already sound asleep in her arms. “Have I missed anything?”
“We waited,” Dani told her. She gestured toward the package she’d put in Sharon Lynn’s lap. “Open that one first. It’s something blue.”
Sharon Lynn dutifully shook the box, then took her time about removing the fancy white paper and neatly tied bow.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, hurry up,” Jenny urged. “We don’t have all day.”
“This is her party,” Lizzy reminded her.
Sharon Lynn removed the top from the box, lifted the tissue paper and gasped. The bikini panties inside were indeed blue. They were scraps of lace and not much else. She flushed with embarrassment, even as she had a vivid image of Cord’s likely reaction to them. To bad he wasn’t going to see them, she thought with genuine regret.
“Cord ought to love those,” Jenny proclaimed as if she’d read Sharon Lynn’s mind.
“Any red-blooded male would love those,” Lizzy agreed. “And Cord is all that.”
“Girls, there is a mother present,” Melissa Adams reminded them, reaching for the panties. “Hmm, I wonder if your father...”
Sharon Lynn stared at her in shock. “Mom!”
“All right, Melissa,” Jenny enthused. “No wonder Cody never takes his eyes