“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 I ever thought was possible to love anyone.”
“And I love you,” she answered. “I only wish things had been different and your father could have accepted the gifts he’s been given.”
Hunter smiled, wondering if he should tell her, then deciding that he must.
“Interesting that you should say that, my love. Because Georgie was the recipient of a gift today, although he doesn’t know it yet.”
Lia smiled. “A little brother.”
Hunter took his eyes off his new son long enough to answer his wife’s smile. “A little pony.”
Lia raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I thought we were waiting until he was a bit older for that.”
Hunter shook his head. “It wasn’t from me.”
Now Lia looked puzzled. “Then…”
“My father.”
The two looked at one another in silence.
“Your father gave Georgie a pony? Just like that?”
“Um-hm. Out of the blue.”
Lia sighed as she played with Hunter’s hand that was tangled in the folds of the baby’s blanket.
“So perhaps he’s changing?”
“You mean perhaps he’s grown a heart?”
Lia sighed. “Perhaps.”
Hunter leaned over to kiss his wife and then the babe. “It will take a lot more than a pony to convince me he’s changing.”
Hunter tried to see his father in the positive light Lia had cast upon him. But too many bitter words had left their blistering effect for too long for him to be very eager about it.
“I’ll tell you what. On the day my father comes to Rainwood with hat in hand and an apology on his tongue, that’s the day I’ll consider the remote possibility that the man might be changing.”
“That’s all I ask, my love.” Lia dropped her hand to Hunter’s chest and grasped the buttons of his waistcoat. “Now come here.” She gave a gentle tug. “The mother of your son is in need of a kiss.”
Hunter smiled and felt the wetness that dampened the corner of his eye. For so many years the beautiful picture before him had been too elusive to even consider. But now he was the luckiest of men. Because of her. Because of this beautiful woman who walked into his life on a summer’s day and reshaped his world with hers.
She’d dragged him from doubt to belief, from denial to faith, turning a once distant hope into his forever home.
A half million pages of Laura Landon books are read each month.
Read more by looking for Laura on Amazon, or at www.lauralandon.com.
Linger in the pages of a great love story.
Read Laura Landon Victorian Romance!
Laura happily announces her new series for 2020
SEASONS
Winter’s Cold Heart
available now
Spring’s Tender Heart
available now
Summer’s Distant Heart
available now
Autumn’s Wild Heart
will bound outrageously into view in September of 2020
About Laura Landon
Laura Landon enjoyed ten years as a high school teacher and nine years making sundaes and malts in her very own ice cream shop, but once she penned her first novel, she closed up shop to spend every free minute writing. Now she enjoys creating her very own heroes and heroines, and making sure they find their happily ever after.
A vital member of her rural community, Laura directed the town’s Quasquicentennial, organized funding for an exercise center for the town, and serves on the hospital board.
Laura lives in the Midwest, surrounded by her family and friends. She has written thirty Victorian historical romances, all of which are selling worldwide in English, one in Japanese, and several in German. Two are Scottish historicals.
Always beautifully set and with a mysterious twist or bit of suspense, Laura’s books average a million pages a month read by her loyal readers.
LAURA LANDON IS A PRAIRIE MUSE PLATINUM, KINDLE PRESS, AND AMAZON MONTLAKE AUTHOR
WWW.LAURALANDON.COM
Other Books by Laura Landon
Published by Prairie Muse Publishing
SHATTERED DREAMS
WHEN LOVE IS ENOUGH
BROKEN PROMISE
A MATTER OF CHOICE
MORE THAN WILLING
NOT MINE TO GIVE
LOVE UNBIDDEN
KEEPER OF MY HEART
CAST IN SHADOWS
CAST IN RUIN
CAST IN ICE
CAST IN SCANDAL (novella)
JADED MOON
THE DEVIL’S GIFT
ONE MYSTICAL MOMENT
BEWARE THE RICH MAN
BEWITCHED BY THE POOR MAN
BETRAYED BY THE BEGGAR MAN
BEHOLD THE THIEF
WINTER’S COLD HEART
Published by Montlake Romance
SILENT REVENGE
INTIMATE SURRENDER
INTIMATE DECEPTION
THE MOST TO LOSE
A RISK WORTH TAKING
BETRAYED BY YOUR KISS
RANSOMED JEWELS
Published by Kindle Press
THE SECRET ROSE
DARK RUBY
DECEPTION IN EMERALDS
THE TRAITOR’S CLUB
WHERE THE WOMAN BELONGS
NOVELLA
Published by Dragonblade
A VOICE ON THE WIND
See all of Laura’s books at Amazon.com
COMPANION BOOKS (series)
by Laura Landon
THE BROTHERHOOD
When
Love is Enough | Broken Promise
RANSOMED JEWELS
Ransomed Jewels | Jaded Moon
Dark Ruby | Deception in Emeralds
THE REDEEMED
The Most to Lose | The Dark Duke
CAST IN SCANDAL
Cast in Shadows | Cast in Ruin
Cast in Ice | Cast in Scandal
THE TRAITOR’S CLUB
Ford | Hugh | Jeb | Caleb
RICH MAN | POOR MAN | BEGGAR MAN | THIEF
Beware the Rich Man
Bewitched by the Poor Man
Betrayed by the Beggar Man
Behold the Thief
SEASONS
90-Minute Reads
Winter’s Cold Heart
Spring’s Tender Heart
Summer’s Distant Heart
Autumn’s Wild Heart
All of Laura Landon’s books on Amazon
Visit Laura at www.lauralandon.com
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are the product of the author’s imagination
or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
SUMMER’S DISTANT HEART
ISBN 978-1-952911-04-0
Seasons Book Three
Copyright © 2020 by Laura Landon
Lincoln, Nebraska