Her Motherhood Wish (Parent Portal 3)

Which explained why the ring looked like her mother’s, but bigger and better. Because Susan knew Cassie so well. And wanted more for her than she’d ever had herself.

It was a mother’s way.

“I thought I was losing you in the ambulance this morning... I knew then that you were my only dream. My true life...”

“I was praying,” she said. “My dad used to say that the waves bring in the good and the bad, and the one thing we can count on is that when they’ve brought something bad, hold on, good will follow. I was making a deal that if this one wave could be good, if Alan could be okay, I’d give up wanting what I couldn’t have.”

“Meaning me?”

She nodded, tearing up again as she looked at him. “I love you so much, Woodrow Alexander.”

“I love you, too, Cassie. And more, I’m forever in love with you.” He kissed her again. More ge

ntly, with less tongue. “You are the one I want to be with forever,” he told her.

And then brushed his thumb against Alan’s cheek.

He was still holding back. She loved him too much to watch it happen.

“You know, Wood, something else occurs to me.”

“What’s that?”

“I think it’s time for you to accept all your dreams coming true,” she said. “You aren’t just a bystander here, watching over things, tending to them—you’re as much a part of this as I am. As the paperwork we sign before we leave here will show.” Shifting enough to move the baby over to his body from hers, she helped him settle his son in the crook of his free arm.

She was never going to forget the look of sheer awe on Wood’s face as he looked down at the baby he held. Not ever.

“I chose his first name,” she told him, her throat tightening with emotion. “You should choose his second.” She’d been wanting to make the offer for a while.

“Seriously?” He looked from the baby to her and back.

“Dream, Wood, dream. Ask for things for yourself.” She was, after all, the lawyer in the family. The one trained to watch out for the rights of others.

“Then his name is Alan Peter.”

“Alan Peter Alexander,” she said, trying the name out loud. It didn’t ring quite right. So she tried again, knowing she was truly opening her heart at last. “How about Peter Alan Alexander?” she asked.

And as if he had a say in things, the baby woke up.

* * *