Her Lost and Found Baby (The Daycare Chronicles 1)

Tabitha wanted to pull away. Knew she should. But had to kiss him just for a second. Had to allow herself that bliss...

“Mo! Mama, mo!” Jackson’s demand for more food brought her back to the present. To reality.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

She got another couple of cookies. Enough to get her through the next few minutes. Put them on his tray.

“There are a lot of reasons this could fail, Tabitha,” Johnny said, shrugging out of his coat and throwing it over the back of a chair. He moved further into the kitchen. Opened her refrigerator. Took stock and then started taking things out.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t cooked there before.

“I could make you a list of all the reasons if you’d like,” he said when she remained mute. She just plain didn’t know what to do.

“But, instead, I’ll give you the one reason it won’t fail.”

Okay. She needed that.

Leaving eggs and bread on the counter, he walked over to her. Took her in his arms. “If you hate living in my wing of the family home, we’ll get our own place,” he told her. “We can knock down the two houses we already own and put up a bigger house right here for all I care. If you don’t like socializing, we’ll only go to the events we absolutely can’t miss. If you hate the people, we’ll spend most of our time alone. We know that works for us. And even if it’s a struggle for both of us, adjusting and all, it can’t be as bad as living without you.”

“Why won’t it fail, Johnny?” She needed a damned good reason.

“Because you only fail when you quit trying and I am never, ever going to stop.”

Tears sprang to her eyes again. She’d cried so many of them in her lifetime. Most of them alone. Behind closed doors.

Maybe it was time to open her doors...

Could she do it?

In the past, she’d had no choice other than to go on alone. But she had a choice now. Dared she risk leaving what she knew, what she clung to, to have a chance at so much more?

She had Jackson back in her life. She had all she’d thought she wanted or needed. But she’d been so lonely. Missing Johnny every minute of every day.

“Will you marry me, Tabitha Jones?”

Shaking, petrified, she tried to say yes. Her throat was dry.

The word wouldn’t come out. She tried, but she just couldn’t get it out.

So she nodded.

* * * * *