Except... “Don’t worry, Jordon, I won’t build it into more than it is. I know you’re taking the girls and going home. I support that choice. Just as you support them living here with me during the summer months.” She didn’t love the setup because it meant she missed much of her daughters’ growing up. Had no idea how she was going to cope when they drove off the ranch on Sunday. But she understood that it was the best option for all of them going forward.

  “It’s not you I’m worried about.” She thought she heard the words. He’d uttered them beneath his breath. She couldn’t be sure...

  Before she could respond his lips were on hers. Completely differently than they had been the week before. It was a lovers’ kiss.

  Familiar. Hungry lips moving on hers in a way that told her exactly what was coming.

  And she kissed him back.

  More ready than she’d ever been.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  He savored her. The taste of every inch of her body. The look of every expression on her face. The sound of every moan she made. Every cry that tore out of her.

  Far more than he needed the minute of release he’d find in her, he needed to lie with Mia again, touch her, connect with her.

  Remember every other time he’d ever been there. Her naked body on a bed with his.

  The sex had always been phenomenal.

  That night in Mia’s bed, on top of her, beneath her, beside her, surpassed anything he’d ever known.

  They’d slept. And had risen together, heading to different bathrooms to shower quickly before their daughters awoke. Worked together to have pancakes ready for them.

  “Jordon Daddy?” Ruby had scrunched up her little nose as he entered their bedroom first when sounds of rustling covers came over the baby monitor.

  “Jordon Daddy’s home!” Violet had yelled, standing up to run across their mattress to get to him.

  His heart fuller than he’d ever known it could be, he’d savored the moments. Even turning to find Mia gone hadn’t expunged his joy.

  She was giving him his moments.

  Just as he’d give her hers.

  He and Mia spent the day not touching each other but giving their daughters complete attention. Mia had suggested that they wait until late afternoon to tell the girls about their departure.

  And to make it an adventure ahead, not a separation.

  Dreading the moment, half expecting the girls to reject him once they knew he was taking them away, he gladly conceded to her reasoning, and when the time came, he sat beside Mia at the pool, with a twin at the foot of each of the adult loungers.

  Swimming lessons were done. The dude ranchers had gone for mess—the Saturday night official cowboy supper consisting of camp bread made in a skillet, dried fruit and dried meat, accompanied by commercial cowboy dinners of barbecue ribs, country fried chicken, fancy baked beans, and grilled corn on the cob and biscuits.

  He’d have been glad to procrastinate their dreaded family moment a little longer. But knew she was right to give the girls time to process before dinner and bedtime. They’d be leaving right after breakfast to head to Phoenix to catch their eleven-thirty flight, picking Layla up on their way to the airport.

  “How would you two like to get up tomorrow and fly on an airplane?” Jordon started the conversation, instilling his voice with excitement. With no idea how the next moments would transpire.

  He couldn’t look at Mia. But felt her kind support next to him.

  “A airpwane?” Ruby asked.

  “Like when we went to see Mickey?” Violet jumped from her butt to her knees in one motion, both hands coming together at the slightly distended little belly in her swimsuit.

  He hadn’t known they’d been to see Mickey Mouse. There’d been nothing about it in the reports.

  “Yes,” he said slowly. “Like that. We’ll be on an airplane.”

  Ruby hopped to her knees, too. “We’re going to see Mickey?”

  At a loss, not wanting to disappoint the two precious expectant faces, he said, “Well...”

  “You’re going someplace even better!” Mia exclaimed. “To a big city called New York where they have the hugest park, and more lights and things even than Phoenix where you lived before. There are carts with treats in them on every corner. And stores just to sell candy. And ice cream and when it snows, you can learn to ice skate.”

  Something they wouldn’t be able to do in the desert.

  “Yay!” both girls cried out with glee as they jumped off the loungers and, hands joined, circled around as they had in Mia’s kitchen what seemed eons before.

  So far so good. He glanced in Mia’s direction.

  Saw her smile...and something else in her eyes...as she watched the twins.

  A rock landed in his gut.

  How could he take them from her?

  “There’s one more thing,” Mia said then and the girls stopped circling to look at her. “I can’t fly with you right now, because I have to help Mariah Macy’s Mom for a little bit, and also help her keep Macy company while you’re on your adventures, but I’ll come see you, and then, when it’s summer again, you’re flying right back here!”

  She made it sound so...doable.

  He noticed that she didn’t ask the girls if the plans were okay with them.

  The child life specialist had told them not to give the girls a choice when they didn’t have one. And conversely to give them as many choices as they could when the girls had the chance to choose for themselves.

  While the twins were still standing there, looking at Mia, he jumped in with, “And guess what?” Grabbing their attention before they had a chance to spiral into all the reasons they might not want to go.

  “What?” both girls responded at once, looks of anticipation lighting up their nearly identical faces.

  “Gran’s coming on the airplane with us!”

  “Yay!” both girls cried and started dancing in a joined circle again.

  The truth would settle at some point in the next twelve hours. He didn’t kid himself about that. Those two little girls adored their mother already.

  And they were four. Easily adaptable. They were going to love New York and have so much new to distract them that they’d be fine.

  He glanced at Mia, almost as though he was looking for reassurance for himself from her calm demeanor.

  Thought he saw her top lip trembling a bit as she grinned at the girls’ antics.

  And Jordon felt another twinge in his gut.

  * * *

  All day long, Mia had been focusing on the future. Soaking up memories. Hugging her girls as often as she could. And thinking about times she’d visit them all in New York.

  With the added pleasure of spending the night in Jordon’s bed.

  Looking toward the following summer when she’d have them for months, not weeks.

  And have sex with Jordon during his visits, too.

  A month ago, she’d been living alone, with no other choice on the horizon.

  In the space of weeks, she’d become a mother of biological twins and reconnected with the best sex she’d ever had.

  Had come to terms with herself—her heart and her soul.

  And with the past. Laying it to rest.

  The future before her held the life she’d built, the life she loved, plus a whole lot more that she hadn’t dared dream she’d have.

  And so the sadness that tinged her edges as she gave the girls their baths and read them their story, the one about Spot that they loved, was only bittersweet, not heartbreaking.

  When Jordon came in just as she was tucking the girls in, holding his phone out and saying that Gran wanted to say good-night, Mia welcomed the interruption.

  And the reminder. She wasn’t alone anymore. She had a family of her own, albeit an oddly made one. Layla was back in her life again.

  All of them—Mia, Jordon and Layla—were determined to make sure that Ruby and Violet, gifts that they were, would grow up happy, healthy and very much loved.

  The fact that the twins were funny, precious, adorable and sweet was just icing on the cake.

  Layla was right to remind the girls, just before they fell asleep, that she’d be seeing them in the morning. They’d know fresh in their minds that as they left Mia, they’d be heading to Layla.

  With Jordon Daddy.

  The one who’d brought them all together.

  Mia wasn’t quite as peaceful when Layla asked to stay on the line to have a word with Mia and Jordon.

  Stomach tight, she immediately went to the worst-case scenario. Layla wasn’t going to be a part of their plan. She was going to refuse to go along with the unusual family situation and...

  Layla put that fear to rest with her first sentence. “Is there anything I can do from here to help make the transition easier in the morning?”

  The three of them talked. About the girls. Deciding on sandals instead of tennis shoes so the girls could get through security. They could put on their own sandals. Determining what Mia would pack in their little backpacks to carry on the plane. Maybe it would be good if Layla had some marshmallows with her, because the twins loved them and they weren’t something that would upset their stomachs on the plane.

  And then Layla said, “I commend you both. You’re making this work. Those are two very lucky little girls.”

  “We’re making it work,” Mia told the woman she’d once thought of as her mother. “You’re a big part in this plan.”

  “Well then, I have one piece of advice for you.”

  Mia moved the phone’s camera away for a second as she shared a look with Jordon. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “What’s that?” she asked, moving the camera back to get both her and Jordon on-screen.

  “Make certain that you don’t just support them.” Layla’s words were clear. But confused Mia.

  Jordon was frowning. “You seriously think all I’ve considered is the money?” Jordon asked the face on the screen.

  “No, son, I’m not talking about money at all.”

  Layla’s features were almost ethereal on-screen. The woman exuded peace and wore a happy glow Mia didn’t think she’d ever seen before.

  “Then what?” Jordon asked.

  “Don’t be afraid to impose your opinions on them. To make choices that you think are best for them. As they grow up, don’t just sit back and support what you think they want. Tell them when you think another choice would be better. Tell them why. And don’t ever stop talking to each other about what you think is right for them. More importantly, don’t ever stop listening to each other, weighing both sides fairly and equally.”

  Mia had no idea where any of it was coming from. Or why then. But she welcomed the advice.

  And, ironically, the support of her and Jordon’s choices.

  Jordon, however, was still frowning.

  “I don’t get it,” he said.

  “I’m not sure I raised you in the best way I could have, Jordon.”

  “You’re talking nonsense,” was his immediate comeback. “What’s going on, Ma? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.” Layla’s smile was radiant. “But as I watch you two with these little ones, most particularly given your unusual circumstances, I see things I wish I’d done differently. And maybe, had your father lived, I would have.”

  “You did a great job!” Jordon said then, moving his face closer to the camera to gaze into his mother’s eyes. If Mia hadn’t been holding the phone, she’d have left the conversation that seemed intimate between a mother and her son.

  “Your father thought I coddled you too much, Jordie. He told me to let you explore, to try what wouldn’t work so that you could learn what did. It made sense sometimes. Except for the not coddling part. Or maybe I took it too far. After your father died, because you were his son, too, and he could no longer watch out for you, I used his philosophy to raise you. When I wanted to run in and rescue you, or tell you that I didn’t agree with something, that I could see pitfalls, I backed off. I watched. I was there to cheer. To pick up pieces...”

  The words brought Jordon to tears. Mia could hardly believe the moisture she saw gathering in his eyes as he said, “You were the best, Ma. Don’t ever think differently. I was fed. I was loved. I never doubted that I had you at my back every second of every day.”

  Mia watched. She listened.

  And fell in love all over again.

  * * *

  Jordon didn’t want to think about his mother. Or taking his daughters from their mother. He wanted to lose himself in the arms of the woman who took his hand and boldly led him down the hall to her room.

  Maybe they were playing with flames.

  Even if they didn’t have sex, the desire between them was going to burn them. Their best shot was to put it out.

  And he was willing to work toward that end every night he was with Mia Jones for as long as it took.

  Thing was, even after they’d come together twice that night, he felt more on fire for her than he ever had. Maturity brought more to their lovemaking. More confidence, more boldness. More openness to exploration.

  They’d used condoms every time they’d been together the past two nights. They had their children. They could have protected sex for the rest of their lives without endangering either one of them.

  But he wasn’t ready to leave her.

  The past few weeks together...they’d only just begun.

  “Can I ask you something?” he whispered in case she was asleep.

  “Of course.” Her sleepy words washed over him, leaving physical evidence in their wake. They didn’t have time for a third go-round. Not and have him be rested enough to deal with whatever came his way when he took two precocious four-year-olds away from their mother, onto an airplane, and introduced them to a whole new world.

  And a new bedroom.

  The question. No right reason for it to be lingering with him. Yet, there it was.

  “Why did you break things off with the professor?” The city guy who was still in Shelter Valley.

  “Because he wasn’t you.”

  Her words had him rolling on top of her, and the coupling wasn’t slow and gentle that time. He barely got the condom on before she was sliding onto him, moving with him for the seconds it took them both to climax.

  Twenty minutes later, he was still awake. Lying there next to her.

  “What if I come to New York?” Her sleepy words hit him in the darkness. He’d thought she’d drifted off.

  “And do what?” he asked, the question that had been taunting him since she’d first pointed out his lack of consideration for her needs and talents ten years ago.

  “My crafting. Videos. Wherever it leads me. Be a mother to our daughters.”

  She didn’t mention being a wife to him.

  He noticed. Felt another tightening inside him.

  “We could just try it out,” she suggested. “Maybe I fly home a week or two every month. To see Brilliant. Help Mariah Macy’s Mom with the horses. Spend time with families at the dude ranch. See my friends...”

  As her list grew, Jordon knew that he couldn’t pull his wildflower up from her roots. While the mother in her would thrive for the time the girls were with them, years would pass fast. And parts of what he loved about Mia would wither and die.

  He wasn’t going to repeat the past. He loved her too much to knowingly fail to put her needs on an equal footing with his.

  He told her as much. And finished with, “We’ll make it work, Mia.” His words were a promise as he pulled her up against him and kissed her softly.

  And hoped to God he wasn’t lying to her again.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Mia didn’t sleep much that night. She knew when Jordon finally drifted off. He’d always made a little noise in his throat during sleep. Not at all a snore, just a small, comforting sound that came from the deepness of his breathing.

  She listened.

  And she thought a lot, too.

  He was right about her not being as personally fulfilled, as personally at home, in New York as he would be. Her career needs wouldn’t be fully met.

  But when did you look to your own happiness as to that of your children?

  Never. You didn’t do that. Not if your children were unhappy. They came first.

  Ruby and Violet were excited to get on a plane like when they visited Mickey and see a new city with ice cream on every corner.

  If they turned out to not thrive, then Jordon would be the first to suggest another course. Chances were, they’d do great. Other than the few weeks with her at the ranch, the girls had always been in the big city. Could be they’d turn into total daddy’s girls.

  She’d consider that a great thing.

  Jordon Lawrence was a bone-deep good man.

  Lying there beside him, even thinking about the way he’d led her on in the past didn’t bring up any recrimination toward him.

  What Layla had said that night...about not coddling him. Basically, Jordon had been left to make his own decisions since he was eight years old. Had been taught to take action and make life choices relying on his own direction.

  It was no wonder he’d done so with what should have been one of the most important decisions of his life: choosing a forever partner.

  And then...choosing how their future would succeed.

  He’d been wrong to disregard her.

  He knew that and had owned his mistakes.

  The biggest point engrossing her that night was that he hadn’t made them in a knowingly selfish manner. Nor had he made them maliciously.

  And just as clear to her—he was who he was. And she couldn’t ask him to be anything different than that. He had to do what he thought was right.

  Even if it meant hurting her.