That made her really cry. “I was so afraid you wouldn’t. You were pretty adamant about not wanting kids.”

“That was just a guy thing. I don’t know where it comes from. Men are afraid that if they act like they even condone the idea of having children, they’ll be rushed into a Lamaze class. I’m sorry. I was beginning to worry that I might never have kids, to tell the truth.”

“Oh!” she said, and slapped his arm.

He kissed her hard.

“You put me through all that and you wanted kids after all?” she asked him.

“We’re going to have to adopt a new game plan, Leigh. No way we can make a marriage work if we can’t talk to each other. We’ve been keeping all these things secret. I was jealous of Max before…and afraid you thought I wasn’t smart enough to be in love with someone like you.”

She smiled lamely. “And I was afraid you thought I was a weirdo. A freak.”

He brushed her damp cheek with one knuckle. “You are weird. Are you going to marry me?”

“Yes.”

“Are we going to consummate the engagement?”

“If you tell me you just happened to bring along birth control on your fishing trip, I’m going to become suspicious.”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, it’s too big a risk, then.”

He looked down at her, grinning. “Even though you make some very good accidents, I think I’d like to plan the next batch.”

Leigh sighed and embraced him. “I hope I’m not going to keep having them in batches,” she said very earnestly.

* * *

Although they really couldn’t tempt fate and take any more chances, they could lie in John’s tent all afternoon, kissing, hugging, touching, telling tender little secrets to each other, and laughing at how close they had come to losing each other again. If they laughed about it, they could keep from crying.

It seemed to Leigh that the only time there was ever any confusion was when they were apart. Together, they did just fine. Apart, they started to rethink everything and realized how little sense it made for them to be wildly in love. She decided they had better get married and move in together before there was time for much more thinking.

And for John, well, he hadn’t believed he would ever have a woman like Leigh love him this much. She was not only brilliant, but she was also kind, honest, good and loyal. She didn’t think he wasn’t living up to his potential. On the contrary, she told him she was proud of everything he did, his commitment to kids, to the community, to the environment.