Oblivious to wedding day conventions, which had already been shot to blazes anyway, Janet threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Oh, Harlan, I do love you.”

He grinned. “It’s a darn good thing, ’cause there’s no way you’d get out of this church today without saying ‘I do’. I can’t wait to walk down that aisle in there, so the whole world will know how proud I am to be your husband.”

“Even if I don’t change my name from Runningbear to Adams?”

He winced. “Even then,” he conceded. “You’ve worked hard to be who you are. I guess you’ve earned the right to call yourself whatever you want, as long as it’s me you come home to at night.”

“Count on it,” she said softly, then took his hand. “Since we’ve already made a mishmash of tradition, how about walking down that aisle with me to stand before the preacher?”

“Mom!” Jenny protested with a wail. “What about me?”

Janet grinned. “You can still go first. You’ll probably have to revive the organist. She won’t know what’s going on.”

“That’s exactly why I’m so anxious to get started on this marriage,” Harlan declared, winking at Jenny. “With your mom around, there’s no telling what’ll happen next. I expect there will be surprises in store for all of us.”

The ceremony wasn’t nearly as tospy-turvy as their arrival for it, Harlan reflected late that night while Janet was changing into some fancy negligee he was going to take pleasure in stripping right back off.

He let his mind wander over the days and weeks since she’d come into his life and counted each minute among his blessings. He was so engrossed in his memories, he never heard a thing as she apparently managed to sneak up behind him and circle her arms around him.

“I love you, Harlan Adams,” she whispered.

At the sound of those sweet words, a tremendous sense of peace stole through him. They were going to be so damned good together. Family had always been the most important thing on earth to him. Now, after losing his beloved Mary and his son, Erik, both in terrible tragedies that had taken them too soon, his family circle was going to grow once more. His life was once again complete.

“I love you, Janet Runningbear. And I love the daughter you’ve brought into my life.”

Her eyes lit with a teasing glint. “Who knows, Harlan? Maybe I’ll give you another one before we’re done.”

It was a good thing she slid into his lap and kissed him then, because he was too darned flabbergasted to say a single word. A father again? What an astonishing, incredible idea! One thing for sure, any child they had together was bound to be a hellion.

He could hardly wait.

EPILOGUE