“Oh, Cody,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks.

“Shh, darlin’, don’t cry,” he said, pulling her close. “You’re not alone anymore.”

To his astonishment, he realized that after the loneliest year and a half of his life, he was no longer alone, either. He was just a visit to the preacher away from having a family of his own. And nothing or no one was going to stand in his way.

6

Still awestruck, Cody was knee-deep in mental wedding plans before he and Melissa walked out the front door of her parents’ house. He was so caught up in thinking ahead to the day when Melissa and Sharon Lynn would move into his old house out at White Pines, that he almost forgot to ask Melissa to have dinner with him that night so he could officially propose and go over the details.

“Both of you,” he told her as they stood in front of the drugstore a few minutes later. “You and Sharon Lynn. We’ll go to DiPasquali’s. I’ll pick you up at your folks’ place after you get off work.”

Her lips set in a stubborn expression he knew only too well.

“Was there an invitation in there somewhere or did you mean it to sound like an order?” she asked.

He supposed they could quibble all morning over the difference, but he didn’t see much point to it. They had far bigger issues to worry about, like setting a wedding date in the next week or so. Now that he’d seen his daughter, nothing was going to keep him from her. The prospect of instant parenthood scared the daylights out of him, but he was eager to get started, anxious to make up for lost time. He considered Melissa part of the package, of course.

“An invitation, of course,” he said, wise enough to pacify Melissa. He wanted her in a receptive frame of mind tonight. He didn’t want her stubborn streak kicking in. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight at DiPasquali’s?”

“I think your daughter is a little young for pizza.”

Based on the spark of amusement in her eyes, she might have been teasing, but Cody took her comment seriously. He hadn’t thought of that. In fact, what he really knew about babies would fit on the head of a pin. That was easily corrected. He would buy a book on parenting at the first opportunity. He was going to be the best-prepared father on the face of the planet, even if he was getting a late start.

“There must be something on the menu there she can eat,” he said. “Or is there someplace that would be better?”