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As Shelly’s brow winged up her laugh filled the hall, and Rachel kicked herself for thinking that he couldn’t look after himself. Just because he was nervous didn’t mean he wasn’t still Cole.

Turning to where Josh had come to a stop at the end of the small hall, Rachel moved in front of him.

“Do you have something you want to say to me?” she asked.

She watched as he pushed his hands into his jeans pockets and looked over her shoulder. Rachel turned and watched as the door to the condo opened, and Lena came out to hug Shelly and then Cole.

Lena stood aside and invited them in. When Cole moved to let Shelly pass, his eyes connected with Rachel’s, and he gave her a small smile and a wink.

As the door shut, Rachel rounded back on Josh. “Well?”

“Would you calm down? You’re as prickly as a porcupine,” he told her in that lazy, relaxed voice he always seemed to have.

“Well, between you and Mason, can you blame me?”

“Can we blame you?” Josh scoffed. “Yes, we can blame you. You went away for a weekend and came back married. Most people would be a little shocked, so why don’t you get that?”

Rachel shut her mouth and turned away from him. Damn him for using logic. She pushed a frustrated hand through her hair, and as she was about to speak, she felt a hand grab her arm and turn her.

“We were worried, Rach. That’s all. It has nothing to do with who you married.” He paused and shrugged. “Well, not for me anyway. Mason might have thought differently, but I was worried about you.”

Rachel brought her eyes up to his big brown ones. “Do I seem unhappy?”

That was when Josh’s mouth broke into his usual easy-go-lucky smile that reached all the way to those eyes. “No. This is the happiest I’ve seen you in months. Honestly, since I moved back.”

Rachel beamed at him as she stepped closer. “He makes me happy.”

Josh reached out and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in close. “I can see that,” he told her as he hugged her tightly. “I can also see how happy you make him.”

Pulling back from Josh, Rachel looked up at him with a smile. “Really?”

Josh laughed at that as he took her hand, and they walked back up the hall.

“Really. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cole this relaxed—ever. He’s always been about work, always so serious and stressed.”

Rachel nodded. It seemed accurate enough to her. Cole had been like that. It was only this last week when he had started to change. She liked to think she had a lot to do with that.

“He’s got a lot going on with work and his mom.”

Josh looped an arm over her shoulder as he knocked on the condo door. “Yeah, he told me about his mom this past weekend when he had to leave town. He forgot to mention he was marrying my best friend’s little sister.”

Rachel leaned her head on Josh’s shoulder as she heard footsteps coming to the door.

“He’s perfect for me. How weird is that?”

Josh squeezed her shoulder as he whispered, “It’s about as weird as the Man-Eater being perfect for me.”

Rachel let out a booming laugh as the door opened, and Mason stood staring at them with a smile in place. “Did you two kiss and make up?”

“They better not have been kissing!” Shelly called out from inside the condo.

As she and Josh walked inside, Rachel’s eyes moved around the room until she found Cole standing by the large window with Lena.

When he smiled at her, Rachel felt her insides warm.

“No kissing, Shelly. Keep your panties on.” Josh chuckled.

Rachel moved away from him, and as she was halfway across the room, she heard Shelly point out, “Who said I’m wearing any?”

As the room broke out into laughter, Rachel knew that she was home.

* * *

Cole watched Rachel move across her brother’s condo toward him.

As she got closer, Lena, who was standing beside him, said softly, “You have someone special there. She and her brother have two of the biggest hearts. Please be careful with hers.”

Cole looked down into the green eyes of the woman who was now a part of his family by marriage. He assured her, “I don’t know how it happened, and I don’t know why, but this—what she and I have—it’s solid. You don’t need to worry about her. I’d rather cut off my own arms than hurt a single purple hair on her head. I’ll look after her.”

Lena stepped up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Like I said once before, thank you.”

“For?” Cole questioned as she started to move away.

“For bringing her back to us. She left for a while, and you brought her back. For that alone, Mason is grateful.”

Cole looked back to Rachel, who was almost to them, and he mumbled, “Maybe she was looking for something.”

Before she moved away, Lena took a sip from her wine glass, and then she softly told him, “Yeah, you.”

She passed Rachel and gave her a hug and kiss before moving into the kitchen where her husband was standing at the oven.

“Hi,” Rachel said as she stopped in front of him.

Cole reached out and encircled her waist, pulling her forward. “Hello. Everything okay?”

Her lips tipped up into a smile. “It is now.”

“Joshua?” Cole questioned as he searched his friend out in the room.

Rachel placed her hand on his chest and patted it. “Josh is fine. He just wanted to—”

“Make sure you were okay?”

“Yes.” Rachel chuckled. “These people need to quit worrying about me.”

“These people love you,” Cole pointed out as he tipped up her chin, so her eyes met his. “I love you.”

She dropped her eyes from his and snuggled into his chest where she rubbed her cheek against his navy sweater. “I love you, too.”

“You are lucky. There are four people in this room who all want you to be happy and who have all told me what a wonderful person you are.”

“That person disappeared for a while,” she mumbled as his arms tightened around her, “but you helped her find her way home.”

“I’m glad. Because the girl who used to dance in the kitchen with her dad, the little sister who cried because of silly girls at school, and the teenage girl with the crush…that girl? My girl belongs in this room with these people.”

Cole rested his lips down by her ear, remembering a story Mason had told him the other day, and he did something he had never done before. Quietly, he began to hum in her ear, and then he started to sing, “What can make me feel this way? My girl.”

* * *

Rachel looked up into the hazel eyes that now held her heart, and as Cole softly hummed a song that meant so much to her, Rachel was reminded of all the good memories that came along with it—her father, her mother, Mason and Josh.

She was lucky. She belonged to the people in this room, and now, Cole belonged with her. Loneliness had gone, and in its place was peace, happiness, and something even better—a sense of belonging.

Two Years Later

“Stop pacing. You will wear a hole in the floor.”

“I can’t help it. I’m nervous,” Rachel replied. As she looked over to her husband, she shrugged. “I don’t like hospitals.”

Cole lifted his denim-clad leg and rested his ankle on his knee.

Ever since they had arrived, a little more than thirty minutes ago, she hadn’t been able to sit still.

“Well, I’m not really fond of them either,” he pointed out, tracking her steps with steady eyes.

Rachel moved to his side and took a seat. Reaching out, she took his hand in hers and rested her head on his shoulder.

How can she be so insensitive?

It was only a little more than six months since Cole’s mother, Lydia, had passed away. While it had been peaceful, it was still such a difficult period to watch her slowly fade.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

Cole reached down and squeezed her thigh as she snuggled up against him.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. Today is a good day, Rachel. Today, you become an aunt.”

Rachel looked up at him as he leaned down and laid his lips against hers.

“And you become an uncle.”

Cole lifted his mouth from hers and patted his palm over his chest. “Yes, I do, and I’m ready.”

Rachel laughed, shaking her head. “Of course, you are armed with the celebratory cigars.”

“Well, Joshua was freaking out about getting the crib complete before the baby got here, so it seemed like the right thing for me to do. Mason has been so stressed out these last couple of weeks. It’s the least I can do.” Cole paused and chuckled. “Maybe I should have bought him a bottle of scotch?”

Rachel slid farther down into the waiting room chair as she took Cole’s hand. “He has been a little insane, hasn’t he?”

“I don’t think ‘a little’ covers it. Did you see the way his eyes were almost bugging out of his head when he wheeled Lena in here?”

Rachel let out a loud laugh, and when other people in the waiting room turned to look at her, she quickly covered her mouth. “The best part was when Lena told him if he didn’t quit asking her how she was, she’d order him out of the room.”

“Well, if anyone has Mason’s number, it’s Lena,” Cole said.

Rachel smiled fondly. “He worships the ground she walks on, and he acts like a lovesick dope the rest of the time.”

Cole’s eyebrow winged up as he turned his head toward her. “Is that how you talk about me when I’m not around?”

Rachel giggled and bit her bottom lip.

Two years.

She had now been Mrs. Madison for a little more than two years, and she had loved every crazy, sexy, happy, and sad moment of it.

“Nope. I tell everyone you’re obsessed with how sexy I am, and you have issues leaving the bed in the mornings because you are sooo in love with me.”

Cole slid his palm over her thigh and down between her knees, enjoying the smooth leather under his palm. “That seems accurate enough. Although, I would like to point out that it was you who would not leave our bed this morning. You were the one trying to persuade me with dirty tactics to take the day off of work.”

Leaning into him, Rachel reminded him on a sultry whisper, “You didn’t seem to mind my dirty tactics when you told me to wrap my lips around your—”

“Has it happened yet? Did we miss it?”

Rachel looked up at the interruption and stood as Shelly practically ran down the corridor toward them. Following behind his wife was Josh with their eighteen-month-old daughter, Savannah.

“Nope, not yet,” Rachel told her, moving past Shelly to reach the little girl in Josh’s arms.

Savannah was adorable in every way. With her platinum blonde curls and big brown eyes, it was obvious which part of each parent she had inherited.

“Hello, angel,” Rachel cooed as she reached out. She was happy to see Savannah give her a big, gappy smile as the toddler lunged toward her.

“Me go!” she announced, her chubby little arms reaching out to Rachel.

Josh passed her over and tapped his daughter on the rump. Rachel took her favorite little girl in her arms as she winked at Josh.

“Pwetty!” Savannah declared as she took a fistful of Rachel’s blue hair.

Josh reached out and flicked a piece of Rachel’s hair over her shoulder as he kissed his daughter’s cheek. “Pretty, for sure.”

Rachel leaned in and pressed sloppy kisses to Savannah’s cheek. “You’re the pretty one. Pretty, pretty, pretty.”

Savannah started giggling and squirming in her arms.

Josh made his way over and sat down beside Shelly, who was now currently tapping her foot incessantly beside Cole.

“How are you so damn calm?” she demanded, turning to face him.

Cole shrugged and pointed out logically, “I’m not the one giving birth.”

Rachel couldn’t help the snort that escaped her as Shelly narrowed her eyes on Cole and shook her head.

“Typical male answer delivered in a typical lawyer tone.”

Cole had become quite used to Shelly’s mouth, and instead of taking offense, he nodded and pointed out, “One could say yours is a typical woman’s reaction, but then one would be accused of being sexist.”

As Josh chuckled, Shelly turned her head quickly to pin him with narrowed eyes. “And I suppose you agree with that?”

Josh leaned back in the seat and stretched his long denim-clad legs in front of himself. He crossed his work boots over and stretched his arm out behind his wife. “Hey, I didn’t say that, Georgia. As far as I’m concerned, you have every right to be nervous for Lena. You’ve been through this all before.”