He smiled to himself as he remembered the way Phoebe had looked when he'd kissed her just before he'd slipped from the house for his nightly outing. She'd been sitting cross-legged in the middle of the living room floor, one of his old sweatshirts pulled tight over her big round belly while she played patty-cake with the girls, who kept trying to grab her charm bracelets and tug at her hair. Tonight he was going to pull that sweatshirt right up to her chin and whisper lots of girly things to her belly. He didn't care how much she teased him. He liked having girls, and he was hoping for another one.

He stopped walking and gazed at the farmhouse. The twins were two and a half now, mischievous little blond-haired cherubs who managed to get into nearly as much trouble as their mother. As he thought about them, he could feel his throat closing up, and he was glad nobody was around to witness the tears that gathered in his eyes. He'd always-loved this place, but until Phoebe had settled in with her rhinestone sunglasses and glittery earrings, something had been missing.

Once again he drew a long, contented breath. He had everything he'd dreamed of. A wife he loved with all his heart. Beautiful children. A house in the country. And a dog.

He whistled softly. "Come on, Pooh. Let's go home."

Susan Elizabeth Phillips


Susan Elizabeth Phillips is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author who sold her first book three weeks after it was submitted to a publisher. A resident of the Chicago suburbs, she is immensely proud of the three men in her life: her husband and two sons. She has been a two time nominee for Romance Writers of America's prestigious Members Golden Choice Award as Best Romance of the Year and holdsRomantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award.

"What I enjoy most about writing romance," she says, "is its message of the enduring strength of love. I'm proud to write books that empower women and affirm the joys of family and community. Sometimes I have this blissful dream in which romance writers run the world."