The Welcome Home Garden Club Read online

  Her son shrugged, but plunked down beside her. Gideon started up the carousel at its slowest speed and climbed up on it. He came toward them, his gaze on them, reassurance in his eyes. The music started to play. “Tie a Yellow Ribbon.”

  Gideon settled in beside her on the chariot bench, their son sat across from them.

  “You guys are acting just plain weird,” Danny said, but she could tell he was nervous. He kept repeatedly rubbing his palm over his nose as if he would wipe away his anxiety like perspiration.

  Gideon took her hand again. “We’ve got something important to tell you.”

  “Yeah. I got that.”

  They looked at each other. “You want to go first?” he asked.

  They had already agreed that Gideon would tell him that they were getting married and Caitlyn would break the news that he was Danny’s real father, but which should come first? Her announcement or his?

  Caitlyn took a deep breath. “I suppose I’ll take the plunge.”

  “Geez, you’re freakin’ me out, Mom, just tell me already.”

  Danny was right. She was putting too much into the buildup. “Danny . . .” She’d practiced breaking the news a hundred times since they’d gotten back from the Rocking J but she still couldn’t make the words come out. “I know you loved Kevin very much. He was a good dad to you.”

  “Yeah.” Danny’s hands were fisted against his thighs.

  “Caitlyn,” Gideon said, “just rip the Band-Aid off. It’s better that way.”

  “Danny,” she started again. “Kevin wasn’t your biological father. Do you know what that means?”

  She didn’t know what she expected. Shock? Outrage? Anger?

  But Danny displayed none of those emotions. “I kinda figured,” he said.

  That stunned her. “What do you mean?”

  Danny shrugged. “My dad . . . Kevin . . . had red hair, I’ve got black. He had blue eyes, mine are brown. He wasn’t very handy, I am. Plus, I sorta heard people talking.”

  “Talking? What people?”

  “Your garden club ladies. I overheard them say I looked exactly like my real dad.” He stared her straight in the eyes. “Who is my real dad?”

  “I am, son,” Gideon said softly.

  “Oh.” Danny’s glance flicked from Caitlyn to Gideon and back again. “Oh.”

  No one said anything for a minute or two. The carousel kept turning, the music kept playing. Then Danny wet his lips and stared at Gideon. “How come you left us?”

  “I didn’t know about you when I left.”

  Danny swung his gaze back to Caitlyn. There was that look. The one she’d feared, rife with accusation. “Why didn’t you tell him?”

  “I didn’t know I was going to have a baby until after Gideon left town. I tried to contact him, but someone told me that he was dead.”

  “What about Da— Kevin?”

  “He knew you weren’t his son, but he couldn’t have loved you more if you had been. He married me to give you a dad, give you a home.”

  Danny nodded, processing it all. “So, you’re my dad now.”

  “I’m your dad now.”

  Danny leaned back against the seat, folded his arms over his chest, and for a long while he said nothing. They let him take his time. Finally, he said, “That’s good. I’m glad I have a dad. I’m glad it’s you.”

  “Can I . . .” Gideon looked so uncertain it punched a hole through Caitlyn’s heart. “Give you a hug?”

  That was all it took. Like a rocket, Danny was out of his seat and wrapping his arms around Gideon in a big hug.

  Gideon smiled at her over the top of their son’s head, a misting of tears in his eyes. Her eyes were misty too.

  When the hug was over, Gideon put his arm around Danny, pulled him into the seat between them. “That’s not all.”

  Comically, Danny smacked his forehead with a palm. “Don’t tell me, I have brothers and sisters I’ve never met.”

  “No.” Gideon chuckled. “That’s not it.”

  “What is it?”

  “We’re getting married,” Gideon said. “And we want your blessing.”

  “You’re really, really going to be my dad?” Danny was smiling so wide it made Caitlyn’s mouth hurt.

  “I really, really am.”

  “That’s cool.”

  “I love you, Danny. I loved you from the minute I saw you.”

  Tears were in Danny’s eyes now. “I love you too, Dad. I love you too.”

  As the carousel slowed and the music stopped, Caitlyn knew that love really was capable of healing all wounds.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to all the servicemen and -women who daily put their lives on the line to give the rest of us our freedom. God bless you!

  About the Author

  LORI WILDE is the bestselling author of more than forty-five books. A former RITA® finalist, Lori has received the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers’ Choice, and numerous other honors. She lives in Weatherford, Texas, with her husband and a wide assortment of pets. You may write to Lori at PO Box 31, Weatherford, TX 76086, or e-mail her via her home page at www.loriwilde.com. Lori teaches Romance Writing Secrets via the Internet through colleges and universities worldwide at www.ed2g.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  By Lori Wilde

  The Welcome Home Garden Club

  The First Love Cookie Club

  The True Love Quilting Club

  The Sweethearts’ Knitting Club

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  THE WELCOME HOME GARDEN CLUB. Copyright © 2011 by Laurie Vanzura. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition February 2011 ISBN: 9780062089472

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  About the Publisher

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  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10
r />   Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  By Lori Wilde

  Copyright

  About the Publisher