They'd barely spoken since then. Right afterward, Mack was on duty for four days straight. Once he got back home, he'd tried to talk to Mary Jo but she'd been unresponsive. He'd more or less ignored her ever since.

"I apologize if my mother embarrassed you," he muttered.

"She didn't," Mary Jo told him. "I was kind of amused that she assumed we were going to announce our engagement."

Mack shoved his hands in his pockets. "Amused?" This woman had him so twisted up in knots he didn't know if he was coming or going. He felt he'd done nothing but make a fool of himself over her.

"Why are you looking at me like I said something offensive?" Mary Jo asked. "Honestly, Mack, you're so prickly these days...."

"The idea of marrying me is a big joke?" he said in a sullen voice.

"I didn't say that!"

"Sorry, maybe I need my hearing tested because that's exactly what it sounded like."

"Do you love me?" she asked.

Mack didn't answer because he didn't want her scoffing at him, didn't want her to disparage his feelings.

"Well, I guess that's that," she said after an awkward moment. She reached for Noelle.

Mack knew if he didn't say something fast, she'd leave. This might be his last opportunity and he didn't want to waste it on resentment or retaliation. "I couldn't have made my feelings for you and Noelle any more obvious if I tried. Yes, I love you, Mary Jo. My thoughts haven't been my own from the second I answered your 9-1-1 call last Christmas."

Once again Mary Jo bit her lip. "I fell in love before, and I was so stupid and foolish. David-"

"I'm not David!" he flared. "I don't know how much longer it's going to take you to realize I'm nothing like him. What have I ever done to make you think I'd harm you or Noelle?"

He was just warming to his subject when Mary Jo put Noelle down and walked over to him.

"I-" He wasn't allowed to finish. Mary Jo placed her hands on his shoulders and practically forced him to look directly at her.

"I love you, Jerome McAfee," she said.

The air rushed from his lungs and Mack found himself unable to speak-and not just because she'd used his given name, which was known to very few people.

"Did you hear what I said?" she asked.

He couldn't respond, couldn't even manage a nod.

"Do you need me to repeat that?"

This time he bobbed his head.

She dropped her hands and gave him the most dazzling smile he'd ever seen. "I love you. Noelle loves you, too. We both love you."

Feeling completely out of control, it was all he could do to return her smile.

"You could kiss me now if you wanted," Mary Jo suggested.

Mack wanted, all right. He wanted to hold her and kiss her. He gathered her in his arms and his heart seemed about to take flight. Lowering his mouth to hers, he felt an incredible surge of emotion. Just then, with Noelle holding on to his pant leg and Mary Jo in his arms, he felt as if his whole world had been transformed.

Mary Jo tasted sweet and wonderful, and one kiss wasn't nearly enough. Soon they were kissing each other deeply, intensely. They might have continued kissing and discovering their newly declared feelings if Noelle hadn't let out a sudden cry.

Reluctantly Mary Jo broke away and picked up her daughter. "You made me forget about Noelle," she whispered as though she had trouble finding her voice.

Me, too, he thought, hard as that was to believe.

Mack slid his hands down her arms, because he needed to keep touching her.

"I'm glad we finally talked," she said. "I couldn't stand having you upset with me."

If he received this kind of reaction every time, he might consider getting upset with her more often....

"I'll discuss the situation with Mr. Harris next week," she told him. "I'll get his opinion and make my decision then. Okay?"

"I'd appreciate it if you'd talk to me before you decide. Will you do that?"

She agreed with a quick nod. "I think that's fair."

"I'd like to adopt Noelle," he said. "When...when it's appropriate, I mean," he stammered.

Mary Jo smiled. "She does love you, you know."

As if on cue, Noelle squirmed in her mother's hold, thrusting both arms toward Mack.

He took the baby and Noelle pressed her head against his shoulder. He experienced the profound sense of making a promise to this woman, this child. "And I love her," he murmured. "My little girl."

Twenty-One.

Linc Wyse parked his battered pickup truck outside their Cedar Cove apartment building. After the confrontation with Leonard, he'd wanted to move-but finances made that impossible for the moment. He found that it grated on him to feel beholden to a man who had no respect for him-or for his own daughter. Linc hoped that eventually their relationship with Leonard would improve, but he couldn't guess when or how that would happen.

Despite everything, he had no regrets about his marriage. Absolutely none. He'd never been happier in his personal life. His business life, however, was another matter. After his move to Cedar Cove, he'd hit one roadblock after another in getting his auto body shop up and running. He'd purchased the building and made the necessary renovations, spending a significant part of his savings. While the work was in progress, he'd applied for a business license, which shouldn't have been a problem. But his application had been delayed twice. It wasn't hard to figure out that Bellamy was somehow behind this. Linc wasn't sure how his father-in-law had done it, but Leonard clearly had friends in high places.

In the end Linc had been forced to hire an attorney and he'd eventually received his license. At any other time, the frustration would've infuriated him. Yet when he arrived home at the end of each day and saw Lori, every negative emotion he'd experienced drained away. All she had to do was smile and Linc's troubles seemed to disappear. He'd never told her about his legal problems and his suspicions about her father's role in them. No need to upset her further, so he'd dealt with it all quietly.

He anticipated one of Lori's smiles when he walked in the door. Instead, she rushed across the room and wrapped her arms around him, hugging tightly.

"To what do I owe this reception?" he asked.

Generally they were kissing by now or talking non-stop about their day. He usually helped with dinner, not that he was much good in the kitchen. To him it was an excuse to spend time with Lori; each minute with her was precious and to be treasured.

"My mother phoned," she said.

"And that's bad?" Lori nodded.

"What did she want?"

"She invited us to dinner on Saturday night."

Now Linc was completely perplexed. The relationship between Lori and her family was strained, and an invitation from her mother should please her; instead she was distressed.

"Will your father be there?"

"Of course!" she cried.

That explained some of her anguish. Linc patted her back soothingly, although he didn't understand why a dinner invitation had unsettled her so much.

"What did you tell your mother?" he asked. If he came up with the right questions, he might discover what was so terrible about this invitation. Didn't it mean Lori's parents, or at least her mother, were trying to build a bridge? Maybe this was a hopeful sign, the possible beginning of a reconciliation.

"I said no."

"Flat-out no...?"

She nodded, her hold around him tightening.

"You didn't think to ask me first?"

Tilting her head back, she looked up at him with wide brown eyes. "No."

"Because?" He felt offended that she hadn't even sought his response to this unexpected olive branch.

"Because I know why Mom invited us."

"And that is?"

Lori looked down and didn't answer.

Tucking his finger under her chin, he raised her head. "Lori?"

"My parents want to embarrass you."

He arched his brows. That wasn't a motive he'd considered. "And they would do that how?" he asked.

"I showed you a picture of my parents' home, remember?"

"I do and it's beautiful."

"It has a guesthouse and an Olympic-size pool and acres of landscaping."

"Ten acres, you said?"

"On the water."

Ten acres of waterfront property had to be worth more money than Linc could hope to earn in his lifetime. He remembered that Lori had mentioned a live-in housekeeper and cook, as well as groundskeepers.

"My father is wealthy and influential."

"As he let me know," Linc muttered. And well-connected, too. Still, Leonard Bellamy could erect all the roadblocks he wanted, but he couldn't stop Linc from setting up business, no matter how many friends he had.

"Mom will make sure dinner has three forks, two knives and four spoons just to confuse you."

He laughed. "After Mary Jo moved out, my brothers and I didn't have that much silverware between us."

"This isn't a laughing matter," Lori said. "I won't give my family an opportunity to embarrass my husband, and that's what they're hoping to do."

Linc wasn't the least bit intimidated. "I might have grease under my fingernails, Lori, but I'm not a country bumpkin. I'll hold my own. There's no need to protect me."

"Yes, there is," she insisted.

He kissed her forehead. "No," he said. "It's okay. Really."

"You don't have any idea how uncomfortable Dad will make you. He'll try to trap you. He'll act all friendly and then start asking for your opinion on stocks."

"I'll answer him truthfully. Other than my 401(k), I don't follow the market."

"That's exactly what he'll want you to say and then he'll make fun of you. Only he'll do it in this supposedly witty way that's demeaning and belittling. I won't have it, Linc. I refuse to stand for it."

Leaning down, Linc kissed the tip of her nose. "Phone your mother back and tell her you've changed your mind. We'll be happy to join them for dinner."

She stared up at him with shocked disbelief. "No!"

"Lori, sweetheart, you could be misreading the situation."

"I'm not," she said. "I know my parents-especially my father. He thinks I've made a terrible mistake marrying you and he's dying to prove what an idiot I am."

"You're not an idiot, Lori." The fact that Leonard thought this infuriated him. "And neither am I. In fact, your father's going to see that, and soon."

"Clearly you haven't spent much time with him."

Their single encounter had been unpleasant enough; still, Linc was willing to give it a second try. When the time came, Lori's parents would be his children's grandparents-their only grandparents. Linc knew the importance of family and longed to build a solid relationship with the Bellamys. He realized it might take months, even years, but he hoped that if Lori's parents had the chance to know him, they'd see how much he loved her. He'd wait them out if he had to and he'd endure Leonard's interference and wouldn't let it defeat him.

"This is an opportunity we shouldn't turn down," he said.

Lori held her ground. "We aren't going."

"Friday night, was it?" he asked.

Lori sighed and shook her head. "Saturday night, but it doesn't make any difference-we won't be there."

"Lori, we should go. I want to."