Charlotte let go of Sadie’s hands and crossed the kitchen to stand at Callum’s side.

“Hush, Callum. Now is not the time.”

“Not the time, woman?” he asked in a growl, looking down at her with a gleam in his eyes. “Your daughter has just caught us in a compromising position. Her question is fair.”

He wrapped one arm around Charlotte in an embrace that said he wanted no more interference from her. He looked at Sadie.

“I’ve asked your mother to marry me, lass, at least once a week for the last two months.

But she’s being stubborn about giving me an answer.”

Sadie lifted her shoulders into a shrug. “Don’t look at me. It took two years of coaxing just to get her to visit me in Boston.”

“Two years!” he said, looking a bit sick in the face as he glared down at Charlotte. “I’m getting old, woman. I can’t wait two more years.”

Charlotte patted his shirt, then ducked out from under his arm to move away. “Well, Callum MacKeage, you’re going to have to wait a while longer,” she said, going to the kennel.

Charlotte’s cat, Kashmir, had silently come into the kitchen and was standing with her nose pressed up against the kennel. As soon as Charlotte freed Ping from her carrier, both cats took off at a run to the nether regions of the house.

“Well,” Sadie said into the awkward silence. She held out her gloved right hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Callum. I’m surprised we haven’t met before now.”

Callum took her hand in a warm, gentle embrace. “I’ve wanted you and your mom to have some time alone together,” he told her. “I know you’ve been living away since college.” He looked at Charlotte and smiled. “She’s glad to have you back.”

“And I’m very glad to be back. I think I’m going to stay this time.”

Callum looked back at Sadie, the rugged planes of his face softened by the warmth of his smile. “Good. Now, I must be going. You two have a good visit together.”

“You don’t have to leave,” Sadie quickly assured him. “I can go down to Nadeau’s and have a beer.”

“Alone?” he asked, looking somewhat scandalized.

Sadie refrained from laughing out loud, but she couldn’t stop a smile from escaping.

“But I won’t be alone once I get there, will I?” she said, holding her mirth in check. She didn’t want to tease her mother’s friend. At least, not until she knew if he had a sense of humor.

Charlotte groaned and came to Callum’s rescue by physically pushing him toward the door. “I’ll talk to you soon, Cal. Thanks for the… um… lovely visit,” she said, standing on tiptoe and pulling his mouth down to meet hers, giving him a quick kiss on the lips and then pushing him again.

Only he wouldn’t be hurried. He kissed her a bit more thoroughly and then straightened and smiled at Sadie. “It was nice to finally meet you, lass. I’ll see you again this Saturday evening.”

That said, he allowed Charlotte to send him out the door. Sadie moved to stand beside her mother, and they both watched Callum walk to the truck parked a short way down the street.

“What’s happening Saturday night?” Sadie asked.

Charlotte turned to her, excitement lighting her already beautiful face. “We’re going to double date.”

“You, Callum, me, and who?”

“His cousin, Morgan.” Charlotte clapped her hands together. “Oh, I don’t know why I didn’t think of the two of you together before now. Morgan is perfect, Sadie. He’s taller than you. Well, actually, he’s a lot taller than you. And he’s handsome and well mannered, and he seems very interesting to talk to, the few times I’ve met him.”

“If he’s so perfect, why isn’t he already taken?”

A worried frown creased Charlotte’s brow. “He’s—ah—Morgan is a bit of a loner, sweetie, from what Callum has told me. He’s building a house someplace in the middle of the woods, and that’s taken up most of his time.”

“Great. A hermit. You’ve matched me up with a tall hermit this time.” Sadie kissed her now fretting mother on the cheek and then walked to the table and sat down. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll go on a date with you and Callum and Morgan-the-hermit,” she assured her once Charlotte had joined her at the table. “Why won’t you marry him?”

Charlotte looked startled, if not a little confused, by the change of subject. “You wouldn’

t mind if I got married again?” she finally asked.

Sadie leaned back in her chair and stared at her mom for a full minute. “You’ve been holding the man off because of me?”

“Of course I have.” Charlotte reached out and took hold of Sadie’s hands. “You didn’t just love your father, sweetie, you adored him. I always assumed you would never want anyone to take his place.”

“Oh, Mom. No man ever will. But that doesn’t mean I expect you to spend the rest of your life alone, as some sort of shrine to Frank Quill. You’re only forty-three years old.

You’re not even halfway through your life yet.”

Charlotte pulled back, fingering the folds of her gown nervously. “It’s been only three years, Sadie. How can I live with a man for twenty-four years, then suddenly expect to move on with a new life so soon, as if he never existed?”

“Because Daddy is dead, and you’re not. Because nothing says you stop feeling, or wanting, or needing human contact. Because even though you have me, I know that’s not enough. If you love this guy, I say go for it.”

“I still can’t marry him,” Charlotte said in a barely audible voice, still toying with her gown.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m pregnant,” she whispered, looking up finally, her eyes two stricken circles of worry-washed blue.

For the third time in thirty minutes, Sadie was rendered speechless.

“I married Frank when I was sixteen because I was pregnant with you, Sadie. And even though I loved you and Caroline and your father with all my heart and have never regretted a day of my life, I just can’t start another marriage that way.”

Sadie still couldn’t think of a thing to say.

“Oh, Sadie,” Charlotte cried, burying her face in her hands. “I’m so foolish. How could I let this happen again!”

Sadie dove from her seat to her knees, wrapping her arms around her mother, hugging her fiercely. “You’re not foolish,” she assured her, lifting her mom’s face and wiping her cheeks. She gave her a warm, affectionate smile. “You just have the damndest luck with men. What is Callum, the second guy you’ve dated in all your life?”

Wiping her tears with her gown, Charlotte nodded. “Can you believe it? Two boyfriends, and both of them knocked me up.”

“But how?”

Charlotte blinked at her. “The usual way,” she said, her face turning bright red. She wiped at her tears again, and Sadie let out a frustrated breath.

“I know how. What I mean is, weren’t you using something? You’re old enough this time to know about birth control. What did you and Daddy do all these years?”

“Frank had a vasectomy just after Caroline was born,” Charlotte told her through a short round of hiccups. “In my entire life, I never used birth control. And I didn’t even stop to think this time. It just… it just happened,” she ended with another round of weeping, burying her face in her hands again.

Sadie let her mother cry instead of asking if Callum hadn’t at least been bright enough to use something himself.

Sadie stood up and decided her mother needed a cup of tea. Personally, she needed something a little stronger. It was as she was getting the brandy down from the top shelf of the cupboard that Sadie suddenly realized what all this meant.

She was going to be a sister again.

The bottle of brandy forgotten on the counter, Sadie ran back to her mother, pulled her up out of the chair, and hugged her fiercely.

“We’re going to have a baby, Mom. I’m going to be a sister again.”

Charlotte looked up, blinking in surprise. Slowly, and with the immense power of love behind it, she smiled the smile of a woman coming to terms with her condition.