Love Under Two Doctors (36 page)

“You’re thinking of opening up the northern quarter?” Robert asked.

Chase nodded. “Neither of us has been very happy in the corporate world. So we’ve decided to try our hand at something different, something we’ve always wanted to do.”

“We both know a fair bit about horses. We thought we’d have a few head of cattle, but mostly we wanted to see if we could breed and raise horses.”

Chase said, “It’s what we used to talk about when we were younger. Before we convinced ourselves that living the cowboy life was just a kid’s dream.”

“Hey!” His cousin, Steven Benedict, had obviously heard the entire conversation. He came over and gave Richard a mock punch in his arm. “There’s nothing wrong with being a cowboy,” he said.

“No, there isn’t,” Richard agreed. “For men who have trained for the job.”

“Hi, Jillian and Robert and David. Ooh, nice necklace. Congratulations on getting engaged!” Maggie’s bright, wide-eyed speech made Jillian laugh and her men—and even the brothers of her men—shut up and look embarrassed.

“What she said.” Richard laughed. Then he hugged Jillian, and shook Robert’s hand. To David he said, “I’m sure the men in the family will be happy to learn the most unrepentant flirt among us has been taken out of circulation.”

“I like David’s flirting,” Jillian said. She slipped her arm through his. “He has my permission to flirt all he wants anytime. With me.”

“Suits me just fine,” David said.

Jillian was hugged by all of the brothers Benedict, Brian and Chase last. “I say go for it,” she said. She looked to each of her own men in turn. “You have to follow your heart and do what you love.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Chase said. “We think so, too.”

“You still have to convince the Town Trust to give you a shot,” Richard said.

“They do, indeed, and likely will do so successfully. For what is the Town Trust but the very heart of this family?”

Jillian grinned at the sound of the soft, feminine voice that emerged from behind the wall of Benedicts. Richard and his brothers spun on their heels. There, standing with the brand-new parents and their baby, Kate Benedict beamed at her family with absolute joy on her face.

“Look, everyone! Tonight marks the social debut of our newest member, Eloise Katherine Benedict. We call her Ellie.”

Everyone applauded, and Jillian knew that many of the family in attendance hadn’t had the chance to see the new baby yet.

“Let me have that sweetie.” Robert’s eyes had lit up. Alex gently handed his daughter over to the man who had delivered her.

Jillian thought she’d never seen a more moving sight than her Robert cradling close that tiny baby girl. Ellie was safe in his arms, for Robert Jessop was a man of constancy, a man of strength that any woman—that
she
—could count on to be there, no matter what.

“I haven’t had the pleasure of delivering many,” Robert said. “But that day, David, when I heard little Ellie here cry out for the first time, I so totally understood why you do what you do.”

“I have the best job.” David moved closer to his brother, but kept his hand on Jillian.

“It never gets old,” Kate said. “Every new baby has a part of all of us, right back to Caleb and Joshua and Sarah, to Adam, Warren and Amanda. I see Sam and Charlie, Sarah’s twin boys and Madeline, my mother-in-law in this wee one. I see my beloved Gerald and Pat in Ellie’s beautiful face.” She met Jillian’s gaze. “We’re all connected, from the first of us, to the last of us, to the next one not yet born. It means something. It’s love, and it’s family.”

Jillian looked around the room, her gaze taking in so many who’d become dear to her so very quickly. She thought about the life she’d lived before coming here, and she thought of the future stretching out before her.

“It’s so much more than even that, Kate,” Jillian said. Her heart had never felt so full. “It’s
everything
.”

Morgan Ashbury writing as Cara Covington

Morgan has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons, and write.

Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan’s children also learned the Paper Rule: Thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother’s words upon it.

Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children’s children learned this rule, too.

Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple bypass surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she’d always dreamed of doing: writing full time.

Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that human kind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she’s a sucker for a happy ending.

Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling—though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.

Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a mysterious cat, a dog that has no dignity, and her husband of forty years, David.

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For titles by Cara Covington writing as

Morgan Ashbury, please visit

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