Snowbound Baby (Silhouette Romance) (14 page)

T
he following June, Zoe slowly
made her way up the aisle of the small country church, holding her bridesmaid bouquet and smiling at the crowd. She and Cooper had beaten Madelyn and Ty to the altar because neither she nor Cooper had wanted a big wedding. Both had been alone so long they were eager to be together and didn’t wish to wait the months it would take to plan an elaborate event. Instead, they’d simply surprised Ty, Madelyn, Lucy and Seth with a trip to Las Vegas where Cooper’s family had witnessed the wedding of Cooper and Zoe. Madelyn had put the wedding announcement in the paper while the happy couple had honeymooned.

They’d returned in time for Cooper to handle an unexpected problem with the delivery of some materials to a construction site and Cooper had been working with his brothers as a traffic manager ever since. His partner now ran the ranch, which had a full herd and employed ten hands. Zoe had paid the back taxes on the house, but called her parents and told them it was their responsibility to sell it or rent it, and her parents had agreed to call each other about the matter. She and Cooper had bought a huge home in Porter where Daphne had become good friends with Sabrina and Owen.

Making her way to the altar, Zoe
smiled at Cooper, then Seth, then Ty, who waited impatiently for Madelyn. All three men looked wonderful in their black tuxes and to see them no one would ever have guessed that the three brothers had been estranged for eight long years. They were happy…. No, they were tight. Like three men who defied anyone who would try to come between them. Exactly the way Zoe believed brothers should be.

From there she cast a quick glance at Daphne, who was in the arms of Mildred Jenkins, Seth’s next-door neighbor. Daphne was happily patting Mildred’s face, but Mildred hardly noticed because she was too busy peering over the crowd, hoping for a peek at the bride. In the seat in front of Mildred, King Alfredo appeared oblivious to little Owen’s singing, as he, too, craned his neck to see the bride. And in the seat in front of the king, Audrey Olsen, Princess Lucy’s best friend, held squirming Sabrina and also angled her head to catch sight of Madelyn.

Zoe had discovered she had access to a nanny brigade, friends of Madelyn’s mom who didn’t merely babysit, they would also make meals and give lessons on anything from cooking to gardening to baby care…as long as you joined their card club and didn’t mind getting your butt whopped in pinochle.

At last, Zoe reached her spot at the altar beside Princess Lucy, who looked regal and stunning in the simple green gown Madelyn had chosen for both her bridesmaids.

In her spot at the altar, Zoe
turned. The organist changed tunes, and at the back of the church Madelyn and her dad, a short man with a graying crew cut, stood in the doorway. Though Zoe had seen Madelyn a hundred times that morning, she couldn’t stop her eyes from misting. Madelyn was the perfect bride with her red hair pulled into a cluster of curls at the top of her head and a veil that made a tulle backdrop for her bare shoulders and sequined gown. Her full skirt swished as she walked. And her smile could have charmed the angels.

Zoe noted that it clearly charmed Ty, who looked spellbound. Then she caught Seth peeking at Lucy and saw Lucy’s answering smile. When she glanced at Cooper, her heart stumbled in her chest.

They were undoubtedly the luckiest six people in the world…the luckiest nine people if you counted the three babies that had brought them together. The luckiest twenty-five people if you counted Madelyn’s family into the Bryant clan, and the Bryants definitely counted Madelyn’s family as their own. The luckiest five hundred, if you counted the employees of Bryant Development. And fifteen hundred, if you counted the entire small town of Porter.

And Zoe did. Porter was a little place, but it was huge in the way it had been blessed with love and laughter and friends who were family.

That is…they were family if you believed that love meant more than bloodlines.

And Zoe did.

ISBN: 978-1-4603-5486-5

SNOWBOUND BABY

Copyright © 2005 by Susan Meier

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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