Something About Joe (24 page)

But,
ecstatic as he was that Allison loved him, the problems that had
driven them apart remained unresolved.

“What’s happened with Peter?” he asked. He
could scarcely say her ex-husband’s name without spitting.

A
shadow passed across Allison’s
face and she told him about Peter’s visit and her mother-in-law’s
phone call. Peter was as heinous as he had suspected, and then
some. “But I haven’t closed the door on him,” she concluded. “Maybe
he’s the kind of guy who just doesn’t feel comfortable with young
children. He might want to see more of Mitchell when Mitchell is
older. I won’t do anything to stop that—when all’s said and done,
Peter is Mitchell’s father.”

Privately, Joe thought she was kidding
herself. But to her he said, “Of course, and I respect your
decision.”

Allison
smiled. “Mitchell refused to call him Daddy. Said he already had a
daddy named Joe.”

She avoided
his eyes, seemed afraid she’d said the wrong thing.

He tilted
her chin back up to face him. “He’s called me Daddy before, you
know.”

“
H...
has he?” she said in an odd,
strangled little voice.

“
Yes, the
night he was so sick
in hospital. The
little guy held my hand and called me Daddy. I’ve never felt so
honored.”

“
Wh
at did you say to him?” Her
face was flushed, and her eyes didn’t leave his face. He wondered
why his reply seemed so important to her.

“
I told him
I wasn’t his daddy, just Joe. That I couldn’t be his daddy because
I wasn’t married to his mommy. I believe you should be honest with
children. Then I told him I wanted to be his daddy but I’d have to
talk to his mommy about it. I’m not sure he understood or even
heard me. Did he say anything to you?”

He couldn’t read the curious expression on
her face.

“
No,
he...
he didn’t,” she stammered. “I didn’t
know you said that.”

A
llison’s heart was thudding so
furiously she was sure Joe must hear it. Had Joe just said he
wanted to be Mitchell’s father?

Joe cradled
her face in his hands. His expression was very serious and his
voice grave. “I love you, Ally, and I love Mitchell, too. I want to
be the father he deserves. And I want everyone to know we’re a
family.” He paused, and she could see uncertainty in his eyes.
“Will you marry me?”

Allison
couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was better than any
dream she could possibly dream, any fantasy she could possibly
imagine. Joe loved her. But he loved Mitchell, too. He wanted them
as a package, wanted to be a family.

Her heart
swelled with a joy so intense it threatened to choke her voice. It
took a few attempts to get the words out. “Yes, oh yes, a thousand
times yes,” she breathed, “from me and from Mitchell,
too.”

They kissed
a long, tender, unbearably sweet kiss.

Then Joe
said, “This isn’t how I planned it. I wanted a yacht on the harbor
at sunset with champagne, roses, the works.”

Allison willed all the love she felt for
this wonderful man who had come so unexpectedly into her life, and
changed it so irrevocably, to shine from her eyes.

She entwined her fingers with his. “This is
better, Joe,” she whispered. “This is better.”

###

Kandy Shepherd left a fast-paced
career as a magazine editor to write award-winning romantic
fiction. Kandy lives in a small farm in the Blue Mountains near
Sydney, Australia, with her husband, daughter and a menagerie of
four-legged friends. She believes in love-at-first-sight and
real-life romance—they worked for her!

Author note

Dear Reader

Something About Joe
was
my first published novel, published by a small, now defunct
publisher. It was always special to me, as
“
first times
”
often are.
It was to readers, too. Years after it was published, readers would
tell me how much they
’
d loved Joe and
Allison
’
s story. When a copy went for a
surprising sum at a fundraising auction at a romance reader
convention, I began to wonder if the e-publishing revolution might
bring
Something About Joe
to a wider, new audience. The
success of
The Castaway Bride
as an e-book made up my mind
for me. Of course, I couldn
’
t resist some
updating and tweaking, but the story remains the same. If you
enjoyed reading
Something About Joe
, I would so appreciate
it if you could post a review at the online retailer where you
purchased it. Thank you!

More books by Kandy
Shepherd

My romantic comedies,
Love is
a Four-legged Word,
and,
Home Is Where the Bark Is,
are
published by Berkley Sensation and available from online retailers
and bookstores.

I love to hear from my readers,
please visit me!

My website:
http://www.kandyshepherd.com

My blog:
http://writingtails.wordpress.com

Facebook:
http://facebook.com/KandyShepherd

Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kandyshepherd

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