Harlequin Mini-romance for Woman’s World

A bit of bad luck turns into a whole lot of good luck for Marcie and Luke . . .

Marcie couldn’t believe her bad luck. Storms had delayed all flights out of New Orleans after her foster father’s funeral. Weighed down by grief, she stood in line to buy coffee. Behind her, a baby cried, deep unhappy wails that tugged at her heartstrings. Assembling a smile, she turned, prepared to offer an encouraging word to the child’s mother.

A tall broad-shouldered man held a blonde baby girl with his strong, capable hands. His brown eyes called to Marcie, not for sympathy but for forgiveness. Luke. The heaviness she’d carried since learning of Jerry’s passing turned into an ache that threatened to shatter her from the inside out. Marcie hadn’t talked to her ex-fiancé in over a year, not since he’d broken off their engagement and broken her heart days before their wedding.

His dark gaze captured hers and wouldn’t let go

“Hi.” Luke had to speak up to be heard over the unhappy baby in his arms. There was dark stubble on his jaw and a red smudge that matched the jam oozing from the sandwich clutched in the little girl’s fingers and lining her mouth. “I saw you at the funeral.”

Marcie managed a nod. They’d been fostered by the same family in high school. He’d helped her pass Spanish, and she’d helped him pass enough math and English to qualify for a football scholarship at Georgia Tech.

“This is Emily.” Luke flicked a wipe over the baby’s mouth, but Emily just cried harder and tossed her sandwich to the floor. “She’s my daughter.”

The baby whose existence had broken their engagement.

Bittersweet memories banged around Marcie’s chest and against the hard defenses guarding her heart. Her joy when he’d asked her to marry him. The announcement by his ex-girlfriend at the rehearsal dinner that she was pregnant. The sorrow in Luke’s eyes when he’d told Marcie he couldn’t marry her.

Emily stopped crying and reached for Marcie. She wanted to back off, to turn away, to escape. She loved children. But this child . . .

Her arms came out of their own accord, and Emily fell into them. Waifish blue eyes stared into Marcie’s. And then Emily stuck her thumb in her mouth, dropped her head to Marcie’s shoulder and slipped past her defenses.

“Puppies and kittens,” Luke murmured, bending to pick up the sandwich. “Strays love you.” If only strays loved me back. She’d never been Luke’s type. She’d followed him to Georgia Tech anyway, pretending not to care that he dated and partied as if there were an expiration date looming on his life. And then on New Year’s Eve of their senior year, he’d knocked on her door and told her he was tired of pretending, tired of not being able to hold her close. And then he’d drawn her into his arms, kissed her and asked her to marry him.

“Amazing.” Luke put his hand on the small of Marcie’s back and led her toward the chairs at the gate to Atlanta. “She’s asleep.”

It was all Marcie could do not to stop walking, not to lean in closer, bury her face in the crook of Luke’s neck and beg him to love her the way he loved this little girl. Instead, she walked toward two empty seats.

“I can’t believe Jerry’s gone,” Luke said when they were settled. His dark gaze captured hers and wouldn’t let go. “He saved me.”

“He loved you. And so did I.”

“Remember the night I asked you to marry me? My teammates were drunk and stupid. I knew if I didn’t get away from them, I’d end up on the wrong side of the law. All I could think of was you.” Do not cry. “I never knew who my father was.” He took Emily’s hand and kissed it. “When Rachel said the baby was mine, I could only see one course of action. I should’ve stopped to consider my options. I should’ve asked you to stand with me and help raise Emily.”

Too late, her heart cried. He’d married Rachel.

“Rachel couldn’t handle motherhood.” Luke drew his hand back. His left hand. His left ringless hand. “Biologically, Emily isn’t mine. Except in my heart, she’s 100% my child, just like you’re 100% my soul mate.”

There was a roaring in Marcie’s ears, and it wasn’t from a jet plane or the pouring rain.

“Can you ever forgive me? Can you see it in your heart to take me back?”

A tear escaped, and then another. Speechless, Marcie could only nod and thank her lucky stars for southern storms.