The Sometime Bride

well…” He looked at her and smiled. “I figured out some time ago that you and I are—two of a kind. Destined for each other. Meant to be.”
    Carrie swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. “And the others?”
    He gave her a hopeful smile, green eyes glistening. “Jack, Amanda, little Carrie, and Mike Junior,” he said, touching the stones one by one with his right index finger.
    Salty tears streamed from Carrie’s eyes. Amanda was her Grandma Russell’s name, though how Mike had known, she couldn’t fathom.
    “Of course, if you don’t like those names, we could choose others,” he said, reaching up and wiping her cheeks.
    “I love those names. But…four?” she said, her voice warbling.
    “For starters, anyway,” Mike said with a Cheshire-cat grin as he slipped the ring on her finger. “Carrie St. John,” he said, looking into her deep-brown eyes, “will you be mine, to have, to hold, and to cherish from this day forward…?”
    Carrie nodded and kissed his hands still holding her own. “Oh, I will. I will, I will, I will!” She smiled, giving the morning sun a run for its money. “But…Mike, I kind of think you’re supposed to save those words for the wedding.”
    “The wedding?” Mike asked, pulling her up and into his arms. Right where she belonged. Torso to torso, heart to thundering heart.
    “But that’s only six days away,” he said, closing in for a kiss. “Shouldn’t we start practicing up?”
    What, oh what, was she going to do with this man?
    Keep him, she supposed.
    “Absolutely,” Carrie said as she kissed him back, and he swept her away.

Epilogue

    After a private ceremony and small family reception, featuring mint-chocolate wedding cake, Mike took Carrie on a long country drive, after which he surprised her by carting her over the threshold of a darling Cape Cod with a white picket fence. After crying several million tears and drinking the sweet Virginia wine Mike had stocked in the fridge, Carrie told him about his new investment opportunity in the Caymans.
    Once they’d gotten over the initial shock of just how alike they truly were, the delighted couple arrived at a happy compromise. They would rent out the new house for a year while they lived on Grand Cayman and got Mike’s dive-shop business off the ground. Afterward, they would settle back in Virginia and begin fulfilling Carrie’s engagement-ring promise of creating four beautiful children.
    So they could keep an eye on him, Mike’s father, Jack, would be invited to join them in the islands for that first year. They would rent him someplace scenic, not too far from their own home, where he could watch the saucy Caribbean sun stretching its long fingers over the morning waters—and enjoy the personal attentions of his own private nurse.
    Once back in Virginia, they’d continue to vacation on Grand Cayman, and Mike would make occasional business trips, as needed, to check up on his shop. Then eventually, once Mike found the perfect piece of real estate, they’d build a breezy getaway on the island’s east end and summer there on a regular basis.
    And while they plotted, planned, and worked out all these intimate details, the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Michael John Davis, sat on the front steps of their perfect new home and ate a whole box of ice cream sandwiches—before they melted.

    The End

A Note from the Author

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    Also By Ginny Baird

    Real Romance

    Santa Fe Fortune

    How to Marry a Matador

    The Christmas Catch

    The Holiday Bride

    To see an excerpt from Santa Fe Fortune,
    keep reading for a sneak peek here!

SANTA FE FORTUNE

    “I had a really great time tonight,” she said, beaming up at him and feeling very much as