Morgan woke when he heard the door closed and quickly looked around the room to see what had woken him. For a split second, he didn’t know where he was, but once he realized he was in Lesley’s hotel room, a wide grin covered his face as he remembered their lovemaking. Seeing the bathroom door closed, he figured Lesley was in there getting ready for the day.

He got out of bed and started the coffee pot that was on the counter next to the sink. He dressed, then poured himself a cup, then sat down at the table to drink it while he waited for Lesley to come out of the bathroom. He was still sitting at the table when Hailey woke up.

“Hi Daddy.”

“Good morning, sweetheart.” He stood, went to his daughter, and picked her up. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“Yes, but I need to go potty.”

“You’ll have to wait, Lindsay is in there.”

“No she isn’t.”

Morgan frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”

“She kissed me, said she would see me later, and then left.”

Morgan threw open the bathroom door expecting to see Lesley, but instead, he found it empty. He felt hurt that she hadn’t woken him before she’d left for the day, thinking maybe last night hadn’t meant as much to her as it had him.

While Morgan helped his daughter get dress, he listened to the morning news. The newscaster said that I-70 had been reopened all the way to Kansas City, but another storm was anticipated to hit the area later in the day.

Morgan was torn to what to do. Part of him wanted to wait for Lesley to return, but the other part knew he had to leave for home as soon as possible, as his brothers would never forgive him if he missed their sister’s funeral.

He wrote Lesley a quick note on an old receipt he had in his pocket, leaving her his phone number and a short message as to why they had left before she returned. He laid the note on the same bedside table that Lesley had, and when they opened the door to leave for home, it too flew under the bed.

When Morgan returned home, he called Casey to let him know he was home and would at the funeral on Monday.

* * *

What a day! Lesley didn’t think today’s meeting would ever end. She returned to her room, quickly unlocking it, and stepping inside. The smile on her face promptly disappeared when she saw the room was empty. Her eyes rapidly searched the room for some sign of her guests from last night, but she didn’t see one thing that had belong to the Clemmens.

She shut the door and sat down on the first bed. Tears formed as she realized they had left without even saying goodbye. Her heart broke as she thought about what had happened between them last night. Hadn’t it meant anything to him at all? “Fine,” she said to the empty room, then she angrily wiped her tears away, but they continued to fall as she flopped backwards onto the bed.

The phone rang and she quickly grabbed it, thinking it would be Morgan, but it was the coordinator of convention calling to say tomorrow’s program had been cancelled due to the weather. Without a reason to stay, Lesley packed her bags and hurried out of the room to start for home.

When she returned to St. Louis, she called Conrad and told him that she needed to see him, as she couldn’t continue to see him now she’d been involved with another man. When he arrived at her door, she let him in but didn’t let him kiss her.

Conrad gave her a puzzled good. “Is something wrong?” Did she know that he’d been seeing another woman and was planning on breaking up with her?

“I’m sorry Conrad, but I don’t want to see you anymore,” she said softly.

Conrad nodded. “We’re just not right for each other, are we?” he asked, sadly looking at her.

“No, we aren’t. I’m sorry.”

He gave her a weak smile. “No need to be. Neither one of us has that special feeling for the other to make this relationship work.”

“You’ve felt it too?” She was relieved, as she hadn’t wanted to hurt him.

“Yes. I was coming over here to tell you it was over because I’ve met someone else, but you beat me to it.”

Lesley leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You’ve been a good friend and I wish you luck with your new friend.”

“Thanks.”

Conrad left and she slowly closed the door. She was depressed breaking up with a man she’d been dating for several months, but knew she had done the right thing. After meeting Morgan, she realized she couldn’t ever be happy with Conrad.

* * *

Lindsay decided to stay at the house with Austin instead of going to the funeral, which she knew would be a sad and solemn occasion as the four brothers said good-bye to their sister. After the service, the family visited together a few moments talking about their sister and her husband, and after Morgan had left with Hailey, the conversation turned to the subject of Mariah’s sisters. She told Evan’s brothers about how Lindsay, Leslie, and Whitney had been separated during their childhood.

Casey didn’t mention anything to Mariah about his new relationship with her sister, wanting to wait until Lindsay was with him before he did. Instead, he told the family about Lindsay being a well-known published writer and that he was helping her with her research. “Mariah, can you and Evan come to dinner tonight?”

“Of course.”

“We need to talk to you both,” he replied, but not mentioning that Lindsay didn’t know anything about him inviting them for dinner.

“What time do you want us?”

Casey quickly thought how much time Lindsay would need to prepare a dinner party she didn’t know anything about. “How does six o'clock sound?” he asked nervously.

Mariah sense something wasn’t right here and gave at her brother-in-law a questioning look, but he looked away, then she turned towards her husband. “Evan, does that sound good to you?”

“It depends on what she’s fixing. If it’s something I love, I’m ready to go now,” Evan said jokingly.

Casey laughed a forced chuckle. “I don’t think she’s quite ready for you to show up this soon.”

Mariah studied Casey for a moment, suddenly realizing what wasn’t right with this situation. “Casey Pennay, don’t tell me Lindsay doesn’t know anything about your invitation.”

“Well,” he hedge, refusing to look at Mariah.

“Come on, tell me the truth,” she demanded.

“The truth is that she said she wanted you to come over one night for dinner, but not which night.”

“We can make it some other time.”

“No, I want it to be tonight.” He was anxious to tell Mariah about his relationship with her sister, as until he did, he would feel like a teenager sneaking behind his parents’ back.

“Won’t she be worn out taking care of Austin all day?”

“I’ll go home and make her take a nap and I’ll help her with dinner.”

Evan grabbed hold of his wife’s waist. “We’ll be there at six. Come on woman, let’s you and I go home so we can work on our little project.”

Casey started to ask what project he was referring to, but when he saw Mariah blush, he realized what his brother meant. He hurried home so he could tell Lindsay about their dinner company. When he entered the house, he heard Austin crying and followed the sound. When he reached the top of the stairs, he heard Lindsay talking to the baby.

“Little man, just let me finish putting on this clean diaper, then you’ll get your afternoon snack,” Lindsay told the crying child. He felt a bit warm to her, but thought it must have been because of the heavy of blanket she had on him.

The crying quit, so Casey figured that Austin was nursing. He stepped into the room and watched as Lindsay nursed the baby. “Someday you’ll be nursing our child at your breast.”

Lindsay jumped at the sound of his voice. “Casey, you startled me,” she said, her hand resting on her chest. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied slowly, trying to decide how to tell her about his dinner invitation to Mariah and Evan. He felt guilty now for inviting them for dinner without talking to her first, as just looking at her, he could tell she was exhausted.

“Casey, is something wrong?” She didn’t know him well, but something told her he wanted to tell her something.

“I invited Evan and Mariah over for dinner,” he said, then just stared at her.

“Tonight?” Her eyes filled with panic.

“Yes, but just looking at you, I can tell you’re too tired to be fixing a big dinner for guests.”

“Maybe if I took a nap while this young man slept, then we could fix dinner together.”

“You’re not angry that I invited them without asking you first?” He was surprised, thinking she would be, since most women he knew would have been.

She smiled at him. “No, we need to talk to them about us and the sooner, the better.”

“Can I take a nap with you?” he asked, then gave her an ornery wink.

“Only if you promise you’ll behave yourself.”

“You’re so heartless.”

“I’ll make it up to you later tonight when we go to bed.”

“It’s a deal.”

After a good nap, Lindsay felt rested, and was ready to start on dinner. With Casey’s help, they fixed lasagna, a salad, and garlic toast. When the doorbell rang, the timer showed they had five minutes before dinner was ready. Casey went to let them in, while Lindsay filled the glasses with ice and water. Mariah came into the kitchen just as the timer went off.

“You have great timing,” Lindsay teased her sister.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Round up the guys and we’ll be ready.”

“What about Austin?”

“He’s still sleeping.”

“Has he been sleeping long?”

Lindsay looked at the clock on the wall. “He should be waking up any time now, but hopefully, we’ll be done with dinner by the time he wakes.”

Soon the four of them were busy filling their plates, Casey said grace, and then they started eating. Mariah kept looking between her sister and Casey, waiting for one of them to say why she and Evan were here tonight, but neither one of them said anything. By the time they were finishing their meal, Mariah was so frustrated she kicked Evan under the table, and gave him a look to say she wanted him to ask why they were there.

“Casey was there some reason you wanted us here tonight?” he asked, seeing Mariah grinning at him out of the corner of his eye.

Casey looked at Lindsay, then back at his brother. “Yes, there is.”

Before he could say another word, a baby’s cry was heard from the monitor.

“I’ll go tend to him and be right back,” Lindsay said, noticing Mariah’s disappointed look by the interruption.

“We’ll wait for you.”

The three of them started talked about Austin when Lindsay was out of the room. A few seconds later, Lindsay’s scream was heard over the monitor and Casey, Evan, and Mariah jumped up from the table and ran from the room. When they arrived, Lindsay was holding a convulsing baby in her arms.

Lindsay’s tear filled eyes looked at them. “Help me. I don’t know what to do,” she sobbed.

Casey’s cell phone rang just as he was about to take the baby from her. He wasn’t going to answer it, but when he looked at the caller ID, he saw that it was Morgan. If anyone knew about babies and fevers, it was Morgan, as Hailey had been sick frequently when she was a baby.

“Morgan, Austin is having a convulsion. What should we do?”

“Is he hot to the touch?”

Casey touched the child. “Yes, he’s burning up.”

“Get a washcloth wet with cool water; apply it to his forehead and neck, and put lukewarm water on the rest of his body. Whatever you do, don’t use cold water or rubbing alcohol because it may make it worse. After the seizure quits, give him some baby acetaminophen and get him to the hospital as quick as you can.”

“Thanks, we’ll keep in touch.”

While Lindsay held the infant, the rest of the family did as Morgan said. When the seizure was over, they headed for Casey’s car because of the baby’s car seat. Since Casey was too upset to drive, Evan drove them to the hospital. Mariah sat up front with her husband, while Casey and Lindsay got into the back seat with the baby.

Lindsay cried on the way to the hospital, telling the family that he had felt warm when she had laid him down after his last feeding and felt guilty for not giving him something then to reduce the fever.

The nurses in the emergency room took the baby right in and started immediate treatment on him. Everyone were relieved to found out the high fever had been caused by an ear infection. The doctor reassured Lindsay that she hadn’t done anything wrong and that Austin wouldn’t have any lasting complications due to the convulsion.

Once they were back at the house, Casey wanted her to put Austin back in his crib, but she refused to let him out of her sight. They all went into the living room and sat down with Austin in Lindsay’s arms.

“I know this has been a full evening, but I want you both to know that Lindsay and I are going to get married,” Casey told their guests.

Mariah looked over at her sister, then looked back at Casey. “Why?” she asked him.

“What do you mean, why? Why does any couple get married?” he asked her hatefully.

“You’re telling me that you and Lindsay are in love?” Mariah was shocked by his statement.

“Why do you find that so hard to believe?” he screamed at Mariah, angry at her thoughtless question.

“You’ve just met. Besides, you should only get married for the right reason.”

“What would be a wrong reason?” he inquired, outraged with his sister-in-law for the third degree they were getting from her.

“Casey, Mariah doesn’t want you two to be getting married just because of Austin,” Evan inserted into the conversation. “You should love each other.”

Lindsay smiled over at her sister. “Mariah, I know it’s a shock for you, but we have fallen in love.”

Mariah didn’t want to ask her sister, but she didn’t have any choice, she had to say what was on hers and Evan’s mind. “So you’re saying you aren’t marrying Casey for his money.”

Lindsay was hurt by her sister’s comment, but part of her realized she was trying to protect Casey. “Mariah, I plenty of my own money I don’t need any of Casey’s money.”

“Really? Do you have as much as he has?”

She turned to look at Casey before responding. “I don’t know how much he has in the bank, but I have one million dollars in my account.”

Mariah was floored by Lindsay’s statement. “What? How can you have that much money?”

“Mariah, let it drop. It really isn’t any of our business why they want to get married,” Evan said, touching her hand.

Lindsay turned to look at Evan. “Evan, it’s all right.” Then she looked back to her sister. “You know that I’m a published author, what you may not know is that I’ve sold a lot of books.”

“I apologize for my comment. It’s just that Casey has been my family for five years, and I haven’t seen you for over twenty years. I don’t know you anymore,” she said, hoping her sister understood what she meant.

“Mariah, I understand your concern. For your information, Casey and I’ve talked about our money. We’re going to protect both of our interest by having a prenuptial agreement, just in case the marriage doesn’t last.”

Evan stood. “Come on Mariah, I think it’s time for us to go home.”

“Thank you for dinner, I’m sorry for my rude comment.”

Lindsay reached over, took hold of her sister’s hand, and squeezed it. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad that you care enough for Casey to watch over him.”

Casey and Lindsay walked their guests to the front door and waved good-bye to them as they drove away.

“That went well,” Casey said, trying to keep a straight face.

“You think so?” She turned to look at him, not sure, if he meant what he’d said.

“At least Mariah didn’t accuse me of marrying you for your money,” he teased, his eyes twinkling.

Lindsay frowned at him. “Is that a good sign? Or does Mariah just trust you more than she does me?” she asked, with a touch of hurt in her voice.

He turned to her and pulled her into his arms. “Lindsay, don’t take it to heart. You and your sister are strangers.”

“Her comment still hurt,” she replied sadly.

“Let’s go to bed and I’ll try to think of a way to make it up to you.”

“You’re just trying to get me into trouble,” she snickered.

He laughed loudly. “You sure do have my number. Next time I’ll have to be more inventive.”

She giggled. “I’ll just have to keep on my toes when I’m around you.”

“Sounds interesting. I’ve never tried it that way.”

Lindsay lightly hit his arm. “The way you’re going, you may never get it ever again.”

“So you think you can resist my charms,” he teased.

She leaned against him, brought her lips to his, and kissed him. “Never.”