Joan Kilby - Child of Their Vows

Despite the warm sun, a chill raised bumps on Max’s forearms. How could she know? He’d stashed the letter deep in the bottom drawer of his office filing cabinet. “What do you mean?”

“You’re hiding something,” Kelly stated. “You’ve been acting weird all weekend, guilty and secretive—when you weren’t giving me a tumble, that is.” She crossed her arms. “Spill it.”

At first Kelly thought he would evade this demand for explanations, too. Then before her eyes, Max seemed to shrink from her and turn inward. Her heart sank. Whatever he was hiding must be really bad. He was having an affair. He wanted a divorce. He—

“I have a son.”

She stared. She’d heard him speak, but the words had no meaning. “What did you say?”

“I have a son,” he repeated.

“That’s impossible. Unless,” she added with a short, humorless laugh, “one of the twins had a sex change.”

“Kelly.”

“But it’s impossible, Max,” she repeated. “We were married right out of high school. How could you have a child I don’t know about….”

Dear Reader,

Most romance novels stop at the altar; I’ve often thought this is where the story of a couple really begins. Some couples, like Kelly and Max Walker, are meant to be together. But even the happiest of families may have secrets that rock the very foundation of a solid marriage.

On her thirteenth wedding anniversary Kelly learns that Max had a son by a liaison previously unknown to her, and their past becomes a lie. When Max, who longs for more children, discovers Kelly is pregnant and contemplating abortion, their future is in jeopardy.

Max wants a son. Kelly wants a life. For a marriage to survive it requires not just love but a willingness to accommodate the needs of a partner who may have different life goals. Is the love that brought Kelly and Max together as teenagers strong enough to transcend their problems and nurture them through their evolving relationship?

Child of Their Vows is my third book about the Hanson sisters of Hainesville, Washington. Child of His Heart featured Kelly’s elder sister, Erin, and Child of Her Dreams was about her younger sister, Geena. Finally it’s Kelly’s turn to have her story told. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Kelly’s, Erin’s and Geena’s special relationship with one another, and the men they love, as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about them. I’m going to miss being part of their world!

I love to hear from readers. Please write me at P.O. Box 234, Point Roberts, Washington 98281-0234, or visit me at www.superauthors.com.

Joan Kilby

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“YOU WON’T BE LATE TONIGHT, I hope.” Max followed Kelly to the front door as she prepared to leave for work.

That today was their thirteenth wedding anniversary seemed to have slipped his wife’s ever-practical mind. He, on the other hand, had made romantic plans—a weekend for two at the Salish Lodge, at Snoqualmie Falls, east of Seattle.

“No, I promise,” Kelly said absently, slipping her feet into pumps while consulting her “to do” list. “Let’s see…dry cleaning, water bill— Oh, this morning I’m showing someone around the Harper house,” she interrupted herself to inform Max. “If I make a sale I’ll pick up some champagne.” She took a pen from the side pocket of her purse and wrote that in with a question mark beside it.

Max leaned forward to breathe in the scent of lavender and vanilla emanating from Kelly’s glossy brown shoulder-length hair. He already had a bottle of bubbly chilling in the back of the fridge.

Her gaze still moving over her list, Kelly stood on tiptoes and angled her cheek for a peck from Max. He was aiming for her lips when she burst out, “Omigosh! The laundry,” and slipped out of his arms to reverse her steps down the hall.

“I’ll do that,” Max said, irritation puncturing his buoyant mood. He strode after her to stand in the doorway of the laundry room while she sorted whites from colors at whirlwind speed. “Or we could do something really radical and hire a cleaning lady.”

“And pay someone for work I can do perfectly well myself? I don’t think so.” Kelly stuffed the dirty clothes into the washing machine, added detergent and spun the dial. “I promised you when I started working that the housework wouldn’t suffer. Besides, I overheard you tell a client you’d have his house design ready this afternoon.”

“The girls are waiting in the car for you to take them to school,” he reminded her. Kelly’s morning route included dropping the twins, Tammy and Tina, at play school, before driving Robyn and Beth over to the elementary school.

“I’m on my way.” She edged around him in preparation for the dash to her station wagon.

“Before you enter warp speed…” Max grabbed hold of her shoulders and halted her long enough to plant a kiss on her mouth. “Happy anniversary, Mrs. Walker.”

“Anniversary!” Her fingers flew to a mouth rounded in astonishment. “Is it really May 8?”

Max nodded wryly. “All day.”

Her arms went around his neck for a quick hug. “Happy anniversary, sweetheart. Why don’t we order pizza for the kids tonight and you and I go out to a restaurant.”

“Sure you can spare the time?” Max said, pokerfaced. Little did Kelly know they would be eating their anniversary dinner in the hotel where they’d spent their honeymoon.

Taking no notice of his sarcasm, she whipped out her list and busily wrote another memo to herself. “Call Nancy to baby-sit.”

“I’ve already talked to Nancy. Now, go, before you make the kids late again.”

Once she’d left, Max headed for the kitchen and another cup of coffee. He tried to keep a sense of humor about Kelly’s attempts to be supermom, and career woman, but the long hours she spent at the real estate office took a toll on their family life and had become a constant source of conflict. His patience regarding her promises to slow down were fast running out.

“This weekend better work a little magic on our marriage,” he told Billy, a golden retriever, and Flora, a young black Labrador, who dogged his footsteps ever hopeful of treats. “Because if Kelly and I don’t get some loving back in our relationship, we could end up in divorce court instead of having another baby.”

Billy thumped his feathery tail in sympathy, while Flora did her best to make Max feel better by licking his bare toes. Then they scoured the terra-cotta tiles for fallen crumbs missed on earlier forays.

Coffee in hand, Max repaired to his home office. Billy and Flora flopped at his feet beneath the computer and promptly fell asleep as Max went to work on his latest architectural commission; a luxury home on Whidbey Island, near Seattle. Early in his career, Max had drafted plans for everything from garden sheds to business offices, but his real love was innovative home design. He had a small but growing clientele, and if his entry in the prestigious Stonington Award was to win, his career could take a sharp upward turn.