Page 45 of The Rancher's Addiction

“All right.Let’s talk to Charles and see when I can get a few days off.”

The arrogant smile on his face made her chuckle.It was going to take a lot of patience to deal with his dominant attitude and sometimes abrasive arrogance, but it was something she was actually looking forward to.

“I love you,” he murmured against the side of her head.

She felt tears sting her eyes and blinked several times to prevent them from falling.“I love you, too.”It startled her to realize she’d never heard those words from anyone in her life and couldn’t remember ever saying them to someone.

He pressed a kiss on her lips before they both slid into sleep with him wrapped around her, exactly where she wanted to be.

She was finally home.

Epilogue

Jenny heard a screeching sound from the front of the house and made her way there, curious about what caught her kid's attention.When she heard the chorus of “Grandpa!”she relaxed.

She grinned and watched as Charles tried to get in the door, but all three children wanted his attention at that moment.

Since her first child was born, Charles had played a key role in their lives, and she couldn’t be more thankful.Both Mac and she had thought their kids would grow up without grandparents, and neither liked that idea.Jenny didn’t know how it started or when the kids started calling him Grandpa, but it fit, and they were blessed to have him.

“I want to hear all of it, but you have to let me in,” he said and chuckled.

“Guys, if you let Grandpa in, he’ll be able to talk to you.”

The three—two little boys, seven and five, and a little girl, three—surrounded the older man and followed him into the living room.The oldest was called Baby Mac after his father.The middle child, another boy, was Simon, which was Charles's middle name.The baby, Courtney, was the only girl so far, and her name came from Charles's wife.She remembered how touched he’d been when he’d learned what they had named their daughter.They wanted to honor both, and what a great way to do it.

“I’d feel sorry for you, but you brought it on yourself,” Jenny said, sat back on the sofa, and rubbed her swollen belly.

Charles snorted, sat down in a chair, and handed out the suckers he always brought the children.

“How are you feeling, Jenny?”the older man asked.

Jenny smiled.“Good.Big but good.”

“You’re due in a few weeks, so of course, you’re going to feel like a bloated whale.”

She snickered.Charles did have a way with words.Thank God she wasn’t sensitive.

Her attention turned to the doorway where Mac came into the living room, sat down beside her, and wrapped an arm around her.

“I missed you,” he whispered and then kissed her.They both laughed when the boys started gagging.

“Grandpa, tell them to stop.They’re always kissing.It’s gross.”

Charles snorted.“I can’t tell them anything.They’ve always been like this.I just turn away and ignore it,” he said, making Baby Mac giggle.

“Thank you,” Charles said to Lucia when she handed him a cup of coffee.

Charles glanced over at Jenny when she made a funny sound.She tried to control it, but it made her mad that she couldn’t have the one addiction she loved.

“What’s wrong, Jenny?”Charles asked.

Mac rolled his eyes.“She’s just whining because she can’t have coffee when she’s pregnant.”

“Don’t forget breastfeeding.That, and the fact I can’t go out on farm calls is the only thing I dislike about being pregnant,” she admitted and grinned.

“Maybe this will be your last child,” Charles commented.

Jenny looked up at her husband and chuckled.“Oh, I think there might be at least one more.”

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