A flash of—something—hit him in the chest. He was going to marry that woman, he thought. Oh, yeah. She was absolutely the one.

Chapter Nineteen

Voices, laughter, and the hum of the television filled Courtney’s ears. Something fragrant—Italian—filled her nose. Sausage, tomato, there was chicken, and the ever wonderful scent of fresh bread.

Warner warned her of the step up into the house. She was in an entrance hallway. This she could tell without her cane. The area was tighter.

The voices became muffled and then the shuffling of feet.

“Okay, Warner has a new girl,” a man said with a laugh as he moved toward them.

“I stole her from Tyler,” Warner replied. “This is Courtney.”

“Hello,” she said and held her hand out to shake the man’s hand.

His grip was firm, but friendly. “Nice to meet you. I’m Christian.”

Courtney felt her heartbeat kick up a notch. “Christian Keller?”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“Sorry.” She caught her breath. “My brother was a big fan of yours. He enjoyed watching you play ball.”

“Oh.” His voice shook a bit. “I haven’t played ball in a long time.”

“I know. But I wanted you to know you brought him great joy.”

Christian patted her hand. “I’m sorry about your brother. His sacrifice to our country won’t be forgotten.”

Courtney stiffened her trembling lips. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Okay, okay.” Tyler moved in next to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Let’s move into the house. I can smell dinner and my stomach is growling. Where is my mother?”

“She’s right here,” a woman said and Tyler gave Courtney’s shoulders a squeeze.

“There she is.” Tyler moved around her and toward the woman, leaving one hand on Courtney’s arm as he embraced the woman.

“Mom, this is Courtney,” Tyler said as he wrapped his arm tightly around her.

“Hello, Mrs. Benson. It’s nice to meet you,” Courtney offered as she held her hand out to shake his mother’s.

“Oh, aren’t you precious.” She took her hand and instead of shaking her hand she held it in hers, patting it with her other hand. “I’m so excited to finally meet you.”

A moment later she was pulled into an embrace by the woman who smelled of floral notes and kitchen scents.

“Welcome.” She pulled back. “And you can call me Regan. I’d prefer it.” She stepped in next to Courtney and whispered in her ear, “Mrs. Benson is my mother-in-law.”

Courtney laughed. “She is a very sweet woman.”

“Hmmm, yes she said she met you first and you were quite a catch.”

Courtney laughed. Okay, there had been no reason for her to be nervous about meeting his mother.

“Come, I want my parents to meet you.”

Regan moved in next to her and offered her arm just as Tyler had the first time he’d walked with her. Courtney took her elbow and let her lead her through the house.

Ten minutes later, Courtney had met every single member of Tyler’s family. Her head spun with names and voices. Laughter ensued, again peace filled her heart.

Tyler watched Courtney as she engaged in conversation with the women he called family. They’d sat her down at the kitchen table. She was nestled in between Avery and Simone. His mother and grandmother were busy at the stove with his Aunt Madeline.

He’d missed this. This was where he belonged and looking at Courtney laughing with his cousin, he knew it was where she belonged too.

“Hey, cuz,” Ed slapped Tyler on the shoulder. “I need some help bringing in the cooler of beer. Help me out.”

Tyler nodded and walked to Courtney. “I’m going to step out back with Ed.”

“I’m in good hands. Don’t worry about me,” she said in his ear and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Tyler walked out the back door with his cousin and out toward the detached garage.

“Why don’t you guys do dinner somewhere bigger? I mean you have to keep the beer in a cooler and bring it in?” Tyler asked as he followed Ed.

“While Grandma and Grandpa can still come, dinner is here. Besides, I think Darcy really enjoys this. I know she had a good upbringing, but she didn’t have family like this. She craves it.” Ed opened the cooler and pulled out two beers. He handed one to Tyler and twisted the cap off his own. “We put in an application for adoption last week.”

“Adoption? So you’re ready to start a family?”

“We’re ready.”

“What about your own? Can’t you have kids of your own?”

Ed pulled from his beer. “Oh, we plan to do that too. Darcy feels like it would be the right thing to do. With your mom and my dad having been adopted, and Aunt Arianna. And with her having been adopted, she just feels like we should give a home to someone who needs it.”

The thought spun inside Tyler. And these were the people he came from, he considered. The kind of people who would do for others first. Pride swelled in him.

“I think that’s a real nice idea.” He twisted off the cap of his own beer. “Are you going to try to have your own kids soon?”

Ed wiggled his eyebrows. “We try every chance we get.” He laughed and Tyler followed suit. “What about you and this new woman? You’ve been home a week.”

“Sounds like fate brought me back, huh?”

“This is the woman you met on the plane? The one whose brother died?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

Ed considered. “Darcy told me about her. That’s sad about her brother.”

“She’s dealing with it well enough, I think. I mean, I can’t imagine if something happened to Spencer or to Darcy—or to any of you.”

“Maybe she should talk to Tori. She lost her sister and her brother-in-law. Maybe they would connect.”

“Maybe,” he said giving it some thought. “They do have a lot in common.”

“Was she born blind?” Ed asked and Tyler wondered how long he’d been holding on to that. It was a natural question, he supposed.

“No. When she was eight she was kicked by a horse. It caused her to lose her sight.”

“That’s horrible.”