“Will, make him stay!” Vanessa exclaimed.
“Honey, I can’t do that if he doesn’t want to. Maybe your mother can talk him into it.”
Jim didn’t have anything to say about that, but Vanessa did. She blew out a sigh of relief. “Of course. Mom will take care of it.”
It was Will’s turn to ask him a question. “What do you plan to do now that you’re out of the marines?” he asked.
Carrie took a seat and held her breath, waiting for the information she’d wanted to hear. Like his sisters, she didn’t want to lose touch with Jim, even though she didn’t have that right. But he’d been in her mind, in her dreams and fantasies, for so long. How could she let go of him now?
“I don’t know. I’ll have to get out the want ads and see if there’s anything I can do.”
“You handy with a gun?”
Jim frowned. He didn’t know exactly how to answer that. “I’m a fair shot. I’m no gunslinger, though.”
“Good. How are your computer skills?”
“Good. I majored in computer science.”
Will’s eyebrows shot up. “Excellent! I suppose you can handle yourself in a fight?”
“Just what do you have in mind, Will?”
“Have you thought about working as a private investigator?”
“You mean, like you?” Jim asked, surprised.
“Yeah, like Carrie and me.”
Jim looked at the young woman. So she wasn’t a receptionist, as he’d first thought. But she didn’t appear particularly muscular. In fact, she looked quite feminine…and pretty, not that that mattered in her line of work.
He responded to Will, “No, I haven’t.”
“Well, I need another man in the firm. I don’t like to travel out of town with Vivian and the baby at home, and I’m not comfortable sending Carrie every time. I could offer you a job, see if you like the work.”
“You don’t have to find me a job, Will. I’ll find something. I figured security work.”
“I can’t see you as a security guard at a mall or a bank. Think about it. We’ll talk again in a couple of days.”
There were more rapid footfalls, only from a different direction. Then a young woman dashed into the room, followed by a cowboy. Jim didn’t need anyone to tell him Rachel had arrived. He shot to his feet.
Rachel threw on the brakes and stared at him. Then she looked at Vanessa. “Is that Jim?”
“Yes, it is. He arrived today.”
This time Jim was prepared. He opened his arms as Rachel flew into them. He was beginning to think he was getting quite good at welcoming his sisters. Too bad he didn’t have any more of them.
He looked at Carrie out of the corner of his eye, over Rachel’s dark head. She was the only woman he’d met since his arrival who hadn’t hugged him. That was too bad.
“We thought it would be months yet!” Rachel exclaimed as she took a step back, tears streaming down her face. She whirled around to a brown-haired man who came in behind her. “J.D., it’s my brother, Jim.”
“I figured,” the young man drawled as he stuck out a hand to shake Jim’s. “J.D. Stanley.”
“This is my husband, J.D. We just flew in from west Texas. I was going to drive in tomorrow, but J.D. insisted we fly. I’m so excited you’re here!”
Then she must have remembered why she’d come and she asked, “Have you heard anything about Rebecca?”
“Mom just went back,” Vanessa replied. “Her pains started coming faster.”
Just then, Vivian came running back in. “Rebecca and Jeff just went into the delivery room. I’d better call Betty after all. Looks like we’ll be home for dinner. And Joey will want to know what’s happening.”
“You didn’t say hello to Rachel and J.D.,” Will said, taking his wife by surprise.
“I can’t believe you arrived so quickly.” She hugged both of them. “We’ll need to tell Betty to add two more for dinner.”
Will looked at his watch. “Better tell her around seven for dinner. I wouldn’t count my chickens before they’re hatched,” he said with a chuckle. “And ask how Danny’s doing,” he added. Then he looked at Jim. “That’s our son.”
Jim nodded. He hadn’t forgotten. He sent a grateful look toward Carrie. According to her earlier explanations, he figured, he’d now met all the family.
When Vivian finished her phone conversation, she turned back to her husband. “Danny’s fine. And Joey’s so excited, he couldn’t talk long. Betty was taking cookies out of the oven.”
J.D. laughed. “That boy’s got his priorities right.”
Rachel slapped his arm. “Shame on you.”
“Don’t worry, honey,” J.D. said, giving her a brief kiss. “I’d choose you over cookies anytime.”
Vanessa looked at Jim with a grin. “They’re newlyweds. Just ignore them.”
“Rebecca’s labor seems to be so fast this time. The doctor said that was normal for a second baby.” Vivian looked at her husband, and apparently Will seemed to know what she was thinking at once.
“Don’t even think about it, Viv. We were lucky the first time. I don’t intend to push our luck.” He kissed her and Jim could see the concern in his eyes.
“They’re kinda newlyweds, too,” Vanessa told Jim with a sigh.
“You feel a little left out?” he asked her quietly.
“Yeah. But I have a good friend in Carrie. We met our freshman year at SMU.”
Carrie smiled at Vanessa, nodding. It seemed a little strange to Jim that Carrie, who appeared to work for a living, was friends with a young lady who apparently had her way paid for her. But that was none of his business.
Of course, they were both beauties. They had that in common.
Vivian jumped up from her seat to pace the room. “I’ll be so glad when the baby’s here. What did they decide to name her?”
Vanessa shrugged her shoulders. “They have several names picked out, but I don’t think they wanted to make a final decision until they met her.”
Rachel was smiling. “Rebecca sent me a picture of the sonogram.”
Will grinned. “Yeah. She showed it to all of us, including Joey. He wasn’t impressed!”
“He said she didn’t look like Danny,” Vivian said with a smile.
“Maybe she’ll look like her mama did when she was a baby,” Jim said softly, struck by how strong and vivid the memory was. In his mind’s eye he could see Rebecca as a baby, her full head of dark hair, her pink face scrunched up as she cried. He could never tell her apart from her twin, Rachel. But his parents could.
“Yes, she and Rachel were pretty babies, just like Vanessa,” Vivian said. She put a gentle hand on Jim’s forearm. “We have a picture of all of you just before the accident.”
Jim frowned. The accident that took their parents and shattered their happy home. How many times had he thought about that day? How many times had he thought of what it’d be like now if his parents were still alive, or if he’d managed to keep all the kids together?
“I’d love to see the picture,” he told Vivian.
Rachel