Love Under Two Kendalls Part 23

Matthew just laughed as Kelsey shook her head, and other recently mated Benedicts and Kendalls smiled on.

"Thank you, Grandma Kate, for making me feel so very much a part of your family." Ginny wondered just how much love and grat.i.tude her heart could hold. "Y'all make me feel so special, when I never did before." She took a moment to scan all the familiar faces, many of whom were looking right back at her with huge smiles. "How lucky I am to have such a wonderful family!"

Just then the door fairly exploded open, and Ginny didn't have to hear a young voice to know who'd arrived.

"Mom, Mom, guess what! Uncle Henry and Uncle Morgan and Uncle Jordan and me brought you a surprise!"

"My goodness, Benny Rose, what are you..." Ginny's voice trailed off when she saw that with all her future brothers-in-law, and her son, stood her Aunt Maggie.

"Oh! What a nice surprise!" She didn't wait, just ran right over to the woman and gave her a huge hug. "I didn't think you'd be able to make it!"

"Your men are very persuasive," Maggie said, returning the hug.

"Let me see you." Ginny hadn't trusted, not one-hundred percent, that Maggie hadn't been badly hurt by Deke Walters a few weeks before.

"I'm fine. And I see you are, too." Maggie shot a quick look at her nephew, who stood proudly beaming beside them. "Benny filled me in on all the excitement when his mom 'stomped on that yellow-bellied coward as if'n he was a low-down snake!'"

"Oh, my. I wonder where he got that bit of storytelling from, since he was in school at the time?" Although, of course, she thought she had a pretty good idea. Despite the threats of a spanking, both Adam and Jake had made no secret of the fact that they were proud of her for standing up to that bully.

"My dads told me!" Benny's chest absolutely puffed out when he said that.

"I was very happy to hear the man is once more behind bars," Maggie said.

"And likely to be there a very long time." Adam smiled. "Which suits us all just fine."

"Aunt Maggie, you've got to come and meet everyone!" Benny pulled on Maggie's hand.

She gave Benny a very fond look. "I think my escort, here, wants to introduce me around."

"Then he'll bring you back, and we'll sit down and have a good visit. Oh! I should fix up the extra room at the house."

"You don't have to. Your future mother-in-law has invited me to stay with her. We even thought Benny could have a sleepover, tonight, too-and give you and your men an evening to yourselves."

Ginny thought she'd better get over this blus.h.i.+ng thing, soon, or she'd likely be spending most of the rest of her life with pink cheeks.

"You're a sweetheart, Maggie Morrison," Jake said, and he grinned so huge that everyone laughed.

Benny started to pull Maggie into the thick of the crowd.

"Wait! How long can you stay?" Ginny asked.

"For a few days. I sold the inn last week."

"You what?" But Maggie just shrugged and laughed, and followed where Benny led her.

"I can see the family resemblance." Grandma Kate stood beside her. "There's so many of us, we all wanted to make sure you had your aunt here. Though I must say, she is much younger than I imagined."

Ginny grinned. "Maggie was my mama's baby sister, born late in life to my grandmother. There's only ten years between us." Ginny watched as everyone gave Benny their attention, allowing him to introduce his great-aunt around. "And when I laid eyes on her that first time, I was put in mind of my mother, how she'd look before...well, just before."

"And she's an innkeeper." Kate, too, watched Benny-or at least Ginny thought she did.

"Apparently not for much longer." Ginny had no idea Maggie had planned on selling the inn. She wondered why she'd done it, and what she planned to do next.

"Well, now."

Such a note of interest infused Kate's voice that Ginny looked at her. But the older woman had her gaze fixed on a corner of the dining room, where family sat, and chatted.

Or, in the case of Richard, Trevor, and Kevin Benedict, just sat and stared at one Margaret Mary Morrison.

"Do you know"-Kate's words sounded thoughtful-"I've said for some time that what this town really needs is an inn."

Ginny had to stifle the laugh that wanted to burst out of her. Instead, she kept her voice as blase as she could. "Do you know, one of the things I noticed almost straight off was that l.u.s.ty didn't have a motel, hotel, or even a bed and breakfast?"

"Exactly! I think it's time we did something about that. Yes, it is indeed." She nodded once, as she looked at her triplet grandsons, and then Maggie. "I think I'll go get a cup of tea, and see if your Aunt Maggie has time for a little chat."

As Ginny watched Grandma Kate make her way toward the buffet, Adam and Jake came over and slipped their arms around her waist. She stood in her second favorite place-between two Kendalls-and couldn't help but chuckle.

"You think that's funny, do you?" Adam asked as he, too, watched the matriarch of l.u.s.ty begin to make her rounds.

"You heard that, did you?"

"We both did," Jake said. "And actually, an inn, or a bed and breakfast, might in fact be not only a sound investment, but a nice addition to this town. What do you think, honey?"

Ginny stretched her arms out so she had one around each of her men's waists, hugged them close, and then laughed.

"What do I think? I think that neither the Benedict brothers, nor my Aunt Maggie, stand a chance."

THE END.

HTTP://WWW.MORGANASHBURY.COM.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Morgan Ashbury writing as Cara Covington.

Morgan has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons, and write.

Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan's children also learned the Paper Rule: thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother's words upon it.

Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children's children learned this rule, too.

Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple by-pa.s.s surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she'd always dreamed of doing: writing full time.

Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that humankind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she's a sucker for a happy ending.

Morgan's favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling-though she would rather you didn't mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a "Traveling Fool" of late.

Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a mysterious cat, a dog that has no dignity, and her husband of thirty-nine years, David.

Also by Cara Covington.

Menage Everlasting: The l.u.s.ty, Texas Collection:.

Love Under Two Benedicts Menage Everlasting: The l.u.s.ty, Texas Collection:.

Love Under Two Wildcatters Menage Everlasting: The l.u.s.ty, Texas Collection:.

Love Under Two Honchos Menage Everlasting: The l.u.s.ty, Texas Collection:.

Love Under Two Flyboys Menage Everlasting: The l.u.s.ty, Texas Collection: Love Under Two Strong Men Menage Everlasting: The l.u.s.ty, Texas Collection:.

Love Under Two Navy SEALs.

For all other t.i.tles, please visit.

www.bookstrand.com/cara-covington.

end.