A Rancher's Pride(68)

Sharleen had loaned Kayla a string of pearls to wear with her wedding dress.

The something old, they had decided, laughing, had to be four-year-old Becky.

And the double somethings new were, of course, the adoption papers and the marriage license Kayla had signed that morning.

Never would she have believed, when she’d driven up to Sam’s ranch house just a few weeks ago, that she would become a wife and mother so soon afterward. And both on the very same day.

Becky kissed her daddy’s cheek and ran out to join Ellamae and the judge on the dance floor.

Sam crossed the room to Kayla. “What’s all this?” He reached up and brushed away a fresh tear.

She shook her head.

He chuckled. “If you can’t get the words out, then sign them to me. We’ll see if I can understand.”

She simply raised her hand again, in the handshape she’d never let go.

He smiled. “Me, too.” He signed the shortcut and touched his palm to hers. “And I promise you, whether I speak or sign those words, you can trust they will always be true.”

“I don’t have a doubt in the world about that, Sam.”

The sudden gleam in his eyes told her she’d said exactly the right thing. Smiling, he raised his brows, touched the fingertips of one hand to his mouth, then brought all his fingertips together in front of him.

So she kissed him.