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Jesse also chuckled, but was cut short when Charlie said, “I want a sister, Daddy. Can I have one for my birthday?” She raised her model horse into the air.
“Oh, boy.” Jesse’s eyebrows shot up. “Let’s go sit down and focus on eating your hot dog.” He gave Lilah and Trace a dumbfounded look before taking Charlie’s hand. “Then you can have a cookie.”
Charlie bounced, seemingly forgetting her question. “Yeah! Cookies!”
Lilah bit back a grin. She glanced back at Sofie and Trace. “Let’s go see about those truffles.”
Trace kissed her on the cheek and took her hand as they turned toward the house. Lilah beamed at him, amazed at how the past year had filled her heart to the brim.
Trace and Lilah had effortlessly slipped into a relationship full of love and laughter. Two weeks after Trace’s proposal this past spring, they were married in an intimate ceremony at the lake. They’d said “I do” from the dock that floated over their favorite swimming hole as Andy, Ben, and Sofie stood on the dock with them and family and friends applauded from the shore.
And today they would find out if they were adding another son or daughter to their family. Lilah’s heart was about to burst at the seams.
When they neared the house and stepped onto the deck, Trace handed Sofie off to Randall. Then he whistled loudly, and family and friends gathered around, murmuring their gender guesses. Andy and Ben ran over from the pasture and bounded onto the deck.
The back door opened, and Kandi and Gayle stepped out of the house, carrying a tray of chocolate truffles. The smiles on their faces could’ve rivaled the sun.
“We are so incredibly excited for you guys,” Gayle said. “What a blessing.”
“And we can’t wait to meet our newest grandchild. We are counting down the days,” Kandi added. Lilah grinned, knowing Kandi had an actual “grandbaby countdown” calendar in her candy shop.
“Are you guys ready to find out the gender of your baby?” Gayle asked.
“Yes,” Lilah squeaked. The word was out of her mouth before Gayle could finish her question. Trace gave a joyful laugh and put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her.
“Good, because we can’t keep this secret any longer,” Kandi said, looking at Gayle like the two of them had been hiding the crown jewels. They were the only two people who knew the gender and had baked up a special batch of truffles just for this occasion. “These are white chocolate truffles dipped in dark chocolate.”
“But you have to nibble one to see if the inside is raspberry or blueberry.” Gayle arched her eyebrows in anticipation.
The grandmas lifted the tray of candies. Trace bit his bottom lip and plucked one from the bunch. He turned to Lilah, pure bliss coloring his eager eyes. “Here we go,” he said, and raised the truffle to her mouth.
Lilah smiled and bit into the truffle. She chewed and nearly went cross-eyed as Trace pulled back, revealing the inside of the round candy. It was periwinkle blue.
Lilah licked her lips, her heart jumping. “It’s a boy,” she said to Trace.
His eyes went wide. Then he shouted the same three words and raised the truffle for everyone to see. Cheering and applause filled the afternoon air. Trace kissed Lilah’s sugared lips and she melted into him, her heart overflowing.
Everything was right in her world at last.
Turn the page to start Jesse's love story...
The Next Maple Bay Book
STARTING OVER IN MAPLE BAY
An inheritance from a mother she never knew. But can this fixer-upper mend her heart?
Hazel didn’t think there was anything a homemade apple pie couldn’t fix—until her husband divorced her and left her broke. Trying her best to raise her ten-year old daughter and make ends meet, Hazel is desperate for a fresh start. When she inherits a fixer-upper in the small town of Maple Bay, Hazel and her daughter head to the country for the reading of her biological mother’s will. But a clause in the will says Hazel and her sister—the sister she didn’t know existed—must live together on the rural property for one summer, or forfeit their inheritance.
If Hazel can tough it out in the country for a few months, she stands to gain a historic carriage house. It needs renovation, but Hazel thinks she can fix it up, sell it as a bed-and-breakfast, and use the profits to begin her life anew, back in the city. She isn’t planning to stay in Maple Bay, or to fall in love with her sister’s best friend, Jesse—a single dad and handsome cowboy who is recovering from heartbreak of his own.
Hazel and Jesse are from two different worlds, but this horse-whisperer just might know how to speak to Hazel’s broken heart . . .until Hazel discovers a box of letters and a secret from her past that changes everything.
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Starting Over in Maple Bay
IfHazelhadknownthe rooster was going to chase her, she would’ve stayed in her car. Instead, she unclicked her seatbelt and turned to her ten-year-old daughter, Grace.
