www.mirabooks.co.uk

      To: Moose, Brody, Havi, Magic

      It’s about the unconditional love.

      Thanks, guys

       CHAPTER ONE

      NORMALLY NOTHING SCARED Merry Olson. People teased her about it all the time. On the same morning, you could throw her a flat tire, bad hair and burned eggs, and she’d still be perky. Her dad claimed she could find the silver lining in a tornado. But man, one look at the house and she felt rattled clear to the bone.

      The trip from Minnesota to Oakburg, Virginia, had been tediously long, especially driving alone, so she expected to arrive exhausted. She just never expected to feel culture shock as if she’d landed on a completely alien planet.

      Taking a huge, bolstering breath, she climbed from her snow-and-salt-crusted blue Mini Cooper and grabbed her cell phone. At twenty-nine, she was hardly tied by the emotional umbilical cord to her dad, but she knew darn well he’d worry himself crazy until he heard from her. She worried about him the same way when he traveled alone.

      Waiting for her dad to answer, she glanced at her car. Merry never doubted that her Cooper could make it through anything—the car was far more reliable than she was—but right now, no question, the baby was sagging in the rear end and heaped to the gills.

      Upending her entire life in a week had been a major challenge, but not impossible. For years friends and family had labeled her ditzy, but where they meant an affectionate insult, Merry secretly took pride in the tag. She lived life loose. That was a deliberate choice, not an accident. She’d never taken a job she couldn’t quit, never allowed herself to get so attached to a place that she couldn’t leave. She’d never settled long with anyone or for anything.

      What other people called flaky, she called freedom. And maybe she had a few personal reasons why she was so zealously footloose, but that wasn’t the point. The point was now—when she’d needed to be able to change her whole life quickly, she’d been able to do so.

      Her Mini Cooper did look a bit odd. The passenger seat alone was weighted down with two suitcases, a pillow and a jumbled collection of shoes—forty pairs, to be precise. The backseat was completely stuffed with a table-sized Christmas tree, already decked out with pink lights and pink satin ornaments, and a mess of various-sized boxes wrapped in pink and silver and gold.

      Considering it was January tenth, a long way past Christmas, the tree especially had to look a little weird to a stranger. But Merry had her priorities, and she hoped to Pete that looking sane to other people was never one of them.

      “Dad?” Finally, he answered on the fourth ring. “I got here, safe and sound. A mighty long drive, but really no sweat…”

      A zingy ice sleet stung her face, but she didn’t mind. The chipper temperature was exhilarating after all those cramped hours in the car. Besides, she’d left two feet of snow in Minneapolis, so if this was the worst Virginia could hand out in the winter, living here was going to be a piece of cake.

      When she glanced at the house again, though, she suffered another shiver chasing up her spine.

      “No, Dad, I haven’t seen the lawyer yet. Or the child. There hasn’t been time. I thought I could drive it through, but I had to stop for a few hours sleep last night. So I literally just pulled in the driveway to get a look at the place…”

      With the phone still tucked to her ear, she whirled around, hoping the look of the neighborhood would be more reassuring. Instead, she suffered another shuddersized shiver.

      Apparently it wasn’t just the one house. There was a whole block of them. They were all minicastles, with sculpted yards and fancy architectural features and three-car garages. The only vehicles in sight were BMWs and Volvos and Lexus SUVs.

      Her house wasn’t any worse than the rest, but it was pretty darn scary. To begin with, the size alone could have slept a small country. A cathedral ceiling and blue crystal chandelier was visible from a two-story-tall glass window. Carriage lamps graced the double oak doors. The flagstone walkway was landscaped within an inch of its life and the porch had pillars, for Pete’s sake.

      Merry felt another clutch in her chest. There was just no denying the truth. This was upper-class suburbia. Desperate Housewives in the flesh. The land of swing sets and soccer moms and lawn mowers.

      Come on, Merry. It’s not as if someone dropped you in the Amazon without bug repellent. Common sense rarely influenced her, but in this case, Merry was relieved to have her conscience show up with a little re-assurance—and of course it was true. Maybe the house was a shock, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t realize the suburb thing existed. It was just so remote from her life.

      Naturally she’d thought about marriage now and then, but she couldn’t imagine falling for a guy who wanted 2.3 kids and the minivan deal. The only kind of guy who’d likely tempt her would have to be as free-footed as she was. If that never happened, no loss. Life offered no end of adventures and interesting possibilities just as it was.

      As happy as she’d been