Whitney stood in the driveway admiring her new home, waiting for her lunch date to arrive. Everything was done except for some landscaping, and she planned to take care of that part after lunch today with her realtor. She was wearing a new maternity dress, which hid her small baby budge. She wasn’t trying to hide the fact she was pregnant, but hadn’t planned to say anything to Jack regarding her current condition since after today; she didn’t plan to see him again.

He pulled into the driveway, stopping just behind her, and got out.

“Jack, I’m glad you could make it today.”

“Well from what I can see so far, I think I lost the bet,” Jack said, looking over the place. Then he looked over at Whitney, and saw she was glowing, and naturally assumed the cause of it was the man in her life. When he happened to look down at her hand, he immediately noticed her engagement ring was gone, then quickly thought that maybe it was the fact he was there that was causing her to look so radiate. Maybe he could ask her out, as he’d love to get her into bed and make love to her.

“Wait until you see inside.” Excited to show off her new home, Whitney hadn’t noticed his intense glance at her hand. “Come in and I’ll give you the grand tour.”

They entered the house and she proudly showed him around, animated as she bragged about all the work done on the house. She was so excited about the house and its transformation that she still didn’t notice Jack’s interest in her.

“So what do you think?”

“You’ve done a magnificent job. I’m very impressed with all you’ve accomplished in such a short time.”

“Thank you, but I didn’t do it myself, I hired great help.”

He looked around him. “Why are all the rooms still empty?”

“I still need to buy new furniture.”

“Don’t you have any from your apartment?”

“No, it’s a furnished apartment.”

Jack’s first thought was the master bedroom needed a king-sized bed, then they would have plenty of room to romp around when he made love to her. “Well if you need any help with anything, just let me know,” he told her seductively, then reached over and took hold of her hand.

Whitney stared at him, surprised when he took her hand. “I’m hungry. Are you ready for lunch?” she asked, quickly pulling her hand away from his on the pretense of picking up her purse.

“Sure,” he replied, giving her a confused look.

Whitney was nervous about sitting next to Jack in the car, confused to why he had taken hold of her hand the way he had earlier. She turned to look at him as he helped her into the car, but quickly looked away when she saw him looking down at her bare legs. She wished now that she had worn pants, but she hadn’t realized Jack was interested in her. Maybe she should cancel this luncheon, but before she could speak, he started the car.

She was so on edge thinking about this luncheon that she didn’t take much notice on where they were going until they were pulling into the Olive Garden’s parking lot. Panic filled her as she thought of the Italian restaurant’s cozy atmosphere and knew this was the last place she would want to be with this man.

“Jack, would it be all right if we went across the street to Pizza Hut. I really don’t care for this restaurant,” she told him honestly.

“You don’t?” he asked, surprised by her announcement. “I though everyone loved their food.”

She gave him a weak smile. “Not me. I rather have a pizza.”

“Okay,” he replied disappointedly. He had been planning ordering a bottle of wine with their meal, hoping to loosen her up.

“Thank you, she said, then quietly let out the breath she been holding. Whitney tried to keep their conversation on the house and away from anything too personal, especially to the fact she was pregnant.

Gary’s phone rang just as they were finishing their meal, and he took take the call. When he hung up, he told her they had to leave, and she was relieved. When they arrived back at her place, Whitney got out and thanked Jack for lunch. He asked her out for a date, but she said she wasn’t interested in getting involved with anyone right now. He told her he would call her in a few weeks, she smiled and told him good-bye.

She hurriedly slammed the door closed, stepped away from the car, and waved, relieved when she saw the last of his car go down the street. She drove back to her apartment to change her clothes, then she went to the local nursery to pick out several varieties of flowers to plant. When she returned to the house, she started planting her flowers. Enjoying being outside, she didn’t mind how hot the day had become.

Chandler stopped the car in front of Whitney’s home. As he looked around the yard, he was pleasantly surprised to see it completely clean of the old cars and there was fresh sod where the old cars had once sat. He looked over at the house to see it had a new porch and a fresh coat of paint.

If he hadn’t seen the yard full of cars and the horrid condition of the outside of the house for himself, he wouldn’t have ever believed this property was the same place. From where he sat, he saw Whitney working in her flowerbed. He got out of the car and slowly walked to where she was squatted down in the dirt.

Whitney heard a noise and looked up to see Chandler walking towards her. She stood and brushed off the dirt on her hands. “Hello. What brings you here today?” she asked, trying to keep the excitement of seeing him out of her voice.

He smiled at her appearance, as she had a streak of dirt on her cheek and sweat was running down her face, but to him she looked wonderful. “The place looks great. You’ve done a great job with it.”

“Thank you. What are you doing here?”

“I want to talk to you about the check you sent me.”

“There isn’t anything to talk about,” she replied coolly, as the last thing she wanted was to argue with him.

He decided to try a different tactic. “I thought maybe you would like to go for a stroll with me.” He smiled when her expression changed to one of surprise.

“It’s ninety degrees out and you want to go for a walk?” She knew he was up to something, but didn’t have an idea of what it could be.

“I would think it would be less strenuous than what you’ve been doing,” he teased.

Whitney laughed. “You got me there.”

He looked at her dirt-covered hands. “Why don’t you use gloves?”

“Can’t stand the things.”

“How about it? Will you go for a walk with me?”

“Let me wash my hands and then I’ll be ready. Do you want to come in while I clean up?”

“Sure,” he said, then reached over to brush the dirt from her face.

She jerked back when his fingers contacted with her face, as his touch had caused an unsettling fire in the pit of her belly. They walked up the steps to the porch, Chandler opened the door for her, and they moved into the cool house.

“I’ll just be a minute.”

“Okay.” He watched her leave and then looked around the room, seeing that the interior looked as great as the outside had, he could hardly wait for a tour. When she returned from the bathroom, all he could do was stared at her, thinking of how much he would like to take her to bed instead of a walk, and he smiled at the thought.

She saw him staring at her with a sexy grin, and blushed. “Why are you staring at me like that for?” she inquired, wondering if he’d missed her as much as she had missed him.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, taking her hands into his.

“Chandler, please don’t do this.” She wasn’t sure if she could stand for him to touch her, only to reject her.

He quickly removed his hand, afraid he’d scared her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. “I’m sorry for anything I said badly about the house. You saw its potential when I didn’t. Will you show me around?”

She hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded. “Okay.”

She walked him through the house, pointing and explaining what she planned to do with each room. When they arrived in the master bedroom, she became uneasy, but she didn’t know why. Maybe because it was a bedroom and couples usually had sex in bedrooms.

“I haven’t decided exactly what I want in here.”

“I have the perfect bed at my place,” he said softly, his eyes watching her as he waited for her response.

Whitney fought her tears of regret for her rash decision in throwing their relationship away, but she thought it was for the best. “Chandler, I think it’s time for you to leave.”

“Damn it, Whitney,” he shouted at her, then he grabbed her and pulled her roughly into his arms. “You’re mine and I’m not going to let you go.” His lips came down hard on hers, then quickly softened as his lips began to make love to hers. A few minutes later, he pulled away from her. “If I don’t stop now, we’ll end up making love on the floor.”

Whitney sobbed in his arms. “Chandler, what are we going to do?”

“About what?” He was unsure to what she was referring.

“Us.”

“We’ll get married as we first planned,” he said, stroking the side of her face with his hand, hoping she wouldn’t tell him to get lost.

“I’m afraid,” she muttered against his chest.

“What are you afraid of?”

“Are we getting married for the right reasons?”

“I know how I feel about you, and I know that I don’t want to live without you.”

“How are we going to explain everything to this child when she gets older?” she asked tearfully.

“Honestly.”

“Oh, really,” she replied sarcastically as she moved away from him. “Hey, honey, the man you’ve thought was your father for the past ten years is really your uncle and the man you thought was your uncle is really your father because I had sex with my sister’s husband. How did that sound?” she asked tearfully.

“Whitney,” he said, pulling her back against him. “However we decide to tell them, I’m sure it can be done in a more delicate way.”

“I just think it would be best if we didn’t get married. It would be less confusing for the child.”

“We’ll go talk to a professional, someone who can tell us the best way to tell them. And we are getting married and we’re going to do it as soon as possible.”

His words smoothed her tattered soul. “Okay, if you insist.” She gave him a weak grin.

“I do,” he said forcefully, returning her grin.

“When should the wedding be?

“Tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.

“Chandler, it can’t be that soon. You know Mariah well enough to know she’ll have to have at least a week to plan it.”

“If it’s our wedding, then why should she be the one to plan it?”

Whitney laughed. “Because she’s the oldest.” Her hand touched the side of his face. “She couldn’t keep us together when were little, but now that she’s back in our lives, she’ll want to make our lives happier.”

“I guess we better call her and tell her our news.”

“Later, first I want to show you something out back.” She took hold of his hand and they walked outside to the barn.

“You want to have sex in the barn?” he asked, squeezing her hand hoping that was the case.

She laughed as she pulled open the door. “I bought this place because of barn. Now you have a place for your horses.”

“Whitney,” he started, but nothing else came out of his mouth as he took in everything inside the barn.

“I take it you like it,” she said, smiling at the expression of joy on his face.

“I can’t believe you’ve done this for me.” He turned and pulled her into his arms. “To think I was mad because you bought this place. Thank you, I can’t tell you how much this means a lot to me.”

“Then show me.”

It was sometime later before Whitney called Mariah to make wedding plans. Then she called the twins to tell them the wedding was back on, then lastly, she called her father to ask if he would walk her down the aisle. Erik was touched and agreed to escort her down the aisle.

* * *

As the sisters waited for their babies arrival, Lindsay helped Lesley get her book published and it sold like hot cakes. Lesley put some of the profit into accounts for her children’s college education fund, and the rest, she and Morgan used for buying whatever they wanted. She started on second book and hoped it would be done before November.

The summer had quickly passed for the four sisters, but by October, time began to slow down for them. Lesley was the most uncomfortable of the four sisters, and swore she was giving birth to two acrobats. Each sister knew the sex of their babies, but the only other person who knew was their husbands and of course, Hailey knew.

Each sister waited impatiently for her big day as November arrived with a severe snowstorm, but no babies. Then the second week went by. On the morning of the third week, the sisters were all starting to get grumpy and short tempered.

When Lesley’s water broke, she called her sisters, then they headed for the hospital. Her sisters stayed with her until the nurse made them leave her room. An hour later, Trace and Trey Clemmens were born, just two minutes apart.

While they waited to hear about Lesley’s babies, Whitney went into labor. Whitney had just given birth to her daughter, Lori, when Mariah went into labor. Mariah’s daughter, Reanna arrived just as Lindsay went into labor.

The other three sisters waited together in the waiting room, their babies in their arm as they waited to hear about the birth of Lindsay’s baby. Erik held one of the twins while Austin and Nicole were passed between the uncles as they waited for the news of the next Clemmens to be born. The minutes slowly ticked by, then an hour ticked by, but still no baby. Just after midnight, Casey came out to inform everyone that he had a son. Sean had been born two minutes before midnight, making all five babies have the same birthday.

* * *

Two years later, Mariah and Evan had Payton, and Whitney and Chandler adopted five-year-old Dylan, whose parents had been killed in a fire a few months earlier. Lindsay and Casey decided not to have any more children since they had their hands full with Nicole, Austin, and Sean. Lesley and Morgan also decided not to have any more, saying three children were enough for them as well.