Only in My Arms by Jo Goodman Page B

holding into her husband's free arm and began running toward the private Northeast rail cars. Jarret looked down at the twin girls he held, both of them wriggling for all they were worth, shook his head, chuckling, and followed his wife at a less frantic pace. He set both girls on the platform just as Moira stepped onto the balcony of her car.
    She saw Jarret first, his dark hair and easy smile drawing her eyes immediately. He was a handsome rogue, Moira thought, just as she had the first time she had seen him. And every bit the right match for her fiery daughter Rennie. Her smile was brilliant for him, and if anything, it became even brighter as her eyes dropped to her twin grandchildren. Moira's hand went to her heart in a dramatic loving gesture that was meant to signify breathlessness, surprise, and joy. "My grandbabies!" she cried happily.
    Mary Caitlin and Mary Lillian gamely tried to climb aboard the train to get to their beloved grandmother. Their sturdy three-year-old bodies had enough strength but not enough height. Jarret scooped each of them up and set them down behind him. They stayed there long enough to allow him to help Moira down to the platform.
    "It's good to see you," he said sincerely, kissing her cheek. "Rennie's been looking forward to this since we got your first telegram in October. Once she finally got your arrival date last week, she's been impossible to contain."
    Moira smiled at that. Her gently lined face was creased becomingly by her happiness. "And how would that be any different than it usually is?"
    Jarret laughed. "You're right. It's not any different." He looked over Moira's feathered bonnet as his children tugged on their grandmother's dust cloak. They were anxious for kisses and treats, knowing perfectly well that Moira would have plenty of both. Jarret's eyes scanned the windows of Jay Mac's private car, but the sun's reflection on the glass did not permit him to see inside. "Rennie's in there with Mary Francis?" he asked.
    Moira nodded. "Sure, and she practically knocked me over to get to her sister."
    Jarret refrained from responding. Moira's tone was not especially approving of Rennie's show of sisterly affection. Jarret had been warned through correspondence with Jay Mac that there was still considerable tension between Moira and Mary. Until just this moment, when he experienced the coolness in Moira's lilting brogue, he had had a hard time imagining it. Now he was a believer.
    Jarret lifted each of his little Marys in turn. Cait had a hard hug for her grandmother and a loud, wet kiss. Lilly was more delicate in her affections, laying her bright red head on Moira's shoulder and fluttering her lashes coyly. He marveled at how distinct the personalities of his identical twins were, and how they blended so many aspects of himself and Rennie to become unique unto themselves.
    His musings were interrupted by his wife's appearance on the balcony. She still had the power to take his breath away, he thought as his heart slammed hard once in his chest then resumed its normal beat. Her dark auburn hair, widely spaced green eyes, and full, expressive mouth drew his attention as easily as they had in the first moments of seeing her. His eyes dropped to that mouth now as its seriously set shape was transformed by a puckish, dimpled grin.
    Rennie pulled Mary forward to join her on the balcony. "Isn't she surpassingly lovely?" she asked Jarret.
    Jarret wondered how he was supposed to answer that. It was an undeniable truth that Mary Francis Dennehy was beautiful, even when she was looking mortified by her sister's outrageous question. Jarret was aware that it was an expression he'd never glimpsed on her face before. A moment later he realized the faint blush tinting her cheeks was also new. He continued his scrutiny, his eyes grazing over Mary's short curling crop of hair, the perfect oval of her face, the long slender neck, and then... His eyes flew back to meet hers, and this time he found himself