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full-time.”
    “Katie’s gonna quit all right, but not to stay home.” Gabe leaned back against Marcy’s chest, settling in with a cross of skinny legs on Patrick’s lap.
    Patrick hiked a brow. “Comfy?”
    She ignored him and propped her hands behind her neck. “She’s gonna be a lawyer.”
    “Not anymore, dear,” Marcy said. “She’s a married woman now.”
    Steven ruffled a hand through his dark hair and put his feet up on the ottoman. “You sure about that, Mother? I think Katie may still have plans for law school.”
    Marcy frowned. “Well, I know she’d still like to go, but I just assumed it was out of the question since she’s married now and likely to have a baby of her own.”
    “Maybe, but all I know is when I was sorting through the mail a few weeks ago, Katie got a letter from Portia Law School.” Steven stifled a yawn.
    Patrick sat up, disrupting Gabe’s feet. “What? Did she tell you what it was?”
    “Nope, and when I asked, she just shoved the letter in her pocket and smiled, telling me that some dreams never die. So naturally I assumed she was still planning to go.”
    “Oh, she’s going,” Gabe said. She closed her eyes and adjusted her feet on Patrick’s lap.
    “Excuse me?” Patrick shifted her legs to a different position. “How do you know that?”
    “Because we share a room, remember? Or did. I saw the letter on her dresser, welcoming her to Portia Law School this fall.”
    “What?” Patrick straightened in unison with Marcy. He jiggled Gabe’s leg, forcing her to open her eyes. “Does Luke know?”
    “Nope.”
    Marcy swiveled Gabe’s chin. “How do you know?”
    Gabe’s rosebud mouth eased into a smirk. “Because when Katie found me reading the letter, she snatched it away and made me promise not to tell Luke. She said it was a surprise.”
    “Oh, it’ll be a surprise all right,” Steven said with a chuckle.
    Marcy shook her head, a hand to her brow. “Oh, Katie Rose . . .”
    “Let it go, Marcy,” Patrick said. He slipped an arm around his wife’s shoulder and drew her close. “It’s their problem now, not ours. They’ll work it out.”
    “But Katie has to learn you can’t have secrets in a marriage—it can hurt a relationship.”
    “Yes, darlin’, I know,” Patrick said with a dry smile. “All too well. But that’s a lesson for her husband to impart, not us. And if ever a man was up to the task, it’s Luke McGee.”
    Marcy slumped against Patrick’s shoulder. “I suppose . . .”
    “So, Gabe . . . up for a Nehi at Robinson’s?” Steven rose, muscled arms stretched high.
    Wiry limbs scrambled as Gabe shrieked to her feet. “Honest, Steven, you mean it?”
    “Sure, squirt. But you gotta promise to keep your mitts off Katie and Luke’s cake. Deal?”
    “Deal! Let’s go.”
    “Hold on, young lady,” Marcy said with a grip of the sash at the back of Gabe’s pale pink dress. “Not before you change from your good clothes.”
    “But I don’t wanna cha—”
    The words garbled in her throat when Steven squeezed the nape of her neck, forcing a hunch of Gabe’s shoulders. “No change, no Nehi. It’s that simple, squirt. Why should I buy a soda for a kid who doesn’t respect her foster parents?”
    “Okay, okay, but I swear you people are in cahoots.”
    Marcy tugged Gabe back to deposit a quick kiss to her cheek. “We don’t swear in this house, Gabriella Dawn, and we are not in cahoots. We are in a family, and that includes you, understood? Now, scoot and have a good time.” Gabe tore out of the sunporch with a whoop and a holler, and Marcy called after her. “And you mind Steven, you hear?”
    “Oh, she’ll mind, or else.” Steven said with a smile. He shook his head. “And you always thought Katie was the ‘handful,’ Pop. No wonder you two look so tired.”
    “Speaking of tired,” Patrick said with a squint, “what was wrong with Sean today? You would have sworn he was blood-related with Mitch, given the