“No, I refuse to believe that,” Hawk said with a grimace.
Lina laughed. “The snow isn’t the reason I can’t wait to go home, though.”
“Is it cooking for prisoners? I’m certain you miss that a great deal, and that Mrs. Garner cannot wait to give up the extra business,” Hawk teased.
“It is not.” Lina bumped against his side. “No, the reason I look forward to home is that I hope once we are settled, we might soon have a little family of our own.” She looked up at him, hoping he might be happy with the idea. With everything that had happened, they hadn’t yet spoken of children.
But she needn’t have worried. Hawk smiled as he never had before. “I believe I like the sound of that. A houseful of boys! Just think of it.”
“Only boys?” Lina gave him a doubtful look. “How about some girls?”
“Maybe one,” Hawk said, and the lift of his lips at the corner let her know he was teasing her again.
“Ha! I imagine now we’ll only have girls. Just think of all those ribbons and dolls and beaux—”
“Beaux?” A crease in Hawk’s forehead appeared, and Lina dissolved into laughter.
“How about we simply make it home first?” she said.
“That sounds good.” And right there, in the middle of the sidewalk in Philadelphia where not a soul knew who they were, Hawk laid a kiss on Lina’s lips.
“Every single one of those girls is going to know how to shoot,” he said as he pulled away.
“Of course they are,” Lina agreed.
And all the way back to the hotel she imagined their children, boys and girls, some with hair as dark as Hawk’s, others with eyes like hers and Papa’s. All of them theirs to love.
A family, forever.
