The Marine's New Family. Roz Dunbar

right. We love Livie and Adam, and by extension, we love Tess. Just like we love you, Luke. And now we have Caleb to love.” She flashed the boy a warm, grandmotherly smile.

      Caleb stopped eating, looking at Katie curiously. “How can you love me if you don’t really know me?” The question was honest and straightforward, but neither of the sisters was taken aback. Katie’s answer was honest and straightforward in return.

      “We chose to love you and we have plenty to go around. No sense in letting it just sit there and go to waste.”

      “Yep.” Annie nodded. “Don’t fight it, kid. Just go with the flow.”

      God bless both of you, Luke thought. He watched his son closely, gauging his reaction to their words. Caleb seemed to be considering what they had said, then shrugged his shoulders, accepting it without question.

      “Okay. Thank you for choosing to love me.” Then he went back to finishing his lunch, the conversation obviously over for him. But not for Katie, who had been watching him carefully.

      “You’re quite welcome. Would you like some more shrimp salad, Caleb? I don’t think your daddy feeds you enough.”

      “No thank you, ma’am. I’m full now. And my dad feeds me good. I just get really hungry sometimes.” He hesitated before adding, “Dad, can I go sit on the dock and watch the dolphins?”

      “Yes, you can. Remember the rules, though. No touching the boat, got it?”

      “Got it,” Caleb affirmed as he grabbed the chocolate chip cookies that Annie handed him, then raced across the yard to the long weathered dock that jutted into the sound. “Thanks for lunch!” he yelled back over his shoulder.

      “Ladies, that was the best lunch we’ve had since you made us lunch last weekend.” Looking at Annie, Luke winked, and she blushed to the roots of her shiny blue-gray hair.

      “I declare, Luke Barrett, you are a pure scamp!” she twittered happily.

      Katie scowled at her twin sister, shaking her head as she tossed the empty paper plates into a plastic bag she had taken out of the hamper.

      “Annie, you are far too old to twitter and simper,” she declared. “Besides which, we have places to go, people to see and many things to accomplish in the next few hours. And what’s this about the boat?” She turned her attention back to Luke.

      “It appears that he and Joey Mason have been taking a boat and going over to Shackleford Island without permission. Joey’s dad caught them yesterday, tying up at the dock in front of his house, and read them the riot act. Seems this wasn’t the first time. Caleb and I had a long talk last night.”

      Or at least, they’d spent a long time in the same room with Luke doing a lot of talking. Caleb hadn’t had much to say—which was par for the course. Luke just didn’t know how to connect with the boy. He felt as if he was still searching for his footing when it came to being a father. Maybe because he’d never really had a father of his own. At least Caleb seemed to have bonded with Joey Mason. Caleb needed someone he could talk to—someone who could make him laugh and relax and enjoy life in North Carolina.

      Luke just wished that someone could be him.

      “Just being boys. Besides, Joey knows how to handle a boat. He was raised in a fishing village, for goodness’ sake.”

      Luke knew that Annie was trying to make light of the incident, but he had been scared out of his mind when Joe had called him. Anything could happen on the water.

      “I respect what you’re saying, Miss Annie, but I disagree. Joey may know what he’s doing, but he just isn’t big enough to handle the boat by himself if something goes wrong, and Caleb doesn’t know enough to be able to help. Joey isn’t allowed to take the boat out without an adult, and now Caleb knows the ground rules, as well. They’re only ten years old.”

      “He’s right, sister,” Katie agreed. “Now come, we need to get moving.”

      Not for the first time Luke marveled at the energy the sisters exuded. They were all light and motion, rarely slowing down even for an instant. Well into their seventies, they had more vim and vigor than most women thirty years younger. He blessed the day he had met them, after he had attended his first church service in town over four years ago. They had taken to him immediately and had drawn him into the fellowship of the church and the easy pace of life in the quaint fishing village that he had come to love. He felt a sense of family with them, something he had sorely missed, first in his troubled childhood, then later in his vagabond life as a marine. Something he was desperate to give to his newfound son.

      Each time he had deployed, they welcomed him back with open arms and home-cooked meals. Home. Yes, Swansboro was home now, as close to home as any place he had known, and he was determined that this was where he would raise his boy. And he was more than happy to take on any little task he could to show his appreciation for his home, and the family that had all but adopted him.

      “Miss Katie, do you have that list for me?” he asked as he jumped to his feet to help clear the last of the containers from the table.

      Katie handed him a sheet of note paper, where she’d jotted things that they had asked him to do before the end of the day.

      “Luke, if you wouldn’t mind stocking the pantry we would greatly appreciate it. I’ve added a small number of items you can pick up at the Piggly Wiggly. Here’s the money,” she said, reaching into the pocket of her flowered pedal pushers and pulling out several large bills. Luke waved the money away, shaking his head.

      “I’ve got it,” he assured her. “You and Miss Annie just take care of what you have to do. If you can think of anything else you need, just give me a call on my cell phone. Caleb and I are free for the rest of the day.”

      “Are you sure?” Annie squinted slightly, the sun in her eyes as she looked up at him. “Luke, you need to let us pay you for all you’ve done this past week, helping us get Moon Gate Cottage ready for Tess.”

      After picking up the wicker hamper, he walked the ladies to the cheerful golf cart and stowed the basket safely in the back. “Yes, ma’am, I’m positive, and please don’t mention money again. It’s my pleasure to help. We’ll get the chairs and tables moved onto the screened porch and run up to the market to get provisions for your guest,” he assured them. “Where are you off to next?”

      “First stop is Praise Bee to pick up a gift for Tess, then off to the mayor’s office to put in our two cents’ worth about the Fourth of July festival.” Katie neatly positioned a pair of black-and-white zebra-striped sunglasses on the bridge of her nose as she spoke, looking at Luke over the rims.

      “You have a wonderful child there, Luke. I’m so glad you found each other.” Annie climbed into the cart as she spoke.

      Luke looked across the yard to his son, who was lying on the dock, munching cookies and watching the dolphins, which were putting on quite a show today.

      “Thank you, Miss Annie. He’s a good kid. Things have been a little rocky here and there, but like a creek going downhill, we’ll find our way. I just wish his mother had told me about him years ago.”

      “Well, you know now and that’s all that counts. I’m glad that she stipulated in her will that he was to go to you if anything happened to her. And she named him Caleb Barrett, using your last name. I think in the end, she tried to do the right thing.” Annie reached out and touched Luke’s cheek as she spoke, her brown eyes filled with compassion for the tragic death of a young woman she had never met.

      “She did. I regret not having him in my life sooner, though.”

      Katie shook her head. “You can’t live with regrets, Luke. You take the hand God deals and make the most of it. You have him now, and what a wonderful gift your child is.”

      Luke nodded, a lump forming in his throat at their kind words.

      “And don’t forget about the breakfast after