“And I would have known that if I’d asked, but I was afraid. I was afraid of you leaving me. When my dad walked out, that sanctuary took his place. It was my refuge after being crushed by someone I trusted. I was afraid of leaving the safety of my home, even though it doesn’t feel like home, especially since you’re gone. And after hearing you say you still wanted to go home, I thought I needed to make the decision for you.”
She shuddered and closed her eyes. “I thought if I made you think it wouldn’t work, it would give me the out I was looking for. That if I wrecked what we had, there wouldn’t be any chance of ever fixing it. I thought it would keep me from getting hurt.”
“I would have never deliberately hurt ye. Did ye trust me so little that ye couldna believe that?”
She looked down at the floor and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “I knew…know you wouldn’t. I was scared. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. I didn’t trust me.” She slowly raised her eyes to his. “I love you.”
“But ye said…”
She took his hand in hers. “It wasn’t true. I know you must be angry with me, and you have every right to be. I just knew I couldn’t go another day without telling you how much I love you. If you don’t feel the same, I’ll understand. I deserve it.”
* * *
“What about the sanctuary?” His steely blue eyes bored through her.
The question was loaded with a thousand more questions. “I’m signing everything over to Trudy once the six months are up and it’s mine. I don’t want it. I don’t want any of it. I’d rather have you than anything else in this world.” It was true. She’d been stupid to ever think she could live without him .
Taran narrowed his eyes and looked at her like he couldn’t quite process what she was telling him. “What are ye sayin’? “
“I’m saying I love you. I choose you over anything.”
“Ye would stay here with me? Ye wouldna grow to hate me because ye had to choose?” His voice was tender and questioning.
She held his gaze. “I’m yours. My home is with you wherever that is. My family is here, and I can’t spend another day away from them. I can’t let Penelope’s and Paige’s children grow up and not be a part of their lives, and I can’t have children where they aren’t around.”
“Mine?”
“Yours forever and ever.”
Closing the distance he’d created, he took her in his arms. “I want to be angry with ye. To hate ye, but I cannae. I have ached for ye, Sarah Freeman. Gettin’ on that plane, thinkin’ ye didnae love me was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“I’m so sorry I hurt you.” Sarah prayed silently that he’d hear her heart. That he’d hear how much she loved him. If he rejected her, she’d be broken, and it would be her own fault.
“I wanted to make ye hurt like ye hurt me, but I cannae. I love ye. Livin’ without ye is nae an option for me.” He leaned back and looked deep into her eyes. “I dinnae want to spend another day without ye.”
Sarah could finally breathe again. He loved her, even after she’d hurt him. “I don’t want to spend another day without you either.”
Taran held her around the waist with one hand and held her face with the other. Relief flooded her as he brushed his lips against hers. It was what she’d hoped and wished for the entire flight over. That he’d want her as much as she wanted him.
Her body melted against his, and she buried her hands in his hair, deepening the kiss. Until that moment, she didn’t realize just how she craved him, and she poured all of it into kissing him.
Now that she was free to love him, she couldn’t get enough. She clung to him, teasing his lips with hers. Her heart pounded in her ears as the minutes ticked by with him kissing her with as much desperation as she felt.
When he finally broke the kiss, his chest heaved in and out as he took gulps of air. “Marry me.”
She smiled against his cheek, her breath labored. “We aren’t divorced.”
“Let’s do it again.”
“Okay, but I want to be a MacLachlan this time. I want to be yours, and I want everyone to know it.” She leaned back and stared into his eyes.
His lips curved into a wide smile, and she was glad he was holding her. “I want to be yers, and I want everyone to know it.”
“I love you, Taran. I promise to love you for the rest of my life.”
He cupped her cheek and kissed her throat. “I love ye, and I promise to show how much for the rest of my life.”
Chapter 31
Taran, Rory, and the rest of his family gathered in the hospital room. Penelope looked exhausted. Labor had been long and hard for her, but less than an hour before, baby Eion had made his appearance.
Sitting next to her was Angus. He bent over and kissed her on the forehead. “You did great, and you look beautiful.”
The hospital staff was checking the baby over and then the family would get to see him.
Sarah squeezed her hand. “You do.”
Penelope snorted. “I look like I fought a bull.”
“But you won,” Paige said and chuckled.
Rory stood behind Paige. “I cannae wait to see him.”
Paige craned her neck and looked at Rory. “He’ll be beautiful. I know it.”
Duff slapped Rory on the shoulder. “Nae long, and yers’ll be here.”
The door opened, and the nurse walked in holding a small bundle. “I think someone needs his mum.”
Penelope held her arms out, and the nurse passed Eion to her. If Angus smiled any wider, he was going to give the Joker a run for his money.
“Oh, love,” the boys’ mum said. “Look at that beautiful boy.”
“He’s so tiny,” Taran said as he stood behind Sarah. His breath tickled the skin on her neck, and goosebumps traveled down her arms .
She’d made the best decision of her life when she’d signed the sanctuary over to Trudy. Her family had moved into the house and made it theirs, and everything was exactly the way her mom wanted, including Sarah being in Rosegail Bridge with Taran.
“He’s perfect,” Angus said as he slid his finger into Eion’s hand. “He’s just perfect. Beautiful like his mother.”
Penelope looked up at Angus. “He has your nose.”
Paige leaned across the bed as best she could and kissed Eion’s cheek. “He’s the sweetest thing ever.”
Taran leaned down and put his mouth next to Sarah’s ear. “I never have asked ye if ye want children.”
“It doesn’t matter if I do,” she whispered back. She’d been hoping to hold off on telling him.
“Aye, it does.” He curled his body around her as he spoke. It never got old. The way he fit against her. She also loved that he never pushed anything on her .
Taking his hand, she pressed his palm against her stomach. “No, it doesn’t.”
He took her chin in his fingers and made her look at him. “Aye.”
She tiptoed and whispered, “Remember how I didn’t want Penelope going into labor today because I had that appointment?”
“Aye.”
“It doesn’t matter if I want children, because we’re going to have one.”
Taran pulled back. “What?” The question popped out louder than he probably wanted, and the attention of the entire room landed on him.
Sarah nodded. “Are you okay?”
“What’s going on?” Angus asked.
“We’re goin’ to have a baby?” Taran gasped and blurted out.
A collective gasp filled the room, and Sarah grinned. “We are.”
Taran opened and shut his mouth a few times. “Pregnant? A baby?”
Penelope laughed and bumped Angus. “He’s more surprised than you were.”
Angus punched Taran. “Get used to surprises.”
“Yes!” Paige said. “I knew it. Didn’t I tell you she was pregnant? You owe me dinner and a foot massage, mister.” She looked at Rory.
Rory held his hands up. “Aye, ye did. I should lear
n to just accept that yer right.”
“You hear that? Now I’ve got witnesses.”
Sarah gaped at Paige. “You knew?”
“Are you kidding? You’ve been turning green at the drop of a hat. You were either pregnant or something was seriously wrong. I went with the logical choice.” Paige rubbed her stomach. “Pregnant.”
“A baby,” Taran whispered.
Sarah couldn’t tell what he was thinking. They’d never really discussed if or when they wanted children. “Is that okay?”
“It’s fantastic.” He pulled her to him and kissed her. “I’m thrilled.”
“Well,” Penelope said and looked at Paige and Sarah. “We always did say we wanted a huge family.”
“And now we have it.” Paige leaned her back against Rory’s chest.
Sarah held back tears. The three of them had all wished they were part of a huge family, and had always wanted to bring their children up together. Silently, she thanked her mom for the gift, a gift she cherished and would cherish the rest of her life .
* * *
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Sneak Peek! The Best Friend’s Billionaire Brother Chapter 1
Gabby Fredericks waited at one of the cubicles closest to her new editor-in-chief’s office for her end-of-the-day meeting with him. Any minute, she was going to be called back, and she was already practicing how she would accept the promotion from section editor to copy editor. Changes were coming to the Charleston Uptown Gazette, and she wanted to be the first on board with modernizing the newspaper.
“Ms. Fredericks,” Wesley Brown finally called. He’d been the first change the publisher made. The previous editor-in-chief of the paper had wanted to retire, and when they were bought out, he decided it was the best time to leave.
She stood and crossed the newsroom floor, shaking hands with him as she reached his office. “Hi.”
“Come on in.” He stepped aside, allowing her in, and she noticed a woman behind Wesley’s desk.
Instead of being her normally meek self, she walked right over and shook the woman’s hand. “Hi, I’m Gabby Fredericks.”
The woman waved to the chair across from her. “Please, take a seat.”
Gabby complied and set her hands in her lap. “I’m so—”
“Ms. Fredericks, before we get too chummy, I’m here to let you know that Wayne Publishing has decided to go a different direction with producing this paper.”
“Okay,” Gabby said softly, unconsciously rubbing the office key on her wristlet.
“With that said, we’re letting you know that today is your last day.” The woman slid an envelope toward Gabby. “That is a severance package. It should give you time to find another position. We’d appreciate it if you’d clear out your work area before leaving today.”
“Fired?” The word felt foreign in her mouth. She’d been with the paper since her sophomore year in college, working her way from intern to section editor over the past four and a half years. The copy editor job was next…or so she thought. “I thought I’d been a great asset to the paper.”
The woman sighed. “We feel it’s best to have fresh blood going into the new year. I know, it’s Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner, but I’m sure you understand that this works best for everyone.”
Best for everyone? Gabby didn’t know how to respond. What could she say? She was so shell-shocked that she could barely think.
Wesley opened the door, indicating they were done.
“If you’ll go ahead and see yourself out, we have another appointment scheduled.” The woman pointed to the door.
Speechless, Gabby stood and absentmindedly walked to her office. She’d gone from excited about her future with the paper to numb in the span of minutes. Just like that, and her career with the paper was over. She wasn’t even sure how to process the whole thing.
The cell phone she’d tucked in her dress pocket rang, and she fished it out. “Hello?”
“I’m sorry. I know you usually work late,” Carrie Anne West’s chipper voice filtered through the phone.
The sound of her voice was enough to shake Gabby out of her daze. It was Tuesday, and she was flying into Amarillo the next day to spend Thanksgiving with her and Carrie Anne’s families in Caprock Canyon, Texas.
“It’s okay,” Gabby replied.
“You sound off. Is everything all right?”
Of course, Carrie Anne would pick up on Gabby being upset. They’d been best friends, or more like sisters, since they were born. It made sense because their moms had been lifelong best friends too, going so far as to live across the street from each other their entire lives. They were all like family and even spent the holidays together.
Normally, Carrie Anne would be the first person Gabby would want to tell about what had happened, but she didn’t need to spend the holiday with everyone feeling sorry for her.
Gabby swallowed down her disappointment at being fired and responded, “I’m fine. Just tired after working all day.”
Carrie Anne paused a second. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.” Gabby put as much sunshine and rainbows into the response as she could muster.
“Okay, I have news. I’m getting married!” Carrie Anne squealed.
Gabby gasped. “Israel passed the bar?” Carrie Anne and Israel had been sweethearts in high school and all the way through college.
“Israel proposed last night, and I said yes.” She paused. “I was going to wait until you got here tomorrow, but I couldn’t hold it in. I had to tell you.”
“I’m so happy for you.” Gabby smiled and went in search of a box to pack her things.
Carrie giggled. “Yeah, the letter came yesterday. I knew he’d taken it, but it was a huge surprise when he asked me. He set up a huge celebration with the whole family. Well, as whole as we could get it. He’d promised to ask me as soon as he passed, and he said he wanted to keep his promise.”
“I’m sorry I was working late.” If she’d known last night that she was getting fired, she wouldn’t have silenced her phone and missed her best friend’s engagement.
“It’s okay. I understand.”
Gabby peeked inside the office two doors down from her. A small box filled with reams of paper sat in the corner. She pulled the paper out, figuring if they didn’t want her swiping a box, they shouldn’t have fired her. “I’m deliriously happy for you.”
“We want to get married New Year’s Eve.”
New Year’s Eve? Gabby stopped at her desk. “That fast? Holy cow. You’ve always wanted a huge wedding. You can’t—” Gabby stopped short. Yeah, they could because money talked, and they had enough Benjamin Franklins to make up an entire choir. “Well, I guess you can now.”
A year ago, the West siblings had won the lottery, and now they were billionaires. The whole thing was still unreal to Gabby, but that was mostly because they didn’t act any different. They were good people, sweet and hard-working. If anyone deserved to win that kind of money, they did.
Laughing, Carrie said, “Things have changed quite a bit since then. Wyatt—”
“Nope. Don’t want to hear it.”
“But I need—”
“No, Carrie Anne. I left Caprock Canyon to get away from him, and I don’t want to know anything about him. I know he’s your brother, but I can’t. The only reason I’m coming to Thanksgiving this year is because you told me he wasn’t going to be there.” Gabby shook her head as she crammed almost five years’ worth of accumulated junk into the box. “We talked about this, remember?”
For a second, Gabby thought Carrie Anne would fight her, but instead, she replied, “Yes, I remember.”
The very reason she’d sta
yed close to Caprock Canyon and pursued her journalism degree at Texas Tech after graduating high school was the hope that Wyatt would finally notice her.
It was a crush she wished she’d never had. Pining for a man that would never see her as more than his little sister’s best friend was stupid. A reality that hit her when Wyatt proposed to Lori Edwards—his on-again, off-again girlfriend he’d met on a rodeo tour. Instead of noticing Gabby, one night while she was home on fall break, their families were eating together and the next thing she knew, Wyatt was getting on one knee.
Her heart had shattered that night five years ago, watching him pull out a ring and ask someone else to marry him. It had been Gabby’s wake-up call, a nail in the coffin for her. So, she’d returned to her sophomore year of college and applied for a transfer to the College of Charleston, along with an internship at the Charleston Uptown Gazette. She’d been talking about doing it since she couldn’t handle watching Wyatt and Lori together, but after the proposal, she didn’t hesitate.
Finding out she was accepted to both the college and internship was her sign that she’d made the right call. That spring, she’d packed up, leaving her heartbreak and everything she knew behind.
Her parents and sister had wondered why she had the sudden urge to get out of Texas, and she’d told them that Charleston had a better program for journalism. They hadn’t seemed very convinced but let it be.
“Gabby…” Carrie Anne sighed. “Okay, I won’t say anything more. I’m sorry. I know how you feel about him.”
“Felt. It’s over. Crush, then crushed, and I’ve moved on.” Gabby’s meddling radar blared. Carrie Anne had given up way too easily. “You did tell me Wyatt was going to be out of town while I’m there, right?” She didn’t want to chance running into him at the Thanksgiving dinner. She’d successfully avoided all chances of seeing him since she’d left home, including all holidays.
Mending The Billionaire Brother (MacLachlan Brothers Romance Book 3) Page 18