“I love you, Kate King.” His hold around me tightened. “You’re my queen.”
Gentry
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Five years later…
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I leaned against my pickup and soaked it in. In front of me was Dawson’s place. The house I’d built with Sarah. She and I had barely entered adulthood when kid after kid had arrived. We’d hoped this place could contain our big dreams. For so many years, I’d worried that those hopes had been buried with her. Our boys had scattered, isolating themselves and burying themselves in their work.
Then their mother’s crazy idea had prodded them into being adults that would have made her heart burst with pride.
I know mine did on a daily basis.
Emilia’s had as well. I knew that now. And I was grateful that I’d learned it before we’d had to bury her just hours ago. Right next to Sarah and DB.
She would’ve hated a formal reception where everyone talked about her, so after the family had finished at the gravesite, we’d come back to Dawson’s for a large barbecue.
I inhaled the mix of fresh spring air mingling with the subtle scents of dirt and manure. Dawson had a few extra guys working for him nowadays, but he always made room for me and his brothers and our wives to help work cattle. Though, we couldn’t spare everyone these days.
Too many kids to keep track of.
My mouth tipped up as my oldest granddaughter sprinted through the yard. Sera’s long hair trailed behind her as she chased Beck and Eva’s oldest, three-year-old Maddie. Sera took after Aiden. A permanent solemn expression that broke into a grin when she was around her cousins. But around her two-year-old brother, Rand, and six-month-old sister, Lily, she took her big-sister responsibility seriously. As for Maddie, that girl took after Beck—she was an angel when we were looking and liked to get into trouble when we weren’t. One thing I was certain of was that Maddie would be able to reprogram my computer by the time she was ten.
Bristol and Dawson’s boy, Daniel, tried to join in on the fun with Sera and Maddie but kept getting distracted by bugs crawling on the ground. His coppery hair gleamed under the May sun as he bent to inspect his new find. Bristol stepped out of the house with baby Emmaline strapped to her chest. Bright orange hair stuck out of the navy-blue baby wrap. She handed Daniel a cup of milk and wandered to the flower beds. Squatting, one arm wrapped around her precious bundle, she pulled a few weeds.
For years, those flower beds had sat empty. Dawson and Bristol might not care one bit about flowers, but with Savvy’s help, they now had basil, oregano, tomatoes, mint, peppers, and whatever else Dawson had requested.
As if my thought conjured her, Savvy stepped out of the back of the house with Kendall trailing her. Savvy carried one of her and Xander’s one-year-old twins and Kendall carried the other. Jasper had my name as his middle name. Jet’s middle name was Savvy’s dad’s name, Walter. The son I worried I’d never connect with had named a son after me.
My chest got tight and it had nothing to do with clogged arteries.
Kendall spotted me and set Jet down next to where Savvy was letting Jasper play in the grass. She strutted over to me, her hips swaying, a warm smile on her face.
“The service was beautiful.”
I dipped my head. “Emilia would’ve hated it.”
“Yep. But she would’ve secretly thought she deserved it.”
“You know… I resented her a lot more than I thought.” All those years getting driven into the ground by the company. The drama around each and every trust because she couldn’t stand to lose the money. The way she’d never seemed to want to be close to us, her only living relatives. She’d done it all for her family. I saw that now. “But I owe her everything.”
“None of us agreed with how she fought for the company and the money, but we’ve sure reaped the rewards.”
“It took me decades to understand what she was doing.” My kids and their kids could do whatever they wanted in life, but they’d chosen to pay it forward, each family in their own way. “I’m going to honor what she’s left us by being there with you and the rest of our family.”
“I’ll miss her.” Kendall stepped into me and I folded my arms around her. She liked to put her ear against my heart and listen to its rhythmic thud.
“Me too.” I hugged my wife and watched my family. My kids. More grandkids than I’d ever thought I’d be surrounded by. For so many years, I’d wondered what the hell Sarah had been thinking.
When she died, I had wondered what I’d do without her. But she’d made sure we were all taken care of.
Kendall spun in my hold and we watched our family. When we came here, we all stayed at the lodge Dawson and Bristol had built for us between our properties. My favorite days were lounging on the porch with Kendall and watching the sun rise or set.
“Are we brave enough for the big sleepover tonight?”
I chuckled. “Brave? Or stupid?” Kendall’s idea. We’d watch all the grandkids while the couples got away for a night out.
“Naïve.” She laughed and draped her arms over mine. “I love our life together, Gentry.”
“Me too.” I’d spent my life digging up what I’d thought was one of the world’s richest resources, when it was really this. My family.
* * *
_____
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Ready for another family that needs to find the loves of their lives? Oil Barrons is a new series set in the small town of Coal Haven, and begins with Liam Barron, the illegitimate kid of the town’s patriarch in Make Me Whole.
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About the Author
Marie Johnston writes paranormal and contemporary romance and has collected several awards in both genres. Before she was a writer, she was a microbiologist. Depending on the situation, she can be oddly unconcerned about germs or weirdly phobic. She’s also a licensed medical technician and has worked as a public health microbiologist and as a lab tech in hospital and clinic labs. Marie’s been a volunteer EMT, a college instructor, a security guard, a phlebotomist, a hotel clerk, and a coffee pourer in a bingo hall. All fodder for a writer!! She has four kids, an old cat, and a puppy that’s bigger than half her kids.
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mariejohnstonwriter.com
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Also by Marie Johnston
Oil Barrons
Make Me Whole
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Oil Kings
King’s Crown
King’s Ransom
King’s Treasure
King’s Country
King’s Queen
King's Queen Page 25