Fated Hearts

by Elliott, Kelly

  Roger cried when he saw me, and I cried when I saw him. When my father placed my hand in Roger’s, he promised Daddy he would love me forever and never allow anything or anyone to hurt me. My father finally lost the battle to keep his tears at bay. He grabbed Roger around the neck and pulled him in for one of those manly hugs. He whispered something in Roger’s ear, which made me laugh. Then, with a slap on the back, my father took his seat next to my mother.

  Meg stood as my maid of honor, and Truitt was Roger’s best man. We didn’t have anyone else in our wedding party. Partly because I was still so new to Boerne, and with my brother Jax not being able to make it over from Ireland, we felt it best to keep it small and simple.

  The reception, on the other hand, was anything but. The Carters knew a lot of people. I swore half the town of Boerne was there.

  Toward the end of the night, Roger walked up to me and placed his mouth against my ear. “Are you ready to leave, Mrs. Carter?”

  I turned in his arms and smiled at him. “I’ve been ready to leave since we cut the cake.”

  He laughed and kissed the tip of my nose. I loved when he did that. Then he placed his hand over my stomach, and those dimples popped out.

  “If you keep touching my stomach, people will guess why,” I said.

  “I can’t help it. I’m in awe of the fact that you have my child growing inside you.”

  “Our child.” He rolled his eyes, and I hit him playfully on the chest. “Seriously, can we leave now?”

  “Yes. I’ve already asked Truitt to bring your car around to the front of the hotel.”

  “And we’re staying at a hotel in San Antonio tonight?” I asked.

  Roger nodded. “Yes.”

  “And you won’t tell me what time our flight leaves tomorrow?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me and slowly shook his head. “I know you, Annalise. You’ll look up every flight at that time to figure out where we’re going.”

  Sighing, I leaned into his body. “Fine. You win. I’ll let you surprise me.”

  He kissed me softly on the mouth. “Thank you. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Roger

  I WASN’T SURE how I’d lucked into marrying the most beautiful woman ever, but I had. The moment I saw Annalise in that soft-blue wedding gown, with her bouquet of blue and white flowers, I fell even more in love with her. Last night in our hotel room, with her hair a mess, her makeup smeared, and a scowl on her face that should have had me running for my life, I fell even more in love with her. I made love to her for nearly half the night, and fell asleep with my hand resting on her stomach. By the time I woke, I was even more madly in love with my wife, and I knew I would keep falling. Over and Over.

  “Is this blindfold really necessary, Roger? You already made me wear one—and headphones—at the ticket counter. I can’t even imagine what people are thinking,” Annalise said as we made our way to our gate.

  “It’s a surprise. When we get to the gate, I have to put the headphones back on.”

  Sighing, Annalise stopped walking. “Nope. I’m not doing it. I feel like an idiot. I know people are staring at me!”

  I glanced around the airport and, sure enough, people were giving us strange looks.

  “Okay, you’re right. People are looking at us kind of strangely.”

  Annalise reached up and pulled the blindfold off, blinking a few times as she adjusted to the light.

  A guy walked by and said, “Dude, save the kinky stuff for your hotel room.”

  I laughed as Annalise’s face flamed.

  Lacing my fingers in hers, I started for our gate. I could practically feel the excitement coming off Annalise’s body.

  “Hey, you know what?” I said. “You once told me that you make a damn good ice cream sundae. How come you’ve never made one for me before?”

  She looked up at me and grinned. “You remember that?”

  “Of course, I do.”

  “How about I make you one when we get back home?”

  Annalise and I decided to purchase the Martin Ranch together, and construction for our house was already underway. She had moved out of her rental and in with me while the house was being built. With any luck, it would be finished in plenty of time before the baby arrived.

  “When do we find out how far along you are? The due date, all of that?” I asked.

  “I’ve got an appointment the day after we come back from our honeymoon. It’s at two in the afternoon. I knew you’d taken that day off already, so I figured that would be okay.”

  Lifting her hand, I kissed the back of it. “That’s perfect.”

  I stopped walking, causing her to do the same. “We’re at our gate,” I said.

  Annalise did a little hop, then turned to look at the flight information. With a frown, she said, “Orlando? Do we change planes there?”

  “Nope. That’s our final destination.”

  I could see the wheels spinning in her head as she tried to think of why I would be taking her to Orlando. Then it dawned on her…and she slowly turned to look at me.

  “I mean, where better to take Cinderella on her honeymoon than to Magic Kingdom?”

  Annalise nearly knocked me over when she threw her body against mine. She held on to me tightly before letting go. She looked up at me, and I smiled and reached down to wipe her tears away.

  “You remembered.”

  I placed my hand on the side of her face, and she leaned into it. “I love you, princess.”

  “I love you too.”

  Roger - A few years down the road

  I STARED AT the baby in my arms in utter awe. She was perfect. Just like her brother before her had been.

  “She’s so beautiful,” Annalise whispered as I sat down on the bed next to her.

  “Me see, Daddy! Momma, me see!” Matt cried out, practically clawing to get out of my father’s arms.

  “Remember your inside voice, Matt.” My mother held Carrie up on her hip. Carrie was Truitt and Saryn’s two-year-old daughter, born on the exact same day as Matt. Nolan and Liliana stood off to the side with Truitt and Saryn.

  Annalise held her hands out for Matt. My father handed him to her, and Matt crawled right in between me and Annalise.

  “Do you want to hold her your baby sister, Matt?” I asked.

  He nodded and held out his arms. Annalise and my mother had been working with him on how to hold the baby the right way, making sure he knew she was going to be very delicate.

  I was positive we all held our breath as I lay Millie in Matt’s arms after my father propped a pillow under him.

  I watched our son stare down at his newborn sister. Tears filled my eyes when he started to rock softly and sing to her. No one knew what he was singing, but Millie opened her eyes and stared at him. Their connection was instant.

  I heard a soft sob come from my right, and I turned to see Annalise wipe one tear and then another away.

  I placed my finger under her chin and lifted her head until her eyes met mine. “Thank you for making me so happy,” I said.

  She shook her head. “Roger, you’re the one who makes us so happy. You’ve made my fairy tale come true.”

  I glanced at our son and daughter and smiled before I looked back at Annalise.

  “Just think, it all started with a snowstorm and a stranded princess.”

  And they all lived happily ever after.

  Fated Hearts is the conclusion of the Southern Bride series. I hoped you have enjoyed reading these books as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

  A sneak peek at The Butterfly Effect, book one in the Boggy Creek Valley series. Now available.

  I sat in the kitchen, daydreaming about the one person who seemed to always take up the spare space in my head.

  Aiden O’Hara.

  If you looked up handsome in the dictionary, you’d see his picture under the word. Such a clichéd thing to say, but it was true. Dark brown hair and gray eyes that changed colors depending on his mood, the co
lor of his shirt, or even if the sky was blue or cloudy. He had a body that should have belonged on a twenty-something-year-old instead of an eighteen-year-old. My older sister once said Aiden had hair that made a girl want to slip her fingers through it and see if it was as smooth and soft as it looked.

  There was more to Aiden than his good looks though. He was kindhearted and would do anything for anyone if they asked. Aiden was smart. Very smart. Out of almost one-hundred kids in his graduating class, Aiden was on track to be the valedictorian, and I had overheard my mother telling my brother, Hunter, that Aiden could go to any college he wanted.

  That wasn’t the path Aiden desired though. He was set to join the Navy right after high school, just like his daddy had done and his granddad as well. Aiden wanted to be a SEAL, and it was all he ever talked about. My brother, who was best friends with Aiden, had also thought about joining until our father was diagnosed with prostate cancer during Hunter’s junior year of high school. Hunter didn’t have the heart to leave, knowing things would be up in the air with the family orchard.

  Boggy Creek Valley Apple Orchard. It was my father’s pride and joy...well, besides his three kids. My family owned one of the largest apple orchards in the United States. It had been in my father’s family for four generations and had started off with a few apple trees and a dream. Now? Two-hundred-and-fifty acres of trees and more than thirty-five different varieties of apples. My favorite was the Pink Lady, with my father’s and the rest of the Turner clan preferring Gala.

  Lacy said I just had to be the different one.

  With our father’s health unknown, Hunter had recently made the decision to not go into the Navy with Aiden like they’d originally planned. They were like brothers, and Aiden spent more time at our house than he did his own, especially after his father had died a few years back in a car accident. Aiden’s mother, Rose, was good friends with my mother, Mary, and she had leaned on our family a lot after the death of her husband.

  Aiden’s grandfather owned a construction business in Boggy Creek, and his family had built most of the buildings around town. Most dated all the way back to when the town was founded. Aiden’s father had left the Navy to help his father run the business, and when Aiden had declared that he didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of the previous O’Hara men, his grandfather had given him his blessing to follow his own dreams. Aiden had promised him he would return to Boggy Creek someday to take over the family business. But he needed to pursue his own path until then.

  My thoughts were interrupted by my sister when she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a box of Fruity Pebbles. She promptly poured some into a bowl and started to eat.

  “I still don’t understand why you don’t use milk,” I said, before taking a bite of my oatmeal.

  Lacy shrugged. “I don’t like it when it gets soggy. It’s gross.”

  I laughed and went back to eating my breakfast as I stole glances toward the doorway.

  When I focused back on my breakfast and my sister, she was giving me a once-over, a giant smirk on her face.

  “What?” I asked.

  She gave me a half shrug. “Baby sister is growing up. Do you have makeup on, Willa?”

  My cheeks felt hot. “A little.”

  Lacy winked. “You look beautiful, and I swear you grew up over Christmas break. The boys are going to stumble over their own feet when they get one look at you.”

  I laughed and shook my head. There was only one guy I wanted to have look at me.

  Aiden.

  I was three years younger than Aiden, but that didn’t stop my lustful feelings for him. I wasn’t really sure when he had turned from my older brother’s best friend into the boy I had fallen head over heels for. He often had a starring role in my dreams, and I wanted Aiden to be my first. The man who would take away my innocence. High hopes for someone whom Aiden clearly thought of as his little sister. He hadn’t really paid much attention to me over the years, except for the occasional pat on the head, or an invite to go to the pond on his folks’ property.

  Of course, I had always dressed like a tomboy so that I could keep up with Hunter and his friends. I wore baggy clothes and kept my hair tucked into a ponytail that I could hang out of the back of a baseball cap. And I’d never worn makeup before. That changed over Christmas break when two of my best friends, Ellen and Brighton— or Bree, as I called her—talked me into going shopping for more girly-type clothes.

  Brighton was the one who knew all the fashion and watched every makeup tutorial on YouTube she could find. At her and Ellen’s direction, I got my hair cut and lighter highlights put in and learned how to put on the right amount of makeup so that it looked like I didn’t have any on at all. The one thing I loved about my new look was how my eyes seemed to stand out more, especially with the mascara.

  This semester, Aiden would notice me. He had to. He was leaving in June for the Navy, and if I didn’t get him to realize that I had grown up and was well on my way to becoming a woman, he would never notice me. And worse yet, he might give his heart to another woman. This was my last attempt at getting him to look at me as someone other than a sister figure.

  “I heard Aiden stayed the night last night,” Lacy mused.

  I moved slightly in my seat. At any mention of Aiden, my stomach always did a weird little flutter. “Yep. Shouldn’t surprise you, he’s almost always here.”

  She gave me a knowing smile. “Does him being here have anything to do with the sudden change in appearance?”

  I gave her a gruff laugh and shook my head as I answered entirely too quickly. “No.”

  “Liar.”

  “Whatever, Lace,” I bit out with a roll of my eyes.

  She ate a few more bites of her cereal. “He’s too old for you,

  Willa. And Hunter would never let it happen.”

  I rolled my eyes once more. “It’s not like I’m sporting a mini skirt with a low-cut shirt on.”

  “No, it’s worse. You’re in jeans and a shirt that shows off that new little body you’ve got forming.”

  I stared at her and then said, “Aiden’s never looked at you like that, and you’re bigger breasted than me.”

  She glanced down at her chest and then back over at me. “Um,

  I think you were gifted with the boobs in the family. I’m pretty sure your cup size is a B or C. I’m an A.”

  That made my mouth twitch with a grin, but I remained silent. My sister did not need to know I was indeed a B cup and well on my way to a C, according to the lady my mother had taken me to last week for new bras. Mom said the number-one rule as a woman was to always have the right size bras. She said it made a world of difference.

  As if on cue, Aiden walked into the kitchen in low-hanging sweatpants and no shirt, his broad chest on full display. My sister Lacy and I stared open-mouthed at him. If he noticed us gawking, he didn’t show it. He looked at us both with those soft gray eyes of his, then flashed his famous crooked smile. If you were lucky and he smiled widely enough, you were rewarded with his dimples. They didn’t come out as often as one would hope, and when he smiled at me like that, it felt like he was giving me a gift.

  I was positive my insides melted—and I’m pretty sure Lacy’s did too, even though she would never admit it. She always said Aiden was a player and too handsome for his own good. That he would never be true to one woman, especially since he was going into the military.

  Aiden finally spoke, looking between the two of us. When his eyes landed on me, his smile faltered for the briefest of moments. “Morning...Squirt.”

  Did he pause before he used that stupid nickname he and my brother called me?

  With a smile, I replied, “Morning, Aiden.”

  With his eyes still on me, he said, “Morning, Lace.”

  “Aiden, is it possible at all for you to wear a shirt?” Lacy nearly barked out.

  After a quick glance down at his shirtless form, he looked over at my sister. “Does it bother you, Lace?”

 
; She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to see Hunter half-naked, so why in the hell would I want to see you half-naked?”

  Aiden gave a half shrug, then looked at me and winked.

  I gave him a shrug back and took a bite of my apple.

  He leaned against the counter and flashed me a wide grin. “Does it bother you, Squirt?”

  I shook my head and answered honestly. “Nope, not at all. I rather like looking at you with your shirt off.”

  Aiden tossed his head back and let out a roar of laughter as Lacy fought to keep from smiling before she let her inner mom come out to play.

  “For Pete’s sake, Willa, you’re only fifteen and barely that,” Lacy reprimanded after she managed to get a stern look on her face.

  I looked from my sister to Aiden. “Excuse me, but I turned fifteen back in October. And that doesn’t mean I’m blind, Lace.”

  Lacy shook her head as she turned away from me. Aiden gave me a big smile, his dimples flashing. My stomach dipped, and I tried to ignore the way it heated my body in places I was pretty sure shouldn’t be heated.

  Something in Aiden’s eyes changed. He walked around the table, leaned his head down, and placed his mouth close to my ear. “If only you were older, Willamina Turner,” he whispered.

  I felt my face heat then. Finally. Finally, the day had come where Aiden O’Hara looked at me with a different set of eyes. I was no longer the little sister of Hunter Turner. I was now Willamina Turner, young woman with boobs bigger than my sister’s. I fist pumped internally as Lacy turned back to face us and Aiden stepped away from me.

  Hunter picked that moment to walk into the kitchen. He took one look at my flushed face and asked, “What’s going on?”

  Lacy pointed at me and gave our brother a warning. “You better watch out, Hunter, our baby sister has the hots for Aiden here.”