by Krista Lakes
“What would you have done if I had said no?” Mia asked Carter once everyone had settled down and all the hugs were out of their systems.
Carter looked over at the kids. “Do you think they would have let me return them?”
“Hey!” Alexander shouted, but Carter pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair. It was obvious to all that he wasn't going to let these kids out of his life.
“Just kidding. I promised you guys a forever family, and I wouldn't dream of going back on that,” Carter promised. Lily and Grayson laughed. He looked at Mia and frowned slightly. “Were you thinking of saying no?”
Mia kissed his cheek. “Not in a million years,” she replied. “It was just such a big gesture, I was curious.”
Carter leaned over and kissed her. The kids made grossed out noises, but none of them lost their smiles.
“Since it's a day for big news...” Carter said slowly. His eyes went to Mia's belly and then back to her face.
Mia thought for a moment, then nodded. “They deserve to know what they're getting into to.”
Carter nodded. “Kids, we have another announcement to make about our family.”
Alexander and Grayson frowned. Lily's eyes went wide as she figured it out.
“I'm pregnant,” Mia stated. “We're due in April.”
Lily screamed and hugged her. “I'm so excited! I hope it's a girl!”
“I don't get it,” Grayson said. “You have homework due in April?”
Carter smiled. “Not homework. A baby. Mia's going to have a baby in April. My baby.”
Grayson thought about it for a moment before a slow smile filled his small face. “I get to be a big brother.” He looked more pleased than a cat with cream.
Alexander frowned. “Do I have to share a room?” he asked. He motioned to the basement. “There's no room for a nursery here.”
“No, you don't have to share a room,” Carter promised with a chuckle. Alexander gave a relieved sigh.
“Then it's awesome,” Alexander announced, his smile quickly returning.
“Actually, that's something I wanted to ask you guys.” Carter looked around at his large family. “Do you want to live here, or in California?”
“California?” Lily repeated. She grew pensive. “Why not here?”
“My business is centered in California,” Carter explained. “If you don't want to move, it's okay. I want my family to be happy.”
“I just got friends here,” Alexander said. He shrugged but didn't look excited.
Carter looked around and then smiled. “Then I'll just have to move my business here.”
“You can do that?” Mia asked.
“I told you, I’m not the CEO anymore. I don’t manage anyone. I’m just an outside consultant. I can do whatever I want,” Carter replied. “And what I want, is all of you.”
Mia watched as Carter looked around at each face. Mia, Lily, Alexander, Grayson, and even at Mia's stomach for the future face to come. They were a family. This is what love looked like. This is what a forever kind of love looked like.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading “A Forever Kind of Love!” If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review! Please enjoy this quick novella, “A Hopeful Kind of Love”, followed by an extended preview of “A Wonderful Kind of Love”.
A Hopeful Kind of Love
Chapter 1
Note to readers: This novella takes place after “A Forever Kind of Love” but before “A Wonderful Kind of Love”. It also contains characters from “Saltwater Kisses” and “Yours Completely”. You do not need to have read any of these books to enjoy this book.
Laura
“Oh God, it's him.”
Laura wished she could just melt into the floor and vanish for a few hours. Of course he had to come to this. He was the last person she wanted to see today.
“Who?” Mia asked, looking around. She still had brochures in her hands as she tried to organize the table.
“Ethan. Ethan White,” Laura answered. She tried to move behind Mia to hide, which wasn't too hard since Mia was pregnant and due in just a month. Mia shook her head and kept organizing the information table.
“Ethan?” Mia turned so that Laura couldn't hide as easily. “He's a sweetheart. I like him. Why don't you?”
Laura watched as he walked across the open space between the barn and the house. He hadn't seen her yet, which she was incredibly grateful for.
“We, kinda, sorta...” she shifted her weight, trying to find a tactful way to describe why she didn't want to see him. “We have a history.”
Mia raised her eyebrows, interest sparkling in her eyes. “Oh, I'm gonna need more than that.”
Laura sighed. “It was at the Christmas party two years ago.”
“Okay. That doesn't tell me much,” Mia told her, crossing her arms and waiting for more.
“We had a thing.” Laura shrugged. “At the party.”
“Okay. More.”
“We were both drinking and it was snowing and beautiful. There was mistletoe.” Laura blushed a little. “There was a lot more than just mistletoe.”
Mia looked at her and then back over to where Ethan was talking to another guest. She shrugged. “Just a thing? I would have jumped his bones, personally.”
“Mia!” Laura looked at Mia's very pregnant belly.
“What?” Mia asked innocently. “He's cute.”
“You'd jump his bones?” Laura looked aghast. “Aren't you married? And pregnant?”
Mia rolled her eyes. “I'm not saying I'd do it now. Sheesh.”
Laura just shook her head and went back to making the information table for the day's events look nice.
“So, did you jump his bones?” Mia asked after a moment.
Hot memories of Ethan's touch flashed through Laura's mind. She could almost feel the way his caress felt on her bare skin. And good lord, those kisses. They'd stolen her breath. She grinned.
“I did,” she admitted with the hint of a blush.
“You go girl,” Mia congratulated her. “Didn't I hear that that party was in a museum?”
Laura nodded. “I will never look at the Rocks, Gems, and Crystals exhibit the same.”
Mia laughed. “You have to give me more than that. I need details. I mean, details of why you don't want to see him now. Not necessarily what happened in Rocks, Gems, and Crystals.”
“Things were great. He gave me his cell phone number. Then I called him and his secretary picked up,” Laura explained with a shrug. “She told me to never call back. That he wasn't interested.”
“Ouch,” Mia replied. She frowned and looked over at Ethan. “That doesn't sound like him. Did you ever try again?”
Laura nodded. “I did. He turned off his number. He had my number, too, Mia. He could have called me, but he didn't.”
Laura tried to shrug off the hurt that filled her chest. It was just a stupid one night stand thing. It shouldn't matter, but somehow it did. It hurt more than she expected it to. Even now.
“So, why don't you go talk to him?” Mia asked. “Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding. He's a good guy.”
“How do you know he's a good guy?” Laura asked, crossing her arms.
“He's business partners with my husband, so I see him at all the meetings about moving the design team of W Motors to Denver,” Mia explained. “Plus, remember that charity event Carter threw me in the fall? Carter couldn't go, so he had Ethan take me.”
“So he's a good guy because Carter made him take you to a charity function?” Laura asked.
“No,” Mia replied. “He's a good guy because he's a good guy. Also, when I mentioned the ranch, he knew your name and he asked about you.”
“He did?” Laura didn't mean to have that much hope in her voice. “He remembered my name?”
“Yes, he did. He seemed interested,” Mia said. “You should talk to him.”
“He probably remembered me because he thought I was annoying or somet
hing,” Laura responded. “Besides, it was a year and half ago. Things are different now.”
Laura looked down at the floor and tried to ignore the tears creeping into her eyes. When would the pain of what happened stop surprising her, she wondered.
Mia squeezed her shoulder. “You deserve some happiness too, you know.”
“I know,” Laura replied. She shrugged, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. “I just don't have time for it.”
Mia nodded, her mouth tight. She gave Laura a quick hug, her pregnant belly pushing into Laura in the process. “Make sure you take care of yourself, too.”
Laura didn't know quite what to say, so she just nodded. Luckily, she was saved by Mia's husband. Carter came over and kissed Mia's cheek.
“The guests are starting to arrive,” Carter told them. “You two ready?”
“As ready as we're going to be,” Mia replied, looking nervous for the first time. Today was her day to shine. “Do I look okay?”
Carter looked his wife over and smiled. “You look stunning. Radiant.” Mia smiled and blushed at his compliment.
“What about me, boss?” Laura teased. She grinned at Carter.
“On the advice of my lawyer, I plead the fifth,” he replied, keeping his face straight.
“Very funny,” Laura replied with a smile. Carter was a great boss. He owned W Motors and was a billionaire, but you'd never know it. He was incredibly down to earth. Laura managed his horses at the ranch, so she had gotten to know him on a more personal level than many of his other employees.
“Are the kids ready?” Carter asked, going back to Mia.
“They're all in the barn with Kenna, the social worker,” Mia told him. “Lily has the horses ready in the barn and everything else is set up. We're ready.”
Laura nodded to her words. Lily, Mia and Carter's adopted teenage daughter was a hard worker. Lily had even taken over for Laura when her world collapsed. If there was anyone Laura trusted with getting the horses ready, it was Lily.
“What about the boys?” Carter asked.
Mia chuckled. “They are 'helping' Lily,” she replied.
“They do help,” Laura replied, coming to the two boys' defense. Grayson and Alexander were Lily's younger brothers. They were good kids, even if they were a handful. They really did try their best.
“I'm sure they do,” Carter said with a chuckle of his own. It was Grayson and Alexander's antics that had led him to the meeting of Mia. They'd broken a window, and Mia had convinced him to let the boys earn back the cost by working at the ranch. “At least the weather is behaving, even if the kids aren't.”
Mia pushed his shoulder and frowned at him. “Don't jinx it!” she told him. “It's sunny and perfect now, but you know how fast spring snowstorms roll in.” She quickly rapped her knuckles on the wooden table to ward off bad luck.
Laura knocked on wood, too. Her younger brother and sister were going to come to this event, and the last thing she wanted was for weather to become a factor. She checked her watch to see that they'd be arriving from the babysitter's house in just a few minutes. She quickly started trying to finish off the table so she could go help with the horses before her siblings arrived.
Carter moved in closer to his wife, putting a hand on her belly. “How are you doing? Do you need anything?” He was like a concerned Papa Bear, and Laura loved to see it.
Mia smiled up at him. “I'm good. Just nervous. I want this to go well. I want this to work.”
“It will,” Carter assured her. “You have an amazing plan, Mia. You're going to do great.”
Mia's shoulders relaxed slightly and she kissed his cheek. She then looked proudly out at the ranch and nodded. “I think you're right.”
Laura had to agree. The foundation Mia was setting up was amazing. She was opening a special ranch to help foster kids. The ranch was technically Carter's, but he'd given her the space to make it all about kids.
Mia had all sorts of amazing ideas for this place. She wanted foster kids to come and learn tools to make their lives better, to give them confidence, and mostly a place to belong. Mountain Hope Ranch in Silver Springs was going to change a lot of kids' lives for the better, Laura knew it in her bones.
Today was a soft opening. They were slated to officially open in two months for summer, but today was about getting more investors. W Motors was a major contributor, but the more companies and wealthy investors they could bring on, the more kids they could help. Today was to show the investors what this place was about.
“Okay, it's time,” Carter said, looking at his watch. He smiled warmly at his wife. “Let's go cut the ribbon, and then there's some people I want to make sure you meet.”
Mia nodded. She flashed a smile at Laura and took a deep breath before heading toward the entrance to greet her guests. Laura was impressed with how calm Mia was. There were at least ten of the hundred richest people in America here, all wanting to see what Mia was doing.
Mia had arranged for kids from the local foster care system to come and enjoy the ranch with the billionaires. It was important that things go right. If they did, Mia's ranch would be off to a great start.
Laura watched Mia walk away with Carter before checking the information table one last time. It looked great. She needed to get to the barn before her siblings arrived so she could make sure that the horses were ready for the billionaires and kids.
Laura looked around before heading off, seeing if Ethan was still around. He was nowhere to be seen.
“It's for the best,” she told herself. He was a distraction she didn't need. She hated the way her heart fell that he wasn't there anymore. He wasn't interested, and she needed to remember that.
Chapter 2
Ethan
Ethan was trying his very best to ignore the fact that Laura was here. He was doing his best to pay attention to the ribbon cutting, but he kept sneaking glances over at the information table.
She looked even better than he remembered. A year ago, she had looked amazing in her party dress, and even better out of it. Yet somehow, here on the ranch, she looked even better than she had that night. It was taking a lot of concentration not to just stare at her.
He shook his head and tried to clear the memories of their night together from his mind. How soft her skin was, the smell of her perfume. The noises she made when he was inside of her...
“Is that you, Ethan?”
Ethan turned, glad to have something to focus on that wasn't a memory of something he couldn't have. He smiled and greeted his friend.
“Jace! It's so good to see you,” Ethan said, holding out a hand.
Jace grinned and shook his hand. “I haven't seen you since the wedding two years ago. I'd hoped we'd get to see you here.” Jace motioned to a lovely woman beside him. “You remember my lovely bride, Ella?”
Ethan shook her hand warmly. “Of course I do. How are you Ella?”
“I'm wonderful,” Ella replied. She let go of his hand just as a fluffy golden retriever puppy tried to bite at the laces of Ethan's shoes.
“Is this your dog?” Ethan asked, looking at the dog. He bent down to pet the puppy, making sure to get his shoes out of reach.
“Sorry, this is Jupiter,” Ella said, tugging gently at the dog's leash to pull him back into sitting at her side. “I'm just starting to train him as a therapy dog, so he comes with me to all my events. His vest that says he's working hasn't arrived yet, but Mia said it was fine. It's good practice for him to be around people and horses.”
“A therapy dog? That's great,” Ethan replied. “How far along is his training?”
“About a month,” Ella admitted. “I could have left him at home, but Mia said he could come. This is just such a great opportunity for him to be around kids and lots of people and activity that isn't home.”
“Is he for your hotel?” Ethan asked. He wanted to pet the dog again, but he knew he shouldn't if the dog was supposed to be working.
“He is,” Ella said with a sm
ile. “He's part of the new image. We're really trying to make it a luxury destination. Therapy dogs are big right now.”
Ethan smiled at the puppy. “I want to visit now, just to see this guy in action.”
“See, it's working already,” Ella replied with a laugh. She pet the dog's head with a smile. “I'm just glad Jace agreed to it.”
“If it makes you happy, I'm happy,” Jace said, taking her hand. Ella's face lit up at his touch and the two of them shared a secret smile.
Ethan looked away and at the dog. He wanted a love like that. Something sweet and easy, something that felt as natural as breathing. He wanted to find his own Ella.
“What about you, Ethan?” Jace asked. “What have you been up to?”
“Just working,” Ethan replied with a shrug. “I've been busy with W Motors stuff. Carter's moving the R&D department to Denver so he can be closer to here.” Ethan motioned to the ranch behind him. “And his kids. That means I'm heading up the California office.”
“California isn't a bad place to be,” Jace said. He looked around and nodded. “Though, this place looks amazing. I saw the before pictures, and Mia has done an amazing job of turning this place into a camp.”
Ethan nodded. “They kept the barn, but they completely redid the house and the garage. Plus, the added a camp counselor house, a pool, and a ropes course. Not to mention all the upgrades to get everything up to camp standards. They've put a ton of work in.”
“And isn't Mia pregnant?” Ella asked.
Ethan nodded. “Yes, she is. She wanted to get everything ready for this summer, so she's been working on it nonstop.”
“What's going to happen when she has the baby?” Ella asked.
“She's got people hired and ready to go. Once everything is in place, the ranch will be set to run without her,” Ethan explained. “It's just getting it there that's she working on.”