“You’re doing so good, sweetie,” Silas tells his wife, rubbing her back as Delta and Amelia pace the room anxiously. Seems clear to everyone that they complement one another perfectly.
“Another contraction is coming,” Everly says, reaching for Silas’s hand. She hisses through it, her eyes squeezed shut. “Oh, it hurts. Like, for reals hurts.”
The midwife checks her and, smiling, says she’s at a ten, and that she can begin to push.
“You got this,” Silas whispers, the room seeming to close around the two of them. “You are doing so good, girl.”
Delta and Boone step away from the couple, as do Amelia and Reed, sensing that they are entering a memory they will all hold for the rest of their lives, a sacred moment when a baby enters the world.
Everly isn’t modest, and insists everyone stay. If Boone or Reed are uncomfortable being around laboring woman, they don’t show it. Maybe because they’re real men who know a woman giving birth isn’t something to shy away from. It’s the fucking miracle of life, and they know how very precious it is.
When Everly pushes, time seems to stop, and her delivery, while unplanned, goes seamlessly. Beads of sweat cover her face, her bare stomach is taut and tense, and her legs shake as she pushes out her son.
He screams violently as he sucks in gulps of fresh Alaskan air, and the room explodes in cries and shouts of victory. The men are passing around a bottle of whiskey and the women are wiping their tears, and the baby boy is placed on Everly’s breast. In one fell swoop, a family is created. A bond that will never break.
* * *
The wedding is postponed three days, but no one minds.
Baby fever has erupted at the lodge, and Delta and Amelia sit on the edge of Everly’s bed staring at baby Hunter, the seven-and-a-half-pound gift that came a month early but not a moment too soon. They are beyond smitten.
“He’s so big for being so early,” Delta says, crossed legged, gazing at Hunter.
“At least we know there’s no way you got pregnant before you got married,” Amelia jokes. “Can you believe the pill failed you?”
Everly shrugs. “It was destiny. I said I wanted life experience, and I’d say moving to Alaska has given it to me in spades.”
“Hunter looks just like Silas,” Delta comments, and it’s true. He has the same nose, same mouth, same piercing eyes.
“Can we arrange for him to marry my little girl?” Amelia asks.
“Which one?” Delta asks, smiling.
Amelia had an ultrasound last week, confirming that Hope was going to have a baby sister. Fitting, because as if Reed needed another woman in his house.
“I’m not going to find out if I’m having a boy or a girl,” Delta continues. “I want the surprise.”
“That is such a you thing to do,” Everly teases. “But, honestly, how did we get so lucky?”
Amelia twists her lips. “We took a risk, a leap of faith.”
“And got ourselves some fine-ass mountain men,” Delta adds, laughing.
“Right?” Everly bites the side of her lip. “I swear the hardest thing about the end of this pregnancy was not being able to have sex comfortably. I’m telling you, enjoy yourselves around month five and six, it’s all downhill from there.” She pauses, pursing her lips. “Well, except the sex dreams are pretty hot all the way through.”
“Oh, my gosh,” Amelia says, laughing. “When exactly did Everly, the virginal book-nerd, become such a horndog?”
Everly grins, picking up her swaddled baby and covering his ears. Whispering, she says, “About the time my mountain man went down on me the day we met.”
* * *
A string quartet plays in the corner; a photographer moves around discreetly, documenting each moment. Flowers are arranged on the large dining table set for six, and the men stand in suits, with groomed beards and slicked-back hair. A better looking trio of lumbersexuals has never been seen.
Delta walks into the room first, holding Hope on her hip. Everly follows, carrying baby Hunter in her arms, and takes a seat in a plush armchair.
“You look very handsome, Reed,” Delta promises as she hands Hope over to him. “Amelia is a lucky woman.”
“And a fucking gorgeous woman, too,” Reed says, looking at his bride as she enters the room in a long white lace gown, her hair piled on her head, her face bright.
She may have waited eight months for her wedding day, but she doesn’t need some big show like Reed offered all those nights ago at the motel. She just wants the people she loves by her side as she promises her forever to the man she loves. The man she almost never had.
The officiant is here, beginning the ceremony. Reed and Amelia repeat the words after him, devoting themselves to one another. All that’s left is the rings.
Reed takes her hand, slipping a simple gold band on her finger. “With this ring, I thee wed.”
Amelia’s hands clasp Reed’s before the bright fire and the room full of the people she loves, but she can’t speak. Because what do you say when you get the happily-ever-after you never believed you were worthy of? What do you say when the stars align and you get your deepest wish?
What do you say when the man who loves you deep and true and forever has slipped a ring on your finger, telling the world that you are his wife. That you are his.
It’s all too good to be true. A dream. And Amelia is terrified she’s going to wake up.
The officiant clears his throat, “Amelia?”
Reed smiles, pulls her close in a tight embrace. “Baby, I told you I was gonna make you my wife, you getting cold feet now?”
“I don’t have cold feet. I just can’t believe this is real.”
“Oh, baby,” he whispers in her ear. “It’s real. And I just wifed you, hard.”
He pulls away, smiling at his ridiculous words, at his complete 180 from the day they met.
There’s nothing to be nervous about. This is Reed. Her Reed.
She takes his hand, not having eyes for any of the people in the room. Only having eyes for him.
Amelia realizes that this life isn’t a dream. It’s hers. And it isn’t conventional, and it’s a whole lot, real fast. But that’s okay. She doesn’t need regular. She only needs Reed and Hope and the baby girl growing in her womb.
Slipping the band on his finger, she says, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
Reed kisses her, and she kisses him back, and the room breaks out in applause.
These women may have been mail order brides, but they are more than that. They are wives and mothers. They are strong and they are brave. And they took a chance on life.
All those months ago, out of desperation, they Googled Pretty girls, college degrees, open-minded, need jobs.
But they found so much more than a job.
They found all the love they could ask for. And now they won’t be alone in life. They have their protectors; they have their untamed mountain men.
Well, maybe they’ve been tamed. Just a little.
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READY FOR ANOTHER MOUNTAIN MAN?
Jax
I've been called wild. Dirty. Untamed.
I moved to the woods to get away from the bullsh*t of the city. People there don't understand a man like me.
I work hard, and my hands are as calloused as my heart.
And nothing’s gonna change that.
But now I’ve met Harper.
And my whole f*cking world has changed.
But this girl keeps running.
I need to make her stay because she’s having my baby.
I’m gonna make sure my c*ck is the only one she ever needs again.
Harper
I never expected my fiancé to break things off.
I’d saved myself for my wedding night, and now I’m left wondering why.
Needing to get away, I r
an to my uncle's cabin in the woods.
But a storm has left me stranded on Jax’s doorstep, and soon enough he takes me in his arms.
And on the floor. And on the table. And in the great outdoors.
Our time together has left me with a big problem … a problem a wild man like him can’t fix.
A problem that makes me run … because I need a man who believes in true love and commitment.
I need a man who is ready to be a father.
WARNING: This story contains graphic language and an untamed man who takes a virgin. Please don't read if you're not ready for hot sex that will make you reach for that vibrator hidden under your pillow. If the batteries are out, your own hand will do.
No shame, babycakes. Enjoy this steamy story! You deserve it.
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About the Author
Frankie Love writes filthy-sweet stories about bad boys and mountain men.
As a thirty-something mom who is ridiculously in love with her own bearded hottie, she believes in love-at-first-sight and happily-ever-afters.
She also believes in the power of a quickie.
Find Frankie here:
www.frankielove.net
BY THE MOUNTAIN MAN: The Complete Collection Page 29