My eyes go straight to Sean who shrugs, giving a smile at my ignorance.
“I don’t know, probably. All that stuff’s tied up with lawyers… part of my brother’s doing with all his corporation stuff,” he tells me, not Brad as he puts his arm around me, leading me out of the tunnel.
Brad takes a loud breath in, putting two and two together as he sees Sean doing the natural thing, the right thing. Looking after his woman.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask Sean, looking up at him as we get some distance between us and Brad and the other people milling about.
“Never occurred to me,” Sean says factually. “I think we’ve both been pretty distracted the past few hours, don’t you?”
I nod, chuckling a little, amazed Sean’s so calm at the prospect of losing so much.
“I haven’t lost anything,” he says, reading my mind and taking both my hands in his, making me feel those butterflies again.
“I could lose a hundred Beaver Pines campsites and still be the luckiest guy in the world, because I have you Tessa.”
I feel myself start to tear up, and I know what he’s going to ask me.
I know what he’s going to say.
He opens his mouth and I kiss him before he can speak. I hold him tighter than ever before, pressing my face into his rock hard chest. Saying just one word over and over again as I feel tears of joy streaming from my eyes.
“Yes!”
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
Sean
Brad was right. The twister took out Beaver Pines, almost like a surgical incision, almost every single tree, rock and crest was left intact, even the old radio tower stayed up, but those buildings?
Gone.
Like they were plucked by the big man upstairs himself and just taken away.
The debris from the storm was taken east, but as we discovered, the storm blew itself out eventually and nobody was seriously hurt.
“It’s almost like you wanted to save yourself the effort of starting over, like someone… something just did it for ya!” exclaims the head engineer, a guy from my brother’s company, in charge of all his construction and now our new project.
I only ever email my brother, and I still don’t fully understand how the whole business thing works. But every quarter, there’s a truckload of money in an account with my name on it, so I just count my blessings and get on with living.
I’ve always loved it out here, and although I never needed a big house or a fancy place to live, the tornado certainly did send Tessa and me a pretty powerful message.
Rebuild.
Build that life you both want together.
“Don’t forget the pigpen!” Tess chimes, waddling past with her hand resting on her belly, carrying our first child, deliberately defying my orders to stay down or sit in the mobile home we call home until our own is built.
“Pigpen?” the engineer asks, and I stab my finger to the square marked ‘barn’ that Tess insisted be a part of our new domestic landscape.
“With a hatch on it!” Tess calls out louder, calling over her shoulder as she carries a bucket of feed to go sprinkle inside the chicken enclosure she’s made.
“You asked me what I wanted, what I really wanted?” she told me after we’d outlined our plans to the architects, who passed it all on to the engineers.
“I want family, and you…” She told me, grinning with pleasure, “But I also want that big barn, right back where it was in the first place, pigpen, pig and all.”
“But why?” I asked her. Worried she might be having some kind of post-traumatic episode.
“Because I want to pay homage, to give thanks for the whole experience… Those horrible girls, that barn, even that big ol’ pig.” She added, with a distinct country twang in her voice.
“They scared me half to death, but if it wasn’t for them, if I didn’t freak out that night we might never have made it out. I might never have got to have the life I wanted at all…”
I know she’s right, even if it is a strange way of looking at things.
“I might never have gotten you, Sean.” She added tenderly, letting me pull her close and kiss her, my own way of giving thanks for the whole experience.
The storm cellar we never used was the only thing intact that was usable, and we both decided it was a smart idea to use it as part of our new home.
Our family home.
“We can have the wedding once the barn’s ready,” Tessa says, “But I want that cellar handy, just in case…” she says, rubbing her belly again, the greatest treasure we have between us. The baby I know we made our first time together.
The night I claimed her as my own. It’s so perfect that it’s also the night we started our family.
“I love you Tessa,” I tell her, kissing her, telling her for I don’t know how many times today.
“And I love you, Sean… Daddy…” she teases me.
“Don’t call me that!” I pretend to be annoyed. “No daddy talk, remember?” but I know what she means. It gives me such a sense of pride to know I’m gonna be a dad. And I just know Tessa’s gonna be the best mom in the world already.
No matter how much I try and fuss and overprotect, over-analyze everything, she’s the one who just gets on with the job of being the most amazing person I’ve ever met, not just the most amazing woman I’ve even met.
My woman.
My soul mate
My only.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
TEN YEARS LATER
Tessa
“Push, C’mon, push Tessa… that’s it. One more!” Penny says with a big smile and loads of positive encouragement.
Penny is my midwife, she’s helping me with my second home birth.
“Daddy, why is mommy screaming?” Little Joel asks Sean as he waits out front by our bedroom.
In between contractions, and with the door half open, Sean just coming back in to check on me, I can see our first. My little man, waiting without a fuss and always with a book in his hands.
“Because for the new baby brother or sister she has growing inside her to come out, she has to do a lot of concentrating… and it’s kinda painful, but in a good way…” I overhear Sean tell him, making me twist my face, remembering that’s one I owe him for making all this sound so easy.
“Like they do in the movies.” It was the most adorable thing I’ve heard, but according to Sean, Joel got tired of pacing and looking concerned after about ten minutes and started to read his book instead.
“How are you, my darling,” Sean asks me, shooting the midwife a questioning look, the fiftieth in about twenty minutes.
“I’m doing fine,” I tell him, feeling better now that he’s here, his hand in mine and his strong body able to take any and all abuse I can throw at it, if required.
“When little Joel came into the world, I had a terrible time of it, didn’t I hun?” I ask, clenching my teeth and squeezing his hand as hard as I can as another contraction ripples through me.
“I’m so proud of you honey, I love you,” Sean says. Not even flinching as I’m sure I hear the huge bones in his hand start to creak.
“Joel sends his love too,” he adds and I know he does.
“Did you tell him all about the birds and the bees?” I ask sarcastically, having to suddenly take huge puffing breaths of air.
Sean winces, embarrassed at being caught out. “What was I supposed to say?” he asks me, brushing my hair back and kissing my forehead again.
“Painful, but in… a… good way…?” I ask him, letting out a grunt.
Concentrating.
Charlotte is a surprisingly easy delivery after that. Once she makes her way into the world a short while later and she’s all cleaned up, with mommy getting her breath back Joel’s invited in to come see his new baby sister for the first time.
“Gross.” Is all he says, peering over his glasses at her tiny little body, but he kisses me on the cheek and hugs me.
“I’m g
lad you’re okay mommy,” he says, whispering something into my ear that I know he doesn’t want his father to hear.
“Dad tried his best to explain things,” he says, and we both share a knowing look as I give my little man a wink, mouthing the words ‘thank you’ to him and then again to his dad, Sean. To Joel for being such a perfect son than to Sean, for being the greatest husband and for both being my best friends. Most of all, for being here when I need them the most.
“I think I’ll leave Mommy and Daddy alone for a bit now, you did great Tess. I’ll be right outside if you need me,” Penny says, and I give her a huge hug as she gives both Charlotte and I a kiss on the forehead each.
“She’s a saint,” Sean observes once Penny’s left. It was a long time coming before Seam would even have anyone come near me, let alone a doctor or a midwife. Its female doctors only and Penny of course, with Sean insisting he be there every step of the way.
He knows when to give me my space too though, which isn’t very often, mainly when I’m writing.
Once we got the house built and the wedding taken care of, Sean set me up in my own special ‘office.’
Right in the loft of the new red barn, overlooking the pig pen.
Anyone else would have thought him crazy, even offensive after what had happened, but he actually read a part of my mind I didn’t know existed at that stage.
It’s my favorite place in the whole world, writing and thinking, when I’m not spending time with my two favorite males that is. My man Sean and my extra special little man, Joel.
And now Charlotte makes three.
It wasn’t that we didn’t want more kids straight away, but it just turned out that Charlotte wanted to wait ten years before joining us, which I think is just fine. It gave her mommy plenty of time to get her writing career off the ground, so now I only have to do a bit here and there, mainly for fun.
Joel starts to do that thing with his nose, moving it around like a rabbit’s.
He does it when he gets bored, or tired, or hungry. Right now I think he’s all three. It’s been a long afternoon for all of us, me especially.
“Why don’t you go see if Penny wants to help you make something to eat, baby?” I ask Joel, tracing my fingers through his longish hair.
He has Sean’s hair.
“Okay mommy… you want anything dad?” he asks Sean, who always looks like he’s about to cry whenever Joel does grown up things like that.
“Why don’t you surprise me, son?” he says, his voice quaking as his own hand tousles our son’s hair.
Once we’re alone, Sean cradles both Charlotte and me in his huge arms as he sits on the edge of the huge bed he made especially, touching our newest edition so gently, like he’s worried she’ll break she’s so precious.
“I love you.” Is all he can say, to me, to Charlotte, to the whole world right now. Everything is just so perfect.
“We love you.” I tell him, a single tear escaping me as I give thanks for Sean, the life we have together and now most of all, for my precious baby daughter.
“I love you more,” Sean says, but I don’t know if that’s possible. The pleasant ache in my chest, the one that used to feel empty whenever I was sad, angry or upset with my life.
It feels like it's overflowing now. Filled to the brim and then some. Filled with the endless love I have for him, for Joel and now for little Charlotte.
“Have you checked the weather today?” I ask Sean, who makes sure he does so at least three times a day, every day.
“Nothing but blue skies,” he says, and I know that’s true, because it’s exactly how I feel.
“Nothing but blue skies with you, Sean…”
My hero. My husband.
My everything.
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A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter
Book 59: Virgin in New York
Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby
Book 61: Possessive Protector
Book 62: Possessive Australian
Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother
Book 64: Possessive Cowboy
Book 65: Summer Romanced
Book 66: Possessive Prince
Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy
Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend
Book 69: Possessive Firefighter
Book 70: Football Next Door
Book 71: Doctor December
Book 72: Possessive Canadian
Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire
Book 74: Possessive K-9 Cop
Book 75: Possessive Brazilian
Book 76: Hockey Obsession
Book 77: Possessive Boston Irish American MMA Fighter
Book 78: Halloween Next Door
Book 79: Possessive Russian
Book 80: Baseball Mine
Book 81: Cop’s Caribbean Captive
Book 82: Instalove Island
Book 83: Dad’s Best Friend
Book 84: Thanksgiving with Dad’s Boss
Book 85: Possessive Italian Neighbor
Book 86: Possessive Portuguese
Book 87: Possessive Christmas Cop
Book 88: Russian’s Obsession
Book 89: Possessive Doctor’s Christmas
Book 90: Possessive Parisian Pilot
Book 91: U.K. Boxing Day
Book 92: Jealous Russian Stalker
Book 93: Italian Mountain Man
Book 94: Aggressive Russian
Book 95: Possessive Valentine
Book 96: Possessi
ve Hunter
Book 97: Dad’s Russian Mafia Friend
Book 98: Russian Teacher
Book 99: Australian Obsession
Book 100: Russian Next Door
Book 101: Dad’s Irish Friend
Book 102: Nanny for the Russian Mafia
Book 103: Best Friend’s Dad
Book 104: Basketball Babymaker
Book 105: Possessive Veterinarian
Book 106: Brother’s Fireman Friend
Book 107: Brother’s Canadian Cowboy Friend
Book 108: Summer Vacation with Dad’s Best Friend
Book 109: Dad’s Italian Mafia Friend
Book 110: Dad’s Irish Mafia Friend
Book 111: Dad’s Football Friend
Book 112: Possessing His Dancing Queen
Book 113: Brother’s Cop Friend
Book 114: Halloween With Dad’s Best Friend
Book 115: Claimed By Her Boss
Book 116: Possessive Rider
Book 117: Dad’s Ex-Biker Buddy
Book 118: Possessive Undercover Cop
Book 119: Falling For Her Boss
Book 120: Claiming His Fashionista
Book 121: More Than Dad’s Best Friend
Book 122: Thanksgiving With Dad’s Best Friend
Book 123: Bossy Italian
Book 124: Christmas With Dad’s Mafia Friend
Book 125: Maid For The Italian Mafia
Book 126: Nutcracker
Book 127: Cowboy Cerrone
Book 128: Chef’s Kiss
Book 129: Claimed By The Russian
Book 130: Bought By The Italian Mafia
Book 131: Hot Nerd
Book 132: Dad’s Italian Mafia Boss
Book 133: Mine
Book 134: Taken By The Thief
Book 135: Curves Ahead
Book 136: Her Mafia Valentine
Book 137: Doctor Valentine
Book 138: Maid For The Irish Mafia
Book 139: Winning Her Curves
Book 140: Dad’s Cartel Best Friend
Book 141: Dad’s Greek Mafia Friend
Book 142: Lawyer’s Obsession
Book 143: Attending Her Curves
Book 144: Maid for the Russian Mafia
Book 145: Priest
Book 146: Claimed By Dad’s Best Friend
Book 147: His Curvy Office Obsession
Book 148: Easter with Dad's Best Friend
Possessive Camp Counselor: An Instalove Possessive Alpha Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 172) Page 8