“Or boned in the Boneyard Bakery. I caught Marc and Leah in there once.”
Mary Ann grinned. “Hannah might have been conceived in there, too.” She pressed a hand to his chest. “What a perfect day. I thought my heart would burst being surrounded by the family we created and seeing how much they love each other. We’re very lucky.”
“Yes, we are. Now you can stop worrying about Matt.”
“I don’t—”
“Bullshit, woman,” Ron said. “Don’t lie to me. No one knows you better than I do.”
Mary Ann pressed her forehead to his jaw and stroked his chest. “Well, do you blame me for worrying?”
No, he didn’t. He’d spent many sleepless nights worrying about his youngest son. Hell, worrying about them all, but especially Matt.
Ron and his brother had both been pressured into following their father’s footsteps. So, they did.
It might not have been the worst decision: to enlist and then become police officers since it provided both his and Randall’s family a good life.
But he had refused to do the same with his own sons. He’d left it up to them to decide their life’s path and would’ve supported them even if they hadn’t taken the same road. Randall let Jet and Adam decide for themselves, too.
Even so, Ron would have shouldered the guilt if any of his sons hadn’t come home. While Matt did come home eventually, he didn’t come home whole.
So, yes, that particular guilt ate at him. Even years later. As it did Mary Ann, who thought Matt staying away was her fault.
Which was far from the truth.
Age and wisdom, plus a lot of therapy, showed their youngest son differently. And now Matt was creating his own family, just like Max and Marc did.
Ron couldn’t be prouder of his sons. They worked hard and loved even harder. He only hoped the next generation did the same.
“You got everything you’ve always wanted.” He turned his head, pressed a kiss to his wife’s soft cheek and slid his hand down her thigh to her knee, where he let his thumb sweep back and forth over the fabric of her housecoat.
“I got more than I’d ever wanted. I now have daughters. I have grandchildren. I have you. Even though it was nerve-wracking and still is, I couldn’t be any prouder that our boys followed in their father’s footsteps.”
“And my father’s,” he reminded her.
Mary Ann pressed a hand over his heart. The heart that would always beat for her. “It’s in the blood.”
“We’ll see what the boys do when they get older.”
She released a soft sigh. “To be honest, I won’t be upset if they don’t join the military.”
With the way things were in the world, Ron wouldn’t be upset, either.
“They could go to college, instead,” she suggested.
“Our boys did good, honey. They served their country and now serve their community. I’m extremely proud of them.”
“I know you are. But our grandbabies should follow their own dreams. If they want to serve and then wear a badge, that should be up to them. Not us. Not Marc, Matt or Max.”
Ron squeezed his wife’s knee, then ran his palm up the inside of her thigh until he found her heat and cupped it gently. “If they’re happy, I’ll be happy.”
Mary Ann wiggled in his lap. “Feels like someone else is getting happy. I think you’re about to make your wife happy, too.”
“You’re not too tired?” he teased, before brushing his tongue along the outer edge of her ear.
“It’s been a very long day and you know the kids will get us up early again.”
“Then I’ll get up with them and let my wife sleep.”
“Oh... Sounds like you’re in negotiations.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Do I need to negotiate?”
She giggled, reminding him of when they first met, when they were barely nineteen and twenty years old and they shamelessly flirted with each other. It took him asking her a half dozen times until she agreed to go to the movies with him.
But then, he always liked a good chase.
Somehow with Mary Ann, he was the one who got caught.
Hook, line and sinker.
And once he was, he didn’t fight to get free. He only held on to the hook even tighter. He couldn’t imagine life without her by his side.
Now here they were, almost forty-six years later and still deeply in love. Not too many couples could say that and mean it.
They were lucky they also got to watch their sons fall into the same forever type of love. He only hoped they were around long enough to see the same happen for their grandchildren.
“I’d carry you upstairs but if I pull my back, I might not be able to take care of my woman’s demanding and insatiable needs.”
“If you carry me upstairs and lose your balance, we might both tumble back down and break a hip.”
He laughed. “That, too. So, how about if I just hold my wife’s hand and escort her up to my lair?”
“How about if I just invite my husband into mine?”
“Your husband is agreeable with that scenario,” he announced.
“I know he is. I can feel the evidence.”
“Then let’s not waste that opportunity.”
She climbed out of his lap. “Let’s go, old man.”
She squeaked as she turned to head toward the stairs and he smacked her ass. But before she could walk away, he grabbed her hand and stopped her, spinning her back toward him.
“Second thoughts?” she teased.
“Never with you,” he murmured and dropped his head until her breath whispered across his lips. “Like always, I have one more thing to say.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Thank you for all you’ve given me.”
“Ron...” she whispered, her eyes instantly turning shiny.
“I hope we have forty more Christmases together.”
Her fingers fisted his T-shirt. “Me, too.”
“I love you.”
She tipped her head toward the steps. “Let’s go upstairs and you can show me how much.”
“I doubt I’ll last long enough for that, but I’ll do my best.”
She closed the slight gap between them, giving him a quick kiss. “You always do, Marine.”
“Oorah,” he whispered and followed his wife upstairs.
But then, he’d follow her anywhere.
Even to the ends of the Earth.
Semper Fi ~ Always Faithful
* * *
I hope you enjoyed revisiting with the Brysons. This is not the last you’ll see of them. They occasionally appear in my newest series, Blood & Bones: Blood Fury MC, which is also based in a small Pennsylvania town named Manning Grove.
Turn the page to read the first chapter from Blood & Bones: Trip (Blood Fury MC, book 1)
If you enjoyed this book
Thank you for reading A Bryson Family Christmas. If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review at your favorite retailer and/or Goodreads to let other readers know. Reviews are always appreciated and just a few words can help an independent author like me tremendously!
Blood & Bones: Trip (Blood Fury MC, bk 1)
Turn the page for a sneak peek of
Blood & Bones: Trip
Blood Fury MC, book 1
This series not only takes place in Manning Grove, PA, it includes cameos of the Brysons throughout.
Blood & Bones: Trip
Blood Fury MC, Book 1
“Sometimes you have to burn yourself to the ground
before you can rise like a phoenix from the ashes.” ~ Jens Lekman
Prologue
Turn the key
Trip stood in the middle of the deserted building, shaking his head, wondering if it was worth the fucking hassle to start the club back up. To reclaim its territory.
But what other fucking choice did he have?
He’d already had it set in his mind, not only to do it, but to do it right this time.
He wouldn’t let his father’s club, which died a violent death, just remain a memory. And a bad one at that.
But now that he had done his time in the Marines, done his time in prison, he needed something.
Because he had nothing.
Except his granddaddy’s run-down farm, a barn full of farm equipment he had no clue how to use and didn’t want to, and the abandoned warehouse he was currently standing in on the outskirts of town.
While he was in prison, his lawyer had shown up and read him his granddaddy’s will.
Yeah. He got everything.
Sig got nothing.
Trip was sure his brother wasn’t happy about that, if he even knew.
But most likely Granddaddy had made up the will when Trip was still doing time in the service and not doing it behind bars. Unlike Sig who had been in and out of county jail, or the state pen, off and on since he turned eighteen.
But now here he stood. In an empty building, feeling fucking overwhelmed. But still, it was something.
And something was better than nothing.
He also had new ink on his back and an old cut in his hand.
The leather was worn, the rockers and patches on it dirty. All except one.
One rectangular patch on the front had been torn off by his own fingers after using the point of his buck knife to loosen the threads. The patch that used to say “Buck” was now replaced with one that said “Trip.” But above it, the patch that had deemed Buck as president remained. That now belonged to Trip.
He’d also used that same knife to remove the 1% diamond patch off the back. He wouldn’t need that one anymore.
The club used to be outlaw. But Trip was determined to keep it above board. For the most part.
He’d spent many a night down in Shadow Valley talking with the members of the Dirty Angels MC, soaking up everything their prez named Z told him. Learning how to rebuild Blood Fury stronger than ever. How to keep the money flowing into the club’s coffers.
One way to do that was to keep the members out of prison and, even better, keep them breathing.
Dead or incarcerated members weren’t any good to a club.
And there had been too many of those in the Blood Fury MC in the past. It had been its downfall.
Trip didn’t want that mistake to happen again.
So, they had to play the game. Keep shit on the up and up as best as they could. Become a powerful force, strong enough to withstand the occasional bump in the road.
He had no fucking clue how he was going to pull it off, but he would take the advice he was given and do his fucking best.
He scrubbed a hand through his long hair before tucking it up under his baseball cap, blowing out a loud breath and shrugging on his cut.
His cut.
It wasn’t his father’s any longer.
This club was no longer his father’s, either.
This world, even as broken as it was, now belonged to Trip.
It was his and he wouldn’t let anyone destroy it again.
The Fury was about to rise once more. This time stronger and smarter.
Get Trip and Stella’s story here:
mybook.to/BFMC-Trip
Also by Jeanne St. James
* Available in Audiobook
Made Maleen: A Modern Twist on a Fairy Tale *
Damaged *
Rip Cord: The Complete Trilogy *
Brothers in Blue Series:
(Can be read as standalones)
Brothers in Blue: Max *
Brothers in Blue: Marc *
Brothers in Blue: Matt *
Teddy: A Brothers in Blue Novelette *
Brothers in Blue: A Bryson Family Christmas
The Dare Ménage Series:
(Can be read as standalones)
Double Dare *
Daring Proposal *
Dare to Be Three *
A Daring Desire *
Dare to Surrender *
A Daring Journey *
The Obsessed Novellas:
(All the novellas in this series are standalones)
Forever Him *
Only Him *
Needing Him *
Loving Her *
Temping Him *
Down & Dirty: Dirty Angels MC Series ®:
Down & Dirty: Zak *
Down & Dirty: Jag *
Down & Dirty: Hawk *
Down & Dirty: Diesel *
Down & Dirty: Axel *
Down & Dirty: Slade *
Down & Dirty: Dawg *
Down & Dirty: Dex *
Down & Dirty: Linc *
Down & Dirty: Crow *
Crossing the Line (A DAMC/Blue Avengers Crossover) *
Magnum: A Dark Knights MC/Dirty Angels MC Crossover
Guts & Glory Series
(In the Shadows Security)
Guts & Glory: Mercy *
Guts & Glory: Ryder *
Guts & Glory: Hunter *
Guts & Glory: Walker *
Guts & Glory: Steel *
Guts & Glory: Brick *
Blood & Bones: Blood Fury MC®
Blood & Bones: Trip
Blood & Bones: Sig
Blood & Bones: Judge
Blood & Bones: Deacon
Blood & Bones: Cage
Blood & Bones: Shade
Blood & Bones: Rook
Blood & Bones: Rev
Blood & Bones: Ozzy
Blood & Bones: Dodge
Blood & Bones: Whip
Blood & Bones: Easy
COMING SOON!
Blue Avengers MC™
Everything About You (A Second Chance Gay Romance)
About the Author
JEANNE ST. JAMES is a USA Today bestselling erotic romance author who loves an alpha male (or two). She was only thirteen when she started writing and her first paid published piece was an erotic story in Playgirl magazine. Her first erotic romance novel, Banged Up, was published in 2009. She is happily owned by farting French bulldogs. She writes M/F, M/M, and M/M/F ménages.
Want to read a sample of her work? Download a sampler book here: BookHip.com/MTQQKK
To keep up with her busy release schedule check her website at www.jeannestjames.com or sign up for her newsletter: http://www.jeannestjames.com/newslettersignup
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Get a FREE Erotic Romance Sampler Book
This book contains the first chapter of a variety of my books. This will give you a taste of the type of books I write and if you enjoy the first chapter, I hope you’ll be interested in reading the rest of the book.
Each book I list in the sampler will include the description of the book, the genre, and the first chapter, along with links to find out more. I hope you find a book you will enjoy curling up with!
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A Bryson Family Christmas: Brothers in Blue, book 4 Page 20