They were unloading cedar planks when Levi called.
“Hey,” Trent said. “What’s up?”
Lilly saw his expression shoot to alarm. Something was wrong.
“I’m on my way.” He hung up. “Jillian went into labor already. Levi’s calling all the family. She’s premature. I need to get there.”
“Can I come with you?”
“Sure.”
He unhooked the trailer he had carried the cedar on. Lilly jogged to the house and grabbed a sweater and her purse that she’d already set on the kitchen table. She climbed into the passenger side of the truck as he was climbing into the driver’s seat. She could tell by his expression that he was worried.
“Technology is wonderful these days,” she said, hoping to calm his fears and her own.
“Yes, I know. It’s just Jillian had a lot of trouble conceiving. She was told she couldn’t have a baby and this was a miracle. If something goes wrong…she might not get another one.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“She’s one of the best people I know. I don’t want her to go through…”
Lilly knew what he was saying and didn’t want that either. She started to pray.
He broke all the speed limits as he drove to the hospital.
By the time they reached the hospital, other family members were arriving. The waiting room quickly filled. Jake was out in the ocean somewhere on a dive and BJ was out in the ocean somewhere as a fishing guide. Shar, Olivia, and Cali were all clearly worried, and Violet and Sam too. Of course Levi, Trent, and Max were there, along with Grant and Gage. They were all worried too, their expressions tense. Lilly suddenly wondered why she’d come. She had no clue what to say to them. They all cared deeply for Jillian and Ryan and their baby girl.
This wasn’t about her. It was about Jillian and the sweet life inside her.
Moments later, the doctor came out to the family with the news that it was in the best interest of the mother and child that they transport Jillian to Tampa General Hospital by helicopter where there was a neonatal intensive care unit for premature babies. Ryan would be able to ride with her.
Without hesitation, the entire waiting room moved toward the exits. Everyone jumped into vehicles and a caravan formed with Levi in the lead, escorting them through traffic, siren blaring through red lights and over the bridge onto the highway.
Lilly was tied in knots; worry shrouded her and she kept praying this would end well.
“I had time with Erica,” Trent said. “Time I know was all a blessing and a gift. This is tearing me up for my sister. She needs time with her precious baby girl.”
“Yes,” Lilly agreed but couldn’t get more out. All she could do was reach out and place her hand on his thigh. She wished she could hold his hand but it was firmly gripped on the wheel as they drove at speeds much higher than the speed limit.
The chopper had beat them there by several minutes. They all jumped from their vehicles and stormed the hospital, and searched for the neonatal unit.
“Baby April is going to be all right,” Shar said, her voice firm and unrelenting for any variation of anything less than good being voiced.
They all agreed and marched toward the nurse’s station. They were quickly directed to the right waiting room and the pacing began.
Trent stood by the window with his back to everyone and Lilly couldn’t forget how he had stood by her the night of the party. She wanted to comfort him and went to stand beside him. She slipped her hand in his and he met her gaze.
He squeezed her hand. “Thanks.”
She nodded. She so wanted to say more but just didn’t have the words. Inside, she was petrified for everyone and struggling not to show it.
Finally, the doctor came out of the double doors. The entire room went silent, not that there had been much conversation going on before.
“Mother and baby are doing good,” the doctor said as he was swarmed by the family.
“Yes,” Max boomed and rejoicing erupted from everyone.
The doctor grinned and continued talking, about lung development needing a little bit of help but that the baby was strong and healthy.
Lilly barely heard anything as tears streamed down her face as she looked at Trent. “The baby’s okay. April’s alive. Jillian’s alive.” She threw her arms around Trent and hugged him, burying her face in his chest. His arms tightened around her and he buried his face in her mass of hair.
“Thank God,” she heard him say. Holding her, they turned to see the hugs and joyous light on everyone’s faces. Olivia was beaming and on the phone; it was easy to tell that she was talking to BJ. Jake raced into the waiting room at that moment, looking wild.
“Is she okay?” he yelled, seeing the tears before he saw the smiles.
“She’s doing great, Uncle Jake,” Trent called.
Jake let out a whoop and then grabbed his mom in a hug and spun her around the room. “Congratulations, Grandma!”
Little Kevin was all smiles as he raced from Levi’s side, where he’d been jumping with excitement, and threw his arms around Violet. “Now you have two of us.”
Violet bent down, the look of love so full on her face as she hugged Kevin. “Yes, I do. Yes, I do. How blessed I am.”
Lilly was mesmerized by them. Her thoughts went to her mom and her dad. And she thought of how much they’d loved her. And how many times her mother had told her those very words. Later, as she and Trent walked outside, she looked up at him. The sky was blue and the clouds fluffy perfection. It was a glorious day in so many ways.
“Trent.” She looked into his beloved face. “You’re right. My parents would want me to move forward. They did feel blessed to have me and BJ and they told us so all the time. Like your mom did just now with Kevin. But I was the blessed one. Today reminded me of that.”
“Me too. Life is precious. And we only have so long to be with the ones we love. Lilly, I want to be with you. I’m blessed to have found you.”
She smiled and for the first time in so long, there was no weight on her shoulders. “I’ve found you. And I have only one wish and that’s to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, Trent Sinclair.”
His smile melted her heart and then he pulled her into his arms. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life making all your wishes come true because you just made mine come true.”
And then he kissed her with all the passion of every happy ending she’d ever written.
“Hey, so I’m guessing Jillian and the baby are fine and so are you two?” BJ grinned at them as they broke the kiss. “I’m a little late but looks like I got here in time for the good stuff.”
Lilly laughed. “Oh yes. The very, very good stuff.”
“Well, get back to it. I’m going to go get one of those celebration kisses from my beautiful wife.”
“You do that.” Trent chuckled and bent his head to Lilly and kissed her again.
Epilogue
Four weeks after sweet baby April was born the family stood on the walkway leading up to Lilly’s treehouse as Lilly and Trent stood on the deck and exchanged their wedding vows. Trent had worked hard on making her dream spot a reality and she’d taken a little time off between finishing her last series and starting her new one. Lilly was enjoying the break and planned to develop a more well-rounded life when she started back up.
“So now you two have two houses, which will you live in?” Grant asked. Cali was leaning back against his chest and he had his arms around her. They looked happy together. “This is a great place you’ve built Trent. Very creative.”
Trent had his arm over Lilly’s shoulders and he kissed her temple, making her smile and feel loved. Love. Such a hard thing for her to open up to had ended up being easy with Trent. Oh how she loved him.
“We are going to base at my house and this is going to be Lilly’s writing retreat. And our special getaway. If there is one thing I learned early about Lilly is that she needs her writing place and I made sur
e this was exactly what she wanted.”
“He certainly did. It is everything I dreamed of and more.” Her heart was so full of emotions she was having a hard time expressing herself. She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him. “You amaze me.”
He smiled. “I try. But I have a lot to live up to.”
Jake looked down from where he was standing above them on the upper deck with Max and Kelsey admiring the ocean view. “A that’d be an affirmative. I think she writes about hunky heroes in her stories. Speaking of which, have you put me in one yet? I am the only available Sinclair left you know.” He grinned wolfishly as Max leaned over to look down.
“Yeah, maybe add him to a story and see if you can conjure up a woman that can hold him. The guy has major commitment concerns.”
Kelsey was looking down too and her smile was wide. “I think you should do that.”
“Hey, I’m just teasing,” Jake said, backpedaling as everyone joined in on his female issues. “I don’t need anyone’s help in the romance department. I’m doing just fine.”
Trent laughed. “Help him if you can but the man might be uncatchable. But it’s going to be fun watching when the right woman comes along and ties him in knots. He’ll probably fall harder and faster than any of us have. Though I fell hard myself.”
“Me too,” she said as he brushed a kissed on her lips. She sighed. She’d fallen like a rock and was now flying like a rocket. She was so happy. She smiled across the way at BJ and Olivia who were cooing to and infatuated with the baby. Oliva carefully took her from Jillian who looked so content. Motherhood looked good on Jillian. And Ryan. The man was literally radiating with pride. And Sam and Violet hovered close too.
“Mom, Dad!” Kevin yelled suddenly and stuck his head over the upper railing. He’d been up in her office exploring since Trent had told him there was a surprise up there if he could find it. “There’s a secret hatch up here. If you open it there’s a zipline!”
Levi and Jessica were down on the ground on the flagstone area that Trent had added with seating and an outdoor grilling area, along with Cam and Lana and Shar and Gage. They all looked up at little Kevin.
“Seriously,” Levi called and shot Trent a questioning look. “Tell me you didn’t do that?”
“Hey, relax,” Trent assured him. “It’s safe. I’ll strap him in it in a minute and you’ll see. I wanted Lilly to have a quick way to get down if she needed it.”
“But a zipline?” Jessica asked, looking a little alarmed too.
Shar was already on her way up the stairs. “Hey, I’m doing it. I think it’s cool. Awesome idea, big brother.”
Gage was right behind her. “I think this party just took a turn on the wild side. I want in.”
Lilly was laughing now. She’d already tried out her little wedding present surprise and had given Trent an extra-long kiss for it. “I love it. I knew they would too.” She shot the protective parents a glance. “Well, almost everyone.”
Trent’s eyes twinkled. “And I love you. And they’ll see that I’m not only a great treehouse builder but a stickler for safety. Believe me, cautious police chief Levi will be loving it too after he takes his first ride. You may never get any peace up here now that they know about the zipline.”
She looked around at her new family. “That’s okay. I’m not a hermit hiding out anymore. And not only is my life better now, but my writing will be too. And all because you reached out and gave me your hand, your love, and your understanding when I really needed you.”
“And when you took my hand you showed me the way to my future. I love you, Mrs. Sinclair.”
She smiled. No, she beamed with loving him.
“Uncle Trent,” Kevin called. “Would you pul-eeze stop kissing Aunt Lilly and let me ride this thing?”
“Hey, me too,” Jake called. “You can kiss her later. We want to fly!”
Trent took her hand. “Come on, he’s right. More kissing later and that’s a promise. So be ready.”
She laughed. “Oh, believe me, I won’t be letting you forget that promise.”
And then she followed him up the stairs…
Don’t miss book 10 of the Windswept Bay series as Jake Sinclair finally meets the woman who’ll capture his heart in WITH THIS FOREVER coming in September 2017
Chapter Excerpt from HER COWBOY HERO
Cowboys of Ransom Creek Prequel
Chapter One
“The horses and the trailer are gone.”
What? Lori Calhoun stared at Trip Jensen, her foreman at the Calhoun Ranch and also her partner in the rough stock rodeo contracting business—thanks to her father.
The pit of her stomach knotted as she saw the solemn look in Trip’s eyes.
“All five of them?” she asked, fighting the shock of finding out their prized saddle broncs had been stolen.
Trip shifted his weight from one boot to the other. His handsome features twisted with disgust and fury as he squinted at her from beneath the straw Stetson shading his light blue eyes. “Yep. They’re gone. But we will find them. Harvey and Mike said they loaded the horses on the trailer before they connected it to the truck. Don’t ask me why they did that. Then they went to get the truck—which was for some reason still on the other side of the arena. When they got back the trailer loaded with our horses had disappeared.”
She blinked through frustrations strangling her. “That doesn’t even sound right. What was Harvey thinking?”
“I don’t know,” Trip bit out, showing his frustration. “I have no reason to believe that he or Mike had anything to do with the theft—other than lack of good judgement, but believe me, I’m looking into it.”
Her stomach churned. Those were her champion rodeo Broncs and the mainstay of the rough stock business. Those horses were heading to the Western Rodeo Circuit Finals if they kept preforming like they were this year. They were the cornerstone of the business but she didn’t need to tell Trip that. Like her, he had a stake in this business and understood all too well how important it was for their horses to be in the finals this year. So much had happened this year, her father had died in a tragic horse accident which that alone still held her in the grips of grief. But on top of that, everyone would be watching to see if she and Trip could continue with the tradition of Calhoun stock in the WRC finals that had begun from the first year her daddy had formed the stock contracting business. Trip had bought half the company only three months before Ray Calhoun’s horse threw him and he hit his head and died and left her to take the reins of the ranch and the other half of the stock company. And Lori was struggling.
Add to that her mounting frustration at being forced, by her dad, to work with Trip.
Those frustrations had been mounting for the last five months, threatening to explode and now this…she swung around to stare out the window. Fighting anger and insecurities she slammed her fists to her hips and studied the barns and arenas across the wide yard and gravel parking area. This was the ranch her daddy had built. The ranch that now rested on her shoulders and she felt in every way that she was not living up to expectations.
“Daddy would’ve been furious right now,” she said.
He’d been dead only five months and she felt like she was in over her head. He would be rolling over his grave right now if he knew that on her watch she’d lost such a legacy.
“It’s not your fault, Lori. It’s not mine either. Someone did this and we’re going to find out who. It’s that simple. Your dad wouldn’t be mad at you. Them—yes. No doubt about that.”
She spun back to glare at Trip. “This happened on my watch—and so did that trailer load of steers that someone just drove off the property with last week.”
“Lori Lyn Calhoun I’m warning you to stop blaming yourself. You didn’t lose those broncs or that load of steers. It’s only a matter of time before we catch them. Those rangers will get a lead on them. As for the load of horses, Harvey and Mike lost them on my watch. And I plan to find them.”
&
nbsp; “Our watch,” she snapped, stubbornly. “Do you think Harvey and Mike are guilty?”
“Of carelessness. But until I get better answers as to why they loaded that trailer and then left it unattended with our prized stock in it, I’m not going to be easy to live with. And they won’t be careless like that again.”
She took a deep breath and tried to hold onto her show of strength but the façade was growing thin. Since her dad’s death she felt so alone. Her mother had turned her back on her when she was a baby and it had just been her and her dad. And then, there was Trip…she pushed away the overpowering wish to feel his strong arms around her. Once things had been so easy between them. Once that would have been an option.
But it hadn’t been for a very long time. “So, what do we do now?” she asked instead of gaining strength from him.
“I’ve called the cops and reported it. I’ve also called the Knight Investigation Agency—since they know the rodeo and investigate incidents for the WRC they may be able to find out more than the police, who basically asked Harvey and Mike a couple of questions and said they’d be in touch if they hear anything. Since this was a WRC sanctioned rodeo the Knights have taken the lead.”
“That’s good to know. I’ve met all three brothers, Jesse, Sean and Michael. They’re great. And their dad and mine competed against each other in their younger years in the rodeo.”
With This Wish (Windswept Bay Book 9) Page 10