by Kim Law
As far as he was concerned, they could stand before a judge and he’d be happy. He just wanted to marry the woman that he loved. But he also couldn’t deny the appeal of being bound together forever by taking vows on the land spread out before him.
The sky was a clear blue today. The type of sky Montana was known for. The cherry trees were in full bloom. And happiness radiated from every person on the property. He was thrilled for his brother and Arsula. Their own happiness couldn’t be missed, and he couldn’t wait to share the same experience with Maggie.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs at the other end of the loft, and he turned to wait for the woman of his dreams to ascend. He didn’t have to be told it was Maggie coming up to find him. Somehow, he always just seemed to know when she was near.
Laughter from several of the kids came from the grounds below, as well as two distinct baby giggles, and Cord admitted to himself that life couldn’t get any better.
“Babe?” Maggie’s messy bun on the top of her head appeared before he saw her face, and when he caught sight of her bared shoulders and their adorably sweet son propped over one hip, he fell even more in love.
“Over here,” he said before her gaze made it to him.
“What are you doing up here?”
“Right now, I’m just watching you.”
She tossed him the kind of look that had first captured his attention and started the ball rolling between them, and he considered suggesting she take Max back downstairs to be watched by one of his cousins so Cord could defile her up here.
The loft doubled as meeting rooms, but the extra partitions had been removed and lights strung throughout as a backup for a reception space if the weather had changed last minute. Thankfully, there had been no need for that, so they currently had the place all to themselves.
“You want to roll around in the hay with me up here?” he asked, and given her brief pause, he thought she just might agree.
“There’s not actually any hay up here,” she pointed out instead.
“Spoilsport.” He kissed her cheek as she made it over to him, and together, they both turned and watched the action below. When renovations had been made to the barn to turn it into a meeting space and wedding venue, a railing had been added across the loft door so on pretty days like today, the oversize door could remain open.
“This will be us soon.” She tucked her head into the curve of his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her.
“Not soon enough.”
The last five months had been more than Cord could have asked for. After Christmas, he and Doc Hamm had quickly set things into motion for Hamm’s retirement and for Cord to take over, while at the same time, Cord had made arrangements in Billings for the remaining partners to buy him out.
Maggie hadn’t gone back to work that semester. She would in the fall, but she’d decided to spend the first eight months of their son’s life home with him. Additionally, she’d shown no signs of postpartum depression. He thought it helped that her mother came to visit quite often these days, and that the Crowders were already talking about having Max stay with them a few weekends a year until he was older, when they planned to let him spend as much of his summers at the ranch as Maggie and he would allow.
Cord was all for whatever part they wanted to play in his son’s life. Family was what life was about. Just as his father had said several months ago. And he still intended to have a very large family with Maggie. In fact . . .
“How have you made it today?”
She smiled up at him. “I only threw up once while helping Arsula get ready, but I managed that without anyone noticing.”
Their second baby would be arriving in the world in roughly eight months. “Good.”
“But I did catch Arsula throwing up.”
Cord’s brows hitched. “She’s pregnant, too?”
“That’s what she said. I asked when she couldn’t hide what was going on, and she admitted that they’re due on Christmas Day.”
“They’re trying to steal our baby’s thunder?” he teased. He leaned in front of Maggie and tickled Max in the belly, making his son squeal while kicking his chubby little legs out in excitement. “I learned something today, as well.”
“Yeah?” Maggie’s arm snaked around his waist.
“Nate and Megan are expecting, too.”
Maggie looked up. “When?”
“January first.”
“Wow.”
They both turned to look back out at the crowd below, Cord thinking about how a once scattered and broken family were now seven happy couples with babies arriving in rapid succession, and he wondered how they’d all managed to get so lucky.
“Megan is motioning for us to come down,” Maggie said.
Megan had moved off in the direction of the lodge, her arm now raised and waving toward Cord and Maggie in a beckoning motion. At the same time, the rest of the family were separating from the wedding party and guests and making their way away from the crowd. They were all headed to the section of orchard that had been designated for the family picture.
The photos, themselves, might be part of Jaden and Arsula’s wedding day, but they would signify a much larger moment in time. This photo would be the Wildes. The family no one had ever expected them to be, but who they’d all always dreamed of becoming.
“There couldn’t be a better day for a family picture,” Cord concluded.
“There couldn’t be a better family to be in the picture.”
____________
Dear Reader,
I hope you can envision the family picture in amongst the cherry trees the way I can. I didn’t write the scene itself taking place because I can’t begin to do it justice. Instead, what I really wanted to do was to include an actual photo. Because this family is that real to me. So, instead of a final few paragraphs of me showing you all the Wildes standing in the middle of the trees, every single one of them happy and complete, please close your eyes for a moment and imagine that picture with me. And thank you for loving the Wilde family as much as I do.
If you’d like to see Cord and Maggie’s wedding later this year, then please go ahead and pre-order Birch Bay Bridesmaid. This will be a novella length story that’s a special treat to truly wrap up this series, and the story will follow Maggie’s brother Mason and a past love named Madilyn Jade. I hope you’ll look forward to reading it as much as I look forward to writing it!
It’s her best friend’s wedding. How can she not be a part of it? But when standing up for her friend means standing across the aisle from her ex, Jade doesn’t know whether to turn and run or stay and ask for a second chance.
PRE-ORDER BIRCH BAY BRIDESMAID HERE
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About the Author
As a child, Kim Law cultivated a love for chocolate, anything purple, and creative writing. She penned her debut work, “The Gigantic Talking Raisin,” in the sixth grade and got hooked on the delights of creating stories. Before settling into the writing life, however, she earned a college degree in mathematics, then worked as a computer programmer while raising her son. Now she’s pursuing her lifelong dream of writing romance novels—none of which include talking raisins.
A native of Kentucky, Kim now resides in Middle Tennessee. You can visit Kim at www.KimLaw.com.
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