“You were right all along. He admitted to the affair. I was wrong to turn her away. I know that now.”
An involuntary sob escaped her lips and she raised a hand to her mouth and nose, her breath coming in short ragged bursts.
Hudson stepped toward her.
“I was trying to protect my brother the same way you were trying to protect Julia,” he explained. He motioned for her to sit next to him on the couch in the waiting room. “When I was still in college, I fell in love with a girl named Haley. She wanted us to get married, but I was young, and I wasn’t ready to settle down. But then she told me she was going to have our baby, and I knew that I had to do the right thing. The honorable thing. So, I asked her to marry me. Annabelle, we were days away from the wedding when I found out that she was never pregnant. She’d lied to me so that I would marry her. All she cared about was the money.”
Suddenly, everything started to come together in Annabelle’s mind. All this time, she had wondered why Hudson was so quick to assume Julia was lying. Now, she understood that his past had blinded him to any other possibility.
“I’ve never told anyone this, but what Haley did hurt me more than I could ever express.” He took her hand, his eyes pleading with her. “Once I got over the initial shock of her pregnancy, I was excited about being a father and having a family. Then, when I learned that it was all a lie, my whole world fell apart. I shut down. I vowed never to let another woman hurt me that way again.”
Hudson caressed Annabelle’s arm as he continued. “When Julia came to me saying that she was pregnant with Harlan’s child, all I could think about was that I didn’t want Harlan to go through that same pain I had to go through with Haley. Harlan promised me that he would never do anything to put our family’s reputation in danger, so in my mind, there was no way Julia was telling the truth. I never meant to hurt her. Or you.”
His words lifted her up and sent her heart soaring. “So, you came all this way to tell me that?”
“Well, yes, and no,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. “First, I came to take care of that asshole who has been making all our lives miserable. The first thing I did when I landed was locate Mark, and believe me when I say that you’ll never have to worry about him bothering you or Julia ever again. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone. Please tell me it isn’t too late, and that you feel the same way.”
How could she feel any other way? Hudson was the only man she’d ever loved, and when she thought she’d lost him, it had torn her world apart. Now, happiness swelled within her and she threw her arms around him. “I do,” she said. “I love you, too.”
Hudson kissed her with the passion she thought she’d lost forever, and she gave herself to him, heart and soul.
“I realize now that I was doing it more for myself than for Julia,” she said when they parted. “I never knew just how much having a family of my own really meant to me until now. When I found out Julia was pregnant, I saw her baby as our chance to get back all those years we’d lost when our own parents died.”
“Harlan’s here at the hospital,” he said. “He wants to see Julia, if that’s okay with you.”
She nodded, unable to find her voice.
“I can’t promise that Harlan and Julia will want to raise their baby together, but I will promise that from now on, I won’t stand in their way.”
Annabelle’s heart overflowed and tears of happiness spilled down her cheeks.
“As for a family of our own,” Hudson said, hugging her close and smiling. “We can get started on that anytime you’re ready.”
Epilogue
Annabelle and Hudson stood in Cottonwood’s new garden in front of a small party of their closest friends and family. The fresh salty air was perfumed by the newly budding spring flowers. From the front row, the sound of a baby’s cry caught Annabelle’s attention, and she winked as Julia mouthed her apologies and rocked her baby girl back to sleep.
With a smile, Annabelle watched as Harlan tucked the pink blanket tightly around the baby girl’s frame. Annabelle was happy to see them at the wedding together, and even though their fate as a couple was still to be determined, she could rest easy that Julia’s little girl would grow up knowing both of her parents.
Looking up at the face of the man she was about to marry, Annabelle felt a flutter of excitement as she realized that today marked the beginning of their own new family. These days, their conversation often turned toward the subject of babies, and she was surprised to learn that Hudson was as anxious to have a little one in the house as she was.
Hudson smiled as he slipped the platinum band on her finger, and she felt so full of love for him that she thought her heart would overflow and become part of the ocean and the waves crashing against the nearby shore. When they were officially joined as husband and wife, she shed tears of joy as Hudson scooped her into his arms. He lifted her feet off the ground as their lips met in a kiss that bound them together for eternity.
The party continued in the garden they had built together, a new park dedicated to the memory of those who had once lived and worked on the cotton plantations of Sea Island. While their guests danced and enjoyed the food and champagne, Annabelle and Hudson were lost in each other’s arms, their heads bowed together as they whispered about their future.
“I love you,” he said, his eyes sparkling in the dim light.
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
Hours later, settled into the private jet and on their way to Italy for their honeymoon, their bodies consummated the vows they had promised to each other. As Hudson’s lips met hers in their final rush of passion, Annabelle knew that in her husband's arms, her dream of having a family of her own had finally come true.
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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you so much for taking a chance on my Sea Island Brides series! I adore romances that are both sweet and sexy. Romances with a lot of heart. In the coming year, I'll be releasing four more Sea Island Brides romances. One for each of the Montgomery family. Harlen's book--Take Me Higher--is next, and I can't wait to introduce you to his journey to win back the mother of his child, Julia.
As you're waiting, I thought you might want to try out some of my favorite family and bride romances!! Here are links to some of my favorites than can be found in the Kindle store:
WIFE BY WEDNESDAY by Catherine Bybee
EVERYTHING BUT A GROOM by Holly Jacobs
KISS ME FOREVER by Barbara Freethy
BE MY LOVE by Lucy Kevin
Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) Page 16