Everlasting (Family Justice Book 6)

by Suzanne Halliday

  “You did good, Beans. I’m proud of you. It took balls to pursue your dream and guts to go through what you just did. I’m dead serious about feeling like a pussy. I cut myself shaving, and you’d think by the carrying on that the world was ending.”

  The emotional exhilaration of birth loosened her lips, and she made an admission that showed how vulnerable she was inside.

  “I didn’t have anyone to love. There was all this feeling inside me, but no one to share it with. I hope I wasn’t just being selfish, but I really wanted to be a mom. And I’m gonna be the best mom ever.”

  “Be careful what you wish for,” he murmured softly.

  She sent him a searching look. What did that mean?

  “Love is all around, Sophie. Can’t you feel it? You’re not being selfish, and yes, chéri, you’re going to be an awesome mother.”

  Was love all around?

  She pondered Jace’s words as the delivery team shooed him out and did their thing. By the time she was settled and comfortable, she was tired but beyond happy. The feeling was unfamiliar and scary. Having spent so many years being leery of happiness, she was getting it with both barrels.

  Her world exploded with happiness. The family came and went one by one. Nobody said anything about Jace’s presence, but she did see the less-than-friendly glare Alex sent his way. She had to talk to her brother and set him straight before he got some wild idea that she was hiding a secret relationship.

  Aunt Wendy and her mom got super emotional, and she had to wonder if a fistfight was gonna break out over who held the baby longest.

  Angie was beside herself and fussed over Sophie till she begged her to stop. Her little sister had been taking care of her for a long time and tended to go overboard with protective zeal. Angie accepted Jace’s presence without an eye blink and read him the four-one-one on everything she and the baby would need over the next few days.

  Meghan seemed a little off, but not so much that anyone but she and Alex noticed.

  Calder had a moment or two when he and her dad struggled to hold it together. She thought they were cute.

  Carmen was the last to arrive. She didn’t give a royal crap if it was okay for her to be there or not. She’d been Sophie’s nanny and was more than a mere housekeeper. They didn’t make categories for people like Carmen—she was family. End of story.

  “He looks like his mama,” she announced when Teo was put in her capable arms.

  Her dad put his arm around her mom, and the two looked at each other and smiled. Alex nodded and looked at Sophie. So did Angie. They were all thinking the same thing. With the birth of her son, a new generation of Valleja-Marquez children was coming into the world. It was right and good that Carmen Delgado was there to be a part of it.

  Eventually, the room emptied and grew quiet. It was just her and Teo. She cradled him against her heart and made promises spoken from her soul.

  Jace was right. Love was all around. Peace and contentment filled her up, and a new chapter in her life story was starting. With a heart full of hope, she smiled.

  She was a mom.

  Her son was healthy and safe.

  She had a family who loved and supported her.

  Jace hadn’t bolted when she gave him a chance.

  Life was good.

  “I’ll miss this place,” Kelly admitted with a wistful sigh. “But it’s time to leave. Liam is all up in my grill about his wedding. Rhiann is ready to swoop in and kidnap us.”

  Roman gave a husky chuckle. The caress he swept across her ass was possessive.

  “After I told him how badly I got banged up, he showed me how much he cared by threatening to finish the job and put me in a body cast if we didn’t get on the first plane back to New York.”

  She wiggled her ass, laid her head to the side on her arms, and smiled at him. The look on her face said, ‘May I have more, please?’

  “Why do I get the feeling you’re not listening?”

  “Because you’re talking about my brother, and you know how that goes.”

  “You brought him up,” he reminded her with a laugh.

  The wicked gleam in his little lover’s eyes reset Roman’s lust level to high. She took whatever he dished out and pretty much always begged for more. And if she kept on wiggling, he would demonstrate just how much more her ass could take.

  “I’m feeling especially bad this morning.”

  Her suggestive purr got the attention of his cock.

  “No, you were especially bad this morning,” he reminded her.

  “I thought you liked my bad girl.”

  “She likes it dirty.” He gave her a slow lust-over look and nodded his approval.

  Kelly Anne James was that rare and elusive creature. A woman from the wilds who gutted a deer without flinching and wore a pair of sexy stilettos like a goddess. She’d wantonly fuck him before dawn and then serve up a country boy breakfast. She cried at the opera and made the best cornbread and chili around.

  And she raised their boy for the first four years of his life without any help and against great odds. Matty was such a joy.

  Roman was grateful to Liam for sending him to Oklahoma on what could have been a wild goose hunt.

  But back to what Kelly didn’t know and how that was all right by him.

  “It’s a stupid reference to a made-up story. I told you; I’m not about punishments and pain. If you want to play, we have an entire club at our disposal. Now, if you have a specific question about something, ask me anything.”

  Her giggling laugh wasn’t what he expected. “You told me what I needed to know. Thank you.”

  He swatted her wiggling ass. She yelped and wiggled again. “Really, woman? Didn’t I just fuck you?”

  She whirled up, turned, and landed on top of him so fast he didn’t react. That such a small female could push him on his back with ease just showed how susceptible he was to her.

  “I know we have to go get Matty and run to the airport, but I’m just so hot for you this morning.”

  She wildly kissed him and got busy on his body with her hands. He stopped her before she could climb on his dick.

  “Let’s finish this in the shower. Side benefit of a petite lover—standing sex.”

  “Oh, goody.” She giggled. “I like a good, wet bump and grind.”

  She leapt off him and ran for the bathroom. He groaned as he moved when she was out of earshot. His whole side was a study in yellow and green bruising. Keeping a stiff upper lip was harder than you’d think but that was what happened when an oversexed nymph wanted your body twenty-four seven.

  As he lumbered after her, Roman looked around the quaint old casita. He shared her feelings about this place, and from what he’d heard about Matty and his new BFF Bella, his new family just guaranteed themselves a place in the desert sun. He liked it here too, and though their life and home base were back east, he was totally down with buying a getaway place somewhere around Bendover.

  30

  Carmen came flying into his tech cave with her hands flapping like wings, surprising Alex so badly he jumped and knocked over a monitor. She was harping in English and Spanish as a torrent of words flew at his head.

  His first instinct was that something terrible had happened until he realized Carmen was having a bitch fit—something she never did—so his attention was assured.

  Oh, god. What now?

  “Alexander,” she snapped. “I love the meesus, but you have to get her out of my kitchen.”

  “Uh, okay. What’s she doing?”

  Her hands flew up in the air and landed on her hips. “She’s making you lunch.”

  “She’s what?”

  “Making you lunch!” She snapped her fingers near his nose. “Hello? Are you listening?”

  “It’s lunch. How bad could it be?”

  She crossed her arms, and he swore to god, she actually tapped her foot. The woman’s body language suggested she was completely rattled. When she frowned so hard that her whole face wrinkled
with furrows, he thought, Yikes. Then she pointed at the doorway and challenged him with her eyes.

  “Okay, okay,” he grumbled. Tossing aside the stylus in his hand, he stood and stretched out some kinks.

  “This had better be good,” he mumbled when he passed her outstretched arm.

  She shadowed him down the long corridor and into the hallway leading to the great room. When he came around the corner and had his first overall view of the enormous kitchen, he didn’t see anything that warranted Carmen’s freak-out.

  And then he saw Meghan and realized she was at it again. Ever since Teo was born, his wife was in serious nesting mode. Yesterday, he woke up and found her cleaning out one side of their wardrobe. It didn’t need cleaning out or arranging but that hadn’t stopped her.

  Her hair was haphazardly gathered in some sort of messy jumble—mostly up but lots of loose ends. She had smudges of several things on her face and chest. An apron tied above her belly, resembling a bib—and she was happy as a pig in shit.

  “I made salad!” she declared with an enthusiastic wave of a knife.

  He looked at the old wooden bowl. There wasn’t enough lettuce in it to be called a salad. To him, it looked like the majority of what she chopped was on the counter or in the sink.

  Alex looked at Carmen, mouthed, “Sorry,” and shrugged.

  “Do you want tomatoes in yours? I can cut some.”

  Carmen blocked the vegetable bin with her body and carefully removed the knife from Meghan’s hand. “I’ll take that, Meesus M. You sit with your husband.” The menacing look the housekeeper shot his way shrank his balls.

  “Oh,” Meghan chirped. “Okay.” And then la-de-dahed to the table and started to untie the apron. It was like watching a dinosaur trying to scratch its belly.

  He rescued the apron and laughed at her jolly, unworried behavior.

  In a silly, singsong voice, she exclaimed, “I want to go for a walk. Shall we go for a walk?” She wrapped her arm through his and gave Alex a dazzling smile.

  She was like a jumping bean going from one thing to the next.

  He was about to remind her that they were having lunch when she froze and looked at him strangely. Her head cocked to one side like she was thinking real hard.

  Her drawn-out gasp hung for a second in the air and then she looked down.

  “Meghan, what’s wrong?”

  Her eyes swung to his, and she just looked stunned. He looked at Carmen for help. She was also trying to figure out what they were seeing.

  “I think my water just broke.”

  Alex froze. “What?”

  Carmen dashed around the counter and shoved a chair behind his wife. Meghan dropped like a stone. Fluid ran down her legs and puddled on the floor.

  He ran to the security station on the wall and smacked a button. “Ben, hurry. The twins,” he barked and then smacked another button. “Duke, I need security. My wife is in labor.”

  He looked at his watch. The clock was ticking. Dr. Sterner had warned him about this. If her water broke early, they were to fast track it to the hospital. They didn’t have much time. Chances are, he’d be a father before dinnertime.

  They had a plan—sort of—but they thought there was still time, so nothing was written in stone. Hell, she hadn’t even packed a bag. As the reality of the situation sank in, he realized that when it wasn’t a simulation, he had no fucking idea what to do.

  Alex took his wife’s hand and held on tight. She looked lost and confused. The whole thing was surreal.

  He heard a vehicle pull right up to the kitchen side door followed by a door slam. At the same moment, two people burst in through the front door. The cavalry was arriving.

  Parker and Drae rushed toward them. “We were in Duke’s office when you called.”

  He nodded blindly at Drae and kept his focus on Meghan.

  Ben crashed through the side door. “Security will clear the road ahead of us. You ready?”

  “Honey? Can you walk?”

  Parker and Drae stood on each side of her while he pulled on her hands so she could stand. They steadied her while he brought the leverage.

  She’d taken four or five steps toward the door when she clutched at his shirt. “Alex? I think the babies are coming.”

  Parker chuckled.

  “That’s great, babe. Let’s just keep walking, okay?”

  “I will call the family,” Carmen hollered after they were on the path outside.

  Right before the end of the walk, Meghan veered off and clucked her tongue at Ben. “My Fairy Duster plant! You ran it over,” she scolded.

  All four men stared open-mouthed when she bent over and started to right the plant.

  Drae recovered first and roared with laughter. “Red!” he barked. She looked at him. “Remember the part about the babies? I think we need to get you to the hospital.”

  “He ran over my plant,” she whined when Alex all but pushed her into the back of an SUV.

  “I’ll get you ten more. Now buckle in and behave.”

  She pursed her lips. “I need my purse.”

  “Jesus Christ,” he growled. “Drae! Get her purse, would you? Follow us. We have to go.”

  He slammed the door and pounded on the back of the driver’s seat. “Floor it.”

  At his command, they sped off down the road. At the security station, a second black SUV with flashing lights pulled out ahead of them. They got the VIP escort.

  Without warning, she started to cry.

  “What the hell, Meghan?”

  “My mother,” she wailed. “I want my mother.”

  Shit. He forgot. Maggie was set to come out next week and stay till the babies arrived. He pulled out his phone and called Sawyer. “I need you to go to Boston ASAP.”

  The gods were smiling on them because he was leaving in two hours on a one-way to New York. He’d forgotten that he offered Roman the use of his plane. “I’ll be in touch,” he ground out and ended the call.

  He called Paddy and Maggie next. It was afternoon in Boston, so he was sure to catch somebody.

  “Dad? It’s Alex. Meghan’s water broke. We’re on our way to the hospital. I can have my plane pick you up but not till tonight—or you can try to catch the first flight out of Logan.”

  Meghan rubbed her stomach. He looked at her. Her voice was small when she said, “Something’s happening in there.”

  “You know what, Paddy? Fuck it. You and Ma pack a bag and wait for a call from Betty. We’ll charter a plane. Meghan needs you.”

  He called Betty next and told her to buy an airline if she had to. Whatever it took to get the O’Briens here in the fastest way possible.

  They sped along like a presidential motorcade, taking the turns to the hospital on two wheels. When the car screeched to a halt, a nurse with a wheelchair was waiting for them.

  Nerves nearly got the better of him as the process inside the hospital took over. It took him back to a different time when he’d been half-dead on a gurney as a swirl of technology and people worked on him.

  He felt somewhat better when Parker and Drae finally appeared. Drae handed him Meghan’s purse. Or what they all assumed was her purse. He’d been raised to treat a lady’s handbag as nearly sacrosanct. Most of the men he knew would rather walk into a hurricane than peek inside their wife’s handbag.

  “What’s happening?” Parker sounded more anxious than Alex felt.

  “They’re checking her out. When she’s in the system, they’ll come get me.”

  Not knowing what to do or where to go, they huddled together in a corner and waited. He handed the purse back to Drae when they came for him. “Hold this,” he said and then followed the nurse.

  After he was scrubbed and suited appropriately, they took him to Meghan. Dr. Sterner was coming out of a room holding an iPad device.

  “Alex!” she greeted with a broad smile. “Looks like we’ll be delivering some babies here in a little bit.”

  “Is she okay? My wife. Is everything o
kay?”

  The doctor smiled. “She’s fine. It’s the mystery of birth, Major Marquez. Sometimes it’s a drama, sometimes a surprise, and sometimes a blip on the radar. Meghan’s done a great job. Those babies look healthy. Try not to worry.”

  She patted his back and hurried off while he almost ran into the room. The deluxe birthing suite looked like a high-end hotel. Instead of finding his wife in a hospital bed, he found her on her knees, stretched out over a large gray ball with a woman kneading her lower back.

  “That’s your doula, Rosemary,” the nurse at his side told him. “She’s here to help Meghan through the stages of labor.”

  Rosemary looked up at him, nodded, and smiled. Relief flooded his system. “I’ve been away this past month. We haven’t done the classes yet.”

  “You just concentrate on your wife, Mr. Marquez. Rosemary will handle the details.”

  “Come on over here, Dad,” Rosemary said. He liked her calm, controlled voice. “Grab a stool and come rub Mommy’s shoulders.”

  He was glad for something to do.

  “Hi, honey,” Meghan moaned. “Oh, that feels good.”

  Rosemary murmured quiet instructions that Meghan responded to. It reminded him of a yoga class. She told her to relax her hips and suggested different angles.

  Things progressed much faster than he imagined. Within three hours, they were in hard labor, and two teams were in place—one for each baby.

  Dr. Sterner was either the coolest, most unflappable person on Earth or the best actor. She breezed in, assured them that everything was, in fact, surprisingly fine, and that they should get ready to welcome their children.

  Meghan was a goddamn champ. She showed them all how a badass Boston ball-busting bitch gets shit done. Taking on birthing twins like a boss, she transformed right before his eyes. An awe-inspiring red-haired goddess took the reins, and in a matter of minutes, they were parents.

  “Baby A is a boy,” Dr. Sterner cheered.

  Meghan beamed from ear to ear. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s beautiful,” a nurse said. Dr. Sterner held him up for them to see and then passed the little guy to a nurse.

  “Sorry, guys. No time to linger. Give a gentle push, Meghan.”