Thankfully, Kadee seemed no worse the wear for all this turmoil going on in her life. And I felt a pang of guilt that the poor child was being shipped to and fro, across the country, until the verdict finally came down. But now that she was here, with us, she was loving her new school, making new friends, and most importantly was reunited with Herbert… and her dad of course.
The past two weeks since her arrival the three of us had become so close knit, I could barely remember a time before we were all together. We’d become that heavenly family I had dreamed about the first night Derek had taken us out to the local restaurant.
“Wait, come here you,” I said, before Kadee had the chance to skip away and get back to work. She’d insisted on bringing her toys over to my—our house by herself. I bent down and wrapped my arms around her. She indulged me then placed a kiss on my cheek. I straightened her ponytail and reattached one of the fastening of her cute little dungarees that had come loose.
“We still have lots of boxes to go.”
“I know we do, but we’ll get it done. Don’t you worry. Did you pick out your room yet?”
Kadee nodded. “The one at the back so I can look at the garden.”
I smiled, somehow knowing she would pick that one. It had the cutest window seat, perfect for a little girl to sit on and look out at the world. To read and dream. A place of her own.
“Good choice. You won’t mind being next to the nursery then?” I said.
Kadee’s smooth forehead wrinkled as the words filtered through her quick brain. Then her eyes went wide and she glanced down at my stomach.
Leaning in closer, she cupped her hand like we were sharing a secret—which I supposed we were—and whispered in my ear. “Georgie, do you have a baby in your belly?”
I did likewise and cupped my hand over her ear. “Yes.” Then leaned backed and grinned. “Is that okay? Would you like a baby brother or sister?”
Kadee’s head bobbed so fast, then she brought her hands to her mouth and giggled. “A little brother, please.”
“It doesn’t exactly work like that, but I’ll try my best.”
I saw she had more to say and waited for her to find the courage. This had been a regular theme since Kadee moved to Hollow Point for good. She was still finding her feet, a little unsure of whether she’d be told off for speaking her mind, feeling like a nuisance for merely asking questions a bright child would. But we were not Karen and Brian, we wanted to nurture our precious girl, not let her wither like a plant without light.
“Georgie, when the baby arrives will I be able to call you mommy too?”
I struggled to keep my emotions from spilling down my face, my heart almost bursting from the innocence of her question.
“Baby-girl, if you want… you don’t have to wait.”
“Okay, Mommy,” she said and threw her arms around my neck. I snuggled into her telling myself not to cry during this perfect moment. To remember it and cherish it forever.
Across the front garden, I spotted Derek coming up the path and our eyes met. He shot me a wink, causing my eyes to light up and a mischievous thought to run through my head. I whispered in Kadee’s ear.
Now full of purpose Kadee sprinted towards her father.
“Daddy, daddy! Guess what?”
Derek shifted the box he was carrying to one side, and picked up Kadee with the other. “What? What have you two been whispering about?”
Kadee, unable to keep the secret any longer curled her hand in the familiar position around Derek’s ear. I got to my feet, and stood waiting on the porch, studying his face.
Just like Kadee’s had, his eyes sprang to life, the knowledge of what was to come dawning on him. Then the box was promptly discarded and he, with Kadee, in his arms now, approached with a cautious smile.
“Is it true, Georgie?” he whispered, his mouth dropping open.
“Of course it’s true, Daddy. Mommy never lies.”
Shocked Derek glanced from Kadee to me, a double whammy of information striking him. He’d wondered when Kadee might accept me as her new stepmom, but I’d told him it was far too soon. And yet Kadee was full of surprises.
“Georgie?” Derek repeated and I couldn’t hold out any longer.
I moved to stand with them, hugging them both. “I’m pregnant. It’s a good thing we have a spare bedroom, huh?”
“Well there goes my office,” he replied, still in shock I imagined, his eyes twinkling.
“You’re a handy-man aren’t you? I’m sure you can build an extension… Are you pleased?”
“That’s an understatement. This is the best day ever. I can’t believe it. I’m going to be a dad again. I love my girls so much.”
I nodded and pressed a kiss to his lips.
The weeks before Kadee’s arrival had been rather memorable, as we explored each room of the house, intimately. It was hard to know if Derek and I had spent more time working on the house or cementing our relationship together. So that it was unbreakable.
We all stood for a moment longer, Kadee still in Derek’s arms, my fingers entwined with his. We glanced up at the dream house that was filling up so fast, with love, with new beginnings.
It still needed a few finishing touches, but we were on the right path to make it perfect.
Looking back now on that first day when I arrived on Chestnut Grove and met the loves of my life, I could have never imagined how everything could change so dramatically. How, with them, I’d finally found my place and sense of purpose.
It was so good to be home.
The End.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the book. As a special thank you I have included a bonus book. Turn the page to continue reading…
The best man and his bridemaid don’t expect to find true love amongst all the lies…
A week before my best friend’s wedding, I had to fix my mess and replace the bridesmaid I’d lost.
One beauty to fit into a specially made dress was all I needed.
How hard could it be? Apparently extremely hard, what with my newfound bad reputation.
Time was of the essence and I end up at the airport. Face-to-face with my mail-order bride.
No one can know what I've done. Not the groom or the bride, and least of all the woman that has traveled half-way around the world to marry me.
The whole thing is a really bad idea. The lies are piling up. So much can go wrong. Somebody’s bound to get hurt.
My sweet Anna is gorgeous. She has secrets she isn’t willing to share, but my heart aches to be close to her. To shut out the world and claim her as my own.
And after our first kiss, I want to stop pretending, to tell her the truth.
I risk ruining everything between us, so I keep my mouth shut and go along with the charade. I’ll do absolutely anything to keep from losing her.
Anything.
Chapter One
Sebastian
“You broke up with Sarah?” Gerard asked, his eyes bulging, his ham-like fists squeezing the life out his knife and fork, almost bending the stainless steel.
I gave him a slight shrug. I missed Sarah, she was nice to have around, and granted I missed her when it got dark, but it wasn’t the end of the world, so I don’t know why he was acting like a meteor was about to hit and bring forth an extinction event.
Women came and went, that wasn’t anything new for me. And Sarah had become a little too clingy, wanted to move in, yet also loved to flirt with everything that moved. And if I was with someone, I liked knowing she had eyes only for me, even if I didn’t give her the same courtesy at the best of times. Hypocritical, yes. But who the fuck cared? Monogamy was for people like my best friend, Gerard, who sat across from me.
Sarah, however, hadn’t seen it that way, had become tired of my wandering eye, jealous of the women who had come before her, the girls I flirted with in my office, and gave me an ultimatum to stop my oh-so-terrible ways or she was going to end it. Needless to say, my stubborn ass let her walk o
ut the door and ever since she’d done her damnedest to spread vicious rumors about me throughout my place of work.
Gerard and I were having lunch at the swanky new fusion restaurant that had opened up a few weeks ago, across the street from my office block—coincidentally one that Sarah worked in too.
The restaurant, with its glossy interior, eye-straining art on the walls, and minimal white tables with matching utilitarian chairs, had promise. It had the potential to go the distance, but it probably wouldn’t be too long before the owners had to pack up shop, take down the new sign, and give up their dreams. It seemed like every couple of months this place changed hands. But I wasn’t complaining. It meant more money in my pocket because I was the one who benefited from the turnover.
“Seriously, Sebastian. You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”
“What? No. Why would I?”
“So have you really kicked Sarah to the curb?”
“I said I had, didn’t I? I don’t think I was speaking another language. Well,” I tapped my chin, “if I were to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, then I suppose she ended it with me.”
“What the hell did you do this time?”
“That’s not important. Besides who knows what goes through a woman’s head these days? One minute she wants to be all modern—an open relationship—but the moment you ask out the new office intern and Miss Devil Wears Prada from downstairs gets wind of it, the shutters come down. Closed for business!”
Gerard slowly released his cutlery and brought his hands to his head, fingertips kneading his temples. “No, no… this can’t be happening.”
Gerard closed his eyes, his face starting to turn the color of the beetroot salad that sat discarded next to his steak. The almost luminescent purple juice was in danger of staining the white plate.
“What’s the problem? I didn’t think you liked her anyway.”
“That’s not the point, Baz. Shit, do you not realize how bad this is? Rochelle is going to kill me. Then she’s going to kill you, and after that, she’ll dig up my grave, slice me up into tiny pieces, and feed me to wild dogs just to make sure the job was done properly!”
“Are you still sure you want to marry her? Rochelle sounds a little unstable if you ask me.”
Gerard pounded his fist on the table. I snapped my mouth shut. Okay, so it probably wasn’t the best idea that I, the best man, insult my best friend’s soon-to-be wife.
“I didn’t ask you,” Gerard hissed. “You don’t realize what you’ve done, do you?”
I held up my hands and shook my head.
“I love you man—like a brother—but seriously, fuck, how can you be so oblivious?”
He didn’t let me answer. Had he, I might’ve said that I paid attention to only the things that warranted my notice, everything else was just noise floating around on the periphery.
“Rochelle made Sarah a bridesmaid not just for your benefit or out of the goodness of her loving heart.”
I snorted. Gerard continued, all the while glaring at me. “It was all so the numbers would match up, seven groomsmen on one side and seven bridesmaids on the other. We met on the seventh of July for god’s sake! Ask me how many guests we invited.”
“I don’t want to,” I replied with an exasperated sigh.
“One hundred and nineteen! Want to know why?”
“Nope.”
“Because we met in 2017! Seventeen multiplied by seven is…” Ger wanted for my response.
“One hundred and nineteen?”
“Yes! And if even one person doesn’t show up to the wedding, it doesn’t even bear thinking about. Rochelle is superstitious like that, and as soon as she hears about this, that we’re down a bridesmaid, she’ll lose it. She’s already on the verge… two meltdowns away from turning into Bridezilla.”
I took a bite of my steak, chewed—taking my time to enjoy the tender meat, cooked to perfection, its flavor rolling over my tongue—then swallowed, still not seeing the problem. What a load of superstitious mumbo-jumbo. Rochelle had plenty of bridesmaids, why was losing one out of seven such a big deal? Come to think of it; six was plenty.
“Don’t even say it,” Gerard warned.
“Say what?” I paused as he shot me a wide-eyed, rigid stare. “That she’s still got six left?”
“You had to go and say it, didn’t you?”
“Well she does! Why does Rochelle even need six? It’s not like she has half a dozen sisters that she needs to include so none of them feel like their nose-jobs are put out of joint. It’s not like she’s obligated to have them. This is a choice she’s making. A silly one, if you ask me.” I added this last bit under my breath in case Gerard felt the need to clock me upside the head.
Ger grumbled. “You’re going to have to trust me on this one; I already had that argument and lost. Several times. So you better listen up cause I’m only going to say this once. Hey, Baz? Sebastian, are you listening?”
“Yeah,” I muttered and pushed my plate away, my appetite soured. “I’ll be glad when this wedding is over. But go ahead, lay it on me.”
“You need to fix this. I don’t care what you have to do, you need to get Sarah back or you need to find a replacement. Fast. A stand-in, someone from your office, a fucking actress. Whoever, I don’t give a fuck. But you will bring a date and she will be the seventh bridesmaid at the wedding. She will fit into the dress that has already been paid for out of my own pocket. And if you don’t, so help me god, I will disown you. I’ll find a new best man. Don’t think I won’t.”
“As long as you don’t replace me with Trevor. I don’t think I could live with the shame.”
“Shut up, Baz. You will not ruin my wife-to-be’s special day, or mine. She wants seven bridesmaids; she gets seven bridesmaids! Do you understand? The bride gets what the bride wants!”
I squinted at him. “But what does the groom want?”
“A happy wife! I thought that was obvious?”
“Shit, marriage has changed you, dude. And you haven’t even said your vows yet.”
“Yeah, maybe you should try it.”
“Me? Get married? Are you high?”
Gerard set his lips into a hard line. I rolled my eyes.
“Fine. No need to make a huge deal out of it. You know I’ll do anything for you, man. Why didn’t you just say you wanted me to bring another date along?”
“Oh, she can’t just be anyone, Baz. She must fit into the bridesmaid dress. You do realize they were all specially made? Cost a fucking fortune. Rochelle had all seven of them, Sarah included, fitted by a professional for their unique dresses. And do you know how I know all this?”
“I gather you’re going to tell me.”
Ger grunted. “Because for the last six months all I’ve heard about is this wedding! And you’re not going to be the one that spoils it by dumping—”
“I didn’t dump her—”
“Sarah at the last minute! You have a week to find someone else. Don’t let me down. Or I’ll phone Trevor,” he warned. “I’ll do it. You know I will.”
This time I stopped fooling around and looked at my best friend, who’d been there by my side since the days before high school, and nodded. “You have my word. I won’t fuck this up. I promise.”
“Just give me one minute,” I said, almost losing my cool.
“I told you I don’t want to talk to you. Ever again.”
“Argh, Sarah, please listen for a moment.”
“Nah, Baz, it’s over. Stop calling me! And don’t even think about coming down to my floor. I have meetings all day and a magazine to edit. Besides, I’ll have security bounce you back upstairs before you can even blink.”
“Don’t hang up,” I pleaded, hoping for a second she’d reconsider, hear the desperation in my voice, and wait until I explained that I needed her help. Needed her back in my life… at least for a little while.
A one-note tone, elongated, never-ending, droned in my ear. She’d ended the call. Godd
amn women! I couldn’t win.
Maybe a dozen red roses, or two, would soften her edges. I had less than seven days to convince her to come to the wedding with me. A light bulb dinged above me; I’d send chocolates too. Maybe even those earrings I knew Sarah had been eyeing up in the jewelers a couple of blocks away from the office. An early birthday gift perhaps. That surely had to get her back on side, long enough to be a bridesmaid.
I let out a frustrated groan and was thankful I was in the elevator alone. Several other schemes presented themselves on the ride up, but somehow I already knew each one would fail. The roses would be turned into mulch, the chocolates re-gifted. Sarah wasn’t a model, but always being surrounded by them daily made her shy away from small indulgences. She’d keep the jewelry though, but in the same breath block my number. Sarah had a mean streak within her and didn’t take kindly to betrayal. Even one she’d conjured up.
What was I going to do now? I couldn’t let my best friend down. I needed to fix this.
After several more attempts, calling, leaving voicemails, redialing her phone number until I knew it by heart, I concluded Sarah obviously wasn’t interested in hearing what I had to say, even if it did have something to do with Gerard and Rochelle’s upcoming nuptials. I supposed I couldn’t blame her, they’d always been friends of mine and not hers. Well, Gerard was my friend, Rochelle was just part of the package now. Yay lucky me, I thought with false enthusiasm.
The elevator dinged and I stepped out, forcing myself to come up with an alternative plan.
Coming in Handy_a Single Dad Romance Page 13