by Holly Bush
“Beauregard went hunting when Miss Eleanor was delivering Miss Olivia. Shot a buck pert near a mile away and dragged it back rather than come back and get a horse and cart to haul it. He was almost crawling by the time he got it to the house it was so heavy, and he was covered with dirt and blood. Miss Brigid scolded him something awful when he went directly to his wife’s room without cleaning up,” Ben said and smiled with the memory. “He looked like a wild animal, he did.”
Matt was near exhaustion of his own design and understood what his father must have been feeling. If he concentrated on how sore and filthy and miserable he was and how much manure he could move in an hour, he wouldn’t be thinking about Annie upstairs in the house having their first child. He wouldn’t think about how absolutely terrified he was. Their nine months of marriage had been the happiest months of his life; he was comfortable with her and with himself, a strange and new feeling for him. What would he do without her if the worst happened? He looked at his brother, focusing on Adam’s face, feeling bewildered and scared, just trying to breathe in and out. “What if she dies?”
“Matthew!” Olivia called. “Where are you?”
He ran from the barn to his sister, Adam not far behind. “What? What’s happened?”
Olivia was smiling. “You have son, Matt. A beautiful baby boy. Annie is fine. They’ll be ready for you to see them in a few minutes.”
He looked up at the house and took off at a full run, yelling for Annie and taking the inside steps three at a time. He came to her room, wishing now he’d taken the time to wipe his face and hands. “Annie!”
His mother came out of the door and kissed his cheek, smiling at him. “Matthew, you smell like the barn. Your father would be so proud of you today. The doctor has just left. You may go in.”
He opened the door, stepped inside, and stopped. He was suddenly shy.
“I heard you through the open window, Matt. Every neighbor for five counties heard you. Come meet your son.”
Annie was propped up, her damp hair pulled back with wide ribbon. “You are more beautiful this very moment than you’ve ever been,” he said.
She smiled and looked down at the bundle in her arms. “Come see what we’ve done, Matt.”
Matt went to the bed and kissed her on the forehead. “I didn’t wash. I’ve been mucking stalls. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I know, Matt. It’s fine. I love you and I know you’ve been worried.”
He looked down then at the round red face peering up at him and picked him up out of Annie’s arms. He wondered how it was possible to love something as much as he did in one moment’s amount of time. A little fist poked out of the blanket and wrapped around his finger.
“I’d like to call him Theodore. Theodore Gentry. We could call him Teddy if you liked,” Matt said.
Annie nodded. “He’ll be a hero just like his father.”
Author Notes
Thank you for purchasing For the Brave, the second installment in the Gentrys of Paradise series. I hope you enjoyed it. The novella, Into the Evermore, is the first book of the series and tells the story of Eleanor and Beauregard Gentry’s meeting and marriage. The next book will be Olivia’s story as she fights to find a place for herself in a family of strong men and women, but importantly, her quest to find true love.
The Crawford Family series remains popular and includes, Train Station Bride, Contract to Wed, The Maid’s Quarters, and Her Safe Harbor. This series details the lives of three wealthy Boston-born sisters. Romancing Olive chronicles the life of a sheltered Philadelphia spinster as she heads west to save a niece and nephew. Reconstructing Jackson is the story of Reed Jackson, crippled confederate officer, who moves west to begin again, post-Civil War. Cross the Ocean and Charming the Duke are two British Victorian-era romances.
If you enjoyed For the Brave, please post a review or share your thoughts with friends and family. News about my books is available at my website, hollybushbooks.com. I post regularly on my FaceBook page with excerpts from all my books. Thank you again for your purchase!