Beautiful Ever After

by Georgia Cates

  Thank fuck.

  “I’ll see you tonight when you bring her to Mum and Dad’s.”

  I hug Ava Rose and kiss her forehead, swaying back and forth. “I’m so sorry for that, baby. Da is so sorry.”

  I hear the front door open and close and I call out to Lou. “She’s gone.”

  Lou comes to us and takes Ava Rose from me. “Do you have any idea how difficult it was to not come out here and kill her?”

  “I have a pretty good idea.”

  “I understand we’re doing this because it’s what your legal counsel told us to do, but everything about this feels wrong.”

  “I know, and I couldn’t agree more.”

  “What do we do from here? Because I can’t let her do that to Ava Rose again.”

  “I don’t know. Let’s just get through the holidays, and we’ll figure out something after the new year comes.”

  “If I can make it that long without killing her.”

  “Speaking of the new year. We’ve been invited to a New Year’s party.”

  “We’ve been invited? As in you and me?”

  “Well, technically, I was the one invited but only because they don’t know you’re my wife.”

  “I assume you’re telling me about this party because you want to go?”

  “I’d like to. I think it would be fun. And you’d get to meet some more of my friends and their wives.”

  “How are they going to feel about you showing up with a new wife they know nothing about?”

  “No worries. It’ll be fine.”

  “You don’t think anyone at this party will expose us?”

  “Trust me. There won’t be any problems with these people.”

  “Okay. That’s all you have to tell me about it.”

  I pick up Ava Rose’s hand and use it to pat Lou on the shoulder. “Mum mum,” I whisper in my best baby voice.

  “Yes, baby Ava?”

  “Da is hungry.”

  “He still wants breakfast?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll cook for Da under one condition. He has to clean up the puke on the floor.”

  Dammit. I knew that was coming.

  I groan. “I must really want your biscuits and gravy to agree to that.”

  “Well, somebody’s gotta do it.”

  “Aye, the one who should have to do it is gone.”

  Lou kisses the top of Ava Rose’s head. “And thank God for that.”

  “I’ll clean up in here and then I’ll come feed her while you cook breakfast.”

  “Deal.”

  We make a great team.

  22

  Caitriona Hutcheson

  “Are you sure it’s okay for me to go to this party with you?” It feels extremely risky to expose ourselves to clients who have contact with Thomas Lochridge.

  “The Breckenridges aren’t typical Lochridge clientele. They’re my friends and they want to meet my wife.”

  “You told them we were married?”

  “Aye, I did when I accepted the invitation. I also made them aware of our need to keep our marriage secret.”

  “They must be very close friends for you to confide in them something so important.”

  “The Breckenridges are loyal people. They’d never betray my confidence, same as I would never betray theirs. Believe me when I tell you that no one understands the importance of concealment more than they do.”

  “That’s an odd thing to say about friends.”

  “They are my friends and that means they will be your friends. But never ask me or them about their secrets. It isn’t safe to be privy to their private matters.”

  I know Hutch deals with clients who have questionable backgrounds, but I’ve never dreamed that any of them might be unsafe. “Are you in danger?”

  “Not today and not in the foreseeable future.”

  That’s not a no. “Nothing about that statement is reassuring.”

  “I’m safe, mo maise. Nothing is going to happen to me, and that’s all you need to know.”

  “Is Brady friends with the Breckenridges?”

  “He is, but he won’t be there tonight. He’s closing on an arrangement with Cora for a three-month companion.”

  “I didn’t take Brady for the long-term kind of client.” He seemed to be happy having a different girl every time.

  “He was content until he saw how happy we are.”

  “And now he wants what we have?”

  “Everyone wants what we have.” Hutch grins. “Minus the pain in the arse former in-laws.”

  “I guess it makes sense that he would let Cora do his matchmaking. She’s been choosing his inamoratas for him for years.”

  “She knows his preferences well.”

  “I wonder if I know her.”

  “I don’t think so. She’s new. Never had a client before.”

  New inamorata. No former clients. Three-month arrangement. “That sounds familiar.”

  “Very familiar. And I’m hopeful for him. He’ll make a good husband for some lucky lass.”

  It worked for us so who’s to say that Brady didn’t just meet his future wife.

  Speaking of wives. “Who will I be meeting tonight?”

  “Oh, let’s see. Sin and Bleu. Mitch and Shaw. Jamie and Ellison. Kieran and Westlyn. Leith and Lorna.”

  Ten of Hutch’s friends at once. That’s a little daunting.

  Cora taught me how to converse with the wealthiest and most influential men in Scotland, but this feels different. “I’m nervous about meeting them.”

  “Why would you be nervous?”

  Hutch and I live in a bubble. Aside from his family and Brady and staff, I don’t know the people in his life. “I’m your wife but I’m nothing like the people you associate with on a daily basis within your Maxwell Hutcheson world.”

  “And thank fuck for that. I would never want you to be like the people in my Maxwell Hutcheson world. I want you to be like the people in my Hutch world.”

  “I want to be myself with your friends, not speak or act the way Cora taught me. But I also don’t want to embarrass you by being simple.” I have the ability to give the performance of a lifetime. I was taught by the best, but I don’t want to be fake if these people are going to be my real friends.

  “Mo maise—” Hutch takes my hands in his. “Being unpretentious doesn’t make you simple. It makes you real and genuine. That’s all I ever want you to be.”

  Doubt creeps into my mind. I will it to go away, but it’s a part of me deep as my soul. “What if they don’t like the real me?”

  “That’s not even a possibility. You’re the most lovable person I know.”

  I’m his wife. He has to say that. “I’m the most lovable person to you. Everyone else in the world doesn’t feel that way.”

  “I think you will get on quite well with all of the wives, especially Bleu and Ellison. They’re American.”

  I wasn’t expecting that. “From where?”

  “I don’t recall, but they do have accents similar to yours.”

  Southern girls? You don’t run into those in Edinburgh every day. “Have they lived here for long?”

  “Several years. I’m not certain how long.”

  My mood just shifted from worried to enthusiastic. I suddenly don’t feel as though I’ll be quite so out of place with these people. But I’m a little confused by their dynamics. “A pair of sisters married a pair of brothers?”

  “No. Bleu’s husband, Sin, and Ellison’s husband, Jamie, are cousins. Mitch and Sin are brothers. Kieran and Shaw are brother and sister. Jamie and Westlyn are brother and sister.”

  Wow. That’s not confusing at all. “They believe in keeping it in the family, don’t they?”

  “No doubt about it. The Breckenridges keep the family tree well pruned.”

  “Their family… is that like a modern-day clan thing?”

  Hutch chuckles. “That wouldn’t be an entirely wrong way of looking at it.”

  He’s
being vague. I assume that means I should stop asking questions.

  I stand tall and smooth the front of my dress. “Do I look all right?”

  “Stunning as always.”

  “Complimentary as always.”

  “A husband should tell his wife how beautiful she is and often.”

  “You certainly do that.”

  My past has made me quite the cynic. It hasn’t been easy but I’m in a place where I’m finally able to accept Hutch’s compliments. I believe him when he says I’m beautiful because I know that’s how he sees me.

  I’m not sure what’s going on with these ten people. I have no idea what kind of secrets they’re keeping, and according to Hutch, I never will. I also don’t know why there would be danger associated with them. I have a few guesses, but there can only be one at the top of my list. And if I’m right, it scares me to death to think that my husband is part of their world.

  The only thing I know for sure is that I like these people, danger or not.

  “I haven’t heard a Nawlins accent in years,” Ellison says.

  “I’ve been gone from New Orleans for seven years. People tell me I still have the accent, but I don’t hear it.”

  “Oh, darlin’, you might not have it like you did seven years ago, but it’s definitely there. Just like Bleu and I still have our Southern accents. It’s impossible to shake that shit completely.”

  Ellison is so frank. And funny. I wasn’t expecting the wives of Hutch’s friends to be so personable.

  I love Rachel and she will forever be my best friend, but she doesn’t have a lot of time for me these days. And that’s fine. She needs to work on her relationship with Claud. And I need this. I need friends in my life. And I think I just found five new ones.

  “I want to ask you guys something.”

  Sure, okay, and aye all overlap at one.

  I can’t believe I’m going to do this. “You knew Mina?”

  “Not well but we were acquainted,” Bleu says.

  Damn. They’re probably going to think I sound jealous of a dead woman when I ask this. “I only know what Hutch has told me. What did you think of her?”

  “We can talk about Mina, but first can I just say that I think it’s the cutest thing ever that you have given Max the nickname Hutch? And I love that he calls you Lou. It’s so adorable.”

  “Ah, thanks. He’s been Hutch to me since the night we met. It feels odd when I hear people call him Max, but Maxwell is even weirder to me. It’s so stiff and formal and I don’t see him that way at all.”

  “Well, darling, I hope you see him stiff sometimes.” Ellison shrugs her shoulders when she looks at her sister. “I’m sorry. I had to. She walked right into it.”

  Bleu rolls her eyes. “Please allow me to apologize for my sister. She can be highly inappropriate at times.”

  “It’s fine. I appreciate witty banter.” I haven’t laughed this much in… ever. It’s nice.

  I wish Hutch and I laughed more often. But how can we when the burden of the situation ahead of us weighs so heavily on our minds?

  “You want to know about Mina? I’ll tell you all about Mina. She was a rude bitch,” Lorna says.

  Wow. I’m loving the brutal honesty coming from these ladies.

  “Lolo, you know it’s wrong to speak ill of the dead,” Westlyn says and then turns to look at me. “But she’s right. That woman was a very rude bitch.”

  Lorna continues, “She had a way of looking at you as though you were no better than the dirt beneath her designer pumps. You know the look I’m talking about?”

  I know it well. “Must be a Lochridge trait because her sister looks at me just like that.”

  “You have no idea how many times I wanted to say ‘Bitch, I’m married to a Breckenridge. You have no idea what I could have done to you.’”

  Ellison’s statement carries a lot of weight. Normal everyday people don’t make threats like that. Sure, we say that we’re going to jack someone up or slap them silly but not that we could have things done to people. Those are a very telling choice of words.

  Bleu looks at her sister, her brow lifted. “Elli—” There’s a warning tone in her voice. It’s unmistakable.

  “Sorry, Cait. I get a little fired up about shit like that and spout off at the mouth.”

  “I understand. If Mina was anything like her sister, she’d be enough to make someone get fired up. She won’t leave us alone. And she’s threatening to take Hutch’s daughter from us.”

  Westlyn reaches over and places her hand on mine. “I’m sorry she’s giving you problems. There must be some way to put a stop to that nonsense.”

  “Hutch has seen a family law solicitor. His advice was to establish my character as a loving wife and stepmother to Ava Rose. We’ll need character witnesses when we go to court.”

  Ellison throws her hand up, waving it back and forth. “Oh no, sweetie. You need to put a stop to that shit before it ever goes to court.”

  “I would love nothing better but the Lochridges are powerful. I’m not.”

  “Powerful people always have weaknesses and secrets. Usually big ones. You just have to find them,” Bleu says.

  “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

  “It’s as simple as pen and paper. Start making lists of what you know to be facts about Mina and her family. Make another list of things you suspect. You’d be surprised by how the two lists will coincide and bring the pieces of the puzzles together.” Bleu weaves her fingers together, forming a clasp. “Each piece will build upon the next.”

  “You should listen to her. She knows what she’s talking about. She used to be an FBI agent,” Westlyn says.

  “FBI? Federal Bureau of Investigation? That kind of agent?”

  “Yeah. Badge-wearing, gun-carrying certified badass in blue,” Ellison says.

  I guess I’m being sexist in my own head, but I would have pegged her for a model before an FBI agent. “That’s surprising and impressive.”

  “You should see her fight if you want to be impressed. She could literally walk into that living room right now and put any one of those men on his arse,” Westlyn says.

  Lorna laughs. “True story. She put Leith on his arse in the ring one time. To this day, he still won’t talk about it.”

  Wow. Leith is not a small guy.

  “Did your job as an agent bring you to Scotland?”

  Bleu smiles. “In a roundabout way, it did.”

  “And you met Sin while you were on a job assignment here in Edinburgh?”

  “Yes.”

  “That sounds like something out of a movie rather than real life.”

  “Our story would make a great novel.”

  “Maybe I should write it.”

  “You’re an author?” Bleu asks.

  I shrug. “Aspiring author.”

  “Writing and publishing a book must be exciting.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t completed one yet, but I can tell you that the writing process definitely isn’t what everyone believes it to be.” It’s so damn hard.

  “Are you working on anything now?”

  “My most recent work in progress was a modern-day fairy tale. But I abandoned it.”

  The truth is that I haven’t felt motivated to write anything since my miscarriage. I open up my laptop and stare at the screen, but no words come into my mind.

  “I’ve not been able to find time to write because our lives have been a whirlwind the last several weeks. I’m still a student at uni, and I had to study for finals. And then we got married the Saturday before Christmas. It’s been crazy busy for us.”

  “I’ve never seen him look so happy. We’re absolutely thrilled for the two of you.”

  “That’s sweet of you to say. Thank you.”

  “I’m sorry you’re having these problems with Mina’s family. No new bride should have to deal with that kind of problem in her marriage,” Bleu says.

  “I knew what kind of bullshit I was getting into wh
en I married Hutch. None of this is unexpected.”

  “Which proves how strong you are,” Bleu says.

  “I think she’s going to fit in perfectly with us,” Ellison says.

  I think so too. I feel comfortable with these women. Like they are my tribe.

  23

  Maxwell Hutcheson

  Ava Rose’s entrance into the world was nothing like this. Mina’s pregnancy reached the thirty-eight-week milestone and a cesarean section was done. My daughter was plucked from her mother’s body and handed over to me. And I instantly became a father. It was exactly that cut and dried.

  Ian’s experience of becoming a father is much different from mine.

  He and Shannon were asleep when her water broke. They rushed to the hospital believing that the baby could fall out at any minute. Needless to say, they were let down to learn she was dilated two centimeters. That was hours ago. Per Ian’s reports, the poor lass is in agony and exhausted. Still at two centimeters, they have little hope that the bairn will be born any time soon.

  All of us sit taller when Ian comes into the waiting room.

  “Please tell us that poor lass has made some kind of progress,” my mum says.

  Ian shakes his head. “Still no change.”

  My mum sighs. “Have they given her anything for the pain?”

  “She finally gave in and took something about ten minutes ago. She’s finally resting, so I thought it would be a good time to step out and update you.”

  “Her mum is sitting with her?” my dad asks.

  “Her mum and sister.”

  “You shouldn’t worry, Ian. The same thing happened to me when I was in labor with Max. My water broke and I made no progress for hours and hours and then all of a sudden the wee jobby decided to come. The doctor barely made it into the room in time for his delivery.”

  “She’s becoming discouraged. She thought she’d be like the other women in her family and deliver the baby quickly.”

  “She shouldn’t compare herself to other women. We’re all different. Just keep encouraging her. Tell her to not give up. Tell her she can do it.”

  “I will, Mum.” Ian sighs. “I should get back to her.”