We hear Jay pronounce us as husband and wife, and Evan doesn’t waste a second before he grabs me tightly and leans in for another kiss. Our first kiss as husband and wife is one for the memory books. His kiss conveys his passion for me and I feel it in every inch of my body. I’m amazed that I have a lifetime of this to look forward to. Damn it’s good to be Mrs. Evan Stone!
Chapter 27
Evan
“Push, Alani,” I encourage, coaching her. She’s been in labor for the past ten hours, and it’s finally time to meet my son.
“I’m trying, asshole!” Alani shouts at me as she pants between pushes. I grin at her, but quickly wipe it off my face when she glares at me.
“The baby is almost here,” informs Dr. Chaney. I was pissed when I found out he’d be her OB doctor because no man should be seeing what’s mine. I easily lost that battle when she called me crazy and reminded me that he’d safely delivered four of my nephews and my niece, Lacey, who was born just four days ago. Noah is over the moon in love with his daughter, and I’m so happy for them.
“One last push, babe. He’s almost here,” I tell Alani as she bears down one more time.
“Here she is!” Dr. Chaney announces, holding up our daughter. For Christ sakes, another girl. He lays her on Alani’s stomach, and I see tears streaming down Alani’s face. I bend down to take a closer look at our newborn baby—we have another beautiful daughter who looks just like her mom.
“I told you not to get your hopes up,” Alani teases, smirking at me.
“She’s perfect. I’ll just need more ammo now, that’s all,” I reply, planting a kiss on Alani’s lips and one on Taylor’s forehead.
I now have three women to protect, and each of them worth protecting with my life. I think back to Harper’s first birthday, which was held at one of those Playland places. They had a giant ball pit where kids can jump in and pick up every germ possible. When I saw Alani let Harper play in there, I cringed as I imagined Harper being exposed to all those infected children and turning her into a zombie. It ended up being a fun day anyway, despite who we saw there. My brothers and I were surprised to recognize the face of the woman assigned to clean up after our party. She must have thought we looked familiar because she kept looking at the three of us while we were gathering the presents and preparing to leave. I knew it was our mother, and strangely, I felt no ill will towards her. After all, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have this wonderful life. With her greed for money, she convinced my dad to bring me into this world along with two brothers who I can always count on. I thought that maybe seeing her would provoke some sort of reaction from Noah and Maddox, but we all just hugged our children and wives a little tighter before walking out the door and closing that chapter of our lives.
Lani
Life has been hectic with two daughters. Before Taylor was born, Evan and I decided that she would be our last, so I had my tubes cut and tied to prevent any more pregnancies. To this day, I still can’t believe I’m a mother, but I’m even more shocked that I can be a mom and still devote time to a job I love. Evan fully supports me and shares equal partnership in raising our daughters. Sometimes I feel guilty knowing that we could’ve had all of this sooner if I would’ve just let go of the past. Still, I believe Evan and I are exactly where we’re meant to be, and I couldn’t possibly be any happier than I am right now. Life with Evan Stone is good.
The End
To My Readers
Thank you for reading the Stone Brother Series. It’s been such an emotional journey for me, and I hope you loved reading them just as much as I loved writing them. Next up is my Made From Stone Series. The first book is Lane and Mallory’s story. I hope you continue to follow the Stone Brothers and their now grown children in their quest to find love. One final thing before I leave the preview ~ I would like to ask all of you to leave an honest review of my books. Reviews help new authors so much and I hope you take the time to share your thoughts with me and fellow readers. For upcoming news and book release dates, please follow me on www.facebook.com/stonebrotherseries or look for updates on Goodreads. I hope you enjoy this preview.
Pending Edits and subject to change. Release Nov 2015
Lane
“PICK UP THE DAMN BALL AND RUN A MILE WITH IT.” I scream at my sophomore running back. I swear that kid can’t handle a ball to save his own balls.
“Sorry coach.” He says and takes off running, football in hand.
Coaching isn’t what I had planned to do growing up, but it sort of fell in my lap. Growing up we were big Chicago Bears fans. My family and I never missed a game, but I was the only one to play football in high school. Landon played baseball and Logan and Lucas shined on the basketball court. Lacey dabbled in a little bit of everything, but she stuck with dancing. I never wanted to make it into the NFL. And I surprised everyone when I didn’t enter the NFL draft. They kept talking about how I was giving up millions, but it’s never been about money for me. I like teaching. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. My mom’s always called me her studious one because I never slacked off in high school or college. So when I took a job at Lakemont High I thought I would just be a History teacher. But when word got out that I played college football at Notre Dame, and could’ve gone pro, the sports administrator asked if I could help out coaching. The team had only won three games in the prior two seasons so I agreed. I started out as assistant coach and this year I’m head coach. It’s a great group of young guys who’ve been failing because of the previous coaches lack of knowledge about the sport. I don’t expect us to win state this year but I do expect to show we are a team to watch out for. That is if I can get Lewis to hold on to the DAMN BALL. He’s just running. No one is chasing him and no one is tackling him and he just dropped it again. Idiot!
“What the hell Lewis?” I ask.
“My hands are sweaty.” He explains. It’s July and the temperature is in the high 90’s.
“So are mine. So are Marks. So are everyone else’s on this damn team. Do you see them dropping the ball?” I ask angrily.
“No sir.”
“Then pick it up and run it again.” I say.
Mallory
“Wake up, you’re going to be late.” I hear my sister Amy demand.
“Five more minutes.” I plead.
“No. Get up. It’s the first day of school.” Amy says.-- God she can be so annoying.
“Alright I’m up.....” I groan as I roll out of the bed.
I slip my shoes on before placing my feet on the disgusting carpet and the even more disgusting bathroom tiles. I can’t believe I have to start my senior year off like this.
I quickly shower because we have just a couple of minutes before the water turns ice cold. Grabbing the clothes I picked out the night before, I give them a good shake just in case any bugs decided to get comfy in them last night. I dress in a pair of white shorts with a blue V-neck T-shirt. I’m not dressed fancy but at least I don’t look like I’m living in Mike’s motel, and for that I’m grateful.
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