by York, Zoe
“Connor, Max…Liam and I had an important conversation last night.” She smiled across the table at him, and Liam waited for the boys to bust him.
“Oh?” Connor asked with a total straight face.
“Well, you know we’re having a baby, and I think you know by now how important Liam is to me—” she shot him a quick grin “—almost as important as you two.”
Max looked up from his cereal. “Is this about you getting engaged?”
Connor shushed him, and Evie wrinkled her brow. “How did you know?”
“Because Liam asked us last week how we’d feel about that.” Max shrugged. “I suggested a new PlayStation instead of a ring, but he seemed to think the ring was the right way to go.”
Liam had learned that sniffles, particularly in pregnant women, were very hard to read. Connor had apparently learned the same lesson. He took one look at his mom, and leaned over to ask Liam if those were good tears or bad tears.
“Damned if I know, but she’s not yelling, that’s a good sign.” He looked at his future bride, who rolled her eyes at him.
“You try living with these hormones, you goof! Of course they’re happy tears. You asked them?”
“Of course. If they weren’t ready, I’d have waited.”
“And you guys are okay with this?” Evie looked from Connor to Max and back again. They nodded in tandem.
“Plus, he’s bringing his iPad to live here.” Max looked at Liam sagely. “You might need to buy yourself a new one. I think yours might get lost.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Another glance at his watch. They still had time, but at this rate—
“Stop worrying about parking spots.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.” She swept into view and even though he had been, parking was now the last thing on his mind. “Do I look okay?”
She wore crazy tall heels, the shiny black patent a saucy counter to her bouncy red chiffon dress. The soft swell of her belly was disguised under the floating layers that seemed to dance as she moved toward him. “Wow. You look stunning.”
“Yeah?” She allowed herself a small smile. “It was hard to find something that fit. I don’t have an appropriate maternity dress. This is Laney’s.”
“You’d rock a paper bag, sunshine.”
“Hush. Will you do up my necklace?” A glittering strand dangled from her outstretched hand.
He moved closer and reached past it to trace a finger along the inside of her forearm. “You don’t need jewels to shine.”
Evie rolled her eyes. “Nice line.”
“It’s not a line. You seriously take my breath away.”
“Liam…”
“Okay, okay. Give me that.” He took his time sliding the necklace from her fingers, relishing the last little bit of contact. The last week had been a flurry of family and community events, and early bedtimes. No school meant no time for afternoon fun, either. “Turn around.”
She spun slowly, revealing her back. All of her back. The loose fabric of her dress sat low enough to reveal dimples below the tuck of her waist. All the blood drained out of his head. Not a surprise. It was all needed in his groin.
“Evie—” Her name came out in a strangled hiss. She cocked her head to the side, glancing back at him over her shoulder. “You can’t wear this dress.”
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s indecent. I love it.” To prove his point, he placed his finger right between those dimples and trailed his hand up her spine. The goosebumps that pebbled under his fingertips confirmed she was as affected by his touch as he was by her skin. By all of her. He fastened her necklace, then dipped his head to whisper in her ear. “And if you wear it tonight, then the entire town population is going to be scandalized, because I’m going to have my hands all over you. And anyone who comes near——and, sunshine, they will try, abso-fucking-lutely—is going to get a face full of me instead of you.”
“I don’t think anyone is going to be paying attention to me tonight.”
“Then you clearly haven’t seen the back of this dress in a mirror.” He was tempted to slide his hands through the gap in the fabric and test just how naked she was underneath, but he didn’t want to test his luck. Or his restraint.
“I promise, all eyes are going to be on Karen tonight.” She’d spilled the beans a few days earlier.
He thought it was brilliant, but Evie was quick to dissuade him of the same idea for their wedding. “How many people is this actually going to be a surprise for?”
“Karen seems to think her mother still doesn’t know.”
“Well, then this should be fun.”
Sexy jazz music swirled through the air as Evie walked into the glittering winery. As Liam had suspected, parking was a nightmare, so he dropped her off and went to find a spot near the back of the lot.
She spotted Beth immediately. The other woman had a discreet ear piece and an obvious clipboard. “Evie!” She stopped for a moment and made gushing noises about Evie’s dress, and Evie returned the compliment sincerely. Beth was tall and curvy, with exceptional taste, and she’d outdone herself tonight, wearing a little black dress that walked the line between guest and professional.
“Are you the unofficial Vegas coordinator tonight?”
Karen had started using that as the actual code word for the wedding, and Beth knew exactly what Evie meant. She lifted her hands in a “what can you do” gesture. “I wasn’t going to let someone else come in and muck up the place, now was I?”
They shared a laugh, then someone talked to Beth in her ear and she excused herself after whispering that Vegas would happen in about thirty minutes. Evie glanced around for the happy couple. She knew Karen and Paul planned to be here for the whole evening, and not make a special entrance. It was thrilling, knowing what was about to happen.
She saw Paul first, handsome and grinning like a fool in a sharp tuxedo. He had Megan on his arm, and at first Evie didn’t recognize her. She was wearing an almost strapless ball gown, but as Evie moved closer, she saw thin metallic bands dancing over the girl’s shoulders. She’d obviously gone to the salon with Karen earlier, and her hair was twisted and curled into an up do.
Before she reached them, she heard her name, and spun around to find the bride herself.
“Look at you,” Evie breathed. As soon as the justice of the peace announced the nuptials, it would be obvious that Karen was a bride, but her dress was subtle enough to blend in to the wintery party until then. Pale blue, a few shades lighter than Megan’s dress, and under the lights on the dance floor it would look white. A diamond necklace glittered around her neck. Her hair was half up and half down, and adorned with dozens of tiny sparkles.
Beside her, Carrie appeared out of nowhere and together they pressed in, sharing a secret squeal about Vegas actually happening.
“Beth has us on a tight timeline. Once she has a visual on everyone on my secret guest list, we’ll do this thing, and then it’ll be dancing and drinking all night.” Karen glanced at Evie. “You can dance and drink Perrier.”
“I don’t know how much dancing I’ll do, but heck ya!” She looked around for Liam, and spotted him in line at the bar. He waved, and she pointed to a table that Ian was staking out.
Before long, two staffers carried a small dais to the center of the dance floor, and once it was in place, Evan escorted a distinguished looking gentleman to the platform and raised his hand. Quiet descended, and he lifted a microphone.
“Welcome, everyone, to Go West Winery’s fourth annual New Year’s Eve gala. On behalf of myself, my brother Ty, and all of our staff, we’re thrilled to have so many from the Wardham community with us tonight.” A murmur of mutual appreciation went through the crowd. “Now, some of you were pressed into attending tonight, and I’m going to introduce a special guest to explain why that was a good decision on your part. Ladies and Gentlemen, His Worship Jason McAuley.”
The justice of the peace accepted the mic
rophone, and Evan took a seat at a nearby table, where Evie noticed Karen’s parents and siblings were sitting. Consummate professional, Evan would want to make sure the reaction was managed to best effect.
“On this most special of nights, I’ve been asked to lead you all in a celebration of marriage.”
This time, it was more of a roar than a murmur, and it took a few minutes for the crowd the settle down. The justice waited patiently, a smile playing across his face. Once he had the rapt attention of the room again, he lifted his hands.
“Constable Paul Reynolds and Ms. Karen Miller would be honoured if you would bear witness to their vows tonight.”
Evie watched, with tears in her own eyes, as Karen’s mother realized what was about to happen. She shrieked and leapt out of her chair, and then Karen and Paul were right in front of her, with a hug and a whispered word.
And then they were on the dais, and there weren’t many dry eyes in the room as Paul took Karen’s hand in his and repeated the vows the justice prompted to him.
“Karen, with all that I am, and all that I have, I vow my life to you.
I will be faithful and honest with you;
I will respect, trust, help and care for you;
And I will share my all with you, through whatever may come.”
Her own voice warbling with emotion, Karen repeated the same vows back, and then the justice of the peace announced that as the couple had signed the registry earlier in the evening, the next part of the service was a pledge to Megan.
Evie had trouble hearing the words, as she sobbed through it, and Liam passed her at least three tissues before she composed herself, just in time to see Megan shyly pass her father a velvet bag containing the rings. As Paul wiggled out the precious contents, his daughter linked hands with her new step-mother, and Evie thought she just might lose it again.
“You going to be okay, sunshine?” Liam shifted his chair closer, his legs spread wide, so she could lean back against him.
She sniffled. “There’s just so much love up there.”
“And right here, too.” He pressed a small kiss to the curve of her outer ear. “You thinking about involving the boys in our wedding?”
She nodded.
“I think they’ll like that. I’ll like that.” He nodded to the platform. “I’ll like this next part, too.”
“Ladies and gentleman, it is my most sincere pleasure to introduce for the first time as husband and wife, step-mother and step-daughter, a trio of Reynolds, the newly married Paul and Karen and their daughter Megan. Paul, you may now kiss your bride.”
The entire room erupted in cheers, and everyone raised their glass high as he did just that, dipping Karen low and holding her there long enough for the whoops to start. When he pulled her upright again, they both looked flushed, glassy-eyed, and ridiculously happy.
Liam stopped at the bar and grabbed a beer for himself and a glass of lemon water for Evie before finding her at the edge of the dance floor. He stopped beside her and ducked his head to her ear, wanting the warm murmur of his voice to be for her alone. “You’re enjoying yourself.”
She glanced coyly at him out of the corner of her eye and laughed. “Yes, I am.”
Between them, her fingers were tapping along with the smooth jazz, and her hips were twisting almost imperceptibly, like she was trying to restrain herself from just letting go and dancing on the edge of the party.
“Then we should go out there and dance.”
“I’m fine right here.” She gazed at him for a moment, her face softening but still full of joy. “I’m not sure my feet are up to it. They’re already swelling.”
“There you are, I’ve been looking for you all night. So glad you came. Are you guys going to dance?” Evan glanced between them, mis-reading their hesitation. “If you don’t care for it, I’m happy to twirl Evie around the floor once or twice.”
“We’re having fun just watching, Evan, thank you.” How many times had Evie had to say the same thing to cover for her ex-husband? From the tightening of Evan’s jaw, Liam knew more than once. And once would have been one time too many.
“No, you should dance with Evan.” He nodded at the other man.
“No, Liam, it’s okay—”
He slid one palm over her belly and the other across the back of her neck. He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her temple before twisting his lips to brush against her earlobe. “Sunshine, after you do a twirl with him, it’ll be our turn. And at the end of the night, I’m taking you home. I’m going to enjoy watching you. Go.”
She twisted in his arms, and all of a sudden he was holding her, their baby squirming between them, and he was tempted to drag her back to her house that very second. “We’ll dance together?”
“Absolutely.” He brushed his lips across hers.
“Do you two want a room?” They glanced as one toward Evan, who was sporting a shit-eating grin. “Cause I can go…”
“No.” Liam pushed Evie toward her ex-boyfriend. “We’ve got all the time in the world.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“You aren’t concerned that you’re having regular contractions?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re ten minutes apart, and not getting any closer.”
“They’ve been ten minutes apart for twenty-four hours now. I thought the third labour was supposed to be quick. I was worried about having an unexpected home birth, not having days of early labour.”
“Honey, with all due respect, can you not talk about this labour like you’re going through it?”
“Unlikely, sorry, sunshine.”
“Hey, did you buy me a Valentine’s Day present?”
“Maybe, why?”
“Because it’s possible that I might give you a child, and I think that’ll be hard to top.”
Evie wasn’t wrong. Their daughter arrived nine hours later, at five minutes to three in the morning on the fourteenth of February. And there was no way that the pendant he bought her, with the birth stones of each of her children in it, could compete with the perfection of holding his little seven pound bundle of love in his arms.
He’d been blown away by Evie’s strength during labour. When she cried and begged for drugs during transition, and Donna quietly told her there probably wouldn’t be time for anything other than a bit of gas, she harnessed an inner strength that made him want to cry. When she sagged back against him between contractions, and then surged forward again, curling over her belly, he couldn’t do anything but hold her and feel humble.
And when baby Ava slipped into the world, it was Evie’s hands that reached down and pulled her home, to her mother’s chest, and Liam knew his face was wet with tears. He’d tell no one, but he’d never forget that feeling. “You’re amazing,” he whispered, as he held his woman, who held his daughter.
They were home by mid-morning, and as soon as his girls were settled, Liam called Claire and she and the boys came to meet the newest member of the family.
“Where did the name Ava come from?” Claire asked him quietly as the boys joined their mother and sister on the bed.
“Evie liked the name Anna when she was pregnant with Max. I like the name Evie. I pushed the two together.”
“Does she have a middle name?”
Liam didn’t tell her how close their little girl had come to being named after her grandmother. “Her full name is Ava Delaney Calhoun McIntosh.”
When Claire gasped and rushed to Evie’s side, he knew his bride-to-be was right—that was the perfect name. He left Evie to her fan club, and went and made tea.
When he came back a few minutes later, Ava was nursing, the boys had drifted off to their room, and Evie was telling her mother about the birth. “He was amazing, Mom. A total rock, especially when it all got to be too much for me. You remember, with Max? How I sobbed and begged for drugs?”
“No epidural this time?”
Evie shook her head. “No time. Whew, that was a th
ing, I’ll tell you. I guess I don’t have to, eh?”
“Oh, sweetheart, luckily that was so long ago that I’ve forgotten.”
“Mom, I hope I never forget.”
“Maybe you’ll get to do it again.”
Evie laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe. That’ll be up to Liam.”
That was his cue. “Who wants tea?”
“Oh, yes, thank you, Liam, that would be lovely.” Claire patted her daughter’s leg. “I’ll help myself in the kitchen.”
Evie waited until after her mother was safely on the other side of the house. “You heard?”
He nodded. “You’d have another?”
“Today? I say yes. Don’t ask me again for a year, okay?”
“You’ve got a deal, sunshine.”
As much as Liam felt like he’d won the lottery that day, the days that followed were a challenge. The third and fourth days were low points, with midwives and lactation consultants coming and going, and many, many tears. But then the next day was a bit better, and the day after that again so, and by the beginning of March, Evie was whipping the boys to school with Ava strapped to her chest, and then checking in with Stella at the studio before coming home for a morning nap.
Liam finally finished the last two rental units and found tenants, and then it was time for him to call the Wests. He put on a suit for the first time since New Year’s, and set off for the winery. Three hours later, he brought home a bottle of sparkling wine and a six month contract for part-time consulting. While Ava had an afternoon nap, Liam and Evie had their first shower together since the birth.
Evie extended the invitation, but then scurried into the bathroom ahead of him. By the time he joined her, steam had successfully obscured her from his vision.