by Faye Sonja
He laughed. "It will be fine."
Just a few minutes later, beneath the beautiful afternoon summer skies she was being walked down the aisle to the strumming of the small band that had been hired to play for her big day. Even as she walked she couldn't help but think that she had thoughts that this moment may have never arrived. They had come so close to losing each other that she had thought they would never find common ground.
"We can still make a run for it," Nathan joked as he marched her in time to the music to the gorgeous blonde haired man who was waiting patiently for her at the altar. He looked like something absolutely magical and for a moment she couldn't believe that he was all hers. Men like this did not marry half blind women. They simply did not. Men like this married the belles of the balls and the top cut of society’s socialites.
"The only place I want to run is into his arms," she said with a smile. This was one of those days she had waited her whole life for and she was not about to run away from it.
Nathan was still whispering to her but she could no longer hear him. All that was real to her was the man waiting on her at the altar up ahead. All that was real to her was the feel of the white dress she wore rustling against her skin. All that was real to her was the magic of this moment and the future that would come from it.
The next hour passed by in a bit of a rush and when the vows were exchanged she knew she had crossed the threshold into a life that would not soon be forgotten.
"Any regrets?" Alex asked her later as she stood watching the men horsing around. They laughed at all the antics and she knew she had absolutely no regrets about her decision… except one.
"My only regret is that I had not found him earlier."
With that she walked back to the table and into the arms of the man who was all hers. When his lips touched hers in sweet surrender she was lost in him and desperately looked forward to the happy ever after.
* * *
Epilogue
.
Five months later
When the sun broke through the rain clouds for the first time in months, Kate ran outdoors barefooted in the grass. It was the kind of rain Aunt May warned her not to run about in or she could catch cold; the kind of rain the crops they had recently planted would desperately need in order to grow. Nathan had brought his farm hands over to plow the land and plant seeds and now they had acres of corn sprouting that would be ready for the autumn harvest. They had poultry and beef and they had bought a couple more horses for Michael to tend to. Young apple trees had also been planted, but it would be a few years before those would produce a bounty of delicious red apples. All in all they were well on their way to having the kind of life where Jason no longer tended bar in a saloon and Michael could be sent to school to get an education.
Things were looking up.
"You should put your shoes on," Jason laughed running out behind her and curling his hands possessively around her swollen stomach. The baby inside her kicked, reminding her to take it easy and she turned to press her lips against his.
"Nothing is more beautiful than kissing you with my toes curled in the morning dew."
He rubbed his nose against hers. "I love you Mrs. Stram."
She took a deep breath, inhaling the intoxicating scent that was his. She loved every bit of him and could not imagine a day where he would not be by her side.
"Thank you for being a part of my life," she whispered to him. "I appreciate and love you more than you will ever know."
He placed a kiss over her blind eye. "You are the best thing to have ever happened to me."
"And me!" Squealed Michael as he did summersaults on his way to the stables. They laughed at his stunt and had the same thought... he would be happy for the little brother or little sister they would give him soon.
* * *
If you have enjoyed reading 9 Brides for 9 Cowboys Boxed set, you may want to check it out another 22 Brides & Babies 22 Book boxed set (1 Bonus Series included) that might interest you.
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Here’s a sneak peek at Book 1 of May’s story :
The Bride’s Lost Baby & The Miner . . .
“Come on, May, just one more really good push.”
May’s lower muscles squeezed tightly while she wrapped her fingers around her mother’s, holding her in a vice like grip. Her breathing grew heavy; she cut her eyes to the world and felt her stomach muscles throb as she let out a loud scream, sure that the sound had escaped through the paper walls of their tiny apartment and into the next.
“Good, May. Now, just one more time.”
She groaned.
She didn’t have any ‘one more times’ in her left.
She was tired. Every bone in her eighteen-year-old body ached. Her aunt Jane, a midwife had arrived only a half hour ago, but May had been in the greatest pain of her life for hours. What had started out as a simple throb had blossomed into mind-blowing shots of agony, to the point that May believed she would die.
The possibility of death wasn’t far-fetched. Women died in childbirth all the time. She’d been warned by a few women of the possibility, and her fear of it had turned her blood cool. But after hours of pain, May was ready to let go. She was just so tired.
Annie, her mother, reached out and yanked her chin, giving her a pair of hard pale blue eyes. Eyes that matched her own, but now held faint tired lines that came with a life of hard work and struggling to survive. At thirty-five, she was still a gorgeous woman. “Push, May. Push,” she commanded. And whatever Annie wanted, Annie got.
May sucked her lungs full of air and then tightened every muscle in her body and screamed. She screamed until her throat burned with irritation. She screamed until she heard the cries of another. This one, small in both strength and volume, but powerful and the sweetest thing that May had ever heard.
“It’s a boy.” Jane took the baby, cleaned the blood and fluid from his tiny body, and then laid the babe on May’s chest.
May felt drained, but found the strength to lift her hands and caress the face of her child. His eyes were closed, his face was pink, and a bed of blond hair lay on his head. So light, the strands were almost transparent and she moved the weightless golden wisps through her fingers. She counted his toes and fingers, finding them all intact and spotting a birthmark that resembled a heart on the back of his right leg. She smiled, thinking the heart her very own. For the little boy sure did have it. “He’s so small.”
Jane smiled. “Most of them are,” she whispered before beginning to massage May’s stomach.
May sighed with relief and happiness. “Hello, Jack.” She’d picked out names months ago. If it had been a girl, she would have named her after her mother and the boy after her father. The child’s father had wanted nothing to do with May once he found out that she was pregnant, so May had decided she’d go motherhood alone with the aid of her family. No one had any money, but as May looked down into the boy’s face, she was determined to make it work. For him. Her life would be about him now and they would face the world together.
* * *
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This book is copyright © 2016 by FAYE SONJA.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
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Cover Designed by Kevin Farnell.
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