My parents had wanted to come once the baby was born, but it hadn’t been difficult to convince my mother they should come a few days earlier. Elsie had been excited about my mom being at the hospital for the birth. Not necessarily in the room, obviously, but just there.
Since they had become so close, she claimed it was the closest she could come to having her own mother there. I knew it was something she desperately wanted, so I made it happen for her.
There was another reason I’d asked them to come earlier, though, and I was holding it in the palm of my hand. Dad would never have sent the ring via courier, and I’d been too busy getting things set up at work so I could take some time off after the baby came to fetch it from them.
So here they were. My family and the ring were finally all under one roof.
The cottage Elsie had moved into almost a year ago finally had inhabitants again. Well, it would for a few weeks while my parents were here.
After we’d gotten back from Illinois, I’d moved her in with me. It hadn’t been that big of a leap for either of us to make, and it had actually gone pretty smoothly.
I had turned the guestroom closest to the master bedroom into a nursery with robin’s egg blue walls and puffy clouds painted on them. Airplanes hung from the ceiling and there was one mounted above the changing station.
Elsie and I had finished packing the diaper caddy and a whole bunch of other goods I was going to get intimately familiar with just this morning. Everything was ready, and now that my parents were here, there was only one thing left to do before we were one-hundred-percent ready.
Riley grinned at me. “Go get her, bro. I hope she says yes by the way. It will be super awkward for us to be here if she doesn’t.”
Wonder above wonder, it was my father who raised his middle finger the fastest. “Don’t be jealous, Riley. If you’d pull your head out of your ass, you could be next.”
“Fat chance,” Riley mumbled. “I like Elsie, though. I don’t mind you getting married if it’s her you’re getting married to.”
“Gee, thanks.” I flipped him off too, but it was halfhearted.
My father’s hand came down on my shoulder, and he squeezed it. “Go ask her. We’ll be right here getting things set up. Just send your mom out here if you don’t want an audience.”
“Thanks.” I licked my dry lips and downed half of Elsie’s juice before I topped it off again. “Here goes nothing. Wish me luck.”
“Luck,” both of them said.
Then I walked away. By the time I got back to the living room with their juices, I was practically hyperventilating. I handed my mom’s over first. “Dad needs to talk to you about something. They’re out back.”
“Okay.” She frowned. “Is everything okay?”
“Perfect,” I said. “We’ll be out in a minute.”
Her eyes narrowed. Then suddenly, she beamed at me. It was like she’d seen the outline of the ring box in my pocket or maybe—and this was the more likely scenario—my father and brother hadn’t been able to pull one over on her.
I hadn’t wanted to leave her out of the process, but I’d wanted it to be a surprise. Besides, it wasn’t like there had really been a process. My father had gotten the ring out of their safe and taken it to Mr. Harold’s store. Riley had picked it up again a few days later and gave it back to Dad, who had put it back in the safe until this morning.
There were tears in my mother’s eyes as she blew me a kiss and winked at me before leaving the room. But Elsie didn’t see her. She was looking at me with her head tilted and her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“What’s going on this time?”
“What do you mean?” I asked innocently, pretending there wasn’t a ring burning a fucking hole in my pocket right then.
She crossed her arms under her deliciously swollen breasts, smacking me when she noticed my gaze had dropped. “I mean that I know that look, and the other one. You’re up to something, and no, we’re not ducking out for a quickie. Your parents just arrived.”
“I know, but we can make it real quick.” I smirked at her and bent over to kiss her, but she shook her head and only allowed a small kiss before she arched a questioning brow at me.
I lifted my hands out to my sides. “Okay, fine. If you insist on knowing what I’m up to, please come with me.”
“Come with you where?”
“Just come with me. I promise it’s not far.” It wasn’t, but I knew it would feel that way to her. I held out my hand and breathed an internal sigh of relief when she took it.
“You know walking can induce labor, right?” She groaned as she stood up, immediately bringing her hand to her left side. “The baby and one of my ribs are having a fight. My rib is losing, in case you were wondering.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” I pressed a kiss against her temple as we walked to the front door. “He’ll be here soon at least.”
“Yeah, I know.” She smiled as she melted into my side and wound an arm around my waist. “Where are we going?”
“Just outside for a second.” I opened the door, and once we were out, I slung my arm over her shoulders again.
Elsie shielded her eyes from the sun with the hand not around my body, leaning back a bit to glance up at me. “Why exactly are we going outside?”
“You’ll see.” I led her to the driveway. More specifically, to the first bend in it. It was where I had first heard her gasp when she saw the cottage.
When we stopped there, she frowned up at me. “What are we doing, babe?”
“Give or take a month or two, about a year ago, I drove up this very driveway with a girl I had met recently on my mind. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I knew she was looking for a place to stay, and despite how crazy it seemed, when I came home, I wondered if she wouldn’t enjoy living here. With me.”
“You’d better be talking about me,” she teased and put her hands on her hips as she peered up at me. “Why the trip down memory lane, love?”
“Because of exactly that. I love you. I knew you were different from the moment I met you, and I’m pretty sure my love for you was always there. It was just waiting for you to come along, and then it was waiting for my stupid brain to catch up.”
“Your brain isn’t stupid,” she said and smiled at me. “It might have had that one lapse in judgment, but we’ve moved past that.”
“Yeah, I know we have, but it was still stupid to have gotten you involved.” I ran one hand through my hair and stuck the other into my pocket, pulling out the ring before lowering myself down onto one knee.
Elsie sucked in a sharp breath but didn’t interrupt me again.
“I was so happy when you agreed to take this place. It didn’t make any sense to me at the time, but now I know it was because my soul recognized yours as its mate. I want us to be a family, Elsie. Will you marry me?”
Tears glistened in her eyes, and when I popped open the box, her hands flew to her mouth. “Taydom, that’s absolutely beautiful.”
I straightened up and wound my arms around her waist, her hard belly pressed up against me. “It was my grandmother’s. What do you say? Want to wear it for, say, the rest of your life?”
“Yes.” She gave me the biggest, most gorgeous smile before going up on her toes and looping her arms around my neck. “I’d love to, baby. I love you so much.”
My family must have sneaked around the corner of the house from the entertainment area because as I was sliding the ring onto Elsie finger, loud cheering and whooping started. When I jerked my head around to see what was happening, all three of them plus Andrew and Beth—who I had no idea how or when they had gotten in—came running at us.
Riley winked at me. So I had a good idea he’d had something to do with ensuring that our best friends were here for this. When he gave me a hug to congratulate me, he confirmed it. “I thought she might want her friend here, and since Drew has been there for you when I couldn’t, I figured he should be here too.”
“T
hanks, bro.” I pulled away from him to see Mom, Beth, and Elsie in a group hug. Unable to resist, I went to join them, then felt Andrew and Riley close ranks at my sides.
When another pair of arms surrounded mine, I turned my head to see even my father had joined in on the hug. At the question in my eyes, he simply shrugged.
“What? If this is the beginning of a happily ever after, I want to be in on it this time.”
“It’s not an if.” I winked at him and planted a kiss on Elsie’s cheek. “It is the beginning of a happily ever after.”
Elsie turned in the center of everyone’s arms to seek mine out. When I drew her up against me, her eyes went wide. “I hate to break up this moment, but I’m pretty sure the happily ever after is about to start right now.”
Panic hit my gut, but I jumped into action the next second. “It’s okay, baby. We’re prepared for this.”
Throwing an arm into the air, I waved it in a circular motion and made eye contact with my brother and best friend. “Pack it all in, boys. We’re continuing this party at the hospital. There’s going to be one extra guest joining us.
Elsie grinned at me. Then her face contorted as she grabbed my arm. “You’re going to have to bring the car around. The part of the happily ever after who’s been growing inside me has decided he’s tired of waiting. He’s not missing this party, even if it means he has to come out right now.”
“I’m on it.” I smacked another kiss on her temple. “I’ve got you, baby. Always. Forever.”
It was only a little over an hour later when Cooper James Gaines came kicking and screaming into the world. I lost my heart to the little guy the first time I held him in my arms, and as I watched Elsie cradling him, I knew that our happily ever after was off to the best start it could have gotten.
The End.
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About the Author
Hey there. I'm Weston.
Have we met? No? Well, it’s time to end that tragedy.
I'm a former firefighter/EMS guy who's picked up the proverbial pen and started writing bad boy romance stories. I co-write with my sister, Ali Parker, but live in Texas with my wife, my two little boys, a dog, and a turtle.
Yep. A turtle. You read that right. Don’t be jealous.
You're going to find Billionaires, Bad Boys, Military Guys, and loads of sexiness. Something for everyone hopefully. I'd love to connect with you. Check out the links below and come find me.
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The Parker’s Wicked Playground
Give Me The Weekend
Copyright © 2020 by Weston Parker
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.
First Edition.
Editor: Eric Martinez
Cover Designer: Ryn Katryn Digital Art
Give Me The Weekend Page 26