Second Chance Mess (Bad News Billionaires Book 1)

by Lucia Jordan

  "Tell me again about how I'm made of stars," Beatrice said as we looked up at the late afternoon sky.

  There were no stars visible in the sky yet, but it didn't matter to her. It was her favorite story to hear about how she was made of the stars in the sky. I think it was one of my favorite stories, too.

  "One night, while your mom and I were laying here on the ground by the fire and looking up at the sky, one of the stars blinked at us."

  "Show me!" she said as she looked at my face.

  I made an overly exaggerated blinking gesture, and she giggled. "Just like that," I said. "And when it blinked at us, your mom knew that you were getting ready to be sent down from the sky and into her tummy."

  "But how did it happen? How did I come all the way down here and get into Mommy’s belly so fast?"

  "Oh, it wasn't fast," Brooke laughed. "It took some time. But stardust travels with magic time, so it didn't feel like that long at all."

  "And when I was ready to be born, I glittered, right?" Beatrice asked. That was her favorite part of the story.

  "Yes," Brooke said. "When we first saw you, you sparkled so brightly that we had to squint our eyes to see you because of how beautifully glittery you were."

  Brooke smiled so wide that her mouth looked too big for her face.

  Just then, a car pulled up, and Kate and Nick stepped out.

  "Auntie Kate, Uncle Nick!" Beatrice shouted as she ran toward them to give them hugs.

  "How's my favorite niece?" Nick said as he lifted her up and swung her around in the air.

  "I'm your only niece," she reminded him.

  "True," he said. "That must be why you're my favorite."

  Kate gave Brooke and me both a hug and then bent over on the ground to give Max a sort of hug, too.

  "Played a dragon again, did you?" she laughed.

  "It just about kills me every time," Max moaned.

  "Mommy and Daddy were just telling me the story about how I came from the stars," Beatrice said to Kate.

  "Oh, were they?" she said as she rolled her eyes at us. "That's one of my favorites. Brooke, you really should think about getting a job teaching health education or something with all of that star knowledge."

  "Shut up," Brooke laughed. "Besides, I like our stories much better than the ones they teach in school."

  "Well, you might need to start telling me that story again, Beatrice," Kate said to her. "Because I seem to keep forgetting how that works, and I think I'm going to need to know about it soon."

  "Why?" Beatrice asked innocently.

  "Oh my gosh, Kate," Brooke said as she put her hand over her mouth. "Are you—"

  "Yep," Kate smiled. "Looks like Beatrice is finally going to have that little playmate she's been wanting."

  "Congratulations," I said as I got up to shake Nick's hand.

  "Why is everyone having babies except for me?" Max called up from his still sprawled position on the ground.

  "Because you don't have a woman," Kate teased.

  "He doesn't need a woman," Beatrice corrected her. "He just needs a star."

  Everyone smiled and laughed, and Beatrice went to sit on Kate's lap.

  "I'm really happy that I'll have someone to play with now," she said to Kate.

  "Me too," Kate smiled at her.

  "Okay, this is cause for celebration," I said. "I'm going to go in and get us some sparkling wine and some sparkling juice."

  Brooke hopped up to follow me inside the house as Beatrice stayed with Kate and the guys, and Max finally sat up.

  "What wonderful news," Brooke said as she was taking glasses down from the cabinets.

  "Did you ever think we would get to this point?" I asked her.

  "What point?"

  "Here and now, with our friends so closely tied together, and our beautiful daughter, and our sanctuary on the mountainside?"

  "Yes," she said. "I did. Didn't you?"

  "Yeah, I guess that deep down inside, I always knew, but every day I am still in such awe about how lucky I am."

  "I wonder whatever happened to that woman who nearly ended us," Brooke said.

  "Who, Chelsea?"

  "Yeah," she laughed. "I really hated her."

  "I think she moved out to California or something to be a model, last I heard," I said. "I'll never forget that time you punched her in the face," I laughed,

  "Oh geez," Brooke said as she made a sour face. "I was so embarrassed about that. I thought for sure you would never let me live that down."

  "She had it coming," I said.

  "Yes, she did, but you know what? Maybe if it weren't for her, we would have never realized how important we were to each other and how much we needed to be with each other despite anything else."

  "I guess I never thought of it that way," I said. "That might be true. Although it would have been nice not to have had to deal with some of those issues."

  "I don't know," Brooke mused as she looked out the window at Beatrice, trying to ride on Max's back as if he were a dog.

  He probably wouldn't be able to move in the morning. He sure was a good sport about it, though.

  "Maybe every single thing that we went through led us to this very moment, all of the good and the bad. Maybe if any one of those moments would have been changed or ceased to exist, then maybe we wouldn't all be here right now," she said.

  "Then I would go through every one of those moments again, a thousand times over if I had to," I said.

  "Me too."

  "You know, you're pretty wise," I smiled as I looked at her sparkling eyes.

  "That's because I'm made of stars," she laughed.

  "Hey, don't tease, I actually really like that story," I said.

  "Me too, that's why I came up with it. Plus, I think there's a little bit of truth to it, even if it's just a tiny amount."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "Do you remember that night? How different it felt making love beneath the stars? It was almost like the universe knew that Beatrice was coming then. I know it's just a fanciful story, but I still feel like it's more than that. I feel like everything that has led us to each other and that we've created together has been more than that."

  Brooke smiled at me and got ready to walk back outside with the glasses.

  "Hang on a second," I said as I walked over and wrapped my arms around her waist.

  "I love you," I whispered as I kissed her soft lips.

  "I love you, too," she said. "And I always will."

  Beatrice's delightful squeal interrupted our momentary revelry, and we continued out the door with the juice, wine, and glasses in hand. She now had her aunt and both uncles pretending to be fire-breathing dragons.

  I poured the drinks into glasses, and once they stopped crawling around on the ground, everyone came to get a beverage.

  "What is this?" Beatrice asked.

  "Sparkling grape juice," Brooke answered her.

  "Do princesses drink it?"

  "All the time," her mom smiled at her as she hoisted Beatrice up into her lap.

  I raised my glass as the late afternoon sun began to set against the mountains and thought of the only toast that I felt mattered at this point in time. "To our friends who have become our family, and to our families that are continuing to grow. We are so lucky to have each other on this beautiful day and in this beautiful place. And we are so lucky to have the memories and the time to make more of them together."

  Everyone raised their glasses in the air except for Beatrice.

  "Something that you want to add, princess?" I asked her.

  Her little nose wrinkled up as it did when she was concentrating very hard on something. She looked around at everyone and then lastly at Brooke and me. Then she looked up at the sky and held her glass up toward the faint little stars that were just barely starting to show through the dimming light. "I think we should say thank you for the stars, too," she said in a sweet little voice.

  "I agree," I said. "And thank you for the st
ars."

  The sound of clinking glasses echoed in the mountain air as everyone hit their glasses together. Beatrice hopped down off of Brooke's lap and ran from person to person, touching her glass gently against theirs. By the time she had returned to Brooke and me, we got a toast, and we each also got a small kiss on the cheek. Brooke and I exchanged a content and happy smile.

  "Okay, ready now, guys?" Beatrice said as she got ready to lead us all in another round of playtime.

  Everyone set down their glasses as the sky began to turn pink, and Max let out a ferocious dragon's roar.