by L. S. Pullen
“You’re an arsehole,” she says.
Nathan chuckles. “Now who’s swearing?”
Lottie lets out a heavy sigh. “Come on, you two, I don’t want the godparents being at each other’s throats, especially not today. Can you maybe call a cease-fire today, for me?”
I pull Lottie to my side and can’t hide my smile; my girl is smart.
“Did you hear that? We’re going to be godparents,” Nathan says, pulling Vi into the biggest bear hug, which she reciprocates. She soon snaps out of it. “Put me down, you idiot,” she says, but her voice is soft.
Vi looks between Lottie and me and clears her throat. “Are you serious?”
We both nod, and then surprising us all, Vi bursts out crying.
“Shit, are you okay?” Lottie asks, pulling her in for a hug.
Even Nathan looks a little concerned.
Vi laughs, fanning her face. “I’m fine, happy tears. You caught me off guard, is all. I love you,” she says, and it’s all that’s needed for Lottie to start crying too. Vi recovers quickly and says something about the cake and walks off, Nathan hot on her heels.
“Everything all right?” Henry asks, holding Jacob’s little hand in his.
“Yeah, H, everything’s cool. They just found out we want them as godparents too.”
I’d already asked Henry and Meg.
Our closest friends and family fill out the hall. There’s been games and food––lots of food. There’s a cake, but we’re not allowed to touch that until the end, and we still don’t know their plan for the gender reveal.
Vi claps her hands and gains everyone’s attention as Nathan walks in, holding two massive balloons on ribboned weights. We’re called to stand in front of everyone, and a balloon is placed in front of Ethan and me.
I’m shaking now with excited energy.
This is so surreal.
Nathan declares at the count down from ten we are to simultaneously pop the balloons, which are black and covered in gold question marks. I reach out for Lottie’s free hand and squeeze it. Never in my life have I had an adrenaline buzz quite like this. I lean down to whisper in her ear.
“I love you.”
She tilts her face towards mine, and I give her a chaste kiss on the lips. I’m still captivated by how stunning she is; every day, she becomes even more beautiful. Today she’s wearing a blue body con ribbed dress which not only shows off her gorgeous figure and her baby bump but highlights her red hair and her violet orbs. Is it wrong of me to want to impregnate her as much as she’ll allow me just to see her glowing like she is today? Even though she’s had rough bouts of morning sickness and other side effects, she’s a fucking queen. The noise as everyone counts is a hum in the background as we continue to stare back at one another. It’s only on two that we both turn to our balloons, and then with one more squeeze of her hand, we each burst our balloon with the pin Nathan gave us.
They each burst with a loud bang, confetti raining down all around us, and immediately, I turn and pick Lottie up and kiss her hard. When I pull back, we’re both breathing hard, and she has tears running down her face. I wipe them away with my thumbs.
“Boys,” I say breathlessly.
She nods, and everyone is cheering. Cameras are clicking, but there’s an interruption as Vi and Nathan get everyone’s attention.
“I just want your attention. As you know, Nathan and I organised this gender reveal, but there’s something else we haven’t told you yet.” Vi looks to Nathan and nods, and he continues where she left off.
“This is a double-gender reveal because they’re having twins.”
There’s clapping and whooping amongst surprised gasps.
“So, we know baby number one is a boy, but we still need to do the reveal for baby number two,” Vi says loudly, and everything pauses.
I stare back at Lottie, and she looks as blindsided as I feel. I just figured the two balloons were for both babies.
Nathan signals for us to make our way over to the cake and hands over a cake knife.
Covering Lottie’s hand with mine, we press the knife down, slide it out, and then do it again until we’ve cut a wedge.
My heart stutters. The sponge inside is bright pink. We hold it up for everyone to see.
“A girl,” I croak out. Vi holds out a plate, and I drop the cake wedge on it before facing Lottie.
“A boy and girl,” I say, barely above a whisper.
Lottie has her hand covering her mouth, the diamond engagement ring sparkling, and I am blown away that this right here is my life. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve cried in my adult life, and this is one of them––and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.
I pull Lottie to my chest, engulfed by her signature perfume––an oriental scent of jasmine and rose. It’s fresh and vibrant, just like her.
“Thank you,” I say, tilting her chin with my finger. Her eyes are shining with tears.
“Why are you thanking me?” she asks with a shy smile.
“Because I honestly don’t know how I got so damn lucky.”
But before she can respond, our friends and family come over, wanting to congratulate us. My mum is crying, and I pull her in for a hug.
“Are you mad I didn’t tell you we were having twins?” I ask.
She pulls back, swatting my shoulder. “What, and miss out on the surprise with everyone else? Not at all.”
Meg is next to come and hug me. “I know he told you,” I say as I pull back.
She mimes, locking her lips and throws the pretend key over her shoulder. But I’m not stupid. I knew H would tell her. After all, there’s been enough secrets between us in the past. Besides, we’re family.
“Just so you know, I can’t think of anyone more deserving of you than that woman right there,” she says, giving me a soft kiss to the cheek.
It means a lot coming from her, but I know now why she was never mine. At the time, I truly believed I was hers, but she set me up to understand what real love was like.
Lottie was always meant to be mine. I know that our love will change over time, and time has the power to move in the blink of an eye. How the passion we feel might not always be the same. Right now, our love is fire, filled with flames, and eventually, over time, they will turn to embers. But our love is forever, so I choose forever embers over flames any day.
Chapter Forty-Five
Charlotte
Ethan pulls me into his lap, and I swear he hasn’t stopped smiling all day, and I’ll never get bored of seeing the way he looks at me with what I can only describe as devotion.
“You want to make a move soon?” he asks, resting his hand over my stomach.
I still can’t believe we’re having a girl and a boy.
“Yeah, I just want to go speak to Vi first, say thank you and tell her about baby boy.”
He smiles, standing up with me still in his arms. He carefully lowers me to my feet. I’m about to walk away when he stops me and pulls on my wrist, pulling me flush against his chest, as much as my baby bump will allow.
“Just so you know, when we get home, I’m going to rock your world,” he says, and I don’t miss the desire in his eyes.
I let out a laugh and glance at my belly. “I’m pretty sure that’s how we ended up here.”
He kisses the top of my head. “No complaints here,” he says before he shoos me away.
Almost everyone else has already left. Vi even had baby shower party bags for both the adults and the kids. They did think of everything.
A small warm hand tugs on mine, and I look down to a smiling Molly-Mae.
“Hey, beautiful,” I say. In a few short months, I’ve become an expecting mother, a fiancée, and an aunt to both Molly-Mae and Jacob.
“Aunt Lottie, Mummy said you have two babies in your belly.”
I nod. “That’s right, did you want to feel them?” I ask.
Her eyes go wide, and she nods enthusiastically. I lead her over to some chai
rs lining the wall. She takes the seat beside me, and reaching for her hand, I hold it over my stomach.
“Wow,” she says.
And then I feel a flutter. She gasps, and I know she felt it too. “I think they just said hello.”
“Can I have one?” she asks, and I burst out laughing and quickly cover my mouth.
“Not until you’re at least thirty,” Olly says protectively––that’s the big brother I know and love.
“That’s ages away. Can you and Mummy have one instead?” she asks.
He clears his throat and moves from one foot to the other. Is that a blush I see on my big brother’s cheeks?
“I’m working on it,” he says under his breath, but not quite enough for me to not hear. I raise an eyebrow, and he gives me a wink before he kneels in front of me, his hand covering Molly’s.
“I’m so happy for you, baby sister,” he says, and I know he means it. Not that I need approval from him or Alfie or any man, but it does make a difference. I’m also glad to be having a girl as well as a boy. I was beginning to feel a little outnumbered by the number of men in my life.
“Thank you.”
“Come on, squirt, want some more cake before your mum comes back from the toilet?”
Molly is already off her chair and darting in the direction of the table, which has the remaining food.
“You’re looking for trouble, big brother.”
He shakes his head. “I best make sure she only has a small slice.”
Olly kisses my cheek before he joins Molly. He’s so good with her, and I know he’ll be a great dad because he already is.
I can’t see Vi anywhere and head into the back kitchen. She’s probably still trying to tidy up, and I feel guilty as I’ve done absolutely sod all to help at all.
Just as I enter, Nathan almost walks straight into me, and I hold out my hands to stop him from ploughing into me.
“Sh—sorry, Lot,” he says.
“No worries, I have an extra cushion,” I say with a smile, but I don’t miss the slight frown on his face.
“You okay?”
He nods. “Of course, just want to go and make sure everything is squared away out there.”
I find Vi with her back to me.
“Hey, girl,” I say, and she spins to face me. Her cheeks are red, and her lips look like she’s just had a serious make-out session.
I bite my lip but can’t hide my smirk. “You have a little…” I point to where her lipstick has smudged.
She groans and looks in the reflection of the glass cabinet as she tries to wipe it away.
“Anything you want to tell me?” I say, wetting the corner of a napkin under the tap before passing it to her.
“Nothing to tell,” she replies and makes quick work of getting the excess lipstick off.
“Hmm, if you say so. I’ll let it go for now. I just wanted to say thank you for this.” I hold my arms out. “It was perfect, and I can’t believe you managed to keep the sex a secret from us.”
Her pupils dilate, and then she shakes her head like she just caught on to what I said.
“It wasn’t without effort. I have to be honest with you, it nearly slipped out plenty of times. Even Nathan struggled.”
I lean against the metal worktop. “Well, we appreciate everything you did. Originally, we were going to wait to share their names, but…”
She bounces on the balls of her feet.
“Baby girl will be Holly, and baby boy will be Max.”
Her mouth falls open, and her eyes fill with tears. “Max,” she croaks.
I nod. “Ethan suggested it the day of the scan. He said if we had a boy, Max, and a girl, Holly.”
Her tears are free-falling now. “I knew you picked a good one. And just so you know, Max would most definitely approve.”
Reaching for her hand, I squeeze. “Are you sure it’s okay? I didn’t know if you wanted Max if you had a boy?”
She shakes her head. “No, I think it’s wonderful, and I know it will mean a lot to my parents too, thank you.”
I pull her towards me and give her a long hug. Usually, I’d be the one to pull away first, but something tells me she needs this cuddle more than I do. When she draws back, she smiles. “I can’t believe you’re engaged and having twins. Who would have thought it?”
Rubbing my protruding stomach, I laugh. “Not me. Have you had any luck finding anyone else to move in?” I still feel like a shit friend, moving out and leaving her in the lurch.
“No, not yet. I’ve had a few people interested, but so far, nothing.”
“What’s that?” Ethan asks, walking back in with Nathan.
“Vi still hasn’t found anyone to move in.”
Ethan turns to Nathan. “You’re still looking, right?”
Nathan’s jaw drops. “I have a few options lined up,” he replies.
But Ethan shakes his head and pats him on the back. “No, you don’t. Yesterday, you told me you might even have to go back home for a while.”
Henry never asked Nathan to move out, but since gaining custody of Jacob, and Meg moving in, Nathan felt it made sense he found somewhere else.
His eyes widen, and even I can tell he’s silently pleading with Ethan to shut the fuck up. But I can’t help myself.
“Sounds to me like you’d both be doing each other a favour.”
Now Vi is giving me a dirty look, her eyebrows raised, but the truth is that they could both do with each other’s help––whether they want to admit it or not.
“Listen, guys, I know you two don’t exactly see eye to eye, but when the twins arrive, you’ll be seeing a lot more of each other anyway. I mean, would it really be so terrible? You pulled this off without killing one another,” Ethan says, putting an arm over my shoulder and kissing the side of my temple.
“Why don’t you let Nathan come see the place and go from there?” I suggest.
“Fine,” Vi says, crossing her arms, poking her chin in the air.
Nathan looks heavenward but concedes. “I’m free tomorrow,” he says before saying bye and making a hasty retreat.
Ethan and I walk out to the car park with Vi, and I hug her bye, asking her to let me know she gets home okay. She rolls her eyes and gets in her car.
“Yes, Mum,” she replies before pulling her door closed and slowly backing out of her space.
I walk over to Ethan’s car, and he holds my door open for me, causing butterflies, but it’s not only that… I grab his hand, and his mouth drops open as he feels the babies kick.
“Amazing,” he whispers, completely mesmerised as he stares down between us, and I can’t hold back my smile.
I know that we’ll face many challenges ahead, and sleep will become a thing of the past once the babies come, but I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else, even if there are things he does which annoys the hell out of me––and I can be one moody bitch. Although, I like to blame that on my hormones. It’s new, being together and learning to compromise over the most mundane things, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Everything that happened leading up to now happened for a reason. Until him, I’d lost hope in ‘happily ever after’. I didn’t even believe in happy for now, at least not for myself. And then, slowly and all at once, I found happiness with him, and now I’m ready to start our forever.
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Letter to Reader
Thank you for making it this far, and I hope you enjoyed Ethan and Lottie’s story as much as I did writing it. Please consider recommending Forever Embers to your book friends and leaving a review. It doesn't have to be much—one sentence will do—but I would be forever grateful if you’d consider doing so. Your reviews are extremely important for authors as a way for readers to find out about our books. And we can't make that happen without you, thank you!
Cruel Embers is Book 4 in the Embers standalone series. Available to Pre-Order Now.
Acknowledgments
Mum—Tha
nk you for being the best friend a daughter could ever have and always supporting my dreams unconditionally.
Cassie—My lobster, thank you for being you and constantly pushing me to be better.
Crystal—Thank you for your endless support. And always willing to proofread at the drop of a hat, I couldn't do this without you.
Amber—Thank you for your kindness and always talking me off that ledge. If there is any author out there who deserves the very best, it's you.
Kirsten—You are, without a doubt, incredible. I couldn't do this without you as my Beta Bitch.
Dusti—Thank you for beta reading when my novels are at their roughest and loving them anyway.
Julie—I love your guts, always.
Ruth—Thank you for your friendship, your support and always cheering me on.
Kayleigh—Thank your friendship and support, and for always being ready and willing to read my books.
Indie Authors—Who support without motive or agenda, I see you.
My famalam—Special shoutout to Grace, Tam and Dave. Jon, we miss you every day.
Friends who are my extended family—Victoria and William. Laura, Andy, Evie and Zach, and our mountain goat, Ethel.
My family—I love you to the moon and back.
Harley—My most loyal companion, gone but never forgotten.”
About the Author
L.S. Pullen, aka Leila, was born and raised in North London, but now resides in Peterborough, England. When she’s not writing you’ll find her walking her adopted pooch Luna. She is passionate about everything books, lover of photography and art. And in true English cliche fashion, loves afternoon tea. No longer working the corporate life, she is currently writing full time and managing a small craft business Wisteria Handmade Crafts and Indie Author’s Book Services.
Also by L.S. Pullen