Southern Chance

by Natasha Madison

  I get in the truck and make my second stop of the day. I pull up and park behind his truck and walk up the steps, opening the door. There is no one sitting at the front desk, and then Grady comes out from the back. “Well, look at this,” he says, looking at me, and I just smile at him.

  “Hi, is Jacob here?” I ask, and he nods.

  “Follow me,” he says, and I follow him back to Jacob’s office.

  He looks up from his desk and smiles when he sees me, getting up. “Hey there.” Walking to me, he kisses me. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’ll be at my desk,” Grady says and closes the door behind him.

  “Are you okay?’ Jacob asks, and I look down.

  “I went to see Savannah,” I say, and he picks up my hand and kisses it, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before I went. I just.”

  “Baby,” he says softly.

  “I just wanted her to know that I’m not going anywhere and that no matter how I feel about her”—I let out a big breath—“that Ethan will never feel it from me.”

  “You’re amazing,” he tells me, and right before he kisses me, a siren goes off.

  Grady shouts, “Shots fired at Casey’s house!”

  Find out what happens with Casey & Olivia in

  Southern Comfort

  Epilogue One

  Jacob

  Five months later

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ethan asks from beside me as he watches me climb the ladder against the tree.

  “Yeah,” I huff out, holding on to the ladder that tethers left and right, making me hold my breath while it wobbles.

  “If you fall and break something, Kallie is going to freak out, Dad,” Ethan says. I don’t need him to tell me that this is crazy right now. I also don’t need him to tell me that if I do break something, Kallie will do more than freak out.

  “You are not helping, Ethan,” I say between clenched teeth as I throw the light over one branch, letting it fall over swinging. Ethan walks to it to stop it and keep it in place.

  “That’s one,” he says, “only a million more to go.”

  “Not a million,” I mumble, “just two more dozen.” I climb up another step and toss another cord, and he stops it also. When I had this idea, it played out a lot better in my head. How hard could it be, I thought to myself, and now that I’m five minutes in, I should have gone with rose petals in the middle of the living room.

  Except I didn’t wait all this time to propose to her and have it be mediocre. No, my girl deserves the best. I just hope I can do it in one piece. I move the ladder over slowly, ever so fucking slowly. When I finally step back down on the ground and walk over to the switch, I look over at Ethan. “Do they not work?” he asks.

  “I don’t know. Let me flip the switch,” I say, and when I do, the lights illuminate. The light bulbs hanging on their power cord hang from the branches of the trees.

  “It’s cool, Dad,” he says, and I look at it.

  “It is, but it’s not done,” I say and grab the white sheet of lace I have and place it over two branches and let it hang. “Just a few more touches.”

  “I’m going to go sit on the rock,” he says, grabbing my phone and going over to sit on the rock that I brought here all those years ago for Kallie. The same rock that not so long ago she wanted off her property. The same rock where I told her I loved her for the first time. I place the other two pieces of lace around the tree with the seven white lanterns on them. I take the battery-operated candles from the bag and turn on the switch on the bottom, and the tips light up.

  “Okay, kiddo,” I say, looking over my shoulder at him. “How does it look?”

  “She’ll like it,” he says. It’s been over six months, and Kallie has made our house a home. She is on top of everything that has to do with Ethan, she has taken him into her heart, and it’s just flourished. He didn’t just get Kallie. He got Charlotte and Billy, who treat him as if he’s theirs, and I guess in a little way he is a part of all of us.

  “Okay, let’s get home before she suspects something,” I say and walk back to the truck.

  “She’s going to know right away,” Ethan says. “She smells trouble, and she also smells when you’re fibbing.” I look over at him and know that he’s tried to get one over on her many times, but she has a way of knowing.

  “She does,” I say and wait for him to get into the truck before I get in and start the truck. “You are going to behave for Gammy Charlotte and Gramps Billy, right?” I ask, and he just nods.

  “Gramps Billy said he’s going to take me fishing,” he says with a huge smile on his face. With all this shit around us, my boy finally got himself a grandfather who would die for him without batting an eye. If it’s the weekend, you know that Ethan is going to be with Billy any day he can. The two are thicker than thieves.

  “Did he?” I ask him as I pull up to the house and see that Charlotte is sitting on one of the rocking chairs she put outside with Billy next to her. The both of them are smiling when they see my truck. Billy is the first one to get up and walk down the two steps toward the truck.

  Ethan opens the door as soon as I put it in park and turn off the engine. “Gramps,” he calls him, “I’m here.”

  “That you are, my boy,” he says, leaning down and kissing him on the head. Charlotte is coming down now.

  “Now, don’t you give him all the love,” she says, and Ethan walks over to her and hugs her around her waist and looks up at her. “I think you’ve gotten taller,” she says, and he nods his head. “It’s a good thing I just put the pie in the oven.”

  His eyes light up. “Is it apple?”

  She looks at him. “Is there any other kind of pie?”

  “Nope,” he says, and she kisses him. I grab his bag and hand it to him. “Bye, Dad,” he says to me and comes to give me a kiss before running back to Billy, who takes his hand and walks inside.

  “Is everything set?” Charlotte asks, and I nod.

  “I think so,” I say, and she smiles at me, coming to kiss my cheek.

  “It’s a long time coming,” she says, and I nod to her as she turns to walk into the house after Ethan.

  When I walk into the house, I yell for Kallie right away. “I’m in the kitchen!” she yells, and I find her putting away the groceries. “Well, hello there.” She smiles when she sees me, and I walk over to her and take her in my arms.

  “Hello there,” I say, and my lips find hers. Since the first day she came over, she hasn’t left. I mean, she tried to, and well, she lost that battle.

  “Did you drop off Ethan?” she asks, always wondering about him, just another reason to love her.

  “I did,” I say. “Your father is taking him fishing.”

  “Oh, he’s going to love that,” she says. “What did you want to do for dinner?”

  “I was thinking that we can lay low.” I push her hair away from her face and kiss her neck. “And then maybe just …”

  She looks at me, and her eyes squint as though she’s not sure about something. “What are you up to?”

  “Me?” I avoid her eyes. “Nothing.”

  “Jacob McIntyre.” She calls me by my full name, and now I know she’s going to get it out of me.

  “Okay, fine,” I say, turning and grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door.

  “Wait,” she says, trying to keep up with me. “You didn’t lock the door.”

  “I’m the sheriff,” I say over my shoulder. “No one will actually break into my house.” I open the door and pick her up, putting her in it and grabbing the seat belt. “You are going to have to do me a favor and not ask me anything and just go with it.”

  “What in the heck?” she says, and I make her stop talking by kissing her.

  “Please,” I whisper, and she looks at me.

  “Okay,” she says softly, and I kiss her one more time before closing the door and getting in the truck. The whole way toward the creek, I go over my speech in my head. When I pull up to the c
learing, she looks over at me, and I just shake my head. When I get out of the truck and walk around to her side, I grab her hand. My hand suddenly starts to get sweaty, my heart starts to speed up just a touch, and I’m suddenly so nervous, which is crazy since this is Kallie. It’s me and Kallie; it’s always been me and Kallie.

  We walk hand in hand while the sun starts to set, and when we get to the rock, she looks up and sees everything I’ve prepared. “What in the …?” The lights that I strung up on the trees hang at different lengths, and the lace hanging looks like a canopy. I look at her and look back at the lanterns around the tree illuminating the tree.

  I walk her to the tree and turn to look at her, and all she does is look around while tears fall down her cheeks. “Jacob,” she says to me when I get down on one knee.

  “I had this whole thing prepared,” I start to tell her. “I went over the speech for the last week. I even rehearsed it with Ethan.”

  “Oh my gosh.” She laughs. “He didn’t even tell me.”

  “Well, he knew how important it was.” I smile. “Kallie, you don’t know this, but I was going to propose to you on prom night.” I say the last secret I have kept to myself. She rolls her lips together and tries not to sob. “I had this ring,” I say, taking out the brown ring box that has been with me ever since I bought it, “inside my jacket pocket. I was going to bring you up here and ask you to be mine. To marry me and make me the luckiest man alive.”

  “I would have said yes,” she says. “A hundred times, I would have said yes.”

  “Kallie Barnes, I fell in love with you when I was probably in diapers. I loved you even when I didn’t know I did and having you beside me makes me the man I am. I want to have more babies with you,” I say. “I want to fill the house with toys, and I want to watch your stomach grow with my baby. I want to hold your hand when you get scared. I want to kiss you when you go to sleep and when you get up. I want to wake up and see my ring on your finger every single day. I want to grow old with you and share all your tomorrows with you. I love you so much more than any words can say.”

  “Yes,” she says, stopping me. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” She bends down, taking my face in her hands. “I’ve loved you forever. I will love you always.”

  Epilogue Two

  Kallie

  Three years later

  “I hear you.” I put my hand on my ever-growing belly. Opening the fridge, I grab a piece of pie while my little one kicks me as if he’s in kung fu training.

  “Kallie.” I hear Ethan call me, and he runs into the kitchen. “Gramps is here.” I look over at him and smile. He’s grown a foot in the last six months. He runs over to me, kissing my cheek, and he doesn’t even have to get on his tippy toes to do it. He bends and kisses my belly, something that he started when I was pregnant with Amelia two years ago.

  “Did you pack everything?” I ask, and he just nods and turns to run out of the house to my father who is waiting. I waddle to the front door and see my father hugging him and then looking up and smiling at me.

  “Hey there,” he says to me when I make it onto the porch. “Get in the truck, and I’ll be right there.” Ethan nods and turns to wave at me one last time. “How’s my girl doing?”

  “Which one?” I ask, laughing. “Amelia is living up to the terrible twos. I think she’s aiming to be the best one at that. This morning, she threw a tantrum when I told her that she was only allowed to have three crayons to color with instead of ten. She informed me very clearly that I was not the boss of all the crayons and that she would be telling Daddy on me.” I shake my head. Amelia was a surprise, to say the least. With everything that happened with Olivia, I forgot to take my pills a couple of days, and four weeks later, I was told that I was with child. To say I was scared was the understatement of the year. I didn’t even want to get up for fear that I would lose it.

  I stayed in bed for the first three months, and I refused to even move until Jacob called in my mother and Cristine who sat with me and cried on my bed when I told them my fear. Slowly, I got up a little bit more every single day. Every single day, I would feel kicks, and I would pray that she would come, and at thirty-nine weeks and after fifteen hours of labor, she came screaming out into the world. And I mean, screaming. She was fit to be tied, and that should have been my first clue that she would be a handful. Holding her in my arms for the first time, I sobbed for what seemed like forever. With Jacob by my side and Amelia in my arms, I literally thought my heart would explode with happiness.

  Amelia was everyone’s pride and joy. And I mean, everyone. I don’t think she was ever not in someone’s arms. Plus, Ethan doted on her like she was glass, making sure everyone who was holding her took care of her. Hold her neck, she doesn’t like to be lying down too much, she likes to look around. He was the best big brother there was.

  “Well, when Amelia wakes up, why don’t you call your mother and have her come get her? Give you a break,” he suggests, and I smile.

  “That sounds like a great idea,” I say, and he gets in the car and pulls out of the driveway at the same time as Jacob pulls in. He waves at them and comes to a stop, getting out of his truck and coming to me. My heart still skips a beat when I see him. My stomach still gets little flutters when he smiles at me. “Hey there. You’re back early.”

  “I got done earlier than I thought.” He walks up the steps and kisses my belly, whispering to him. “Hello,” he says when he takes the second step, and I kiss him. “How are my beautiful girls today?”

  “Well, Amelia was not too pleased that you were not there to carry her to breakfast,” I say. “She said she is going to have a talk with you.”

  He shakes his head. “Just like her mama,” he jokes, and I roll my eyes.

  “She also is going to discuss with you the rules for crayons. FYI, it’s three at a time,” I inform him, and I know that he’s going to give in and give her more. She is the apple of his eye, and she has him wrapped around her little pinky. The minute her lower lip trembles, it’s game over.

  “Three,” he says, and then we hear our daughter open the door and walk out.

  “You left me,” she says, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her soft blond curls bounce as she carries her stuffed bunny in one hand. “I was scared.”

  I’m about to tell her that she’s fine, but Jacob leans over and takes her in his arms. “We would never leave you.” His gold band is on his hand. The minute we found out I was pregnant, we got married two weeks later. That was me putting my foot down. I wanted to have a wedding dress and flowers and all that jazz, so he gave me seven days. With all the contacts I’ve made over the year and with Olivia’s help, I was ready in three.

  We are about to walk inside when we hear another car pull up, and I look over to see it’s my mother. She stops the car and gets out with a huge smile on her face. “There she is,” my mother says, and Amelia smiles huge while she looks over at my mother.

  “Hey there,” Jacob says, and as soon as my mother gets close enough, Amelia leans forward to go into her arms.

  “Oh, hello, my angel girl.” She kisses Amelia who lays her head on my mother’s shoulder. “I missed you.”

  “You saw her yesterday,” I point out and shake my head while Jacob comes and stands next to me, putting his arm around me.

  “Well, it was a long time ago.” She side-eyes me with a glare and then whispers to Amelia, “Do you want to come over to the house, and we can bake cupcakes?” Amelia shoots up, and her eyes go big and the smile on her face is huge as she nods. “Then we can have a sleepover in the princess room.” Another thing, my room at home is now the princess room.

  “Yeah,” she whispers and then leans in. “Can we do chocolate chip?”

  “We can do anything you want.” My mother holds her to her chest. “Say goodbye to Mama and Daddy.”

  “She doesn’t have shoes on,” I say, and she shrugs.

  “I have three pairs at home,” my mother says and then whispers in her ear. “Let’s
get going.”

  “Hey,” I say, and they look over at me. “I want kisses.” I walk down the step and to them, pushing Amelia’s soft curls behind her ear. “Love you, baby girl.” I kiss her lips.

  “Honey bunch and oats.” She finishes the sentence that I started saying to her when she was a year old.

  I watch them drive off, waving and then look over at my husband. “What’s that look about?” He stands there at the top of the step with his arms folded over his chest.

  “It’s what happy looks like,” he says to me.

  “It also looks like you want something.” I walk to him.

  “If it’s from you, I want it all,” he says, holding my hand and walking inside with me.

  I walk over and grab a piece of pie, zapping it in the oven for a couple of minutes since my boy only likes warm pie. I eat the piece and then go sit on the couch next to Jacob, who moves over so I can lie on him a bit, and he places his hand on my stomach.

  I lie here watching whatever he is watching, not even caring at this point. I don’t care about anything when I’m in his arms. My eldest son is fishing with my father, my daughter is baking cupcakes, and my baby is kicking my husband’s hand—I couldn’t be more content. I never thought this would happen. I never thought I would be here after I lost Gabriel. My future was black, and I didn’t see anything. I thought I would never have this. I turn my head to the side and kiss Jacob’s arm. “Love you,” he says to me, and I look up.

  “Love you more,” I say. “Thank you.” He looks at me confused. “For giving me a second chance at life.”

  “Baby,” he says, “thank you for giving me the world.” He leans forward and kisses me.

  Find out what happens next with

  Casey & Olivia

  in

  Southern Comfort