Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (54 page)
Read Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) Online
Authors: Emilia Winters
Caleb strode over the grass to where Kinsley was playing on the little playground he’d set up for her and he snatched her up in his arms.
She squealed in delight and clutched at his neck as he kissed her.
“Were you good for Grandma and Peter?” he asked.
“Yes,” she giggled, placing her little hands on his cheeks.
Caleb smiled, smoothing down the beautiful hair she’d inherited from Maddie.
Caleb was glad that she looked just like her mother, from the hair to her eyes, to the shape of her face.
She’d gotten his coloring though and his stubborn streak, according to Maddie.
“She was a little angel, like always,” Cindy said, touching Kinsley’s chubby cheeks.
“Now, I’m going to go help your wife set up the food.”
Peter was sitting on one of the swings, his girlfriend that he’d brought home sitting next to him.
He was home for the weekend for Kinsley’s birthday party, but he’d have to drive back down to Los Angeles tomorrow, where he attended college.
Even though the teenager had been resistant to the idea of even applying for college at first, Caleb had wanted to give him an opportunity that he himself never had.
Peter was talented and if he still decided that he wanted to work at the garage once he completed his four years as an art major, then Caleb wouldn’t stop him.
Looking at him now though, with his head bent close to Beth’s, giggling, Caleb knew that he was happy in L.A., that he was coming into his own there.
The knowledge filled him with satisfaction.
Maddie was smoothing tablecloths over the plastic tables they were using for the party and he made his way over to her.
She smiled when she saw them.
“There’s my little baby,” she cooed at Kinsley, smacking a loud kiss on her cheek, much to their daughter’s delight.
“Need help?” he asked her, shifting Kinsley in his arms.
“No, we’re almost done,” she said, giving him a kiss, right as the doorbell rang.
She looked at Kinsley.
“Go help your daddy greet your guests, okay?”
“‘Kay!” she said, bouncing in Caleb’s arms.
Kinsley had been looking forward to her birthday party all week.
She was quite the social butterfly at two-years-old.
At parties, Caleb would watch Kinsley flit from one person to next, pointing at things and asking questions.
Everyone adored her.
An hour later, their backyard was full, music drifted from the outdoor speakers, and happy shrieks from children and adult chatter filled the air.
The children, mostly neighborhood kids Kinsley’s age, played on the playground and the bouncy house they’d rented.
Cindy and the man she’d been dating were talking to a couple of Maddie’s co-workers from the museum.
Brian and his wife had brought their grandchild over to play and the older man was currently soothing the overwhelmed three-year-old.
Kyra and Thomas were manning the food tables and making sure that everything was stocked.
Even though he hadn’t told Maddie yet, Caleb strongly suspected that something was going on between the two of them and had been for quite some time.
Caleb knew that Maddie wouldn’t mind that her best friend and brother were seeing each other, but they seemed to think so.
He and Maddie were standing with their group of friends.
Maddie had become quite close with Olivia, Kate, and Christie, which Caleb was grateful for.
His friends meant a lot to him.
They’d been there for him for years and they were all starting a new chapter of their lives…a chapter full of marriage and children.
Alex and Olivia had gotten married around the time Maddie had given birth to Kinsley and they were expecting their first child any day now.
Olivia waddled all around and Alex fussed over her like a mother hen, but Caleb seemed to recall that he had been the exact same way right before Maddie had given birth.
No matter how many children they had, he would always act that way.
Luke, his outspoken jokester of a friend, and his girlfriend Kate tied the knot just a few months ago, but they weren’t in any rush to have children.
They wanted to travel before they eventually got around to starting a family.
Next week, they were off to Greece for a solid month.
Kate had just finished another book and Luke had surprised her with the trip.
As for Adam and Christie…Adam had popped the question to his long-time girlfriend at the beginning of summer and all the women were excitedly starting to plan the wedding.
Christie wanted it to be ‘geek chic,’ whatever that meant.
And whenever she told people that, Adam would just shake his head, blushing a little.
“Uh oh, Caleb,” Alex said, drawing his attention.
The four guys were sitting in lawn chairs, nursing beers, while the girls chatted nearby.
“Looks like Kinsley has a friend.”
Caleb craned his neck around to where Alex nodded and sure enough, his daughter and one of the little neighborhood boys were playing together.
He watched, slack-jawed, as Kinsley gave the boy a kiss on the cheek.
The boy clutched her and gave her one back, in that clumsy toddler fashion.
And Caleb knew that it was all innocent but it just served as a reminder that his daughter was two already…and in the blink of an eye she’d been a teenager and he’d have to start worrying about boys for real.
There was no fucking way that she’d even be allowed to date until she was thirty, but Kinsley was going to be a sneaky one and Caleb would have to keep an eye out.
His gaze sought out Maddie’s and she chuckled when she saw his frustration.
She broke away from the girls and came up behind him, leaning down to drape her arms down his chest.
“Don’t worry, papa bear,” she teased.
“She’s two.”
“Who the hell is that kid anyway?” he grumbled, taking a long pull from his beer.
“Where are his parents?
I’d like to talk to them.”
Luke thought it was fucking hilarious, Adam looked amused too, but at least Alex understood why he was unsettled, since him and Olivia were also having a girl.
Alex shot him a sympathetic look before his eyes sought out his very pregnant wife.
Maddie’s soft laugh in his ear calmed him down a little and she leaned over him to give him a kiss.
“I’ll go get your little girl.”
Caleb watched as his wife’s hips swayed over to Kinsley and as she dropped down into a crouch to greet their daughter’s friend.
That same frantic panic scratched at his chest as he watched her because he loved her so damned much that it frightened him.
Sometimes, he still couldn’t believe that it had been over two years since that autumn night she’d stumbled into his garage.
With all the ups and downs of the beginning of their relationship, with the pregnancy, with Caleb’s own stubbornness…sometimes he was surprised that Maddie had chosen to be with him.
Once Kinsley had been born, then came the late, exhausted nights of caring for an infant, of Maddie juggling school and being a mom and a wife, of Caleb running a business and being a dad and a husband.
No, it hadn’t been easy.
But it had been so damn worth it
, he thought, as he watched his family from across the backyard of the house that Kinsley would grow up in, the house that him and Maddie would grow old in together.
Two years ago, he would’ve never thought that he would’ve been so lucky as to find her.
Now, he believed they were meant to be.
Maddie had found him, late one night, when he’d least expected it.
Through her, Caleb had finally found happiness.
The End
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Author’s Note
Beyond Broken
was a labor of love.
It took me sixteen months to complete the first draft, about thirteen months more than originally planned.
Even though it was the most difficult book I’ve ever written, I’m so proud of the way it turned out.
Caleb and Maddie are two of my favorite characters and I’m sad to say goodbye to not only them, but the entire Bay Boys series.
It’s been quite the ride!
Thank you so much to my wonderful beta readers—Robyn, Cassie, and Chris—who have stuck by me throughout this series.
Their feedback has been essential to the development of each novel and I can’t thank them enough for their generous time.
Thank you to all of my readers, who inspired me to keep writing this story.
Your emails, messages, and enthusiasm for Caleb’s story have been incredible.
I hope that Caleb’s story was well worth the wait!
:)
And thank you to all the book bloggers who have helped with giveaways, cover reveals, and promotion of the Bay Boys series.
I couldn’t have done it without your support!
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