Fulfillment (Book 3 in The Temptation Series) (9 page)

He scoffed. “I
don’t run things past anybody...you know that.”

“You are such
an arrogant fucker,” I teased him, while looking over the sofa to
make sure neither of my kids heard what I had just said.

“Yep and proud
of it.”

“Well, we’ll
see how arrogant you are on the weekend when you have to deal with
an entire house filled with Blaxlos. My family are not timid, you
know. You might not be so arrogant then,” I warned with a secretive
smile. He leaned over and pulled me onto his lap so that I was
straddling him.

“Bryce, stop
it. The kids could come back out here.” I tried to hop off but he
held me there.

“You ‘Blaxlos’
don’t scare me. You’re putty in my hands.”

“Ha, you
haven’t met my brother Jake, yet.” I pushed off him and got up,
making my way to the toilet for probably the tenth time that day
and looking over my shoulder at his still arrogant, albeit sexy
face.

***

The morning of
our trip to the farm, Bryce had all of a sudden become rather quiet
and slightly anxious. For the most part of the morning he seemed to
be lost in thought and distracted, to the point where I stopped
asking him questions because I’d had to repeat them again when he
didn’t answer me the first time. The kids had also been somewhat
miserable, knowing their Dad was not joining us, instead spending
the holiday with Claire and RJ.

On our way
down to the basement carpark, I asked Bryce which car we were going
to take. Again, he hadn’t been focused enough to answer me, only
giving me a ‘huh?’. So when the elevator doors opened, I gently
grabbed his wrist.

“What’s
wrong?”

“What?
Nothing, why?” he answered dismissively.

“Bryce, you’ve
been away with the pixies all morning, and because of that I have
been having conversations with myself.”

“What are you
talking about?”

“For example,
‘what car are we taking?’... ‘huh?’” I sarcastically mimicked him.
He looked out over the cars parked in the garage, let go of the
suitcase he had been dragging and scratched his head.

“I don’t
know,” he answered softly. “I’m not sure which one is best.”

All of a
sudden, I noticed just how nervous he really was. I looked between
his worried face and the kid’s sullen expressions and sighed.
Ah
fuck it. Take one for the team, Alexis!
“Actually, do you mind
if we take the chopper?”

Bryce shot an
astounded look at me, and Nate’s and Charli’s faces lit up.

“Can we?
Really?” They both glanced between me and Bryce.

“If it’s okay
with Bryce, and Poppa gives us the all clear to land without
spooking the cattle, then yes.”

Bryce appeared
a lot less agitated now. “Sure, if that’s what you all want to
do.”

I could see he
was trying to make out that he would fly us only because that’s
what we wanted. I could also see he was now over the moon at not
having to choose which car would impress my family the most without
it being over the top. Instead, the over-the-top arrival in a
helicopter could now be blamed on me, not him, which was exactly my
intention.

“Okay, let’s
head back up. I’ll ring Dad to find out where to land.”

***

We made our
way back up to the apartment, and while Bryce prepared the Crow for
departure, I called my dad to get the all clear and instructions as
to a suitable landing spot.

Mum and Dad
had over 60 head of cattle spread across their numerous paddocks.
They farmed beef cattle and always had mothers with calves or
pregnant heifers amongst their herds. Dad was a bit shocked at my
request at first, mumbling something about ‘what’s wrong with a
bloody car’ and telling my mum to ‘shhh’ as she stood in the
background and asked what I was talking about. It wasn’t until I
explained we were flying there as a way to cheer up Nate and Charli
over not being able to spend Easter with Rick, that Dad dropped the
annoyed and put-out attitude, instead instructing us to land in the
paddock next to the shed.

Bryce buckled
us all in and handed out the headphones. Charli automatically
started shouting in a tone that resembled a banshee, making my ears
curl up and cringe. Nate was using every word of the month he had
ever come up with, speaking in what sounded like and entirely new
language.

“Sick! I’m
stoked. This is gonna be totally epic!

As Bryce
prepared the chopper for take-off, I tried desperately to calm down
my kids. “Okay, Nate, please speak English. And, Charli-Bear, lower
your voice a little. The headphones do actually work, you
know?”

“Yep, yep,”
she squealed again and bounced a little in her seat as Bryce began
raising the chopper.

“Charli, quiet
down while Bryce brings up the collective.”

“This is so
sick!” Nate slurred with excitement. “What’s a collective?”

I
automatically answered my son, as I had secretly researched a
little of helicopter avionics. “It’s that stick thing Bryce is
pulling up in his left hand. It controls the squashplate—”

Bryce
interrupted with a loud laugh. “It’s called a swashplate. Not
squashplate.” He kept chuckling.

“That’s what I
said,” I snapped.
I’m sure that’s what I said. Stupid
swash/squash plate/bowl helicopter lift thingamajig.
I decided
to shut up after that, Bryce was in a far better position to
explain to my son—who now seemed very interested in piloting a
chopper.

Bryce had
looked over at me numerous times during the 40 minutes it had taken
us to fly to my parents’ property, obviously still amused at my
attempt to gain more knowledge of how helicopters fly. I had
stubbornly tried glaring at him in response, but the cheeky loving
grin he had on his face was hard to be pissed at. It wasn’t until I
pointed to the spot where he needed to land on the farm that our
facial expressions traded places. Now I was the one smirking smugly
at him, and he was the one displaying agitation, together with
wiping his palms on his jeans every so often and muttering under
his breath ‘friggin’ sweaty palms’.

As he placed
the chopper down with perfection, I waved to my family, who were
standing not too far from the shed. Bryce jumped out and gave a
kind but subtle wave in their direction, and as he did, I noticed
my mother’s wider than normal grin—she may have been 62, but she
was still a woman. I watched him walk around the front of the
chopper—his eyes meeting mine for a second—forcing a shy smile
across his face.

He opened the
back door and let Nate and Charli out. They ran towards my parents
and wrapped their arms around them while Bryce came around to my
door and unbuckled my belt. He shot a quick glance toward my family
which I found to be incredibly adorable. I placed my finger under
his chin and directed his face to look at me.

“Hey, I
thought you said us Blaxlos were going to be putty in your hands,
so why the nerves? Everything is going to be fine; they are going
to love you.” I leaned forward once my buckle was undone and gave
him a quick kiss.

He reached in
and placed both his hands on my hips then lifted me to the ground.
“I’m not nervous.”

“Liar. Come
on.” I grabbed his hand and led him to my smiling family.

As we
approached, Olivia was singing ‘riding in a copta...wocka wocka
wocka’. She put her arms out, so I took her from Jen as I kissed my
sister on the cheek.

“Hello Livy,
did you see the big copta?”

She excitedly
pointed to the helicopter. “Dere dere”

“Yes. And what
sound does a copta make?”

She bounced up
and down in my arms. “ Wocka wocka wocka.”

I laughed.
“Good girl.” I leaned in and gave a Steven a peck on the cheek too.
“Hi, Steven. Steven this is Bryce. Bryce, my brother-in-law
Steven.”

They shook
hands. “Nice to meet ya, Mate.”

“Likewise,”
Bryce said with a smile.

“And you
remember Jen.”

“Hi, Bryce,
it’s nice to see you again. So, it would appear you don’t like
driving,” she said with a silly grin. “I’m just kidding.”

Bryce went to
explain. “I could’ve—”

I interrupted.
“The kids wanted to fly, so we flew to cheer them up.” I raised my
eyebrows at her. “Anyway, why drive when you can fly?”

“Yeah, fair
enough,” she replied.

I gently
placed my hand back in Bryce’s, his grip tightening to let me know
he appreciated my closeness. We moved along the receiving line my
family had created while Olivia kept singing ‘wocka wocka’ into my
ear.

“Hi, Mum.” She
wrapped her arms around me, squashing Livy at the same time. I
pulled back after kissing her cheek. “Mum this is Bryce. Bryce,
this is my mum, Maryann.”

She
practically pushed me aside and wrapped her arms around him. “It’s
so lovely to finally meet you, Bryce. Alexis has told me so much
about you.”

You’re such
a liar, Mum. I haven’t told you
SO
much
about anything.

Bryce raised
his eyebrows at me, obviously pleased to hear of my so-called
‘bragging’. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Blaxlo,” he
said.

“Oh, you’re so
sweet, but please, call me Maryann.”

I passed
Olivia to Mum and then approached my Dad who was still eyeing off
the helicopter. “Bryce, this is my dad, Graeme.”

Bryce shot out
his hand. “Nice to meet you, Graeme—”

“Please, call
me Mr. Blaxlo.” Dad said, in a stern and mildly intimidating
voice.

“Dad!” I
smiled at my father’s not so funny joke. “He’s kidding, Bryce,” I
said as I gave my dad a hug. “You’re not funny, Dad.”

Dad held out
his hand to Bryce while chuckling to himself. He shrugged his
shoulders. “Nice to meet you, Bryce.” They shook hands.

“Thanks for
letting us land the chopper in your paddock. I hope it didn’t spook
your cattle.”

Dad seemed
pleased with Bryce’s concern for his beloved bovine. “Nah, it’s all
good, although, you can do me a favour.”

“Sure, what is
it?”

“I wouldn’t
mind an aerial view of my property while your here.”

“Of course,
not a problem. Do you want to go up now?” Bryce asked
enthusiastically.

I butted in.
“No, not yet. Let us get settled in and then you can go
joyriding.”

***

After the
formal introductions were complete—apart from my brother who had no
sense of appointed time—we settled in. Bryce got better acquainted
with my family over a coffee and some of Mum’s scones. He was
impressed with her baked masterpieces, so much so that he asked her
what she had put in them. I watched her put her finger up to her
lips, indicating it was a secret ingredient, but then dragging him
into the kitchen to reveal what it was. I observed his expression
of disbelief which had me now wondering what it was too—she refused
to tell me...and so I did Bryce.
I’ll remember that.

Mum had also
put out a platter of cheeses. I would normally dig in to the blue
cheese, but I knew it was on the
not-safe-to-eat-while-you’re-pregnant-list, so I avoided it and
selected the cubed cheddar instead. Unfortunately, blue cheese had
a powerful and God awful stench, and my super-human smelling
abilities had honed in on that stench, triggering my vomit-express
to leave stomach-station and begin its journey to its
destination—my mouth. In my panic, I quickly covered my nose and
mouth with my hand, then realising being sick was inevitable, shot
up and ran for the toilet.

I made it just
in time, but gagged every time I pictured or thought about cheese.
No, I love cheese. It’s not fair! I could so knock back a
freakin’ glass of gin right now!
I sulked for a bit then opened
the door to the bathroom. Jen was standing just outside and as I
opened the door, she pushed her way in, locking it behind her.

“Hey! It’s
fine, I’m fine. The cheese just smelled awful. Could you smell it?”
My acting was far from Academy Award worthy.

“No, it
smelled fine, but then again, I’m not the one who is pregnant, am
I?” Jen placed her hands on my shoulders and pierced me with her
all too knowing eyes.

Look away,
Alexis. Look away. Fuck, she knows.

“No, you’re
not...,” I replied, “I am.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Alexis Elizabeth Summers,”
was all Jen could say as she pulled me in for a hug—then pushed me
out again to search my eyes—then pulled me back in again.

“It wasn’t
planned, Jen,” I mumbled into her chest. “I completely forgot to
take my pill during that week I spent with Bryce. I know it’s no
excuse, but I was so head-fucked at that point that it just
completely slipped my mind.”

“Does he
know?” she asked, concerned.

“Who? Bryce?
Or Rick?”

“Oh shit,
Lexi! Whose baby is it?”

“Calm down,
Jen. It’s Bryce’s baby, and yes, he does know. He couldn’t be
happier. We are both really happy. Obviously, I had no plans at
this stage in my life to have another baby. But, it happened, and
we are both really excited about it.”

She stood
there stunned for a moment then smiled brightly. “Well, in that
case, congratulations.” She hugged me again. “How far along are
you?”

“Approximately
nine weeks.”

“Are you
planning on telling Mum and Dad anytime soon? Because if you keep
doing that...” she pointed to my hand which I had subconsciously
placed on my belly in a rubbing circular motion, “...then you are
going to give yourself away.”
Oh shit!

“No, not yet.
We are going to wait a little while longer. The kids don’t even
know. Only you and Bryce do.”

“Okay, well in
that case stop doing that.” She pulled my hand away from my
stomach. “Oh wow, Lexi, you’re having another baby.” She took hold
of my other hand and held both of them in front of us. We both
beamed at each other and did a stupid little run on the spot while
squealing, just like we had when she found out she was having
twins. “You are seriously going to have one of the cutest babies
ever!”