Open Life (Open Skies #5) (18 page)

As she sat there, holding her sister’s hand and watching some over-made-up woman holler at some other over-made-up woman about a mixed-up drinks order, Maria knew that she didn’t have answers to
any
of those questions. Not that day. But Dillon would give her the time and space to arrive at the answers, she knew that. She’d give Gabi the time and space to open up and talk to her about her trauma and maybe –
just
maybe
– she’d be able to talk to her sister about her own trauma.

Time. Space. My life is open right now, totally open. Everything I thought before last night has changed and shifted and that’s OK. Just be here for the here and now. That’s enough… it’s enough for all of us. For now.

Epilogue
Nine months later

Julie gazed down at the baby in her arms, ran her fingers through his golden-red wisps of hair. He was sleeping peacefully, his tiny fists bunched up tight. His little body was wrapped in a blanket and he was naked except for a diaper. She stared at him in fascination, in some ways still unable to believe that he had come out of her body, that he was a part of her and a part of Jake. Davie was a miracle to her, and he had been every single day since he’d been born just a few days before Christmas, three months earlier.

She heard footsteps behind her now and she smiled at Jake. He approached quietly, not wanting to wake up the baby. She watched him, amazed that she actually loved him more every day: seeing him with their son in his arms that first time had opened up a new wellspring of emotion for Jake. His fierce love for Davie was physical. She could actually
see
it when her husband stared down at his son, his gaze locked with Davie’s gray eyes so much like his own.

“How’s the little guy?” Jake asked softly.

“He ate and dropped off halfway through,” Julie said. “I can’t seem to keep him awake when I’m feeding him… I think he gets so relaxed and comfy, he just dozes off.”

“Huh.” Jake contemplated his wife’s breasts. “I simply don’t understand that. When I’m around your breasts, the
last
thing I feel like doing is sleeping.”

Julie thought about the night before and the four orgasms Jake had coaxed out of her eager, straining body. “Oh, I know it.”

They shared a grin and then Jake extended his arms.

“Let me take him.”

Carefully, Julie shifted Davie in her lap, lifted him up to his father. Carefully, slowly, Jake cuddled the baby to his massive chest, loving his sweet smell. Babies were the best combination of baby powder and milk and something else. Pure innocence, maybe, or a life still free of hurt and mistakes. A totally open life lay in front of his son – a good life, Jake hoped. One full of more laughter than tears, more joy than pain… and more love than anything else.

Julie watched as Jake rocked their son a bit, then he looked at Julie. “You talked to Annabeth?”

“I did.” Julie got to her feet and retrieved her glass of water. She drank it down like she had been out in the desert for a week: breastfeeding made her surprisingly thirsty all the time. “Their wedding is booked for August third.”

“The third?” Jake paused. “Isn’t that two weeks after Phil and Vicky’s wedding?”

“Yep. We’re going to have a busy summer around here, I think.”

Jake grinned. “I just can’t believe that Annabeth and Eric are tying the knot… and
here
, too.”

“Well, they met here and fell in love here.” Julie stretched her shoulders and pointed her toes at the roaring fireplace. “Maria and I will make damn sure they have an incredible wedding.”

“I know, baby.” He ran his finger over Davie’s soft cheek. “You guys have a bit of practice at planning them now, huh?”

“Maria more than me, but yeah. I think we can handle it.” She looked at the clock above the oven and she jumped a bit. “Tammy’ll be here in a minute. You want to put Davie down?”

“No.” Jake headed for the stairs. “I’m going to sit in the rocking chair and hold him for a while. Daddy and son time, you know.”

Julie smiled softly, watched her two men go upstairs. She’d just heard the bedroom door shut when there was a tap at the door. She opened it up to see Tammy, her hair wild in the early-spring breeze and her cheeks a deep pink.

“Argh,” Tammy said by way of greeting. “Break out the Nutella, Jules, I
beg
of you.”

“Uh-oh.” Julie took her friend’s coat. “Morning sickness?”

“More like
all
-
day
sickness,” Tammy said. “I’ll puke any time at all, for any reason at all. A whiff of the wrong perfume on the street, cigarette smoke, cooking meat.” She blanched. “Ooooh. I shouldn’t have even said ‘meat’ out loud.”

“OK, come on. Sit down.” Julie steered her over to the sofa. “Toast with butter and Nutella coming right up.”

“Thanks.” Tammy massaged her stomach gingerly. “Come on, kiddo… just give Mama a bit of a break, yeah?”

Julie shook her head. “She’s
your
daughter, Tammy, so don’t expect reason to work on her.”

“I know, I know,” Tammy moaned. “Mom says it’s
total
karma.”

“You want to lie down for a few minutes?”

“Believe it or not, that makes it worse.”

“Tea?”

“Yeah, please. Weak, OK?”

“Sure.” Julie bustled over to the cheery kitchen. “So Sonia must be thrilled that it’s a girl. She keeps putting flowery headbands and pink socks on Davie.”

Tammy laughed. “Yeah. She says she’ll enjoy being a big sister to Davie and this little one, at least until Vicky comes through.”

“Does Vicky know this?”

“Yep. Phil’s on board with Sonia, so I suspect that that kid may get a third sibling soon enough.”

“God, I hope so.” Julie put the kettle on to boil. “Phil’s an incredible Dad, huh? Whenever he hugs Sonia, I swear my heart melts just a bit more.”

“I know. These strong, sweet men, huh?” Tammy sighed. “Rob’s gone crazy and I mean that sincerely. Buying magazines and drooling over the princess bedrooms. He drags me in to every baby shop we pass in Denver to stare at cribs and clothes. I think he’ll max out his credit card next week, when we finally go and start buying stuff for the nursery.”

“Oh, it’s ready?” Julie popped the bread in the toaster. “That didn’t take long.”

“Yeah, Rob paid through the nose to get things wrapped up quickly.” She grinned. “Don’t be surprised if the man comes begging for a raise soon, Jules.”

Julie giggled. “Tell him that if he asked, he’d get one.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep.”

“Well, good because we need a cash infusion.”

“No kidding.” Julie poured the boiling water in to the mug. “Babies cost an arm and a leg, I swear.”

“Not just babies.” Tammy took a deep breath. “Weddings, too.”

Julie damn near dropped the kettle. “No!”

“Yes!”

“Oh, Tammy… my God!” Julie rushed across the living room to her friend, then paused. “You gonna puke on me if I hug you?”

“Fifty-fifty chance.”

“I’ll take the risk.” Julie sat next to Tammy and hugged her gently. “I’m so, so happy for you guys.” She looked at Tammy’s hand. “Uh – where’s the ring?”

“Here.” Tammy produced it from her jeans pocket. “I knew you’d spot it the second I walked in the door and I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Put it on!” Julie said. “Let’s see this rock.”

Tammy slid it on her slim finger and the women stared down at the simple ring, delighted.

“It’s gorgeous, Tammy.”

“Yeah, well, I’d better enjoy it while I can. I may be hawking it to pay for diapers soon enough.”

“Truth.”

“Jules?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we book Open Skies for the wedding reception? In mid-August?” She glanced at her gently-rounded stomach. “Just before the sprog makes an appearance in the world?”

Julie suddenly wasn’t sure if she wanted to leap with excitement or fall flat on her face in exhaustion. Three weddings in less than two months? Well, why the hell not?
This
was what life was all about, wasn’t it? Love and babies and Champagne and cake and dancing? The more of it everyone had, the better.

“Yeah, absolutely. Just the reception?”

“Yes. Rob’s family is pretty traditional so the wedding will be in a church in Denver – but we both want the reception here.”

“Perfect.”

“Really? It’s not too much, with Vicky and Phil’s wedding one month earlier?”

Julie’s eyes sparkled. “And Annabeth’s and Eric’s one
week
earlier.”

Tammy gasped. “No!”

“Yes!”

“Shut.
Up
. When did you find out?”

“About an hour ago. Amazing, huh?”

“God, yes. They deserve it… they’ve really been through it, huh?”

"Ooooh. And guess who Mattie will be bringing to the weddings?"

"I have no idea," Tammy said, stunned. "She's seeing someone?"

"Yep. It's very new and they're taking it slow... but she's been seeing Lyle."

"Lyle Hawkins? The lawyer?" Tammy said in disbelief, trying to imagine free-spirited, silver-eyed Mattie with quiet, sober Lyle. "How the hell did
that
happen?"

"Well, they met at our wedding and he called her out-of-the-blue about two months ago and asked her to dinner, according to Jake."

"Wow." Tammy paused. "How long ago did her husband die?"

"More than twenty years."

"Then she's definitely long overdue for a good man, huh?" Tammy glanced at the kitchen counter. “Oh. The toast is done, I think.”

“Your tea, too. Hang on.”

Tammy watched her best friend in the kitchen, loving to see her so happy and at peace. When Julie had first come to Open Skies, her intention had been to sell the damn place and never look back. Tammy shuddered now at what Julie would have missed –
what
we’d
both
have
missed
– if Julie had done that. No Jake, no Rob, no Davie, no baby girl inside her. No friends who were more like family at this point. God, what
would
their lives have been?

Thinking about family brought something else to mind now and she paused, wondering if she should ask. In the end, she decided to go ahead.

“Hey, Jules?”

“Yeah?” Julie was thickly spreading two pieces of toast with Nutella and trying not to gag. The stuff was vile, but if it worked for Tammy, she wasn’t about to knock it. And was it really so much worse than full-fat peanut butter?

“I was just wondering… any word from Maria? Is she – is she ready to come back?”

Julie brought the toast and tea over, set them on the coffee table. “I spoke to her this morning, too. She says she and Dillon have found a place in between Denver and Clarity and they’re moving next week. She wants to come back to work the week after.”

Tammy heaved a sigh of relief. “Really? She’s OK to be back here after all that happened?”

“She says yes. She misses us and Dillon’s done everything humanly possible to help her cope.”

“It was so great of you to hold on to her job for this long. Most employers wouldn’t have.”

Julie shrugged. “Maria’s family and that’s the end of it. She needed time and space and she got it. It wasn’t like keeping her job open for her was a hard decision to make.”

“And her sister? Gabi?”

Julie smiled. “I really think that being close to Gabi these past nine months has been good for both of them, after what they went through.”

“I can imagine.” Tammy shook her dark head. “Those poor women.”

“They’re tough as hell and they have good men in their lives. They pulled each other through, too, in that amazing way that only sisters can.”

“Yeah.” Tammy took her hand. “And best friends who are exactly like sisters.”

Julie squeezed her hand in response. “Eat, sweetie. I’ll go make some fresh coffee for me and Jake.”

As she stood and stared out the window at the Rockies, Julie thought about her life before Open Skies. It had been such a cold and closed life, she saw now, one which didn't invite in love in any way, shape or form. But look at her world now: she was surrounded by nothing
but
love and she loved in return. She was blessed with a husband, a son, a home, good friends.

Julie Everett had arrived at Open Skies an angry, lonely woman determined to get the hell away and out as fast as humanly possible. But she'd stayed and opened her heart to the ranch and its people... and the end result was Julie Weston.

Yes, Julie Weston had a good life, one worth cherishing. She lived with her arms wide open to every bit of love and joy and passion that came her way. She raised her coffee cup to the mountains and toasted her amazing, open life.

**

Dear Reader,

I very much hope that you enjoyed following the individual and group stories of the ‘Open Skies' characters. With this book, their stories conclude, since ‘Open Life’ is the final book in this series. ‘Open Skies’, Jake and Julie’s story, was my first romance book ever and it (and the series) will always hold a special place in my heart.

If you’d like to read Gabi and Aidan’s full story and catch up a bit with Maria and Dillon, you can do so in ‘Killer Curves’ (Dangerous Curves #3). It will be published on March 3
rd
, 2015 and the first two books in the ‘Dangerous Curves’ series ('Dangerous Curves', Jax and Sarah's story and 'Hard Curves', King and Naomi's story) are already available on Amazon.

If you want to know when ‘Killer Curves’ is available for purchase, please check on my website at: marysoljames.com or one of my social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook and my blog). I will be announcing its release in all of these places.
Thank you so much for reading!

Marysol

About the author

Marysol James is the author of the 'Open Skies', ‘Fighting For Love’, 'Unseen Enemy' and 'Dangerous Curves' series.

She writes steamy, sexy, slinky romances which feature strong, complex women and equally fascinating men. Marysol is interested in producing well-written and passionate stories with characters who learn to let go of control and to trust – both in and out of the bedroom.

Her stories are very sensual (very!), and offer smart plots, a bit of humor, and lots of character development, so her books will appeal to readers who want emotional connection as well as sexuality.

When not writing, Marysol can be found swimming, doing yoga, listening to music and drinking coffee. To stay up-to-date with her, visit her official author website at www.marysoljames.com