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Authors: Evelyn Adams

BOOK: Riding the Pause
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Chapter Seventeen

 

“Does anyone know what’s going on?” asked Adam, scanning the room. “Bailey called this thing and she and Trace aren’t even here yet.” He turned his discerning cop’s gaze on his brothers and sisters, but either they were immune to his pressure or like Rachel, none of the rest of them knew anything.

She didn’t care. She’d wait until Bailey showed up to tell them whatever had prompted the meeting. She was just so glad to be at her parents’ house with the rest of her family instead of driving there or coming up with excuses for why she couldn’t make it.

It had been a couple of months since the fire and her move back home and things were better than she could have imagined. Her business was growing by leaps and bounds. She was putting in sixty plus hour workweeks, but she still managed to hit the Station with some of the Southerland siblings on Friday nights and she’d had a handful of tea parties with Abby and plenty of cuddle time with Marion Rose. It was everything she’d wanted, she thought as Ian came to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her.

“Bailey will tell us when she gets here, darling,” said their mother. “Can one of you help me set this thing up so your brother can be here, too?” She motioned to the laptop on the dining room table.

Rachel started to pull out of Ian’s arms but Andrew got there first, and Ian tightened his grip on her, nuzzling her ear. Aside from Bailey, Blake was the only one of them not there, but at least he’d be able to Skype in. She was happy for her brother and his success, but it seemed like lately he was spending more time out of the country than in it, and she wondered if he got lonely.

Andrew managed to accept the call in from Blake just as Bailey and Trace walked through the door.

“No food?” echoed her brothers, taking in Bailey’s empty hands. As the chef in the family, they’d gotten used to her feeding them and despite their age, they all seemed to manage to still eat like teenagers.

“Jen sent cake,” said Bailey. “But you have to wait for a minute, vultures. Hi, Blake.” She blew the screen a kiss and their brother mimed catching it.

“Hey, baby girl. Nice rings, now could somebody hold up my new niece?” he asked.

Rachel looked at her sister’s hand and saw a gold wedding band sitting next to her engagement ring. Trace wore a simple gold band too.

“You couldn’t wait five minutes until I had a chance to tell everyone,” Bailey scolded, but there wasn’t any venom in her words.

“You’re married?” asked Jude, stopping on his way around the table to show off his new baby daughter.

“Oh, baby,” said their mother, blinking back tears. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It happened so fast. Neither one of us can take much time away from work. Trace can’t leave the farm and the traffic at Seasons is really picking up. We got married at Mountain Lake. It was just us and the minister from the resort. I know it’s not what you expected, but we didn’t want to wait.”

“I can’t say I’m not disappointed that we didn’t get to see you say your vows, but we’ve been so blessed this year,” said their mother, glancing at the family gathered around the table. “I just want you to be happy. If you’re happy, so are we. But you have to let us plan a party to celebrate when you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Momma,” said Bailey, leaning in to wrap her arms around their mother.

Rachel, along with her sister and sisters-in-law crowded around Bailey to hug and congratulate her. She glanced up to see Trace looking defiant and a little nervous faced with her brothers and daddy. She didn’t blame him. There were a lot of Southerland males staring down Trace like they were ready to take him to task if he stepped out of line with their sister and daughter.

“There’s more,” said Bailey and this time Trace visibly stiffened. Bailey moved to stand beside her new husband, and his focus shifted from the male relatives in the room to his bride. He looked at her sister like she was his world and faced with so much love, Rachel felt her eyes fill with tears. “We may not have had a traditional wedding, but we’re carrying on a new Southerland tradition.”

“What’s that?” asked Jude.

“The one you and Autumn started,” said Bailey, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “You know the one where the bride is knocked up when she walks down the aisle.”

Taylor laughed out loud. Beside Bailey, Trace looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him but not before he got his bride and baby to safety, but the rest of the family beamed. Even Autumn grinned at her sister-in-law and Rachel’s mother reached for Bailey’s hands. There was so much love around the table; there wasn’t room for anything else. With new spouses and new babies, the family kept growing.

Ian pulled her to him and she knew he felt it too, the overwhelming love moving around them. Without a doubt, she knew someday soon they’d be telling her parents and brothers and sisters that they were starting their own family. And she couldn’t wait.

“I love you, Ian Maxwell.”

“Not as much as I love you, princess.”

 

 

Epilogue

 

Blake watched his brothers and sisters squeal and hug each other. Isolated by distance and the limits of the computer screen, he felt a bit like a robot. He couldn’t even turn to see different parts of the room. He had to settle for catching glimpses of Abby as she twirled past, and he spent much too much time looking at the backs of people’s heads.

He shouldn’t complain. The technology was better than nothing. He’d gotten to see his new niece, and the look on his big brother’s face as he held his baby daughter. If he couldn’t hold Bailey in his arms when she told the family about her marriage and expected baby, at least he could see the look on her husband’s face as he watched her like she was his whole world.

Which reminded him. He needed to send Bailey and Trace a wedding gift and set up a trust for the new baby farmer. One of the benefits of his success, aside from doing something he truly loved, was being able to provide for his family financially and make sure that his growing number of nieces and maybe nephews wouldn’t have to choose between following their passions and making a living.

Feeling a little forgotten, he glanced down to make a note on his tablet. When he looked back up again, his mother was sitting in front of the screen, watching him.

“You work hard,” she said. There was none of the guilt or lamenting over how he never made it home that she easily could have added. Just a simple statement of fact and a wistful smile. “I’m so proud of you, son.”

Even though he knew it already, hearing her say the words tightened something deep in his chest. He was a grown man, a captain of industry. He was not going to sit at his desk and tear up like a boy over something his momma said. It may take a super hero-like effort on his part but no one else needed to know that.

“Thanks, Momma,” he said when he was sure he had it together enough that his voice wouldn’t give him away.

“I wish I could be as sure that you were happy.”

“I am. I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing.” He knew it didn’t make sense to his parents, his need to build something out of nothing. To take a business and manipulate the circumstances around it so it could flourish like a plant. And with the rest of his siblings pairing up and settling closer to home, him spending so much time across the ocean from them had to seem strange.

He wasn’t lying when he said he was doing exactly what he wanted, but it would be nice to be able to be with his family in person more often instead of relegated to the laptop in the corner of the table. He’d been looking to expand part of his North American operations. Perhaps the Mid-Atlantic region deserved a closer look.

He’d planned a short weekend trip home for Summer and Travis’s wedding. Maybe he could figure out a way to tack on some extra time and still make it productive. His calendar buzzed with a meeting reminder. He had fifteen minutes before the rest of his team arrived and there were still clarifications he wanted to make to the agenda.

“I’ve got to go, Momma. I’ll see you soon for the wedding.”

“I’m holding you to that, sweet boy. Say good-bye to your brother,” she said, turning the laptop to face the rest of the room. His screen was filled with his brothers and sisters and all their significant others smiling and waving. Taylor blew him kisses and Rachel beamed at him, looking happy and so relaxed next to the new guy. Ian he thought his name was.

He waved and said his
I love yous
before ending the connection, all the while wondering if there was some important piece he was missing. Shoving the thought to the side to look at it later, he opened the file on his desktop and settled in to work.

 

THE END

 

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed
Riding the Pause: Book 4 in the Southerland Series
. Although the people the Southerland Series are products of my imagination, many of the places are not. My family hikes sections of the Appalachian Trail every year and we’ve met many interesting people while staying in the shelters and had many adventures, including a midnight encounter with a mouse (or group of mice – the verdict is still out) who crawled into my sleeping bag with me. I didn’t scream quiet as loudly as Rachel, but I did dance around in the dark in my long underwear trying to shake the furry trespassers loose. Climbing back into the sleeping bag was the bravest thing I think I’ve ever done and that includes giving birth to three children.

I’d love to hear from you at
[email protected]
and you can find me on
Facebook
.Sign up for juicy bits and find out about new releases at
www.evelynadamseroticromance.com
If you have a moment please consider leaving a review. Honest reviews from readers help authors and make it easier for people to find books they will enjoy.

As you’ve probably guessed, A Little Bit Closer, Book 5 is Blake’s story. It’s going to take an English woman in Virginia to tame his businessman’s heart. It will be out summer 2015. In the meantime, I’ve finished a novella of Jude and Autumn’s wedding with a little surprise. It is on sale for $.99 but I will be happy to send it to you for free if you sign up for my
mailing list
.

I don’t do newsletters so I won’t crowd your inbox. I only send announcements when I release a new book. No spam and you’ll know right away about the next Southerland book. If you love the family as much as I do, you don’t want to miss a single story. By the time I’m finished, I love all the couples I write about. I hope you do, too!

 

Many Blessings!

Evelyn

 

 

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