Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4)
Read Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4) Online
Authors: Jessica Prince
Tags: #Contemporary Romance
The Picking up the Pieces Series:
Picking up the Pieces
Rising from the Ashes
Pushing the Boundaries
Worth the Wait
Deadly Love Trilogy:
Destructive
Addictive
Obsessive (coming 2015)
Other Titles:
Nightmares from Within
Scattered Colors (coming early 2015)
Copyright © 2015 by Jessica Prince
All rights reserved.
Cover Designer: Najla Qamber Designs
Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing,
www.unforeseenediting.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Visit my website at
http://www.authorjessicaprince.com
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WWW.TWITTER.COM/@JESSPRINCE2013
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To every single one of you who started this journey with me.
This book is for you.
To my wonderful husband: I couldn’t do this without you. I couldn’t ask for a better, more loving and supportive husband. The fact that you worked your butt off to build me my perfect writing cave, and never once complained when I’d lock myself in there for hours on end speaks volumes! I love you so much, honey.
To my writing buddies: Emmy, Jennifer, Erin, Mia, and Rose. Thank you for helping me get this story finished.
To my friends and family: No words will adequately describe what your support means to me.
To my amazing editor, cover artist, and formatter: Thank you for giving life to my characters!
And last, to my readers: As always, this one is for YOU!
Past
My pounding heart felt like, at any moment, it was about to come right through my chest. This was it. For months, I had been planning for this moment. Everything had fallen into place earlier that morning and we were finally on the move. But despite the euphoria of being free, I still held on to a strong sense of fear that, despite all my efforts, Lance would refuse to ever let us go. I’d lost track of how long I’d been building up everything I needed to ensure he’d never come after us, but I knew I wouldn’t feel completely safe until the phone call. The phone call that would hopefully be the very last time I ever heard from Lance.
“Mommy, I’m tired,” Callie called from the backseat. A quick glance in my rearview mirror showed my babies both fighting to keep their eyes open. Thankfully, a neon sign ahead showed a hotel only two exits away. Truthfully, I was also having trouble keeping my eyes open.
I’d been driving for the past twelve hours straight, only stopping long enough for bathroom breaks and to grab something we could all eat on the road. But traveling long distances nonstop, with two four-year-olds in the back seat, wasn’t humanly possible. And I’d have given my left arm for a bed right at that moment. No doubt about it, sitting in a car for half the day was a literal pain in the ass.
“Okay, guys, we’re here,” I said over my shoulder as I pushed the gear into park and unbuckled my seatbelt.
“Are we going home, Mommy?” Callie asked as her wide eyes stared out the window toward the lights of the motel lobby.
I reached back and stroked her tiny leg. “No, baby, I told you. We’re moving somewhere very special. A place Mommy hasn’t been to since she was a little girl.”
“Cloberfield?” Cameron asked.
“Clover
leaf
,” I answered with a smile at my two little reasons for living. Nothing about my life had ever been easy, but giving birth to these two perfect little hellions was the very best thing I’d ever done. And I’d do absolutely
anything
I could to protect them.
“Yeah, Clober
leaf
,” Callie repeated in her little toddler voice before sticking her tongue out at her twin brother.
“Mommy,” Cameron whined. “Callie stuckeded her tongue out at me! Tell her that’s ugly.”
The anxiety induced migraine churned behind my eyes as the two of them went at it. “Play nice, the both of you, or I won’t let you sleep in a super cool hotel room tonight.”
Yeah, so a Super 6 Motel wasn’t exactly what I’d consider high end, but to two toddlers, sleeping anywhere other than their own beds was an adventure so I was successfully able to con them into thinking the motel was a five-star resort.