Fallen: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)

by Rebecca Barber

  “Sounds good. Text me and tell me what to bring.”

  “Yourselves.”

  “A family dinner sounds perfect,” I confirmed.

  Lily ducked over to check on Sage who was still sitting on the stretcher getting the cut on her leg cleaned up, I watched on silently as Mom and Maddy reunited. I’d been arguing with Maddy since she arrived to stop hiding and just talk to Mom, but she kept coming up with excuses. It wasn’t until she’d fallen through the door the other morning, drunk as a skunk ranting and raving about how Mom hated her for not following her to America and choosing her career that all the pieces of the puzzle dropped into place. A career that Maddy insisted Mom never approved of in the first place.

  Bloody women.

  Now look at them. All it took was a hug, a couple of spilled tears and they were as thick as thieves. Why they couldn’t just listen to me, I had no idea. I guess in the scheme of things, it didn’t really matter. They’d sorted it out now and were laughing and crying together. God help me.

  “You ready?” Lily asked, returning to my side.

  “Everything okay with Sage?”

  “Yeah. She’s going to swing by later. I invited her to join us for dinner. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Of course it is. Sage is your family.”

  “Yeah. You’re right. She is.”

  “And speaking of family, I think it’s time you took yours home. It’s been a rollercoaster of a day. And I can’t speak for Ava, but I could use a nap.”

  “Then that’s what you’re going to get.”

  “And you’re joining me, aren’t you?”

  “If that’s what you want?” Because Lily had rocks in her head if she thought even for a second, I was letting either of them out of my sight in a hurry.

  “It’s exactly what I want… for starters.” Lily winked up at me, and I found myself lengthening my strides. I’d never gotten a better offer.

  38

  LILY

  “Get your sexy ass moving, Lily. Mom and Maddy just pulled up,” Zach called out to me.

  I was running around the bedroom like a chicken with my head cut off wearing only my underwear. I was running late. Like seriously late. But it wasn’t my fault. Nope. I was taking none of the blame. This was all on Zach. Zachary Higgins and his wicked ways.

  As soon as we’d bundled Ava into the car, she was out like a light so by the time we got home, there was no waking her. She was lucky like that. The world could implode around her, and she’d sleep through the lot. But that meant Zach and I had time to ourselves. Time Zach insisted we make up for.

  After the third orgasm he’d wrung from my body, I laid in his arms and we talked. And talked. And talked. I apologized for judging him about Maddy and then pulling away, and he apologized for being so easy to push away, promising that from now on, he was going to be like a leech on my ass.

  He was worried about what I was going to do about the store, but I wasn’t. I knew it’d all work out. The last couple of weeks had been hard, but I’d been through harder. And maybe the reason it didn’t seem so overwhelming facing it head on this time, was I knew the family I had around me wouldn’t let me fall. And if for some reason I did stumble along the way, I had no doubt they’d be right there to pick me up, dust me off and help me on my way.

  “I want to rebuild the store,” I told him.

  “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

  “I want to preserve what Grandma originally built, but I want to make some changes too. It was her place, Daisy’s Flora, but now I want it to be Daisy and Lily’s.”

  “It get it You want to put your own mark but keep your Grandma’s memory alive. I think it’s a great idea. Would you change the name too?”

  “I’m not sure.” And that was the truth. While I had a few ideas on improvements I wanted to make, I hadn’t really given it much thought. I guess now was the time to.

  The house smelt like garlic and tomatoes and cheese, and my stomach rumbled. I’d skimped on breakfast, been too nervous to eat and then we’d been too busy making up for lost time to eat lunch, and now I was ravenous.

  Grabbing a dress from the cupboard, I tugged it over my head before pulling my hair up in a ponytail. Taking a quick look in the mirror, I was swiping on some lip gloss when I noticed the bite mark on my neck.

  “Zachary!” I boomed, and he appeared instantly in the doorway looking very much the housewife. He was wearing my pink apron with white lace trim tied in a bow at his side. It had a huge tomato splatter on the front, so it was probably a good thing he was wearing the apron. But it was the wooden spoon in one hand and the baby in the other that had me forgetting all about the branding he’d left on me.

  “Why are you smiling?” I asked, moving towards him.

  “Because you look beautiful. The freshly fucked look suits you.”

  “You’re such a sweet talker.”

  “I know.”

  “Keep it up and you might even get lucky later.”

  “Oh, I’m getting lucky. You can bet your ass on that.”

  “Honey, we’re home. Put your clothes on and come feed me!” a voice echoed through the house which had us laughing.

  “Maddy,” we said in unison.

  “Welcome to my life,” Zach grumbled as Ava tried to grab for the spoon. He let her take it easily only to have her bop him in the center of the head with it.

  “Admit it. You wouldn’t change a thing.”

  With a wickedness in his eye, one I was starting to understand and appreciate more than I could say, Zach bent forward and kissed me like we were alone. Like he wasn’t holding Ava and his mother and sister weren’t waiting in the other room. It was a kiss that buckled my knees, flooded my panties and sent my heart into overdrive.

  “Not a chance.”

  My stomach growled embarrassingly loudly. “Come on. I need to feed you. You’re going to need your strength.”

  I took Ava from his arms. “Promises, promises,” I teased, slipping past him and out to greet our guests, leaving him to adjust the very prominent bulge in his pants I hadn’t missed.

  I found Linda and Maddy in the lounge room, and they both raced towards me, fighting over whose turn it was to hold Ava. There was no doubt about this little girl being loved. They were calling dibs on who got to nurse her, and Ava was basking in the attention.

  “I picked up a bottle of red,” Maddy said, handing me a bottle of wine that was well out of my budget. It was one of those fancy Australian Barossa Valley blends I’d tried at restaurants once or twice but couldn’t bring myself to cough up that much for a bottle just to drink at home by myself. “Hope it goes with whatever you’re cooking.”

  “It smells delicious,” Linda added as Ava grabbed hold of her nose, making her words squeak.

  “It really does. And I wish I could take the credit for it, but I was actually asleep so Zach…”

  “Zach turned into a master chef and whipped up dinner,” he finished for me before retreating into the kitchen and stirring the huge saucepan on the hotplate.

  “Well thank you, chef. But what are we eating?”

  “Why don’t you sit down, and you’ll find out.”

  “Wait for me!” Sage called out, blasting through the front door like the whirlwind she was.

  “You’re just in time,” I told her, taking my seat, while Zach opened the wine and started pouring before grabbing himself a beer from the fridge, setting it in front of his plate and a huge salad in the center of the table.

  “Want some help?” Linda offered as Ava was stolen from her arms by Sage, much to Maddy’s annoyance.

  “I’ve got it,” Zach replied confidently with a wink.

  There were only some minor swear words exchanged before he carried a few overflowing bowls in and set them down. From the size of the servings he was dishing out, I had a feeling Zach had forgotten he was feeding four women and not the guys at the station.

  “Is this…”

  “Your grandma’s spaghetti r
ecipe. Yes, Lil, it is.”

  “I haven’t had it…”

  “I know. But tonight, at family dinner, we’re having it. I know how much you wish she was here, and she’d be so proud of you for everything, and this is as close as I could get to having…”

  I leaped out of my chair, spilling my wine on the tablecloth and knocking my chair to the floor as I threw myself in Zach’s arms. At first, he had the look of pure panic on his face, like he thought he’d fucked up and I was about to burst into tears; actually there was a very good chance the waterworks weren’t far away, but they weren’t sad tears. They were happy tears. Very, very happy tears. Grandma couldn’t be here, but he’d done everything he could to make her a part of our first official family dinner. She might be gone, but she most certainly wasn’t forgotten.

  “Fuck I love you,” I told him as I smashed my mouth down over his, only slightly aware of the clapping and cheering behind me.

  “Love you too, Lil. You’re it for me. You and Ava. You’re my family now. Today. Tomorrow. And forever. I’ve completely fallen for you.”

  “Excuse me, lover boy?”

  “What, Maddy?” Zach growled, not taking his eyes from me.

  “There’re kids and parents in the room. Keep little Zach in your pants.”

  Zach rolled his eyes so hard as he let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Maddy?”

  “Yes, Lily?”

  “Let me assure you, there’s nothing little about Zach.” I winked at her, and Zach burst out laughing.

  “Ew! Too much information.”

  “Isn’t that what families do?”

  “It’s what this one does,” Linda confirmed. “Welcome to ours, Lily. You and Ava will fit right in to all our craziness.”

  “What about me?” Sage’s outburst caught us off guard.

  Epilogue

  ZACH

  “Lily Higgins! If you’re attempting to move that bed…”

  “You’re going to what?”

  I’d just finished my shift and I was tired and aching. Winter sucked. People thought fire pits were a great idea, but they had no idea how to light one and, possibly more importantly, how to keep one under control.

  Walking into the back bedroom, the room that was going to be Ava’s new princess bedroom, I found my very pregnant wife down on her hands and knees, the bed pulled out from the wall, with a guilty look written all over her face. Lily was carrying our miracle baby, the one she never dreamed she’d get to have, but even knowing how lucky we were didn’t slow Lily down at all. My wife was a solider.

  Stretching my hand out, I helped her to her feet and watched as she attempted to brush the dirt off her knees.

  “I told you I’d do that when I got home.”

  “I know, but I thought I could—”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know what you thought. Now, what do you want me to do?”

  Twenty minutes and four changes of her mind later and Lily was happy. And you know what mattered most in my life? Keeping Lily happy. Happy wife, happy life.

  “She’s going to love it,” I assured her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

  “Do you think? Maybe we should’ve gone with…”

  “This is perfect.”

  “Well, she deserves the best birthday ever.”

  “Birthday and adoption day.”

  “I’m so excited she’s legally ours. I mean, not that it mattered… I just want to know that…”

  “I know, Lil. I’m the same. I love that little cockblocker more than anything, but knowing she’s ours forever, that means everything.”

  “To me too.”

  Lily smiled up at me as I lifted my finger to her hair and pulled something pink out of it before setting it on my palm showing her.

  “Oops! Frosting.”

  “How did frosting get in your… you know what, I don’t even want to know.”

  “Probably best. Ah!”

  Lily grabbed at her belly and I moved even closer to her. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

  I wasn’t even embarrassed that I was that father. Ava already had me dressing up as Elsa from Frozen and dancing around the living room belting out ‘Let It Go’ at the top of my lungs, if anyone thought for a second that I’d be any less attentive to my son who was only a few weeks from making his grand entrance, then they didn’t know me at all.

  “Your son’s been kicking up a storm all day.”

  “That’s good,” I replied, earning me the stink eye from Lily. “I mean, it’s not good that he’s kicking, but it’s good that he’s healthy and strong.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Keep trying to pull your foot out of it. Just for that, you’re giving me a foot rub tonight,” Lily instructed, making it sound like a threat.

  The thing was, every night for the past couple of months, Lily and I had sat on the sofa after Ava was in bed, with her feet propped up in my lap and I’d rub her them while she read to me from one of her many pregnancy books. It’d taken many, many months of practice for me to knock Lily up, something that wasn’t exactly torture, but our son was our miracle. One Lily had been convinced wasn’t an option. And now here we were. Each night, we’d sit there in the quiet, just the two of us talking or arguing over names. Our son was still nameless and probably would be until he popped his head out and his mother named him. I knew it wouldn’t matter what she named him, I was going to love him as much as I loved his mother and sister.

  “I’ll give you more than a foot rub,” I suggested, wriggling my eyebrows in Lily’s direction.

  “What time is your mom dropping Ava off?” Suddenly Lily didn’t look so tired.

  “She’s not.”

  “What?”

  “Apparently it’s girls’ night. Maddy’s in town, so Mom, Maddy and Sage have invited Ava to stay for girls’ night.”

  “And I didn’t get invited?”

  “Well… You did.”

  “But?”

  “But I may have declined your invite, telling them you were busy preparing for the party tomorrow.”

  “Zachary Higgins!” Lily pouted and, for a second, I wondered if I shouldn’t have spoken for her. Pregnancy hormones were a bitch. Just when you thought you knew someone, wham! They’re knocked up and morphing into someone you barely recognized. In Lily’s case, she could go from playful and flirty to pissed off at the drop of a hat. Something I should’ve learned around the fourth month mark, but here I was, closing in on her due date still completely bloody clueless.

  “Lily, you and I have the whole night to ourselves. Do you know what that means?”

  “You’re ordering me Chinese while I have a bath and then we get to go to sleep in our bed without Ava squirming between us?” Lily’s eyes lit up.

  “Something like that.” Lily might have thought we were having a quiet night in, but trust me, once my wife got going, there was nothing quiet about her. And I planned on making our last night before we became a family of four one to disrupt the neighbors.

  THE END

  Want to keep up with all of the other books in K. Bromberg’s Everyday Heroes World? You can visit us anytime at http://www.kbworlds.com/ and the best way to stay up to date on all of our latest releases and sales, is to sign up for our official KB Worlds newsletter HERE.

  Are you interested in reading the bestselling books that inspired the Everyday Heroes World? You can find them HERE.

  Books by Rebecca

  Standalones

  Broken Promises

  Shattered Dreams

  Broken Dreams Boxset

  Playing Games Series

  Marked

  Played

  Benched

  Playing Games Series

  Play the Field Series

  Overtime

  Rookie

  Offside

  Playing The Field Series

  Finding Your Place Series

  Coming Home

  Running Away

  Believing Again

  Finding Your Place Box
set

  Meet the McIntyres Series

  Taking Charge

  Picturing Perfect

  Fighting Back

  Breaking Free

  Finding Forever

  A Merry McIntyre Christmas

  Meet the McIntyres Boxset

  Acknowledgments

  Firstly, this book was really for Marnie. She requested/demanded a tattooed book boyfriend who Margaret didn’t steal, so I introduced her to Zach Higgins.

  But on more serious note, thank you to the amazing team who helped me get there. Kathryn – your pretty images are incredible, and I love how you can see straight into my brain and what I’m thinking, even if I can’t explain it.

  Margaret and Mum – your proofing skills are unparalleled, and I appreciate you more than you know.

  Leesa and Dana – you ladies, my Aussie K Bromberg World support group, helped me when I was struggling and debating whether to persist or walk away.

  And possibly most importantly, Kristy. Thank you for letting me part of your amazing Everyday Heroes world. Your stories drew me in when I read them, and I found myself never wanting to leave. Then you opened up the option allowing me to join and I’m forever grateful.

  I hope you loved Zach and Lily’s story, but if you want to know more about what happens to Zach’s annoying little sister Maddy – stay tuned :P

  Rebecca

  xoxo

  About the Author

  Rebecca is a clumsy, introverted, bubble bath loving, chocoholic who'd rather read a book than go shopping. And don't even mention shoe shopping!