by Freya Barker
“I know more about childbirth than I care to some days,” she responds dryly. “I need someone who can keep me focused. We’re planning a home birth with a midwife.”
“What about Radar?”
“He’d rather I deliver in a sterile room surrounded by doctors, nurses, and all necessary emergency equipment, but will go along with any decision that makes me happy. He’s just very nervous about the whole thing.”
I glance over at him again, noting he’s returned his attention to the group he’s standing with.
“How does he feel about having me there?”
“Relieved.”
Tessa, Jake and Rosie’s year-and-a-half old, walks over and drops a handful of dirt on my lap.
“Bah!”
“Yes, bah,” I echo back at her. Her face is dirt-streaked and she wears half the sandbox Max built for the kids.
“Up!”
Her grubby little arms reach for me and I give up on the cream-colored dress I wore for the occasion, and lift her up on my lap.
With the little girl tucked in my arms, my chin resting on her strawberry blonde curls, and my eyes shiny, I smile at Hillary.
“I would love to.”
Yanis
I watch Bree from a distance and smile as Tessa slaps a hand against her cheek, leaving behind a dirty streak.
Bree seems oblivious and snuggles the girl a little tighter.
I’ve worried from time to time, wondering if maybe it would get difficult for her to be surrounded by babies, but the woman I’m looking at seems happy.
My wife.
Fuck, if anyone had told me this would be where we’d end up, even as recently as spring of last year, I’d have declared them delusional. Turns out I’ve been the one fooling myself for so damn long.
I lost her once by my own volition and was lucky enough to find her again. There is nothing I won’t do to warrant she’s never lost again.
The ring on her finger and the family surrounding us are just the first steps. I’m going to spend the rest of my life ensuring she stays as happy as she is today.
“You did good, Brother,” Dimi walks up and plucks his son from my arms. “Made everyone suffer through your fucking awful mood for fifteen years, but watching you with her—it was worth it.”
“Not sure whether to thank you or lay you out,” I grumble, but there’s no malice in my voice.
“Thank me. Your ball and chain is watching.”
Sure enough, Bree is looking at me, her expression one that expands my heart tenfold.
“Love you,” she mouths.
I’m frozen like a lovestruck fool of advancing age, wondering what I did to deserve a rich life like this and a woman like her.
Then my father hollers behind me, snapping me out of my rose-colored trance.
“Yanis! Get the hose out, will ya? Your dog is covered in baby poop.”
Damn mutt.
THE END
Also By Freya Barker
Click here to see all my books!
Standalones:
WHEN HOPE ENDS
VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE
BONUS KISSES
SECONDS
Arrow’s Edge MC Series:
EDGE OF REASON
EDGE OF DARKNESS
EDGE OF TOMORROW
EDGE OF FEAR
PASS Series:
HIT & RUN
LIFE & LIMB
LOCK & LOAD
LOST & FOUND
On Call Series:
BURNING FOR AUTUMN
COVERING OLLIE
TRACKING TAHLULA
ABSOLVING BLUE
REVEALING ANNIE
DISSECTING MEREDITH
WATCHING TRIN (July 2021)
Rock Point Series:
KEEPING 6
CABIN 12
HWY 550
10-CODE
Northern Lights Collection:
A CHANGE OF TIDE
A CHANGE OF VIEW
A CHANGE OF PACE
SnapShot Series:
SHUTTER SPEED
FREEZE FRAME
IDEAL IMAGE
Portland, ME, Series:
FROM DUST
CRUEL WATER
THROUGH FIRE
STILL AIR
LuLLaY (a Christmas novella)
Cedar Tree Series:
SLIM TO NONE
HUNDRED TO ONE
AGAINST ME
CLEAN LINES
UPPER HAND
LIKE ARROWS
HEAD START
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, let me thank YOU, my readers. Some of you have been patiently waiting for Yanis and Bree’s story and I genuinely hope you enjoyed it!
I’m always grateful to my list of usual suspects.
My editor, Karen Hrdlicka, and alpha reader and proofreader, Joanne Thompson. They make me look so much better than I am.
My agent, Stephanie Phillips of SBR Media, who finds new folks to love my books all the time.
My publicists, Debra Presley and Drue Hoffman and my PA Krystal Weiss of Buoni Amici Press. These ladies make me look professional and on the ball. Believe me, I’m not.
My beta readers—Deb Blake, Pam Buchanan, and Petra Gleason. I’m so lucky with these three. Theirs are the last eyes on the manuscript, ironing out the final few wrinkles
My Barks&Bites reader group is amazing. A great, welcoming group of people who love discussing books, having fun, sharing stories, and supporting and uplifting each other. I’m fortunate to have them in my corner.
I’m blessed with my ARC readers, the blogs who support me, and some fantastic colleagues all willing to read and/or support each new book I put out there. I so appreciate you!
My hubs deserves a special thank you. He’s not a reader, he also doesn’t really understand what it is that keeps me glued to my laptop all the time, but he’s always there, looking after me when I have my nose to the grindstone, and cheering me on!
I love you all!
Freya
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Driven to make her books about 'real' people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.
Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We've Read All Year Award for "Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!
https://www.freyabarker.com
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