Believing Bailey
Page 34
“He says he’s not.” I handed her her coat. “But you know he is.”
“He keeps messing with his hat?” All three girls guessed.
I nodded and grinned. “Oh, yeah. Big time.”
“I’d be peeing my pants right now if I were him,” Baxter announced as she finished with Bethany’s hair only to aim her brush Brynlee’s way and immediately be batted away.
Brynlee snorted. “I seriously doubt Daddy’s pissing his pants.”
Baxter sniffed. “And I seriously doubt a twelve-year-old girl should be saying piss.”
“Bite me.”
“Oh, I’ll—” Baxter lifted her brush threatening, only to be stopped by Bethany, who snagged it neatly from her hand, and me who hollered, “Girls! Cut it out. This is Beck’s big night. Don’t—”
Before I could threaten them within an inch of their lives to behave for their father, the front door opened and he stepped inside, rubbing his gloved hands together. “The car’s warmed,” he started to say, only to pause and beam at us. “Well, look at all my honey Bs. You ladies look lovely.”
“Daddy,” the girls cheered in unison and rushed toward him, all three of them hugging him at once. My twelve, fifteen, and seventeen-year-olds could barely see eye to eye or agree on anything, except their complete and utter adoration for their father.
He opened his arms wide to encompass his honey b’s, a term he’d started using after we’d decided to go the B route and coin all our children with names that stated with the letter B. And just like Beck and I had despised it when we’d been young, Bethany, Baxter, and Brynlee hated it too. But one day…one day, they’d get it.
Beck met my gaze over their heads, and his eyes sparked with love. “Hey,” he said softly.
I gave an internal sigh. Damn, he could still melt me with a single look. “Hey, yourself. Nervous yet?”
He touched his hair, letting me know he didn’t even have a hat to mess with, ergo no nervous habit to be had.
Bethany pulled back to grin up at him. “We’re so proud of you, Daddy. You worked hard for this. You deserve it.”
“You do,” Baxter seconded as she lifted up onto her toes to kiss his cheek.
“Yeah, we should go out to celebrate at Colton’s afterward,” Brynlee chirped.
“There’s going to be food at the award ceremony,” I reminded her.
Her nose wrinkled. “Yeah, but nothing good. I want steak.”
“I heard a rumor there would actually be a steak dinner served,” Beck said as he tugged at Brynlee’s ponytail.
Our youngest gasped, her eyes lighting with pleasure. “Oh, wow, Daddy. You really are getting full-service treatment tonight.”
He chuckled. “I most certainly am. I’m going to be surrounded by the four most beautiful women in the county.” His gaze rose to mine again.
Love bloomed, warm and liquid in my chest, before it flowed through my veins like a stimulant, exciting everything inside me. “We better get going,” I murmured, and our daughters peeled themselves away from Beck before they tromped out the door in a line. He started to follow them until I caught his arm and swung him back to me.
“Wha…?” he began to ask in confusion.
I merely gripped his shirtfront and pulled his face down to mine, kissing him warm and long, before I pulled back and murmured, “I’m proud of you too.”
Beck tenderly touched my cheek and pressed his forehead to mine before growling suggestively. “Now I’m ready for the after-party. You wanted steak too, right?”
I laughed and slugged him in the chest for his crude, but not unwanted, suggestion. Then I grew serious as I gazed into his eyes. “Did you ever think we’d get here to this point in our lives?”
Tonight he was being honored for running the state’s business of the year. The momentous thing about that was this was his first year running the spraying and fertilizing company he’d built from the ground up. It really was a momentous honor. The governor was supposed to be there to congratulate him personally.
“Of course,” he said with a shrug. “I have you. I can accomplish anything with my Bailey Rae by my side.”
I kissed him again, and Brynlee popped her head back through the doorway. “My God, would you two quit sucking face already. They’re going to give the award to the runner up if we’re late.”
From outside on the porch, Baxter’s annoyed voice groused, “They are not going to give Daddy’s award to the runner up, you dummy.”
“Well, they might.” Brynlee sent Beck and I arched eyebrows. “Let’s go already so we don’t have to find out.”
Beck chuckled and took my hand, leading out into the cold winter chill before we all marched through a snow-packed walkway and climbed into the SUV Beck had warmed for us. The girls kept trying to bicker and pick fights all the way there, but I’d just warningly cleared my throat, and they immediately told Beck how excited they were for him.
After doing this twice, he sent me an arch glance and dryly asked, “What’d you threaten them with?”
I winked. “A mother never reveals her secrets.”
Sometimes, it still wowed me that I was a mother now. I’d had seventeen years to adjust to the idea but, yeah, it still managed to blow my mind, as did the fact I was married. Married to Beckett Hilliard, of all people, the annoying drunk bucket-head who’d changed my entire life in a single night.
I’d had no idea I could be loved or feel loved until he’d come into my life.
I’d never been so wrong about something.
And I couldn’t be happier.
We made it to the event building just before the time we were supposed to arrive. The coordinator led us inside to our table where most of them around us were already filled. Tess and Jonah, and their redheaded boys sat at one. The Xanders and their daughter, Kayla, took up residence at another, then my family, Dad and my brothers with their assortment of children and significant others, took up about three other tables, before Beck’s parents and still-single sister sat at the last.
It was strange how some things worked out in the end, but they always seemed to sort themselves through, one way or another, for better or worse. Something good, a hope to hold onto, always bloomed from the tragedy and suffering, making every dark patch worth fighting through.
And while Bailey-met-Beckett-on-the-night-of-the-worst-drunken-hookup-of-his-life wasn’t exactly a story we’d be telling our grandkids, it was something I’d always be grateful for, anyway.
THE END
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my family who puts up with me through everything! Kurt, the best husband I could ever have, I love you more each day. To Lydia and Sadie, thank you for keeping me going during those times I want to be lazy and stay in bed! And to Holly, your purr had the most calming effect! Then to everyone else in the extended family. It’s nice to know I can fall back and rely on you anytime I need. Love you guys.
Thanks a ton to the beta readers for your insight and opinions: Zasharie Rodriguez, Amanda Klinger, Alaina Martinie, Shi Ann Crumpacker, Ada Frost, Lindsay Brooks, and Amisha D’Lima! You have no idea how helpful you guys are with just your bits of feedback!
And thank you to the awesome team at Omnific who helped bring Believing Bailey to life, like my editor Kateasa Langston, Melissa Simmons, then Elizabeth Riley and Lisa O’Hara. I appreciate everything you guys have done.
Thank you to my PA, Ashley Gibbons. You’re always out there, giving me a shout out! Big hugs.
And thank you to God for, you know, being you!
About The Author
Linda grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest as the youngest of eight children. Now she lives in Kansas with her husband, two daughters, a cat named Holly, and their nine cuckoo clocks. She works a day job in the acquisitions department of a university library and feels her life has been blessed with lots of people to learn from and love. Writing’s always been a major part her world, and she’s thrilled to finally share some of her stories with other rom
ance lovers. Some of her works include Fighting Fate and Loving Lies. Feel free to visit her at her website www.Lindakage.com