by JA Low
“She could even work from New York; I know the boys are looking at adding an East Coast office to the mix next year.” My brain is working out all the logistics. “I think that would work, depends on what the boys say.”
“So does that mean Isla can go on an adventure with sexy Sebastien?” Derrick adds.
“I can’t see why not, I don’t think Finn or Oscar are going to like it, but I think Isla deserves a break from all things Dirty Texas that she has been dealing with over the years. Why not have a change? Maybe then Finn might realize what he has when Isla’s not around anymore.”
Isla nods. “This is kind of crazy though?” I can see the wheels turning in her head, she wants to try something new but is scared, probably scared to leave the safe bubble she has created around herself.
“Yes, but you need a new adventure,” Stacey adds.
“Forget Finn and start living,” Derrick tells her.
“This is your time now, no regrets, this is about you not them anymore,” Charlotte gives her a pep talk.
“Okay, well if Sebastien is okay with it then, yeah, I think it’s time for a new adventure.”
We all cheer with our hot chocolates.
“Merry Christmas,” everyone sings as we sit down to open our presents. We woke to a full dusting of snow outside, which was pretty amazing to wake up on Christmas Day to a fully white Christmas. Ryder is crawling around like crazy and getting into all the presents, of course his are sky high, and he is more interested in pulling the paper off than what lies underneath.
“You have one more present.” I hand Christian the oversized white box. Ryder zooms past us sitting in his miniature Ferrari that Derrick bought him. It is remote control and being controlled by Evan, who is having entirely too much fun with it. Christian is opening up the huge box, there is tissue paper everywhere. He digs through it and comes to a red box. He looks up and smirks at me as he opens the next one, then the next one and the next one, until he gets to the last one which is a pink box. I didn’t want to give anything away so I had to disguise it. He slowly opens the pink box and sees the note that I wrote addressed to Daddy on it. He opens the pink tissue paper and that’s when I see he realizes what it is. Tears form in those whiskey eyes as his fingers touch the material. He is mumbling to himself reading what is on it. Everyone is silent as they realize something big is happening. Then Christian pulls out the two baby onesies that say ‘Girls Rock’ across them. When he looks at me with all that emotion rolling off him I break down and tears fall down my cheeks.
“We are having girls?” he questions me. Everyone in the room gasps; all I do is nod my head unable to speak. “But how?”
“Christian, if you have to ask how, you’re doing it wrong,” Derrick butts in, making everyone laugh.
I move from my spot and walk over to where he is sitting and join him. “I wanted to give you this for Christmas, so I went back to the doctor’s office, they double checked via ultra sound to see whether they could decipher via that, but they couldn’t so I asked them to go ahead with a blood test to find out.” Christian looks shocked.
“We are having two little girls,” he whispers.
“Yep, two little girls,” I repeat.
“Shit, we are in so much trouble,” he whispers to me.
“I know.” He leans over and grabs my neck, pulling me into a heated kiss. Everyone in the room hollers.
As he breaks the kiss, Christian gently presses his forehead against mine. “This is the best present ever.” His smile lights up his face. “Two little girls, I can’t believe it, two little girls.” I give him a smile.
“Two little Taylor princesses.”
“Yep and I have the perfect gift for them.” I still, what is he talking about? “I actually have one more present for you,” Christian says with a smile. He has already spoiled me rotten with gorgeous jewelry, gift cards to some designer maternity stores and a gift card for a spa day. What more could there be? He hands over this beautifully wrapped cubed box with a huge gold bow on top of it.
“Open it,” he says excitedly. I slowly pull back the ribbon and open the lid of the box. Inside, sitting in a velvet slip, are keys. I look up at my husband and give him a frown. “Wonder what they could be for?” he jokes.
My heart is racing, what on earth could the keys be for?
“Remember how much you loved Big Bear?” he asks me. I nod and wait for him to continue. “Well, while you were away in Paris, the boys and I took a little trip up there to look around…” he pauses. Okay, well he kept that a secret. “And I thought it might be a great place to bring up our kids.” I look at him with curiosity. Is he saying what I think he is saying? “I bought you a house.” Shock filters through me. This is what Evan does for Sienna all the time, surprises her with real estate. I was so not expecting Christian to do the same.
“It’s beautiful, Ness,” Axel tells me. “My brother did well.”
Tears are falling down my cheeks. “You bought me a house, for us, for our little girls.”
“I didn’t know we were having two kids when I bought it, but I wanted us to have somewhere we could escape the city. Now we can show them what it’s like to ride horses, milk a cow, ride quad bikes, all that cool stuff they can’t do in the city.
“I love it, Chris, I love it so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I wrap my arms around his neck and smother him in kisses.
121
Christian
“When I see you again, you are going to be walking down that aisle about to become my wife…again.” I kiss Vanessa goodbye as I move in with Axel for the night.
“I know we are already married, but I kind of like this tradition, you are going to appreciate me more when you see me,” she says, giving me a peck on the cheek.
“Angel, I will one hundred percent appreciate watching you walk toward me down the aisle. Having a night away isn’t going to dim that.” She rolls her eyes at me.
“Just go have fun with the boys.” She pushes me out of our room. “Fine, but one more thing.” I step toward her again. “I love you, Mrs. Taylor.” I grab her face and kiss the life out of her. “Just want you to remember that,” I smile at her.
“Love you too, Mr. Taylor. Now scat I have stuff to do.” She pushes me out the door. My shoulders sink as I slowly trudge down toward Axel’s room.
“Hey, what’s with you?” Axel questions as I plonk down on the extra bed in his room.
“Just don’t like being apart from Ness, that’s all.”
Axel chuckles, “Such a pussy.”
I glare at my brother. “Whatever, your time will come and I can’t wait to call you a pussy.”
Axel laughs, “That is going to be a long time in hell before that happens.”
I raise my brow at him. “Really?” He probably doesn’t realize I know a little more about his extracurricular activities with Olivia, thanks to Ness spilling the beans one night while we lazed by the fire.
“If you know something spit it out.” He glares at me.
“What I have heard is you are getting pretty close with one Lady Olivia Pearce. Are you getting ready to become Lord of the Manor?” I tease.
Axel’s fists clench as he shoots daggers at me. “She is just a bit of fun, nothing more.”
I stare at my twin; he knows he can’t hide from me. “You sure?” I test him.
He sits down on the opposite bed. “If you tell anyone I will fucking kill you, none of this gossiping shit that we do, okay?” I nod. “Fine, yes I like Olivia, a little more than I should. It’s complicated. I’m not sure what the girls have told you about it.”
“Nothing much, Ness just said that you and Olivia had hooked up in Monaco, that was about it.”
Axel scrubs his face. “Yeah, it’s true.” He looks uncomfortable. “They asked me to teach her things.”
Yep, I kind of choked on his words. “What do you mean, teach?”
“Sex stuff that she wasn't very experienced in because she is stuck up on a
mountain here in the middle of nowhere. Derrick thought I would be a good candidate for her.”
“They’d be right, you have made it clear time and time again that you just want sex nothing more.”
“Yeah…” He trails off.
“But?”
“After you and Ness went home together, which I might add sucked because when it’s your own bachelor party you should be partying.”
I give my brother a look.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Anyway, Nate took us to the Paradise Club, the two parties kind of joined together. That’s where Derrick approached me. He didn’t need to though I kind of already had my sights on her.”
I knew she would catch his eye. “And?”
“She is my type in every way.” He lets those words sink in.
“But I thought she was inexperienced?”
“Kind of, I think she is just more cautious around men, except me, I don’t know what happened but it was kind of intense.”
“So have you kept in touch or was it just a holiday fling?”
He didn’t look at me and that was all the validation I needed. “You’ve been texting her?”
“Fuck, I wish, she won’t talk to me. After that weekend in Monaco, she disappeared, gave me a fake number.”
Now I burst out laughing. I don’t think Axel has ever been given a fake number in his life. “She must have known she would see you again, I mean hello, the wedding.”
Axel just shrugs his shoulders, he looks a little lost, which I am totally taking in because it’s a first, and I try not to tease him as much, but it’s killing me not to. It’s a brother thing. He does generally look confused about it all. “Guess there’s a first time for everything, brother. A chick that just isn’t into you.”
“Asshole, I know you are enjoying this.” He glares at me.
“Okay, I’m not going to lie, I am laughing on the inside, but I can see you don’t know what to do about her.” He nods, it’s rare that Axel ever asks me for advice. “Have you tried to talk to her since you arrived?”
“Yes, but she keeps ignoring me, telling me she is busy.”
“Well technically that’s true, she is running this estate by herself, and she is helping Cammie and Kim with the wedding details.” Axel nods in agreement. “So, maybe just wait until after the wedding, its only one more day, maybe then the stress of hosting it at her home will be gone, we still have New Year’s here don’t forget.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he mumbles.
“I’m sorry, what did you say? I didn’t quite hear it.”
“I said maybe you’re right, asshole,” he chuckles.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you said, I just wanted you to repeat it because I think pigs have flown over or something.”
“Asshole,” he grumbles, flipping me off.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But can I ask you something?” Axel smiles and nods at me. “Do you like her? I mean really like her or are you just pissed because someone turned you down?”
Axel is silent for a moment thinking it over. “I like her, she is the first girl in forever that I like. Now don’t go calling me a pussy alright because it’s not like that so don’t get ahead of yourself. We clicked, especially sexually.”
This is kind of shocking.
“I know shocking, the innocent girl clicking with the man whore rock star.” He said it not me. “I showed her some of the things I am into and well…”
“Do I really need to hear this?” I ask him.
“No, probably not. But anyway she shocked me, and in a good way. In a way that I kind of want to keep doing.”
“Aww, you’ve got a crush.”
“Yeah, I guess I do, but she wants nothing to do with me. Is this like karma for all the years that I have done this to girls?”
“Probably.”
“Well it sucks.”
“Maybe it was just a holiday fling, I mean really, how would you work together? Would you become Lord of the Manor? Would you want to live here away from everything you built in LA?”
“Chris, I just want more sex, we are not talking about anything more.”
I frown at him, because that is not the impression he just gave me.
“I know we would never work, but…”
“You want to see if it was just a one off kind of thing between the two of you?”
“Yeah, was it just holiday Olivia?”
“Well just wait, you still have plenty of time before we have to leave, I mean you could always extend your stay after we have all gone.”
He shrugs. “Come on let’s go catch up with the others, I need a drink.”
122
Vanessa
“You’re getting married,” Derrick yells, running into my bedroom, waking me.
Sienna stirs beside me, we had a girls’ night in my suite while Christian went to his brother’s room.
“Come on, are you not excited?” Derrick bounces on the bed which makes my stomach turn.
“Stop fucking jumping on the bed where two pregnant women are lying, unless you want to be thrown up over,” Sienna yells at Derrick.
“Shit, sorry.” He backs away and grabs the packet of crackers that are beside the bed and hands them to her, she quickly snatches them and eats a couple then hands them to me, I follow, settling my upset stomach.
There is a knock at the door. “I’ll get it,” Derrick sings cheerily. “Hey, princess.”
“Morning, I thought you might be hungry so brought up some breakfast.” Olivia is holding a tray filled with fresh fruit and juice, bacon and scrambled eggs and pancakes.
“You are a lifesaver; these girls are starving,” Derrick adds.
“Morning, are you ladies up?” Camryn comes strolling in as Sienna and I come out of the bathroom, damn pregnant belly making me pee. “We have much to do today,” she says in full wedding organizer mode. “Hair and make-up will be here in about forty-five minutes. That will take a while and they will start with the bridesmaids first and then finish with Vanessa so she is the freshest. Yvette will come and help you all get dressed, and after that there are photos before we head downstairs to get you married.”
Hours later everyone’s hair and make-up is done, even the parents. Now is the time to try and haul my ass into my dress, I’m nervous now. Yvette helps me and does me up, she is a magician putting in a little bit extra room for my belly that seems to be ever expanding. I take a couple of deep breaths as she fastens my veil into my hair, I take a look at myself in the mirror and the vision hits me.
“No, no, no, V, don’t cry you will ruin your makeup.” Yvette tries to calm me down, but it is hard because my damn pregnancy hormones are going crazy, and it’s my wedding day and I look beautiful in my wedding dress. Then I start to think about my two little girls in my belly and that makes me cry even more and I kind of just want Christian to give me a cuddle.
“Hey, hey, no crying.” Camryn rushes in. “Make-up stat,” she calls out and the make-up artist rushes in, her make-up brush poised and ready to go. “Luckily they put waterproof make up on us all, I think we are going to need it.” Cammie smiles at me, and I can see the distinct glistening in her eyes.
“Don’t you fucking dare start crying on me,” I warn her.
“But you look beautiful,” she compliments with the biggest smile.
“I know…” And the tears start again.
“I think we might hold off on the make-up, I have a feeling it’s about to get worse,” Cammie whispers to the make-up artist. “Here comes the bride,” Camryn calls out as I leave the bedroom where Yvette dressed me. I hear everyone’s gasp as I take a couple of steps through the room, then complete silence. I look up and see all my family and friends before me, tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces. Everyone looks beautiful, my mum is dressed in a beautiful burgundy evening dress, designed by Yvette, my dad is in a tuxedo, probably for the first time in his life, and he looks so handsome. I look over and see my bridesmaids, Sienna, Camry
n, Isla and Stacey. They look so elegant in their black evening dresses with white orchid bouquets in their hands. And Derrick, bloody hell that man looks fine as hell in a tux.
Mum is the first to break free from the spell and wraps her arms around me. “You are a vision, sweetheart,” she coos, trying to stop herself from falling apart.
“You don’t scrub up half bad, kiddo.” Dad stands beside Mum, giving me a smirk.
“You don’t scrub up to badly either.” I launch myself into his arms. “Princess, I am so bloody proud of you,” he tells me as he kisses my forehead. “You found a good one in that boy; he is going to love you and your baby girls something fierce for the rest of your life. You have both been through so much as a young couple and yet you have come out stronger, I couldn’t be happier.”
Shit, Dad. I ball my eyes out and hug him a little tighter.
“Don’t wrinkle his suit, Ness,” Derrick mumbles, making me laugh as I pull away from my dad.
“You girls look amazing.” I move over to where they are standing.
“You look absolutely stunning.” Sienna smiles, giving me a kiss. “Just enjoy today, it is going to go quickly. Take a moment to have some time with Christian,” she whispers to me.
“Okay I think we need to get all our make-up redone again,” Camryn announces with a smile.
It’s time to marry my man. Charlotte and her photographer friends are walking around taking photos of us as the wedding party makes their way carefully down the grand staircase toward the medieval chapel where the ceremony will be held. Please don’t fall, please don’t fall, I repeat my manta as I make my way down the stone stairs.
“Okay, everyone is ready for you,” Kimberly says and smiles at me. “The bridesmaids will go first and then the music will change and it will be your turn. Are you ready?” she asks and my wedding party all nod in agreement.
