by Nicole Helm
“Six pounds, ten ounces,” Sierra repeated.
“Mom and Dad,” Carter repeated.
They looked at each other then and half laughed, half sobbed.
Carter pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You were amazing. Perfect. Strong and—”
“I wanted to give up.”
“The great thing about childbirth is it’s really hard to give up halfway through.”
She sank back into her pillows, clearly exhausted even as her eyes watched the nurses.
“What was the name you came up with?” he asked, still standing next to her bed and holding her hand. He wanted to collapse into a heap, but he couldn’t seem to take his hand away from Sierra.
“Kaylin. Some of Kaitlin’s name, some of Lina’s. Then maybe we can work Jess’s name into the middle name. Jessmin. Jess and Mindy, like my mom. Would that make your mom mad to not have her name in there?”
“We don’t have to tell her.”
Sierra smiled a little at that. “What do you think? Kaylin Jessmin McArthur. Even Dr. Kaylin McArthur sounds good.”
Carter laughed. “Oh, so you’re going to be the doctor pusher, huh?”
“She can be whatever she wants,” Sierra said, holding her arms out as the nurse handed Kaylin over, bundled in a blanket with a little pink knitted hat on her head. It even had a bow on the front. “But I bet she’ll want to be like her daddy.”
Daddy. He was a daddy now, and this amazing little being was his. To love, to protect, to raise. Maybe his earlier proclamation of never doing this again was a little premature, he decided as dark blue eyes looked out at him from under a knit cap. Maybe they could do this a few more times.
Because he’d learned how to be a husband, with the help of his family and his wife, so he had no doubt he could learn how to be a pretty fine dad.
With Sierra at his side, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind.
Epilogue
Present-day Marietta
Sierra sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair of the hospital waiting room, about at her wit’s end trying to keep Kaylin occupied without touching every germy surface in the place.
“We should have waited,” Sierra said to Carter as Kaylin fussed and tried to wriggle out of her lap.
Carter pawed through the baby bag trying to find a toy that would hold Kaylin’s interest. “Cole said it’d be any minute now. You said you wanted to be here.”
“I should have realized waiting with a one-and-a-half-year-old would be like waiting with a rabid octopus.”
Carter grinned at her. “Rabid octopus. Now, that’s a new one.”
“Pam-paw!” As Dr. McArthur and Mrs. McArthur approached, Sierra let Kaylin down. The one-and-a-half-year-old toddled over to Dr. McArthur and wrapped her pudgy arms around his legs.
His MS had progressed a little aggressively in the past few months, so he didn’t pick her up, but he did give her head a pat and greet her cheerfully. Mrs. McArthur reached down and took Kaylin’s hand.
Kaylin babbled happily up at her grandparents, and Sierra didn’t catch any of the words she seemed to be picking up at a rapid pace, but Kaylin was more than happy to hold court.
It was still strange, even all this time later, to watch the McArthurs interact with her child. Sierra’s relationship with them wasn’t roses and rainbows. It was polite, at best, but the McArthurs had proved to be good grandparents. They’d only overstepped a few times, and Carter always told them to back off, and they did. It had taken trial and error, a few arguments, and things weren’t perfect, but they were good. Sierra hadn’t really sat back and fully realized that until right now watching them entertain Kaylin while they waited.
“Did I miss it?” Lina was breathless and red-cheeked as she jogged into the waiting room.
“We haven’t heard anything yet,” Sierra assured her. “Where’s Ace?” Jess’s brother, who was also Lina’s soon-to-be husband, was supposed to have been coming with Lina from where they lived outside of Kalispell.
“He’s parking the car. Of course we wasted five minutes arguing who should. It’s really not fair my niece or nephew is also my fiancé’s niece or nephew. I have no seniority or pull,” Lina grumbled.
Kaylin made an indescribable noise they’d all decided was her attempt at saying Lina. Lina scooped her up, making the toddler squeal. “Stop growing, shortcake. You’re making me sad I don’t get to visit more often.”
The door that led into the labor and delivery rooms opened and Cole stepped out, broad grin taking up the entire width of his face.
“It’s a boy,” Cole announced, looking awed and exhausted all at once. He and Jess had decided not to find out the sex of the baby beforehand, or at least not tell anyone, so it was a surprise for everyone waiting.
“Now, isn’t that good news. Some testosterone for the next generation,” Dr. McArthur offered.
“And what’s this boy’s name?” Sierra asked, feeling a little choked up over how excited Cole looked. Bringing a new life into the world was such an awing experience even when it wasn’t yours.
She remembered how transformative it had been to watch Carter learn how to be a father, especially in those first few days. What a magical, exhausting time it was.
“Colton Finn McArthur.” He winked at Carter. “Another C-name for the McArthur books.”
“Can we see?” Lina asked impatiently.
Cole nodded. “Not everyone all at once though. The room isn’t that big and Jess wants to see everyone, but she’s exhausted too. Mom and Dad, Lina and—”
Ace jogged through the waiting room doors, as out of breath as Lina had been. “Well?”
“We’ve got a nephew,” Lina announced excitedly. “Can we go first?” she said, turning to Cole hopefully as she handed Kaylin off to Sierra.
“Jess asked for you both. You can come in with Mom and Dad, if Sierra and Carter can wait?”
“No problem,” Carter offered. “Congratulations, Daddy.”
“Hell,” Cole muttered. “Why does that one word about knock a person over?”
“It’s something else.”
The four of them filed back after Cole, leaving her and Carter and Kaylin in the waiting room alone for the moment.
Carter leaned his head against hers. “We could have another, you know.”
Sierra turned to look at her husband, trying not to grin. She kept her expression bland, her gaze cool. “Could we?”
“You probably want to make sure the summer camp goes off without a hitch first.”
She had to smile at that. She’d become friends with an art teacher at the high school and together they’d started putting together a community summer art program. It had taken almost two years to launch, and this summer would be their inaugural year.
Carter had been ridiculously supportive, and her mother had been babysitter extraordinaire these past six months, allowing Sierra some of the time and freedom to help get everything put together.
“That’d be good. I think it’s… Well, it’s going to go well one way or another, but I want to feel present while we’re doing it. I don’t want to be puking my guts out.”
“Oh, weren’t those the days?”
She chuckled. “But in the fall, Kaylin creeping up on two. That’d put them about the same amount of years between you and Cole.”
“Does that bode well?” Carter asked, only half joking. “I don’t recall me being that close to my siblings growing up.”
“But look at us now.” Sierra gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “We’re pretty good at getting along these days. We’ll set a good example. Besides, this one needs something to keep her occupied. Torturing a younger sibling might just be it.”
Kaylin was busy pulling every single thing out of her baby bag and throwing it across the floor.
They exchanged a look that communicated both love and exasperation over their strong-willed daughter. It made Sierra smile because it reminded her of a time when she’d thought she and Carter just weren’t wired
the same way as married couples who could share a look.
But it turned out, shared looks and nonverbal communication took work, and time, things they’d both put into their marriage a lot over the past couple years.
And it was a good one. They both got down on their hands and knees and began to clean up Kaylin’s mess, much to her dismay. Working together they got all their belongings back in the bag and talked Kaylin down from her tantrum.
Carter was holding her on his shoulders to distract her from the trashcan she wanted to play with when Ace, Lina, Dr. McArthur and Mrs. McArthur came back out.
“They said to send you three right back,” Lina said, sounding cheerful even though she looked teary. She and Ace were holding hands, and so were Dr. McArthur and Mrs. McArthur.
It was funny to think how they were all McArthurs, all of them, somehow a family at this point. They’d never be precisely the image so many people had of them, but in the course of a few years they’d all learned how to be better versions of themselves.
So, Sierra walked back to the hospital room to meet her new nephew, and introduce Kaylin to her new cousin, with all the hope in the world for the future generations of McArthurs and all the love they would have and, most importantly, share.
The End
To Read about the Couples Who Appear in Bride for Keeps…
Kaitlin & Beckett: Bride by Mistake
Cole & Jess: Keep Me, Cowboy
Lina & Ace: Ignite
The Big Sky Brides Series
Book 1: Bride by Mistake
Buy now!
Book 2: Bride for Keeps
View the entire series here!
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Bride by Mistake
Nicole Helm
Book 1 in the Big Sky Brides series
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“It looks beautiful, Kaitlin. You’ve outdone yourself.”
Kaitlin Shuller blinked back tears while forcing herself to smile. “Thank you,” she croaked. She had been managing not to cry in front of him for weeks now, why should the actual day be any different?
But he was in his suit, and she was in her dress.
The man she had loved since the third grade, standing in a tuxedo, surrounded by altar flowers she’d put together herself. Beautiful white hydrangeas, unfurling white lilies, the deep green of the filler twirled and pinned artfully—if she did say so herself. Subtle and rustic burlap accent to the giant urn.
It was country chic perfection, no floral detail left ignored. The church looked and smelled like a magazine spread and high-end greenhouse brought to life.
All for her sister’s wedding to Carter.
Kaitlin had been so certain she’d come to terms with this, but right here, right now, there were no terms. Only pain.
She’d built her life around him. Since she’d been ten, Carter Finley McArthur had been meant for her. She’d been sure of it. Planned everything in her life with the utmost confidence it would be suitable for a McArthur, suitable for the future doctor, suitable for all the good they would do. Together.
The stability and assurance of the McArthur name was supposed to be hers. Instead, Sierra was marrying him.
He pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket. “I came stocked,” he said with a charming smile. “I hear these things bring out tears in everyone, though I never thought you’d be the first victim.”
She stared at the square of cloth, only then realizing a tear had escaped. She never cried. Except at funerals and the occasional sad movie.
Kaitlin had never been known for being a sap. Driven. Determined. Organized. Charitable, when pushed, but never emotional. But she took the handkerchief because it was expected of her.
She had made a life out of discerning what people wanted from her and going after it wholeheartedly. She’d gone to school for accounting to suit her father, fell into floral design because it would please her mother. She’d done the flowers for Sierra and Carter’s wedding because it would make everyone she loved happy.
Except me.
She grasped Carter’s handkerchief, emotions she’d been banking down for six months swirling around her.
It should be me.
All Sierra had done since the day she’d been old enough to walk was cause trouble and follow the beat of her own internal drum. Sierra never cared about grades. She’d skipped school, missed homework assignments, failed tests. Sierra had been caught with beer in the ninth grade. She’d smoked all manner of things, and Sierra had definitely had lots and lots of sex.
Kaitlin had touched none of those things, all so sure she’d be rewarded for it.
She was no longer anywhere near sure.
“You’ve been such a great friend to us,” Carter said with an affectionate pat of the shoulder. Bare because her sister had picked the bridesmaid dresses. Kaitlin would much prefer to be in a nun’s habit. Anything to keep his palm off her shoulder.
Skin to skin.
“I don’t know how you managed to pack it all in,” he went on and on. She had no idea what to say to make him go away, and even if she had figured out some combination of words, no doubt she would have only squeaked.
This was it. End of the road. No terrible hope that Carter saw the error of his ways without hurting Sierra too too much.
They were getting married. He was going to be her brother-in-law. The man that had been a part of every sexual fantasy she’d ever woven. The man she’d idiotically, steadfastly saved herself for.
She caught a flash of a dark head at the back of the church, and when she recognized the face she couldn’t stop a grimace.
Okay, there was one other man who had starred in her sexual fantasies, but only her subconscious ones. Where she had no control. While real-life Kaitlin wanted the sturdy, charitable, Doctor Without Borders, her subconscious had a thing for ugh.
Regardless of her feelings for Beckett Larson, conscious or subconscious, he was her one and only escape. So, she’d take it.
“Beckett!”
Both men in the room startled, but she would not undo the action no matter how much she disliked Beckett. No matter how much the task of having a conversation with him made her want to burn her skin off.
He was terrible, and one of the few people she’d never been able to pretend she liked. She couldn’t stand him, and everyone knew it.
So, it was no surprise Carter and Beckett looked at her like she’d been hitting the champagne early.
“Uh, hello, Kate,” he offered as she marched down the aisle toward him. Insisting on calling her Kate because she hated it, insisting on smiling because she hated it. Insisting on grating along every nerve ending she had.
He was dressed in a suit, an expensive one it looked. All black and well-tailored, but of course he wasn’t wearing a tie. He probably wouldn’t. Beckett took the role of bad boy about as seriously as…as…
Well, as she took the role of good girl, she supposed.
Hate you. Hate you. Haaaate you. But she forced herself to smile in much the same way she’d been forcing herself to smile since Sierra announced she’d been secretly dating Carter and they were engaged.
Engaged! Can you believe it? And then Sierra had giggled in the way only rule-breaking, careless, reckless, selfish youngest sisters could.
“Easy there, tiger,” Beckett muttered, presumably because she was no longer smiling. She was all but baring her teeth.
She took a deep breath. She was not used to all this…emotional upheaval. Usually she was calm and collected. Serene. Pleasantly moving toward her end goal. Happily ever after with Carter.
She wanted to stomp her feet and scream. She wanted to pound her fists against the pews until they cracked. Her plan was being demolished today and all anyone could do was smile and look gorgeous.
She wanted to curse. In church.
But you would never do such a thing, would you?
She glanced at Beckett, his sardonic smile, his jet black hair and ridicu
lous blue eyes. Stubble. Dimples. A small scar on his cheek. Underneath the suit he had more scars, tattoos. He even rode a motorcycle of all things, or at least he had on his last whirlwind visit to Marietta.
He was such a cliché she wanted to push him.
Get ahold of yourself.
She had never been violent in her life. She would not start now just because her plans were all coming apart at the seams. She’d designed the floral arrangements for this wedding. She had gotten through months of wedding planning without falling apart.
This day would not undo her. She just needed a new plan. A new goal. Something else to work toward. She would find it. She would find it as soon as possible.
“You all right?”
She looked up at Beckett’s concerned blue gaze. Normally it was the kind of thing that would set her teeth on edge. How dare he be polite to her? How dare he flirt so outrageously with her? How dare he…breathe half the time?
So, instead of gritting her teeth or letting temper steal over her normal calm, rational sense, she smiled. Sweetly.
Her attempt at sweetly anyway.
“Such an emotional day,” she said, waving Carter’s handkerchief. She wanted to light it on fire.
Beckett would have a lighter.
Such a strange thought, but he no doubt would, and as there was no love lost between the McArthurs and Beckett, he’d probably hand it right over.
Kaitlin let out a measured breath. She needed to be alone for a few minutes to find some semblance of her normal control. To find a goal to reach.
Making it through this wedding without imploding would be a start.
“You seem a little pale. Would you like me to get your mother for you?” Carter asked, making a point to stand between her and Beckett.
Again, she wanted to swear. In church. One of the more vulgar swears at that.
“I just saw her,” Beckett piped up, his big hand closing over her elbow, effectively boxing Carter out of the equation. “I’ll take you to her.”
