“I’ll let you know as soon as I get in touch with her.”
I hung up the phone, then looked out through the front window. I was stunned as I saw Dawn walk up to the cafe.
“It’s Dawn!” I called out.
Everyone began to scramble in different directions. I went straight for the door. I didn’t care about the surprise anymore or the decorations or even the cake. All I cared about was my friend.
“Dawn!” I pulled the door open and threw my arms around her. “I’m so sorry that I made you feel bad!”
“Hanna, it’s okay.” She hugged me tight. “I realized this morning that I was being silly. I know how much all of you care about me, and I know you wouldn’t exclude me on purpose. I figured you just got too busy or something.” She looked past me at the decorations. “What’s going on?”
“Surprise!” I laughed and looked into her eyes. “It’s supposed to be your engagement party.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “You’re throwing me a surprise party?”
“Yes!” Zoe walked up to both of us. “At least we were trying to until our guest of honor threatened not to show up.”
“Oh no, I’m sorry.” She laughed. “I had no idea!”
“I’ll let Garrett know to head over.” I sent him a quick text, then smiled as I saw Callie, Samantha, and Blu headed for the door. “It looks like more guests have arrived.”
“Wow!” Dawn grinned as she headed toward them to exchange hugs.
Yes, it had been a bumpy road to get to the party, but I could see now that it was all worth it.
As Zara was passed around between my closest friends, Garrett, Wes, and Trent arrived. It felt as if it was a family reunion. Noella was the last to walk through the door with her arms full of balloons.
“Happy engagement!”
Zara squealed at the sight of the balloons and kicked her feet.
“Oh boy, she already loves a party, just like her mother.” Jake winked as he hugged me from behind.
Within a few minutes the party was in full swing. All of the mishaps were a distant memory as we sang, danced, and shared memories with one another. I couldn’t think of a more loving place for my daughter to be.
I closed my eyes and wished that Zara would have a circle of friends as wonderful as my own when she grew older. I hoped that she would have her own tribe of warrior princesses, that would always be there for her—that would always cheer her on throughout life.
As the party wound down, my friends and I gathered around our usual table. I noticed that we were all smiling, not for any particular reason, but because we were having such a good time.
I reached out for Dawn’s hand and Zoe’s on the other side of me. The connection spread around the table until we were all holding hands. I felt the strength of my tribe as we began to chant and laugh at the same time. When we settled down, I looked into Dawn’s eyes.
“Get ready, Dawn, because it’s a bumpy ride, but you have us all at your side, never forget that.” I squeezed her hand. “We all have so many new and amazing things to explore and experience, but I can promise you that I will never lose sight of you—not any of you.” I looked around the table at each of them. “Largely thanks to all of you, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
“Here’s to new beginnings.” Zoe held her glass of wine up in the air.
“To new adventures.” Noella grinned as she held up her glass as well.
“To always learning and growing.” Alex joined in with her glass.
“To being confident.” Callie winked as she held her glass up.
“To honoring ourselves and our journeys.” Blu smiled and thrust her glass toward the group.
“To the warrior princess in each of us.” Samantha grinned and caught my eye.
“To open hearts and being brave enough to follow them.” Dawn brushed a tear from her cheek and smiled as she added her glass.
“To the very best friends I could have ever asked for and the many, many more years of ups and downs that we will share with each other.” I added my glass of sparkling water.
The clinking that followed was music to my ears.
I looked over at Jake, holding our beautiful daughter in his arms. I truly did have everything I could ever want in life. And I knew that as long as I had my friends—my tribe—around me, I would be able to accomplish and overcome absolutely anything that would come my way.
An introduction to The Bride Tribe series…
Chapter 1
His fingers caressed mine as he grasped my hand. I watched, eyes wide, as he lowered himself to one knee. This was it. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. My heart pounded loud and steady. It pounded so loud that I couldn’t make out his words as his chocolate-brown gaze locked on mine. It pounded so loud that I couldn’t even hear my own voice as I answered a question I wasn’t sure he’d even spoken.
“Hanna?” His voice cut through my heartbeat as he called out my name. “Hanna, are you there?”
“I’m right here, silly.” I smiled and my heart continued to pound.
When my eyes popped open, I realized it wasn’t my heartbeat I was hearing. It was someone knocking on the front door of my apartment.
I jumped out of bed and barely managed to grab my robe as I ran for the door. With one arm in a sleeve and the other caught in the sash, I realized that the robe was upside down.
“Jake, I’m here. Just a sec.”
“I’ll just come in.”
I heard the slide of his key in the lock and struggled to get my robe situated over my nightgown. It wasn’t really a nightgown—it was a lacy piece of cloth that barely covered my full-bodied frame.
The knob turned and the door swung open just as I managed to get the robe twisted into place. I folded the sides across my body and watched as Jake stepped inside.
Every time I laid eyes on him, it was like the first time all over again.
At a party thrown by a mutual friend, he’d walked in an hour late, drawing all the attention with his wide smile and big brown eyes. At thirty-five he was in better shape than I’d ever been, and his warm personality made him even more attractive. I’d stared at him—openly. He’d noticed, but I still hadn’t been able to look away—at least not until he’d walked toward me.
“Didn’t you hear me knocking?” He smiled as he closed the door behind him. “For a second there I thought maybe you weren’t home.”
“I was dreaming.” I cleared my throat and clutched my robe tighter around me. It was still surprising for me to be around him in intimate moments. As much as I’d worked on my self-esteem over the past year, I still didn’t expect him to enjoy the sight of my body.
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow and settled his hands on my hips. “About me?”
His lust-filled voice tantalized my senses.
“Always.” I bit into my bottom lip.
“I know I probably shouldn’t have shown up so early, but honestly, after last night, I can’t stand to be away from you.” He caressed my cheek in one smooth movement.
“Last night was wonderful.” I shivered in response to his touch. “I’m happy you’re here.”
“Good, because I’m going to make you breakfast.”
“You don’t have to do that.” I laughed.
“I want to.” He met my eyes. “I want to make you breakfast for the rest of our lives.”
My heart pounded again. So it wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t a dream at all. I glanced down at my hand where no ring sparkled—because when Jake had tried to slide it onto my finger, it wouldn’t fit. My cheeks flared with heat at the memory.
“I’m sorry, I thought I had the right size.” He slid the ring down as far as it could go.
“It’s alright. I might have put on a few pounds.” I did my best to hold back tears of both happiness and embarrassment.
“Don’t be silly, you look fantastic. I must have just made a mistake. I’ll get it resized right away.”
“No. Don’t. Just give me
a few weeks and it should fit.”
“Hanna, I want it to fit you now.” He slid the ring back off my finger. “I love you exactly the way you are. You’re gorgeous from head to toe and there’s no need to change anything. I’ll get it resized. Besides, do you really think you’ve put weight on your fingers?” He grinned, leaned in and kissed my neck.
“Yes, I do think that’s possible, actually. It’ll be good motivation for me. Before we can get married, I need to lose the weight anyway. It’s time for me to be healthy. It’s not just about how I’ll look in a wedding dress. It’s about knowing that we’re starting our lives together as healthy as possible.”
“That’s a good thought—when you put it that way.” He sighed and looked into my eyes. “But if you’d let me, I’d marry you right now.”
“Jake, I want us to get married, but it’ll be a moment that we can look back on for the rest of our lives. I want it to be special.”
“I understand.” He kissed my forehead. “As long as you know that you’re gorgeous and there isn’t a single thing I’d change about you.”
“And the same goes for you.” I drew him into a deep kiss.
As his hands traveled the curves of my body, I felt the love in his touch.
I knew he told the truth—but I still wanted to change.
I brought my attention back to Jake, who seemed to be studying me intently.
“I really want to see that ring on your finger. Are you sure I can’t just get you the right size?” He caught my hand and ran his thumb along my empty ring finger.
“Soon. I put it in a safe place, until…”
“Until…” He nodded. “So, in the interest of you actually showing off the ring, I looked up the healthiest breakfast I could find—I’m about to launch your taste buds into an entirely new experience.”
“Okay.” I grinned. “That sounds delicious. What can I do to help?”
“Nothing. Oh, yes, maybe some music?”
“Sure. Let me get dressed first.”
“Or…” He grabbed me around the waist. “You could just stay in that.” His forehead touched mine as he looked into my eyes. “Or less.”
“Nope, no way.” I smiled as I pulled away from him. “I’ll put on some music.”
As I turned my favorite music channel on, I heard him cracking eggs in the kitchen.
I slipped into my room to change. The mirror on the back of my closet door reflected my body as I shed my nightgown and robe.
I tried not to look. It was a habit—to only look briefly. I didn’t want to think about the rolls I didn’t like or the fat that hung from places it didn’t belong. As I changed, I realized that if I really wanted to be at my goal weight by the wedding, I needed to lose about fifty pounds.
Fifty pounds.
The very thought seemed overwhelming to me.
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t tried. Yo-yo dieting had consumed my twenties and I’d sworn that I’d be at a healthy weight by the time I turned thirty. Then I turned thirty.
I’d met Jake and known almost instantly that I would marry him. I’d been telling myself that I would be at my goal weight by the time he proposed. And now that time had come and gone in the blink of an eye.
After I dressed, I forced myself to look in the mirror. The woman reflected back to me was the same woman Jake had gotten on one knee to propose to. I was the same woman that he looked at with such desire that it made my knees grow weak—without him even speaking a word.
I wanted to be that woman—only fifty pounds lighter.
End of the preview.
Get “Hanna the Bride” here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y5WY3RW
Save on the “The Bride Tribe” complete bundle (Books 1-6):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0756M4BFK/
Single Wide Female
An introduction to the fun Single Wide Female series…
Please enjoy the following preview for Book 1
of Single Wide Female:
The Bucket List #1 Learn Pole Dancing
Chapter 1
I ran my fingertips over the well-worn piece of notebook paper. It had ridges from the amount of times I’d folded it up and tucked it away. I had written the list at a time when I didn’t really believe I would ever actually accomplish anything on it. But I had, and now it was time to look at the next item.
I rolled over on my bed and stared down at it. When I had added it to my list, it was just a fun little whim, not something I thought I would actually do. But then again, I never would have thought I’d be able to lose so much weight either.
“What was I thinking?” I said out loud as I gnawed on the pencil between my teeth. I was tempted to just erase the item and replace it with something else. No one would have to know. But I would know. I cringed at the idea of actually following through with it. But I had to do it. I had to. It was on the list. I groaned and rolled over on my bed. I stared up at the cracks in my ceiling for a moment. Then I sat up with a new determination.
“Yes, I will do this,” I said, looking down at the item on the list. “Pole dancing class, here I come.” I was attempting to sound brave for myself, when I caught sight of the time on my alarm clock.
I grabbed my jeans out of the laundry basket beside my bed, and slid the pants up over my hips with my eyes squeezed shut. With a sigh of relief, I let out the belly I had been struggling to hold in. I didn’t think the zipper would slide up so easily, but it did with one smooth zip. I smiled at my reflection in the tall mirror as I studied the way that my jeans hugged my hips and rear. All of my hard work, all of the passed-up snacks, had really paid off. My body looked different and I felt different.
“Hey, you sexy lady,” I said to the shapely woman in the mirror, twisting my hips first one way and then the other. “Do you come here often?” I asked in the deepest voice I could muster and batted my long lashes at my own reflection.
“Uh, Sam?” a voice said from the doorway of my bedroom.
I froze and held my breath for another reason. It was Max. Max, my best friend. Max, with the deep green eyes and a body that would make any woman glance in his direction. I turned around slowly to face him, not wanting him to see what I knew would be sheer embarrassment on my face.
“What?” I asked as innocently as I could.
He stared at me with one quirked eyebrow, looking as sexy as ever. Max was not conventionally handsome, but a quirky kind of cute, like the kind of guy that got the lead in romantic movies. Not drop-dead gorgeous, but just goofy enough to grow on you and make you think he was adorable by the end of the movie.
“I’ve heard of bisexual, but what would you call it if you try to pick yourself up?” He smiled and leaned against the doorway.
God, but that smile made me want to snuggle right up to him.
Friend, I reminded myself. Max, my friend. No matter what my fantasies wanted to believe, we had never been anything more than that. Of course, when my eyes were closed late at night he played a very active role in my life.
“I don’t discriminate, Max. If I see something as hot and lovely as the lady in the mirror happens to be, I’ve got to give it a shot.” I grinned, hoping he would not notice that I was mortified.
“Well, I’d have to agree with you there,” he said with a laugh, and shook his head as he walked into my room.
We had spent hours snuggled up on this very bed on several occasions. Him thinking we were just watching a movie, me praying he would lean over and kiss me. He never did. At least, not in reality. The things that he had done in my mind…
“What are you up to today?” he asked, perched on the end of my bed.
“I’m going out,” I said, fluffing my newly bleached blonde hair with my fingers.
He was smiling as he watched me.
“Are you going out to break some man’s heart?” he asked, brushing his thick dark hair away from his eyes.
He was studying me intently. It always unnerved me when he looked at me so closely.
I could never tell if it was with approval, desire, or confusion.
“Sure, of course,” I said and stuck my tongue out at him.
He tilted his head to the side. “So you don’t have a date?”
“Stop it, Max.” I sighed and shook my head as I turned away from him. Only then did I spot the black leotard and tights still lying on the bed. I felt a rush of horror flood me. If Max saw them, he’d be full of questions that I didn’t want to answer.
“Stop what?” he asked as he leaned back on the bed. His hand came to rest just beside the tights. “I’m just curious. You haven’t had a date in a while.”
“Thanks for pointing that out.” I reached past him to nudge the leotard away from where he was sitting. Sometimes having a man for a best friend was not ideal. “I’ve had plenty of dates. You don’t know everything there is to know about me.”
Of course I hadn’t had any dates lately, but Max didn’t need to know that. As confident as I was in my beauty, it would appear that being big and beautiful hadn’t translated to a man tripping head-over-heels in love with me—not yet anyways—a fact that was beginning to make me slightly nervous. At thirty-two, my clock wasn’t quite ticking just yet, but I did feel that I was ready to fall in love.
“Then tell me,” Max said, jolting me out of my thoughts. “Are you keeping secrets from me?”
“Secrets?” I laughed a little at the idea. In the fourteen years that Max and I had been friends I had never been able to keep a secret from him. But this time I was determined to do it. My dignity depended on it.
I sat down on the bed next to him and slid my hand casually back across the bedspread toward the tights and leotard, now behind him on the bed.
“So are you saving yourself for me, is that it?” he asked and met my eyes.
Then Comes Baby Page 10
