Power
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“I know!” RiAnne says, happily. “We’re so glad we didn’t find out. It was a very fun surprise.”
I slather on hand sanitizer and then gently touch the baby’s cheek. “Look at her. Oh, RiAnne, she’s so beautiful.”
“You are, aren’t you?” Dallas says, nestling the bundle in his arms and continuing to talk to it. “Carder put your Mommy through ten hours of labor. And your sister, Fallon, twenty hours. So, you’re already our favorite.”
He hands the bundle off to me and I notice that he discreetly takes a box from Aiden.
“Thanks for picking it up, man,” he says, giving Aiden a guy hug.
“Congratulations,” Aiden says back. “You’re a blessed man.”
“That I am,” Dallas says, returning to RiAnne’s side and taking her hand.
Aiden sits next to me and caresses the baby’s cheek while I unwrap the cocoon of blankets.
“Look at her little chubby cheeks,” he says. “They’re so perfectly pink.”
“And look at her hands,” I say. “They’re so dainty. Ri, did you decide on a name?”
“I think we should go with Farryn,” RiAnne says to Dallas. “That was your favorite, right?”
He kisses her hand and looks into her eyes. “You’re my favorite,” he says sweetly to her.
RiAnne looks toward the baby and gets teary eyed. “We’re so lucky. It’s hard to believe my getting pregnant and us getting married so young turned out like it did.”
“No, it’s not,” Dallas says. “I knew this is exactly how we’d be. Happy. With a mess of kids. And I was thinking . . .”
“About what?” she asks.
“Our wedding.”
“Our wedding was a bit of a disaster,” she says with a laugh. “Remember how the wind picked up and almost blew the altar over?”
“I remember the groom was pretty hung over,” Riley says.
“So were the groomsmen,” Aiden adds with a laugh.
“It was still beautiful,” I say. “You were both so in love that the weather didn’t matter.”
“I think we should do it again,” Dallas says seriously.
“Do what again?” RiAnne asks.
“Get married. What would you think of doing it up right? Renewing our vows? Having a killer reception. We have a lot to celebrate in our life. Five beautiful, healthy children. We’re still in love. I know you hated being pregnant, especially this time, but this, this moment right here makes all that bitching worthwhile. Look at her. Ten perfect toes. Ten perfect fingers. And this one isn't a cone head.”
“Dallas!” she chastises but then he puts the box Aiden just handed him in front of her and opens it. RiAnne’s eyes practically bug out of her head.
“Son of a biscuit!” she says. “Is that for me?”
“Yes,” Dallas says, taking her hand, slipping off her wedding ring, and putting the new ring on her. “This one has five rows of diamonds for our five children.”
“And the huge diamond in the middle?” she asks.
He takes her face in his hands. “That one’s for us. Will you marry me again?”
“Ohmigawd, Dallas. Yes. Yes.”
Then she says, “Keatyn, holy shit, come look at this!”
I hand the baby off to Aiden, who pulls her close to his broad chest, causing my heart to swell. I can only imagine what it will feel like when he’s holding our own little bundle of joy in his strong arms. His smile will be on perma-blaze.
I go to the side of RiAnne’s bed and ooh and aah over her ring, but I can’t stop sneaking peeks at Aiden. He has on an pale green oxford shirt that plays off his beautiful green eyes. His sleeves are rolled up showing off strong forearms that look perfect with a baby in them. I laugh to myself thinking about what Katie said about Knox. That he would make her ovaries explode. That’s how I feel when I look at Aiden, only my heart feels like it could explode with joy. I touch my own little baby bump and smile.
After a little bit, a nurse comes in and shoos us out, saying the mother and baby need their rest.
“What are you doing now?” Aiden asks Riley.
“No plans, really,” he says.
“I bought some steaks. Thought we could grill out.”
“Marvel’s night off, huh?”
“It is.”
“You know what?” Riley says. “I think I’m going to take a rain check. I’m going home. This weekend has given me a lot to think about.”
“Are they happy thoughts?” I ask, giving him a kiss on the cheek goodbye.
“They are. In fact, when I get home, I’m going to call Ariela. I actually can’t wait to talk to her. We used to talk on the phone for hours. Sometimes we’d fall asleep talking to each other. It always amazed me how we never ran out of things to talk about. And now we have ten years of things to talk about.”
“I think that’s awesome,” I say, smiling at him.
“And I second the awesome motion,” Aiden says. “You seem happy. Is it because of the baby or because of the weekend?”
“I’m happy for Dallas and RiAnne, but I’m also happy for me. I’m lucky to have friends who care enough about me to force me to face something I didn’t want to face. And she showed up there too. I’d say that was fate.”
“I’d say it was fate too,” I say, feeling so happy for all my friends today.
In the car - L.A.
RILEY
I don’t wait until I get home to call her. I do it the minute I get in the car that picks me up.
“Riley,” she says, her voice causing my heart to flutter. “Are you back in L.A. already?”
“I am. RiAnne called this morning in a panic because she was in labor, so we left in a hurry. How was your early morning flight?”
“I can’t believe I went straight from the party to the airport, but it was good. I slept the whole way. So, how’s RiAnne? Did they have the baby yet?”
“They did. We got there just in time. And they had a beautiful baby girl. Farryn.”
“Aww, that’s a pretty name. Remember when we named our future children?”
“Yeah, you liked Madison and Katelyn for our girls,” I say.
“And you liked Dylan and Noah for our boys,” she says then starts laughing. “I don’t think I’d want to use those names now.”
I laugh too. “Me either. So what are you doing today?”
“I just printed off my massive checklist for the wedding and am going to start running through everything in my head to make sure I’m not missing any details. Details are what make the difference between a nice wedding and a perfect wedding.”
“I bet. I had fun last night, Ariela.”
“I did too, Riley.”
“Remember how we used to talk on the phone for hours?”
“Sometimes we’d even fall asleep talking.”
“I was thinking maybe we could do that this week. Talk. Every night. I want to know what you’ve been doing the last ten years. I want to tell you about my business. My plans. I want to know what your dreams are. What’s on your life bucket list that you haven’t done yet. All that stuff.”
“I’d love that, Riley. Like, I’d really, really love that.”
I’m wearing a huge smile on my face as I get dropped off at my building and walk through the doors. “I think that’s what this weekend did for me. When we said goodbye, I started focusing on what could be—what, hopefully, will be—and not on what should’ve been.”
“That’s a big shift in mentality,” she says.
“Riley!”
A shrill voice stops me in my tracks, wiping the smile off my face.
“Shelby, what are you doing here?” I ask, as she gets up from the couch in the lobby. “I told you I didn’t want to see you ever again.”
“I need to talk to you, Riley. It’s important. Can I please come up?”
I know girls like her. No way I’m letting her come up.
Ever.
“Shelby, as in naked-leather strap-threesome Shelby?” Ariela asks in my ear.
“Whatever you need to say, you can say here,” I say discreetly to Shelby.
“God, you’re such an ass,” she hisses loudly. “I thought you might want to do this in private.”
“I don’t want to do anything with you, in public or in private.”
“Well, you’re going to have to now, Riley. Because I’m pregnant.”
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Books by Jillian Dodd
The USA TODAY bestselling series,
The Keatyn Chronicles®
Stalk Me
Kiss Me
Date Me
Love Me
Adore Me
Hate Me
Get Me
Fame
Power
Money
Sex
Love
That Boy Series
That Boy
That Wedding
That Baby
Vegas Love
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jillian Dodd is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She grew up in Nebraska, where she developed a love for
storytelling, Husker football, and Midwestern boys.
She currently resides in a Florida beach town.
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Episode 1
Ariela: Holmby Hills
Riley: Vegas
Episode 2
Keatyn: Malibu
Vanessa: Holmby Hills
Keatyn: Santa Monica
Riley: Santa Monica
Episode 3
Riley: Santa Monica
Ariela: Sonoma County
Vanessa: Santa Monica
Dawson: Santa Monica
Vanessa: Santa Monica
Keatyn: Santa Monica
Dawson: Santa Monica
Riley: L.A.
Episode 4
Riley: L.A.
Vanessa: Santa Monica
Ariela: Sonoma County
Dawson: Santa Monica
Ariela: Sonoma County
Vanessa: Holmby Hills
Keatyn: Studio City
Dawson: Malibu
Episode 5
Riley: Connecticut
Gracie: Connecticut
Keatyn: Connecticut
Episode 6
Keatyn: Connecticut
Dawson: Holmby Hills
Ariela: Connecticut
Riley: Connecticut
Gracie: Connecticut
Riley: Connecticut
Dawson: Holmby Hills
Keatyn: L.A.
Riley: L.A.