One Percent of You

by Michelle Gross

  “I already feel outnumbered between the three of you ganging up on me as it is.”

  _____

  Six hours later, Jackson Parker was born.

  I tried to stay strong as I held Hadley’s hand, sweat coating her forehead and dampening her hair. I already knew it, but now I was positive… She was the strongest person I’d met.

  As soon as Jackson came out crying, I cried with him. The happiest, proudest moment of my life was in that room.

  I was a husband. Step-dad. Dad.

  How much my life had changed over the years since meeting Hadley. I kissed her on the lips, rubbing her wet hair as tears ran down her cheeks too.

  They placed Jackson in my arms, and I held him so that Hadley could see him too. “He’s so perfect,” she whispered to me. I nodded in agreement, unable to look away from him.

  I didn’t forget my promise.

  Bring him to the window as soon as he’s born. I don’t want to wait to see him.

  Lucy was worse than the grandparents about wanting to see him.

  Wiping my face, I glanced down at Hadley who was already nodding like she knew what I was thinking. “Go show him off then bring him back to his mommy.”

  The doctors held the door open for me. Several feet across the room were six faces. They all jumped up and down and pointed except one. Lucy held Eli even though he was almost as big as her as he pointed at Jackson, and she completely broke down. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she covered her mouth and still tried to hold her brother on her hip. Her reaction only made my tears worse.

  Because I knew she felt it too. That insane love that tackled my very being the second I saw Jackson the first time.

  Seeing his sister cry, only made Eli start too. Now every smiling face was crying as I held him up toward the window.

  I stared at the two kids that made me into this person I was, and I swore my heart quadrupled in size. Some days I couldn’t believe I had all these people in my life to love. And I couldn’t believe they loved me.

  Bonds came from more than just blood.

  Sometimes it was just there, and you didn’t question it.

  I loved my family.

  Life was…

  Amazing.

  Epilogue

  Hadley

  Eight months later….

  “All right, Jackson,” Elijah sighed as he dropped behind me on the blanket. His hairy legs caged around me as he adjusted the umbrella once more so that we were hidden from the hot sun. “What the hell, son? You only need one tit, stop trying to yank both out.” I laughed as he moved Jackson’s hand away from the boob he wasn’t nursing from.

  “I don’t like the sand,” Eli mumbled as he sat down and scooted beside us. “It burns my feet.”

  “Keep your swimming shoes on,” I told him.

  “Blame your mom, Eli. She’s the one that wanted us to vacation on the beach.” I pinched Elijah’s arm after he said it.

  Lucy let out a deep breath. “Saltwater tastes bad.”

  “That’s why you aren’t supposed to drink it,” said Elijah.

  She glared at him. “I can’t help that it went up my nose when a wave knocked me under!”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, you were getting your ass kicked out there.”

  “You didn’t even get in. You just watched. I’d like to see you out there.” She pointed toward the ocean.

  “Let’s go then.” He stood up. “Come on, Eli. Let’s go show your sister how it’s done.” Eli took his hand after slipping on his shoes.

  “Knee deep, you guys, and no farther!” I warned them, staring up at Elijah. “Hold Eli, please? And don’t goad Lucy too much. I’m already worried…” My gaze followed where she walked toward the water, glancing back our way to see if Elijah was coming.

  “I know, baby. That’s why I’m heading down. She wants to go back to the water, but I can tell she’s afraid to stay down there alone. She won’t go out far.”

  “Sissy is afraid?” Eli asked sounding surprised.

  “Come on.” Elijah scooped him up. “Those waves are no joke. That’s why it’s better not to go down alone. She’s not afraid as much as she is smart…”

  His words trailed off the further away they got, and I smiled after them.

  When I looked down, Jackson smiled up at me. “What is it?” I cooed. He laughed as I placed my bikini top back over my boob. “Want to say ma-ma?”

  “Da-dad!”

  “Noo! Ma-ma…”

  “Daaa-daaa.”

  I laughed. “Okay, traitor, see if I give you any more milk. Does Dad give you milk?”

  “Daa-daaa.”

  I ruffled his dark hair. He was the spitting image of Elijah with his dark eyes and hair. “Now I know you’re doing it on purpose.”

  Jackson and I played in the sand a little as I watched the three of them play in the water.

  Scott called Lucy once or twice a year. Eli never got the chance to know his father so when he tried to talk to Eli, he wasn’t really interested. Scott would play the blame game and that would be it. We wouldn’t hear from him again for a while.

  Lilly never gave me trouble with them. My guess was she only wanted to hurt my feelings and scare me that day. Like her son, she never made the time to be a part of their lives but still blamed me for it.

  They knew where we lived and could come see them whenever. Even when we moved into Elijah’s house, they still knew because I told them. Last year, we moved again. Same town, just a new home. Elijah’s parlor, Lucy’s school, and the hospital were all reasons why we stayed in the town including the fact that our parents would cry a river if we moved away. We also told Scott and his parents where the new house was too.

  How hard was it to pick up the phone and call someone? Or ask to come see them when you lived in the same county?

  I was only sad for my kids. I hated that they didn’t get to see their father even though neither of them wanted to anymore. I knew it would have been different if I had forgiven Scott. He would still be on a couch while I worked. They would likely see him every day, but I couldn’t imagine them happy because they would have seen me struggling to be happy with someone I could never trust again. Scott still lived with his parents. He wasn’t in college anymore, and he didn’t work. That put things into perspective for me. My kids would never get to see me treated the way I should be treated if I’d stayed with Scott. They’d never know what it was like to count on someone and for them to be there, no matter what.

  Elijah was a father to all my kids. They didn’t call him Dad. Well, Eli wanted too sometimes, and I wasn’t sure if I should correct him or not since he had known no one else besides Elijah. I could see the twinkle in Elijah’s eyes when he called him Dad, and it cracked my chest open with so many emotions. I stopped being confused after that.

  He loved them unconditionally, and when I corrected Eli once, I saw how disappointed Elijah had gotten. No one was more disappointed than me. Now that Eli was close to turning five, I sat down and talked to him about Scott and Elijah. I told him it was okay if he wanted to call Elijah Dad. I cried because Eli had cried since he was so happy. He thought all the times I acted funny when he called Elijah Dad that I was disappointed in him. He was afraid I was mad at him, and that made me feel like the worst mother in the world.

  I realized Elijah deserved this, and Eli deserved a father in his life that would always be there. Eli spent the entire day calling him Dad just to be saying it after our conversation. That night, my big, mean husband cried against my chest he was so happy.

  Sometimes, I thought Elijah forgot Scott was a part of Eli and Lucy until the rare moments he called. I wasn’t even sure why Scott even bothered when it was mostly him arguing with me. Scott had the nerve to flirt with me knowing I was married, and Elijah would neuter him if he so much as blinked my way.

  That was something I loved about Elijah. His love for me never withered or slowed. He was constant and true even after nearly five years.

  Lucy was s
lowly becoming the female version of him. She was into drawing, already daydreaming about tattooing people for a living. Since she was only eight, I wasn’t sure if she’d still feel that way ten years down the road, but I couldn’t wait to see.

  Eli was more conservative and shyer than Lucy ever was. I could already tell that he would be my little gentleman. He was so sweet and caring. Elijah even had him opening doors for everyone at stores.

  I didn’t even want to think of the attention those two got when they were out together. And now there was another one… I glanced down at Jackson passed out in my arms. Maybe I shouldn’t let the three of them go out anywhere without me. The idea was tempting, but my husband kind of loved me a whole lot which made it impossible for anyone to tempt him.

  Besides, I trusted him with my kids. Of course, I trusted him every day with my heart.

  These days my dad didn’t complain about the type of man I was with or married to. He’d never spoken a single bad thing about Elijah. The only things he liked to complain about was the half-sleeve tattoo on my left arm and the many more he knew I’d get.

  It might be true when they say, “choose your lover wisely since you’ll become a reflection of each other.” In a lot of ways, I was different. My love with Elijah made me a stronger woman who occasionally cussed in which he’d laugh until tears were in his eyes. I told him my tattoo ideas, and he’d draw me something. His warped fascination with creepy things was slowly seeping into me. The painting he had given me forever ago hung in our room as proof of that. We’d had some hot sex after he admitted that the picture was drawn as a memory of me because he couldn’t stop thinking about my leaking tits as he put it. I looked forward to the moments we sat down and watched a movie together as a family, and what came after everyone fell asleep each night—our moments.

  Jackson woke right before the three of them came back.

  “Let’s go stick his feet in the ocean, then we’ll go grab some food. Eli’s hungry,” Elijah said. Jackson was already reaching up for his dad as he leaned down and took him from me. He offered me a hand and helped me up. He kept hold of me as we walked down to the water. Lucy held Eli’s hand as we stood by and laughed as Jackson tensed up the second his feet hit the waves.

  And my family, so close together, was having a blast. Elijah’s broad back bent over as he dabbed Jackson’s feet, and the way Lucy and Eli were laughing at him…

  Oh, fudge.

  I fell in love with Elijah all over again.

  THE END

  More Books by Michelle

  Emotional Second chance romance that spans over the course of their lives, beginning at age six?

  Try: Fall From Grace

  Friends to Lovers?

  Try: Just Enough

  Like Paranormal Romance?

  Try one of these series:

  Seven Deadly Series:

  Reapers are the peacekeepers—the balancers of life and death, good and evil. They’re the police of the Underworld in a way. They keep both worlds balanced just enough so that the King of the Underworld can never escape his prison.

  For the day his reign stretches into the human world, all things good will come to an end.

  This is the story of a dark king who cursed seven siblings with sins, and how far those seven went to protect both worlds from the end of days when an old entity challenged the Dark One’s very reign.

  (Each book in the series is about a different sibling and their sin, so the romance has an ending in each book. As for the storyline, it’s just getting started.)

  Book One: Bewitching Sloth

  A Grim Awakening Series (Completed Series):

  1: ‘Til Fear Do Us Part

  2: ‘Til Grim’s Light

  3: ‘Til Death We Meet Again

  4: Falling For Fear

  About the Author

  Michelle is from a small town in Eastern Kentucky where opossums try to blend in with the cats on the porch and bears are likely to chase your pets—this is very true, it happened with her sister’s dog. Despite the extra needed protection for your pets, she loves the mountains she calls home. She has a man and twin girls who are the light of her life and the reason she’s slightly crazy.

  As a kid, she was that cousin, that friend, that sister and daughter, the talker who could spin a tale and make-believe into any little thing so it was no surprise when she found love in reading and figured all these characters inside her head needed an outlet. They wanted to be heard, so she wrote.

  The voices keep growing faster than she gets the time to write.

  The stories are never going to end. That’s perfectly okay, though. We never want to stop an adventure.

  She writes and loves many different genres so sign up to her mailing list to keep updated on her releases!

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