Winter

by Michelle Love

  I see how pale she is, and it suddenly dawns on me how frightened she must be for her granddaughter. I take her hand and hold it. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. I think that girl always runs on higher octane than most, anyway.”

  She nods her head and looks at me. “I’m sure you’re right. She has always been a little high strung and quick tempered. Maybe that spike looked big to them but not so much to her.”

  I nod and hope we’re right about that.

  Because I don’t know what I’d do without her being her anymore.

  ANGEL

  A bright light flashes into my eyes as someone asks me, “Mrs. Worthington, can you see me?”

  “No,” I answer in a scratchy voice that makes my throat hurt very bad. “There’s a light in my eyes.”

  The light goes away and there’s a shadowy figure in front of me. “Good.”

  “Her voice sounds clear,” I hear some man say from the corner of the room. “The scan is up on the monitor, Doctor.”

  I watch the blurry figure move away from me and go towards a box with gray fuzzy stuff on it. I close my eyes to try to get the blurriness to go away as I listen to them talk.

  “Okay, I see no damage,” the doctor says.

  “Damage?” I ask. I open my eyes and blink and things start looking normal. “To what?”

  He comes back to me and looks down at me then removes the strap that’s holding my head down. “You had a spike in your blood pressure. We had to check for signs of a stroke. How do you feel?”

  “Like shit, to be honest.”

  He laughs and moves the bed up just a little. “Yeah, that’s normal. Can you think and focus?”

  “Yes.” I look around and can see everything clear. “So, how’d the surgery go? Are my little girls two separate kids now?”

  He nods. “It all went really well. The interns are going over the video in the gallery right now. They’re excited to see the procedure. I think you’ll be really happy to see your babies when they arrive. I foresee little to no scarring. It’s amazing really.”

  “What about my husband?” I ask. “And did you guys tell him about thinking I had a stroke?”

  He nods and I feel awful. “You need to hurry up and let him know I’m fine. He’ll be worried sick. I can’t imagine what all went through his head. What torture.”

  He looks over at the nurse. “Go get her family, will you?”

  The nurse hurries out and I ask, “So when can I get the hell out of here?”

  “After the babies are born,” he says.

  “What?” I shake my head. “That’s like a month away.”

  “Didn’t your doctor tell you that?”

  “No. Damn!”

  The door opens and Benny comes in alone. “Angel?”

  I nod and he comes to me and leans over the bed, rubbing my shoulder and I see his eyes are all red and his nose is too. “Benny, you’ve been crying.”

  “You’re damn right I have. I was worried sick about you.” His hand rubs my shoulder harder like he’s trying to tell himself I’m really okay.

  “Sorry,” I say with a little smile. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  He kisses my forehead. “Well, you did. And I don’t want you to do that anymore. I’m never going to ask you to do this again. This will be our last pregnancy.”

  “Hold up there, Big Daddy.” I take his hand in mine and give it a little squeeze. “That’s jumping to conclusions. We can see how things go. I’m not getting on that wagon just yet.”

  “I thought you’d be the one telling me that, to be honest. I was just wanting you to know I’m onboard with that idea. My heart nearly gave out, and this thing isn’t even all the way over yet.” He kisses my forehead again. “I’m not cut out for this.”

  I laugh then stop as it hurts pretty damn bad. “It’s just life, Benny. I had a dream while I was under. And in that dream, there was another son. He looked like you. I can’t think of not having another kid right now.”

  He pats my shoulder and smiles. “Okay then. I’m leaving that all up to you, Sugarplum.”

  “Good.”

  Somehow I think everything’s going to work out fine.

  BLAZE

  “Hush, girls,” I hiss as Serenity and Harmony run into the nursery where I’m rocking the latest edition to our little family.

  “Daddy, I want to hold him. You’ve been hogging him for over an hour,” Serenity gripes as she puts her hands on her hips.

  The girls look just like me only with feminine qualities. They just turned sixteen last week and think they’re grown.

  Harmony holds out her arms. “No, Daddy, give him to me. She held him last. Oh, and Mom wants you, anyway. Woody took your old Harley out last night and he accidentally ran over something. She wants you to see what happened before she fixes it.”

  I set my jaw and get up out of the rocking chair. It’s the same large wooden chair I rocked all of my kids in. Harmony sits down, and I put little Ronald Reagan Worthington in her arms.

  Grandfather has passed on, but he told Angel his favorite president was Ronald Reagan just before he died. She was adamant our last son would carry on the tradition he started. We call him Ronnie.

  Her grandmother joined my grandfather in the hereafter only three months after he left us. I guess she just didn’t want to go on without him.

  I make my way down the stairs and out to the shop to find Woody and Angel looking over the bike I had when I meet the mother of my children and love of my life.

  “Gross!” I shout as I see blood covering the front fender. “What the hell, Son?”

  Woody shrugs his shoulders. “I think it was a jack-a-lope, Dad.”

  “It bent the rim a little, Baby,” Angel tells me. “I have one I can swap it out with. But I wanted your permission first.”

  I look at her with a lopsided grin. “Baby, when will you understand that I completely trust your judgment where any bike of mine is concerned? You are the top designer of the lightweight Harley, you know. Your call is always great with me.”

  She smiles back at me and nods. “Okay then. If you’re sure.”

  I walk over and pull her into my arms as Woody makes a face. “Geez, when will you two get too old for this mushy crap? I’m out of here. Sorry about your bike, Dad.”

  Angel cocks her head as she asks, “Are we ever going to get too old for this, Benny?”

  “I sure as hell hope not, my Angel.” I kiss her and her sweet mouth still takes me to the place it always has.

  Beyond this place and time to another world where only she and I exist. And hopefully, it always will.

  And we all lived happily ever after…

  The End

  Lucky Series

  An Alpha Billionaire Romance

  Blake Chandler- 22 years old. Has won five lotteries the previous year as he traveled across the country to spread his parent’s ashes and purchased lottery tickets with money they left him and instructions to do. He won twenty billion, but after taxes he’s down to a mere ten billion and is looking for financial advice. He lives in Lubbock, Texas, next door to Lexi’s brother, Josh. Josh sets him up with Max Lane to help get his finances straight before he loses it all to taxes. Blake’s physical appearance is; tall, 6’3” muscular, shoulder length blonde curls, symmetrical chiseled features, brown and blue hazel eyes. He’s a sweet, happy-go-lucky guy. He makes fast friends with Max and Kip. (He’s met Kip and Peyton in L.A. at the beach)

  Rachelle Stone- 20 years old, but turns 21 in the first book- In college at UCLA, in L.A. in the Culinary Arts Program. Her mother doesn’t know who her father is and has little to do with her. When she was three her mother placed her in a children’s home. (The same one Max Lane was in, he was fifteen at the time) Her grandparents live in Round Rock, Texas and that’s her only real family. She has abandonment issues. Her physical appearance is; Small frame, 5’2”, deep black, straight hair that hangs to her small waist. Brilliant, deep blue eyes fringed in dark, thick lashes.
Porcelain skin with hints of pink staining her high cheek bones and red, pouty lips. Her character is trying hard to be tough and keep most people at arms-length. Peyton is her best friend and after meeting Max again, she forms a little bond with him as an older brother figure.

  Part 1 Lucky Stars

  Blake

  Pinks and oranges fill the sky as the sun sets behind my parent’s home. The mailbox has become my enemy, but I check it anyway. The last letter from the IRS took millions from me. I close my eyes and hope there’s nothing else from them in the box shaped like a large mouth bass.

  My father was a novice fisherman, but you wouldn’t know that by the amount of fishing paraphernalia he had accumulated in his lifetime. My mother was not a very good cook, but she had enough cookbooks to stock an aisle in Barnes and Nobles.

  They passed away last year, together, right in the house I still live in. I was away at college, thankfully, or I’d be where they are now. A gas leak in the house took them as they slept one night.

  I should sell the place and move, especially since I lucked out on the road trip they had me make. In their will they left me three thousand dollars, and I had to use every penny of that money to play the lotteries through every state I went through on my journey to spread their ashes.

  Dad was spread in the Atlantic Ocean and Mom in the Pacific. The crazy thing is that I won seven of the lotteries and each jackpot was larger than the next. I ended that week a billionaire.

  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

  Every time I tell that story I have to thank them. Between them and God is the only way I got that money. I don’t think I’ve ever been this lucky.

  Well, the luck is running out as the IRS is finding way after way to get the money.

  “Hey, what ya doin’ out here at the ol’ fish box?” my neighbor, Josh asks me as he strides out of his house next door.

  He moved here a couple of years ago and we hang out now and then, he’s a bit older than I am. I’m a kid to most at twenty-one, so I get left out of a lot of the block parties the older people have. Josh is a pretty good guy though and a great neighbor.

  “Just checking to see if there are any more letters from the evil government, trying to take my money,” I gripe as I close the fish’s mouth and am happy to see there are no letters from my arch nemesis.

  “About your money,” he says. “It’s none of my business and I love having you as a neighbor, but why the hell are you still here in the two-bedroom house you grew up in? Get a mansion like all the other billionaires, dude!”

  With a shrug of my shoulders, I say, “It’s not the right time yet. I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t want to leave the old house behind just yet. I’ll get out of it someday, but not just yet. My parents’ things are all in it and I’d have to pack them up if I move. Frankly, I kind of act like they’re on vacation and will be home anytime. It makes me keep the house cleaned up.”

  He chuckles and pats me on the back.

  “You should come over and eat dinner with us tonight. The wife made spaghetti.”

  “Thanks, but I have a frozen dinner cooking in the oven and I’d hate to let it go to waste. Maybe another night.” I stroll back up the walkway to the old home my parents bought when they had me. It’s looking a little worse for wear and I make a mental note to at least get new siding on it. I’m a freaking billionaire after all.

  “Hey,” Josh calls out, stopping my retreat. “Did you say the IRS took a lot of your money?”

  I nod and whine, “Yeah, I have no idea what to do about it.”

  He jogs up to me.

  “My brother-in-law happens to be a man in your position.”

  “What position is that, a top player in Halo? Cause hook me up, I love a challenge,” I say as that can be all he means. I do little else since I won the money.

  “No,” he says with a laugh. “He’s rich too. Filthy, stinkin’ just like you. He lives in Houston. I could set up a meeting so he could help you figure out your finances and how to keep most of your money.”

  “Really!” My heart speeds up with the first good news I’ve heard in a while. “That would be awesome, dude!”

  He turns to go back to his house. “I’ll call him and ask when would be a good time for him. You’re pretty much wide open aren’t you?”

  “I’m completely wide open. Thanks so much.” I wave and go inside.

  I break into a dance as I finally may have someone to help me not only take action to keep my money, but maybe they can help me figure out something worthwhile to do with it as well.

  Looks like I got another lucky day!

  Max

  “For the love of all which is holy!” I jump to avoid tripping over the Barbie dream car hiding at the bottom of the staircase. “Zoey, what did I tell you about leaving your toys lying around? Especially on the stairs!” I round the corner to see my four-year-old daughter diving behind her mother as she sits on the sofa in the sitting room we use for the kids to play in.

  “Max!” Lexi shouts at me. “No need to yell! She’s just a little girl. She forgets things. It’s not her fault.”

  “Then who’s is it, Lex? You baby these kids. The twins are in pre-k for God’s….”

  “Stop!” she interrupts. “Remember there are little parrots in this home and they repeat every word we say.”

  “For goodness sakes. Okay? Happy?” I ask as I look around for my car keys. “Do you happen to know where the keys to my Jag are?”

  She points to our one and a half-year-old son, Zakk. He has them in his mouth and is slobbering all over them. I look around for something to trade him and find a candy cane that may have been around since last Christmas, but I gotta do what I gotta do.

  I pick up the slightly chewed on candy and make my way to the smiling baby boy.

  “Look what Daddy’s got.” I wiggle the candy at him and his blue eyes shine up at me. He has my eyes and his mother’s silky, blonde hair.

  Lexi clears her throat, drawing my attention.

  “No way. Keep looking for something else to trade him with.”

  With a growl I take the candy cane to the kitchen and dispose of it like it should’ve been done long ago. I find him one of his little cookies and take that back to the sitting room my not so little family is in.

  Lexi meets me just outside the door, my keys in her hand.

  “Now I have them. What are you going to trade me for them, huh?”

  Wrapping my arms around her, I whisper behind her ear and press my body to hers, “I’ll trade you one kiss and a hell of a lot more tonight when I get you into our bed.”

  “Deal,” she says as she places the keys in my hand and turns her lips up to mine.

  Though we’ve been together for a good few years now, her kiss still takes me to another place and time. Heat fills me as her sweet lips press against mine. Her lips part and I swirl my tongue around hers.

  I grind into her soft body and wish like hell we could run upstairs for a little alone time. Her hand runs over my ass and my insides turn to jelly.

  Then she tugs on my shirt.

  “Daddy, hey, Daddy!” my four-year-old son, Zane, shouts. “Hey, can I go too?”

  It was his hand on my ass apparently. I pull my mouth from my wife’s and place my forehead to hers.

  “How many more of these things did I say I wanted to have?”

  “You said several more, but I’m getting the distinct impression that three is enough for you.” Her hand runs over my cheek and I grab it and kiss her palm.

  “Yeah, for now and maybe forever, three is more than plenty.” I turn and rub Zane’s little, blonde head. “Hey, buddy, not this time, okay? Daddy’s picking up a man at the airport and it can be a little taxing to try to keep up with you when there’s so many people. I’ll be back home soon.”

  “Well, can you at least bring me something back, like a puppy or a kitty cat?” he asks as his bottom lips juts out in a pout.

  “Oh! A kitty!” Zoey shouts as she runs out of the
room.

  “No! Lord have mercy! Lexi, these kids!” I walk away as Zoey grabs one leg and Zane grabs the other. They giggle like crazy people as they try to slow me down.

  Lexi grabs the baby and follows behind me. Once I reach the door she gets the kids to leave me alone, using just one word, “Stop.”

  They let go as if she magically made them somehow. I look at her.

  “You have to teach me your ways, you’re a Jedi master.”

  “I am,” she says as she scoots the kids back. A little kiss she leaves on my cheek.

  “Hurry back to me. And thanks again for meeting with this guy for my brother, Josh. It’s a really sweet and nice thing for you to do, Max.”

  I smack my head and turn back as I remember we have guests coming.

  “What time are Kip and Peyton getting here?”

  “Around four, Peyton said. They’re coming in on his new chopper, since you helped him get his license.”

  “Cool, I’ll try to have this guy squared away by then so we can chill out by the pool with you guys,” I say and make my way to the car.

  Looks like it’s going to be a full day!

  Kip

  “I know I put his toy in the diaper bag, Peyton. Keep looking,” I say as our one-year-old son, Pax, screams his head off.

  Rachelle, my wife Peyton’s, best friend tries to distract the child by making silly faces at him. We’re in my new helicopter, flying to Houston to spend the weekend with our friends, the Lanes.

  I didn’t know Pax was going to freak out when he realized his little stuffed bear wasn’t by his side once he woke up. Peyton pulls the bear out of the bag with an expression of triumph on her pretty face.

  “Here it is! I have it,” she shouts over his wails. “Here, baby, look Mommy found it.”

  His mouth shuts, and he sniffles and holds his hand out for his toy. I roll my eyes at my wife.

  “You really need to work with him more. He’s a very demanding child.”