Unbreakable Bond

by Sharon Cummin

  I was happier than ever that I'd made the decision I had, when at ten o'clock the morning of my mom's birthday, my phone rang, and a very freaked out Parker was on the other side of the line. He was talking so fast that I couldn't even hear the words he was saying.

  “I'll be right over,” I said, as I shoved my feet into my shoes, grabbed my keys, and took off.

  As soon as I walked in their door, he was there.

  “Her water broke,” he barked out, as he took a deep breath and held his chest.

  “Calm down,” I said. “You're not the one having a baby.”

  “Doesn't matter,” he said. “This is freaking me out. She told me it's not a big deal, but it is. It's a huge deal. We've got to get to the hospital. I keep telling her that, but she's taking forever. We need to go. The baby is coming.”

  “Settle down,” I said. “Her water broke, Parker. That doesn't mean she's going to have her right this moment. Where is she?”

  “Upstairs getting ready,” he said, in an aggravated tone. “Can you believe it?”

  “Call Lauren and see if her or Lance Jr. can come over and watch the kids,” I said. “I'm going to check on Cassie.”

  “Can you please get her ass moving?” he asked. “I want her at the hospital. I want her where there are doctors. They can keep her safe. We need to be there.”

  “We'll get there,” I said. “I'll be right back.”

  I headed up the stairs to find Cassie doing just what he'd said. She was getting ready, and she wasn't in any hurry.

  “Your husband is a mess,” I said. “What are you doing to that poor man?”

  “I'm almost ready,” she said. “We'll be fine.”

  I sat down on the edge of the bed in their room, and I watched her, as she moved around at a snails pace.

  “I can't believe this is really you,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “You're the same woman that was going crazy the last time she went into labor. You were a mess. You couldn't get there fast enough. Now look at you. What's going on?”

  “Nothing,” she answered.

  “Don't give me that,” I said.

  “Last time I was afraid,” she said. “I was alone. He was gone, and I didn't know if he'd make it in time. I don't have to feel that way now. He's here. He's going to be right there with me. I'm not afraid.”

  “I'm happy to hear that,” I said, “but you need to get your ass moving. That poor man is about to lose his shit. You might not be afraid, but he is.”

  “Why would he be afraid?” she asked, with a laugh.

  “He missed the birth of his first two children, Cassie,” I said. “With the third one, he was at a home game and didn't find out until much later. This time, he's here, just like you said. He will be there for every moment. This is a first for him. Yes, he made it just as you were pushing the last time, but this is different. So, will you please have a little sympathy for your husband, and get moving.”

  “I hadn't even thought about that,” she said. “I'm used to him being the strong one. He's so damn bossy that I never even considered him being afraid of anything.”

  “Well, he is,” I said.

  “Okay,” she said. “Let's go.”

  I got up and walked ahead of her, and just before I got to her bedroom door, she grabbed my arm.

  “It's her birthday,” she said.

  “It is,” I replied.

  “She's going to be right there too,” she said. “I bet she's laughing at us right now.”

  “I bet you're right,” I said, as I laughed. “I can also bet that she's up there telling you to get your ass moving and have that baby before midnight.”

  Cassie let out a laugh and then winced, as she grabbed her stomach.

  “Okay,” she said. “We really do need to go.”

  I headed to the hospital with Cassie and Parker while Scott waited for Lauren. Then he was on his way as well. Sammie, James, Lance, and Lucy all met us there as well. The nurses were laughing and making comments about the rest of the family, and Parker let them know that the crew would be there as soon as the baby was born. When they warned him, he just narrowed his eyes and told them that his family would be there, every single one of them. Hearing him claim us as his made me smile and feel so much pride for my amazing family.

  After eight hours of labor and an extremely stressed out Parker, their little girl was born, and she was beautiful. I held her in my arms, and as soon as she looked up at me, I knew she'd hold a special place in my heart forever. All of my grandchildren did, but there was just something about the precious little girl in my arms.

  The crew began arriving, and before it was over, the room was full of bodies and laughter.

  “She is so beautiful,” Sammie said, as she held the baby in her arms. “What's her name?”

  “Her name is Grace,” Cassie answered.

  “She has the same name as grandma,” Jenny said, as she climbed onto Cassie's bed and snuggled in close to her mom.

  “She does,” Cassie said. “Did you know that today is grandma's birthday?”

  “They share the same birthday,” Jenny said, as she realized Cassie was right.

  “They do,” I said, as I walked over to the two of them and wrapped my arms around them both.

  “I bet grandma would love that,” Jenny said.

  “I bet you're right,” Cassie said, as Sammie handed her back the baby.

  “She sure would,” I said, as I thought about the most amazing woman I'd ever know, my mom.

  “You ready for this guy to get the snip?” Lance asked Cassie, as he put his hand on Parker's shoulder.

  “Sure am,” Cassie answered.

  “Not going to happen,” Parker said roughly, looking down at his wife and then over at Lance Jr. and James. “You two might be pussies, but I most definitely am not.”

  “Really?” Cassie asked, keeping her eyes on the little bundle in her arms.

  “Yes,” he answered sternly. “I don't have a whole ball team yet.”

  “Are you crazy?” Cassie snapped, as her eyes shot up to see the smile we were all seeing covering his face. “Not funny, wannabe.”

  “You should have seen your face,” he said, as he leaned down and wrapped his arms around her and the baby. “I'm good with seven, but I'm not getting the snip.”

  “You had me for a second,” she said, as she wrapped her free arm around his waist when he sat down next to her on her bed.

  “Our family is perfect,” he said, as he looked from her and the baby to their six other kids. “I wouldn't change a thing.”

  I stood there, looking around at every member of my family, and I knew my mom was proud of every single one of us.

  “How you doing?” Scott asked, as he walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

  “Just fine,” I said, as I leaned back against him. “I still can't believe this is our family.”

  “Neither can I,” he said, and we both burst into laughter.

  Epilogue

  Carrie

  Five Years Later

  I was standing in the exact spot I'd stood on the very same day for the past four years, and I was surrounded by family. It was my mom's birthday, and it was Grace's too. She'd never met her great-grandma, but you'd never know it. Little Gracie was a spitting image of my mom, and she had the attitude to match. Not one day went by that our little girl didn't remind me of my mom, the one that held our family together.

  That was Cassie's job and had been since the day we lost my mom. It was one responsibility that my daughter did not take lightly. She'd promised her grandma that she'd hold the family together, and she stuck to that promise. Watching Cassie walk into the middle of an argument or put Lance in his place, when his mouth was getting away from him, was like something I'd never seen from her before. She wasn't the least bit afraid of the backlash that could come her way. Instead, she'd stand tall, pull her shoulders back, and come out swinging, and it worked every singl
e time. The one person that had disappeared from all of our lives had turned into the most loyal of us all, and I knew, one day, she was going to pass that down to Gracie.

  That little girl may have been one of the youngest, but at only five years old, she didn't take shit from anyone, not even the oldest in the bunch.

  Yes, you read that right. I said one of the youngest, not the youngest. Parker got his way in more ways than he'd planned. That joke he'd made had come back to bite him in the ass. Not three months after Gracie was born, Cassie got pregnant again. I thought she was going to kill the man, and if she didn't get him, I thought Lance would for sure, but he'd made it through. Of course, he'd blamed the whole thing on her, claiming she couldn't get enough of him and his giant, I won't even finish that one. If you knew our group, you already knew what was coming next. Anyway, he got his way, he finally had enough players for a team. Yes, you read that right too. There are nine spots on the field. They had twins, one boy and one girl. You'd think that would be the end of their story, right? It wasn't. We joked about his team, and he joked right along with us, but when asking about finally getting the snip, he stood his ground.

  “Already said that shit wasn't happening,” he said.

  “Parker,” Cassie growled out. “We're done. We have nine kids. It's time.”

  “Not happening, princess,” came his response. “Not doing it.”

  “Whatever,” she snapped at him. “You're not touching me.”

  “The fuck I'm not,” he snapped back, as he narrowed his eyes at her. “You won't be able to keep your hands off me, Woman.”

  “You want to bet on that one, wannabe?” she asked.

  “Sure do, princess,” he said, as sternly as he could.

  We all laughed about that one, and secretly, we'd all placed bets. I thought she'd stand her ground. She was doing a fine job of that with everyone else. Why not him too? I bet in my girl's favor. We thought it had worked. She'd stood her ground. We were all sure of it and had been for years, but we were wrong. That man was the only person that could get my girl to cave, and he did, right away, but it took us four years to figure it out. They'd just had a little boy three months before, and I was holding the precious little guy in my arms.

  Parker had argued that they needed a bigger home, but Cassie wasn't have it. She wasn't moving away from us, and she wasn't letting him add on either. Their ten kids were sharing rooms, and he was going to be right there. That was exactly how it went too. Parker was an amazing dad, and she was a great mom, but one thing had changed. He'd gotten the snip, and he'd done it only weeks before our trip.

  “You know what that makes you?” James asked, as we stood there, with balloons in our hands, just like we had the four years before.

  “What?” Parker asked, as he reached over and took his son from my arms.

  “A pussy,” James said.

  “Ten kids,” Parker growled out. “Not one damn pussy thing about that. Your ass punked out after four.”

  Every single one of us burst into laughter, including Parker. There was no way he couldn't. He knew that shit was funny.

  I looked around at my amazing family, the one I knew would always have my back and my kids' backs as well, and I said a silent thank you to mom for being the woman she was. Without her, there was no way any of us would feel the love we felt.

  Cassie started our countdown, just like she did each year. She started at ten, and when we got to zero, I felt Scott's hand on mine, and we let go of our balloons together. Everyone else looked up, as our balloons headed up into the sky, but I looked around at my family. That was when I saw Jackson take Sarah's hand in his. He had just recently entered his teen years, and he was still the same sweet kid he'd been when Lance Jr. had brought him and his mom home to live with him, only he was a little mouthier too. Sam had become his best friend, and with Sam came Sarah. The twins were close, so I'd seen that coming, but what was happening before my eyes I hadn't seen coming at all. I nudged Scott, and he looked over at them just in time to see a sweet smile cover Sarah's face. Scott shook his head before leaning in to whisper in my ear.

  “I think our most interesting days are yet to come.”

  “You've got that right,” I said. “I sure hope she's watching over us in about six years when that one comes to light. We're definitely going to need her then.”

  “And every day in between,” he said. “I'm going to be watching that boy. That's my granddaughter's hand he's holding.”

  “I think it's sweet,” I said, as I wrapped my arms around him and snuggled in close. “They're not much younger than we were when we first fell in love.”

  “Carrie,” he whispered in warning.

  “I love you, Scottie Reid,” I said. “I'm so damn glad we found our way back to each other. If we hadn't, none of us would be here together right now.”

  “You're right about that,” he said, as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. “You're lucky I forgave you for leaving me all those years ago.”

  Before I could pull away from him, he burst into laughter.

  “I love you, and I'm so happy we found our way back to each other too,” he said. “Our family is everything to me. I don't know where I'd be without it.”

  The End.

  Watch for my next novel “Code of Love, Bachelor Billionaire Kids #2”.

  Please continue on for the Prologue and Chapter 1 of “Working on My Brother's Best Friend”.

  Other Stories by Sharon Cummin

  Romance Series

  Romance and a... Series: The Complete Collection

  Billionaire Romance Series

  Finding Love, Keeping Love, and Saving Love

  Bachelor Billionaire Series

  Bachelor Billionaire: Complete Box Set (6 Novels)

  All six novels together in one set. Sea of Love, Hot for Love, Battle for Love, Rescue of Love, Built for Love, and The Future of Love.

  Bachelor Billionaire Kids

  Saved by Love (Bachelor Billionaire Kids #1)

  The Game of Love Series

  The Game of Love Boxed Set

  His Assistant Serials

  His Assistant Serials: Complete Box Set

  His Assistant: The Final Story

  His Assistant Ultimate Box Set (including The Final Story)

  Unexpected Love Serials

  Unexpected Love Box Set (It Happened in Vegas and What Happened After Vegas?)

  In Love with My Brother's Best Friend

  In Love with My Brother's Best Friend: Complete Box Set

  A Blast from the Past (A Second Chance Romance)

  A Blast from the Past (A Second Chance Romance)

  The Dark Night

  The Dark Night: Complete Box Set

  A Crush on Her Best Friend's Brother

  A Crush on Her Best Friend's Brother: Complete Box Set

  Showing Him Who's Boss

  Showing Him Who's Boss: Complete Box Set

  Playing Hardball

  Playing Hardball: Complete Box Set

  Falling for My Best Friend

  Falling for My Best Friend: Complete Box Set

  Hacked by Love

  Hacked by Love: Complete Box Set

  Out of My League

  Out of My League: Complete Box Set

  Working on My Brother's Best Friend

  Working on My Brother's Best Friend

  Hunter PI & Security

  Derek (Hunter PI & Security #1)

  A Forever Love

  A Forever Love

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  Working on My Brother's Best Friend

  Prologue

  Gabby


  I was twenty five when I threw the going away party for my brother Gabe. There were so many things going through my mind. I looked around at all of his friends and then at the one that was leaving with him. That was where my emotions mixed.

  I was going to miss my brother more than anything. We were twins and had been close our whole lives. My name was Gabriella, but he called me Gabby. His name was Gabriel, but I called him Gabe. It was the only thing we'd gotten from our parents before they took off. We were raised by my mother's parents. Ours were too young and not ready for two kids. That was what my grandma told me anyway. Gabe and I had been inseparable growing up. He was the life of the party. The man always had a joke for everything. He always found a way to bring a smile to my face no matter what was going on around us. He had my back anytime I needed it, and I would have done anything for him.

  Gabe finished college and had decided to move from Michigan to California to start his own business. I was so happy that he was going to be doing what he loved without having to answer to anyone. He'd loved web development and graphics ever since he'd first gotten onto a computer. It was something he was very passionate about. I was more into the financial aspects of business than anything else. He'd offered me a job at his company. I thought about going so I could be close to him. There were only two reasons I declined his offer.