by Baker, Tory
It takes a few tries, but I finally open my eyes. “Ah, there you are, Miss. Russell. Nice to finally see you awake. Do you mind if I tell Mr. Walker here what’s going on?” Dr. Smith asks.
“Sure, I don’t mind. Hudson, do you?” He’s already bringing a straw to my mouth, the cold slush of ice water a welcome feeling on my dry throat.
“Not at all. I’m here for you, Jules, always.”
“Well then, I’ll get right down to it. You have a Class-three concussion. You lost consciousness, but we’re not sure for how long. Normally, I’d schedule an MRI, but after running your bloodwork, I’m advising against that. I’ll be discharging you today. And Jules, no working or lifting, and get lots of rest this week.” Dr. Smith turns to leave, but Hudson stops him.
“What do you mean, after running her bloodwork?”
“Oh, you don’t know yet? Do you, Jules?” he questions.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I reply, thinking something could really be wrong.
“We ran your blood in the lab here at the hospital. It seems you’re just about six weeks pregnant. I’ll write a prescription for you and send you off with a referral to Dr. Monroe for an obstetrician appointment. I’ll give you two a few minutes, and we can talk about doing an ultrasound while you’re here.”
Tears are swimming in my eyes, and a smile spreads across my face even through the pounding headache. “Hudson, we’re going to have a baby.” He’s in bed beside me in a flash, somehow managing not to jostle me as he does. His arm comes under my neck, and his lips find mine. Hudson’s hand cups my stomach, my hand immediately going on top of his.
“Hell yes, we are, and we’re going to be the best parents we can to our little peanut.” His lips press against mine. “I love you, Jules, so damn much,” he murmurs against my lips.
“I love you. Do you think we can blow this popsicle stand? I’ll call Dr. Monroe first thing in the morning. There’s no way I want Dr. Smith putting that wand inside of me. I’ll save that for my female doctor.” I wiggle my eyebrows at him and see him finally click the words into place.
“God damn right, you’ll have a female doctor. But Jules, your ass is home for a week, if not two. The shop will be fine, or we can do it by appointment only, and I’ll go to the store,” he grunts.
“Okay.” I’m not going to fight with him. He needs this right now. I can see the underlying worry in his eyes.
“That was too easy. Something tells me I’ll be eating those words later on.”
“Probably, but it’ll be fun to see how it plays out.” I wink and settle back beside him until Dr. Smith comes back with my discharge papers.
27
Hudson
One week later
I walk inside and hear Jules huff and puff. She promised she’d sit her ass still and recover this week, but every single time I have to leave the house to stop at her shop for a customer or a delivery, I come back to her organizing something or making a meal big enough to feed the entire town. Not to mention, her god awful music is blaring through the house. I smile to myself. I swear she does it just to annoy me. The joke is on her, though. Coming home while she’s belting out Gun’s N Roses is the highlight of my day. Hell, she even has a fake microphone and is singing off-key, shaking her hips with the beat of the music. How someone can’t hold a tune but has rhythm, I’ll never understand.
“Jules,” I say out loud, trying to figure out where she’s at in the house.
“Up here, in the master.”
I take the stairs two at a time to get to her. I clear the landing, round the corner, and find Beau waiting for me. “What did your momma get into today, huh?” I ask him as I bend down to pet him. He prances on his hind legs, wanting me to pick him up. I give in to his command, his little body dwarfed by my own, and Beau yips his content at being in my arms as we head to where Jules is.
The other day, I had the construction crew help me disassemble and reassemble our bed in the master. Now, it looks like Jules has decorated and put everything away. Clothes were littered everywhere when I left this morning, along with toiletries from moving rooms around.
“Someone’s been busy today. How are you feeling?” I ask, walking toward her. I drop Beau off on the bed, where he curls into a ball with a puff of annoyed breath.
“That dog has more attitude than I do. I’m doing a lot better now that you’re home.” Jules laughs, and I bring her into my arms. “Well, I was bored and couldn’t stand to look at our junk lying around when we have this beautiful place finally completed.” Earlier this week, when the dining room table was brought in from my shop, tears glistened in her eyes. I hated seeing her cry. Really, any time I see her cry, it’s a sucker punch, hitting me right in the heart, but this time it gave me an idea.
“It looks great. How about I grill dinner tonight, give you a break? Maybe I’ll even take you into town tomorrow. I know you mentioned grabbing a few pieces from the shop to bring home. How does that sound?”
“Can we eat steak? I’m dying for it tonight. Maybe with some potatoes on the grill, and a wedge salad? And, yes, I need to get back to the shop, but not only for our home. We really do need some wall art, but I just hate not being there. It feels like I’m missing a piece of my soul not being there.” Jules’ eyes are pleading with me.
“Okay, baby. We’ll go tomorrow. First, I have something I need to give to you. Stay right there while I grab it.” I go to my nightstand drawer, where I hid the ring I bought for her online a few weeks ago. It wasn’t easy to find, but I stumbled upon a vintage ring site, looking for something unique, and found a sapphire square-cut stone with filigree diamonds surrounding it on a platinum band.
“What could you possibly need to show me?” Jules must be starving. Here lately, she’s not one to wait when she’s hungry. It makes me think, more and more, that there’s a little boy inside of her.
I make my way back to her, kiss her until she’s breathless, and then say, “I want you to have my baby, my last name, and my heart. Will you marry me?”
Her knees buckle, but I swoop her up in my arms before she can fall again.
“Yes! God, Hudson, I never dreamed I’d fall in love like I am with you. Every day, my life gets sweeter, brighter, and you give me all of that. Of course, I’ll marry you.”
“Then I guess I should put your ring on,” I tell her.
“I don’t care about the ring. All I care about is you.” Jules’ voice has taken on this breathless quality. I know I could take her right here, right now, but I won’t. Not yet, at least. I have two people and a dog that need me to feed them more so now than ever.
Epilogue One
Jules
Two years later
Our boys, Nate and Jake, just celebrated their second birthday. Yes, I said boys, as in plural, as in twin boys. Who knew I’d be a mother of twin boys? Somewhere along the way, twins must have been in our family gene pool. Hudson and I joked that it would be awesome if they were identical, but I’m thankful every day that they aren’t. If they were, I think they’d try the switcharoo a lot. As it is, they’re both bundles of energy. It’s getting to the point where I can’t take them to the shop, and my heart aches at that.
Hudson offered to keep the boys while I work at the shop, but then I feel like I’ll be missing out on everything when I could be enjoying making memories with my boys. Hudson doesn’t know it yet, but I think I came up with the perfect solution.
“Hey, honey?” I call, and Hudson comes into the living room. The boys are playing with the play grill set and workbench we got them for their presents. They are both so much like Hudson; he gives them one on one playtime when he can.
It gives us both a short reprieve, even when we all miss each other while we’re apart.
“Hey, gorgeous, you want a glass of wine?”
I shake my head no, taking his hand in mine, settling it on my stomach. “I won’t be drinking for the next year or so.” I think back to the night Hudson suggested t
hrowing away my birth control because he was ready for us to add more to our family. This time, hopefully, a little girl that looks just like me is in the cards.
“Boys, it’s an early bedtime for you two tonight,” Hudson says with a chuckle. Both Nate and Jake look at him with a mischievous glint in their eyes. “I can’t believe you’re pregnant. Think we’ll have twins again?”
“I love our boys, but I’d settle for just one this time. My recovery time will be the same, and we’ll have the boys. It’s not going to be easy for either of us. I’m actually kind of worried, Hudson,” I tell him honestly. I don’t know how we’re going to manage.
“I’ll see if Cora and Judd can help us from time to time, and if not, there’s always Ophelia and Braden. Sure, it’ll be hard, but we’ll get through this. I promise you.” He kisses my forehead and pulls away. Beau jumps up on the couch, wanting to celebrate with us, which makes the boys come running, too.
“I’m so happy, Hudson. I’m not sure I could be any happier, or I’d be bursting at the seams.” I nuzzle into his neck, and we wrap our arms around our little family.
“I’m glad, gorgeous, because you guys light up my life.”
We sit here on the couch until Nate and Jake fall asleep. Hudson moves them into their room as I pick up the boys’ toys from today.
Who knew loving the mountain man would amount to me living on top of the world? But I’m so happy it does.
Epilogue Two
Hudson
Five years later
I walk inside the front door, and the house is quiet. We usually have four rowdy boys running around, playing. We tried—hell, did we try—but after boy number four, Jules was tired. Her body went through three c-sections. I did what only a man should and could do; I had a vasectomy. A lesser man would have had his wife get a tubal ligation, but no way in hell was I allowing Jules to go through even more pain. I don’t care if they could do it after Cole was born.
We now have Jake and Nate, twin boys that are seven years old. Will is five years old, and Cole just turned three. All of them are rambunctious, and I’m not sure how Jules and I keep up with them throughout the day, but somehow, we manage. She brought in part-time employees to help with her store, and I take care of the boys while she’s gone. We usually fish at the pond or go for a short swim at the hot springs, or they sometimes help me tinker in the workshop.
That’s why I’m surprised when I walk in the house today, and it’s completely quiet and the sparkling clean. I offered to help with the cleaning, but Jules wasn’t having any of that.
Walking around the downstairs, I don’t see anyone. “Damn, I wasn’t gone that long. What could they have gotten into?” I murmur to myself as I head up the stairs. The twins’ room is empty. We asked if they wanted to have their own rooms, but they were content where they were. I walk to Will’s room and see his room is empty, too. My heartbeat starts to quicken. Jules’ Suburban is sitting in the driveway, so she has to be home, but where the hell are the boys? I walk toward Cole’s room, sneaking a peek in there. “Thank Christ.” His thumb is in his mouth, his little butt is up in the air, and he’s fast asleep. Not to mention, Beau is lying beside him in his bed. That dog may be small, but he loves our boys. Wherever the boys are, you can usually find him with them. I close his door and walk to the master bedroom. “Maybe Judd and Cora have the boys.” Sometimes they’ll come and take them for a day so they can play with their kids and we’ll do the same when they want an evening out.
“Jules?” I say into our bedroom. She’s fast asleep in our bed. Her arms beside her head, flat on her back, it brings me back to the time when I woke her up before the roosters crowed, as Jules likes to say. I think back on that morning.
She was completely bare for me. I closed the curtains surrounding our bed, just how she likes it when it’s late at night, cocooning us in our own little world. Sliding the sheet down, baring her body to me, I took in every new curve she’d earned from giving life to our children, every silvery mark on her abdomen, down to the lower swell of her stomach that, no matter how much she worked out, wouldn’t go away. I didn’t give two shits about that, though. No, I loved this woman with my whole damn body. I’d been tempted to grab my belt and wrap it around her wrists, yet I wanted something different. I wanted her sitting on my face, grinding that sweet pussy down on me as she chased her orgasm. Too bad, Jules had other ideas, and she reversed the situation. Her mouth found my cock while I fucked her with my tongue until we both found our pleasure.
My cock gets hard thinking about that moment. I will it to go down as I sit on the edge of the bed. Her hair is a tousled mess, and there are dark circles under her eyes. I have to put my foot down. She needs help, and there’s no reason we can’t afford to get it. I know how much she loves her store, but she needs to think about lessening her hours for deliveries only instead of being there as much as she can.
I whip off my clothes, leaving me in my boxers. When I move the sheets off of her body, I find her in my t-shirt she loves so much. My arm goes under her neck, and she turns to me in her sleep, and this right here is my slice of heaven.
“Hudson,” she moans, her nose finding the hollow of my throat.
“Shhh, Jules. Go on back to sleep. You need it.” I hold her as she drifts back to sleep. This right here, living on the mountain with my wife, children, and our French bulldog is where I was always meant to be.
The End
About the Author
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/2BQIRkH
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tory-Baker-575083209283480/
Email: [email protected]
Also by Tory Baker
Spreading Christmas Joy
Mail Ordered Bride
Nailed
Doctor For Hire
Going All In
Getting What He Wants
Accidental Daddy
Love Me Forever
Gettin’ Lucky
It’s Her Love
Meant To Be
Breaking His Rules
Can’t Walk Away
Carried Away
In Love With My Best Friend
Must Be Love
Sweet As Candy
Falling For Her
All Yours
Sweet Nothings Book 3—Tory Baker
Carter Brother Series
Just One Kiss
Just One Touch
Just One Promise
Finding Love Series
A Love Like Ours
A Love To Cherish
