“Can GI Joe come?”
“Depends, does Joe snore?”
“Yes,” he confirms.
“Carter Groves, you little monkey blaming poor Joe, it’s you that snores,” shouts Annie. Carter starts to look upset, he’s mumbling that he can’t help snoring and if he stops can he come and live here. Shit, this didn’t go to plan.
“Hey, dude, come on now, listen. Time for a guy chat, but you need to calm down first.” I usher him to one side and indicate that Chris, Jonas and Sonny should join us. “Here’s the deal. This is going to be our home and whether you snore or not, I want you, Lottie and me to become a real family. Don’t tell Lottie yet, but I snore a bit too,” I smile at him, “Chris, do you snore?”
“Hell, yeah. Cowboys snore,” he tells Carter.
“Sonny, do you snore?”
“Like a hog,” he replies and I can see Carter unwinding, slowly coming around.
“Jonas do you snore?”
“Every night and do you know why Carter?”
“No,” he mumbles.
“Because when I was a soldier in the army I couldn’t snore. Snoring meant the enemy could find me. Do you know why it’s OK to snore now?”
“No,” Carter says more positively, he’s interested and it’s clear he holds my big hearted friend in high regard.
“Because if the ladies can hear me snore, they know I’m in the house to keep them safe. Sometimes I snore loud enough that any bad guys approaching can hear, it lets them know this is my house and they are on enemy territory. So I reckon the louder you snore the better, think of it as more of a warning for the enemy that you are here protecting your home. I am seriously considering hugging my pal now, but if I do, I’m fairly sure someone will demand the return of my guy card.
“Carter, do you understand what you and I are going to do? We’re going to build this fantastic house and make it a place where you and Lottie are safe. We’re going to live right next door to Annie so that we can make sure she is safe. We’re going to build that really big building over there and make it a safe place for others. Do you understand just how important that is?”
“I think so.”
“Chris has his big ranch, so that Neely and all the animals are safe. Jonas has his big house so that his crazy devil girls and Dolly are safe. Sonny and Flo work at the school and teach kids all about being happy and staying safe. By coming to live here with us, you’ll be helping me make everyone feel safe, because that’s the most important job a guy can ever have.” I am rapidly coming to the end of my speech, which is worrying because I have no idea what else I can say to convince him. “So, are you with us?”
“I am,” he smiles at me and then exhaling a huge sigh of relief, I pull him in for a hug.
“Thanks,” I whisper to my friends.
“Oh now wait, hang on a minute, I have some questions of my own?” says Chris. “I’m going to need a trainee cowboy, someone that can help keep an eye on the horses that are going to live over here. Do you think that could be you?”
“Yeah, but… horse poop! Bleh!” He says with a funny ugly face, to which I can hear Lottie and the other girls laughing now.
“Interesting, we may be able to negotiate on poop duties. If you help out around the house, help Sonny with the team stuff here and do good at school, I’ll think about making one of the older kids do the poop stuff. Deal?”
“Deal,” Carter replies quickly, he’s not stupid and knows a good deal when he’s being offered one.
We all head back over to the girls who have left their places in the imaginary rooms. Neely wraps Chris up in a hug and whispers something in his ear, I watch him rub her stomach in reply. Interesting, it looks like Cowboy Chris is hiding some important news.
“Just one more thing, the only person who hasn’t actually agreed to my terms... Lottie, what do you say? Fancy coming to live here and becoming Mrs Oliver Hart?”
There has been no indication that her answer would be anything other than the one I was destined to hear. In fact, had she have tried to say no, I would have had Chris hog tie her so I could truck her all the way to Vegas and force her to marry me. All the people gathered around us are motionless, just as concerned as I am that she still may have found some crazy reason not to become mine.
“I can’t think of anything else I want more,” she tells me sealing our deal with a kiss.
Epilogue
Apparently there was no question about Annie coming to live with us, when Oli went to her with his remarkable proposal, he had worked hard to make sure it was one that was suitable for all of us. He knew it was time for Annie to kick back and enjoy being a grandma. Helping her come to terms with her own health issues and what that could mean for the future was not a pleasant task, but Annie was a realist. With the decline in her health, she knew she’d face some tough questions from the authorities around her capabilities to be a primary carer for the children at Sunnyside Buildings. The new staff that Oli recruited before he left, were retained permanently so Thornton Grove could stay open and although Carter still owned the building, an agreement was made with the local council for joint management between myself and Oli until my brother came of age.
Many of the existing Sunnyside children were heading into permanent placements with new adoptive parents and by the time Annie and Carter came to move to Hawkstown, the only one remaining was Lacey. Oli had made sure that Lacey knew she was also coming to live in Hawkstown, she was going to be the one permanent resident in Grove House and would also provide the essential link for the future of our kid’s home. Lacey wanted to qualify in social care for children and enrolling her in Hawkstown High was simple to do. Having her close to Flo and Sonny helped her bridge the gap between the students and faculty for any of the other kids we looked after that might attend the school on a short term basis.
Annie’s health improved and she made some really good friends in Hawkstown. Her life had changed so much and despite the loss of her daughter she saw that tragedy as a blessing, it led to her taking a rich and fulfilled retirement where she got to be the crazy grandma to Carter and a whole load of kids, who just needed someone to love them. I got the opportunity to love her as a mother figure and mentor and we became closer than I’d been to my own mom for the last few years of my parent’s lives.
Oli had used his business brain to put all elements of his plan into action and within six months we were welcoming our first children to the house as guests.
Barbara and Harrison were desperate to meet Annie and help her settle into her new life. It was the start of an important friendship for them, Annie was uprooting her life and leaving behind everything she knew to come and give Carter a new family start. It was important to show Annie that she would have friends here, that she would be able to live her own life, even though not having her in close proximity wasn’t an option for any of us, she was an important part of our family unit.
Oli’s world changed for the better too, it seemed his life was going where he’d always envisaged it would. He earned the love and respect from women he knew could give him the same things in return. In the long run, he struggled with the how he was going to carry on with his business, his parent’s had always taught him that he deserved the place he had in society and that his business would never survive if he stopped the fine art of cultivating relationships at the country club. I knew Oli was desperate to leave that scene and building Grove House gave him the kudos and connections he’d lost by turning his back on the elite. Oli learned that respect can come if you truly earn it and do something worthwhile in your life. Seeing him so settled and at peace made my heart grow immeasurably for him, the lesson he had learned was the biggest one he’d be able to teach Carter growing up. It was the one lesson that I know my father learned when he met and fell in love with Sophie, his mother.
Carter and Oli have grown so close, it’s like they’re the best of friends even with thirty years between them! It’s a relationship that has taught Oli so much abo
ut himself and his capacity to love other people, he’s become a real figure head and strong moral role model for the kids in the residency that it makes the business and ownership side worthwhile. Every time he moans about being stuck behind a desk, or shuffling paper I take him for a walk around what he’s built and show him what his paper shuffling has really achieved.
My life was growing for the better and I was content to split my time between the kids in Grove House and our family unit at the other end of the field. The investigation into my parents’ car accident was closed after a while, making a case against Mika the pool boy didn’t stick, they couldn’t tie him to the actual maintenance of the car, even though he had access to the garage. Sheriff Roberts was frustrated, most people knew a crime had been committed, but in truth I wanted it over. Had it been proven, there would have been a lengthy court case where more sordid details about my mom would have been shared. I’d had enough of that, in my most angry times I’d already contributed towards tarnishing her reputation and there was a guilt attached to it that I would never overcome. I wanted them to be able to rest in peace so Carter could have a fresh start rather than being the subject of town gossip. By the time he got old enough to attend the high school I was hoping the Groves scandal will just be an old folks tale.
Oli had worked so hard to build Grove House for us that I was determined to take my rightful place in the inner workings of it. To that end, I crammed in as many classes as possible to gain qualifications and credentials that meant for once I was using knowledge rather than power, stature and influence to make something happen. Lacey decided to take some of the sessions with me, she was interested in the care and counselling side and it was great to share part of the journey with her, she saw Grove House as her future and wanted to be as integral in its growth and uprising as the rest of us did. Lacey had only ever had Annie, Sophie and Carter as her family and she split her time between the main house, our ranch house and Annie’s granny flat, she still had her own insecurity issues to work through and she was accommodated as an extension of our family. It was a big change for her and I wanted her to feel as a part of this incredible journey as possible, by learning and schooling together for Grove House meant we were able to form a friendship and a bond. I also wanted to keep a close eye on her, she’d missed out the important life lessons from her mother and I remember the confusing time of growing up into a beautiful young woman. If I could save her from making bad decisions or be there to help her work through her mistakes, then I would be, every girl needed to know they were free to be themselves and would be loved just the same.
It didn’t take long for the success of the home to bring in the rewards we knew it deserved. The children who came through our doors were happy and had been given just a little piece of love and support to help them deal with whatever misfortune had affected them. They got to be normal kids for a bit who could focus on school, make friends and be part of something loving. I cherished the time that I spent with the children and whilst they were at school or kindergarten I got to spend time with my friends or doing something in the community to raise money. Even though I had access to an awful lot of funds, I made sure that part of what we spent was earned by us all, it was important to teach this to the kids and to show them what community spirit truly is.
And me.... well I got everything I had ever dreamed of. I moved into the most beautiful ranch house. It was big, homely and contained the two people I cared about most in the world, Carter and Oli. It wasn’t a museum of paintings demanding silence like the house I grew up in; it felt warm and was filled with laughter and love. My days were filled with the knowledge that I was giving back something to those kids who needed it and my nights were filled with family time. It was amazing to see Carter take his ranch responsibilities seriously, I just know that he is going to be the future of farming in Hawkstown, Chris is showing him the ropes and he even mucks out the stables occasionally and boy, can that kid ride a horse. He is the apple of Annie’s eye and she thinks nothing of wasting hours watching him work with the other kids and the horses. He is such an inspiration to us all about surviving something so tragic but making the best of what life hands you. Carter teaches me every day to be thankful for the simple things in life. He’s also taking on the best of personality traits of the men in his life, he’s a thinker and a strategist like Oli, he works hard for the people around him like Chris and Sonny and he’s a protector of his loved ones just like Jonas.
Oli and I got married in a really small ceremony at the back of our house. It was beautiful and the words we said were everything I knew we really felt, even his mother couldn’t put a dampener on the day. We tolerated each other for the sake of family harmony, but in reality she could never understand why Oli and I turned our back on the heritage we were destined to have. I remember telling her about our wedding plans, she was not best pleased that she wasn’t going to get the Hawkstown royal wedding that she’d always dreamed her family would be due.
My soul sisters stood beside me after Carter had walked me down the aisle to give me away and it was a duty he took very seriously. We sensed that he was more settled in life because GI Joe was no longer a permanent fixture by his side. His trusted toy and best friend would always be part of our home, but it signalled to all of us just how safe Carter really felt.
Oli looked so handsome stood waiting for me, I was tempted to kick off my Jimmy Choo’s and sprint towards him. My wedding day was the one day I was happy to be a princess. Whilst I was getting dressed I sent a thought of love to my parents, we’d all learned some harsh lessons when they were killed and I wanted nothing more than to think they were looking down on me, knowing I was truly happy with my life.
Did I tell you how much I freaking loved my new life? Well, not right this very minute. At this moment in time I was contemplating the amount of pain I was about to endure to get my complete happily ever after.
“Baby... you need to come home, I think my water’s just broke,” I say calmly down the phone to my Oli.
“What! Shit, fuck, Ok. Breathe, just breathe baby. Christ.... where are my fucking car keys?” As predicted, he was losing his mind in a panic. If it wasn’t so cute and I wasn’t starting to feel real labor pains I would be laughing at him.
“I’ll see you when you get here and please drive safely, I’m not alone Annie is with me. I love you.”
“I love you too. Wait, God, I... Lottie, baby, if I forget to tell you later, thank you. Thank you for giving me everything I’ve ever wanted in my life, thank you for giving me a son.” I can hear him trying to gulp back the emotion he’s feeling. He’s been like this since we found out we were pregnant, I was already five months along when we got married. Oli insisted we be married for the baby’s arrival, he was concerned we’d got so many things backwards, that this was one thing he could get right and who was I to argue? I’d wanted to be his wife since we were seventeen.
“Or daughter, it could be a beautiful baby girl who takes after me,” I replay the argument we’ve been consumed by for months and it takes his mind off his panic.
“Whatever, if I’m right you owe me....lots of sexual favors,” he whispers.
“The pain I feel right now, means we’re probably never going to have sex again.”
“Shit, I’m coming, I’m at the car,” he shouts and hangs up.
Twelve exhausting hours later, born just before sunset in our ranch bedroom, Samuel Oliver Hart makes his grand entrance and he’s perfect. I know he has the right number of fingers and toes because Uncle Carter’s first job was to count them.
Later when Oli and I introduce him to our friends, family and the kids at Grove House, I smile knowing that our life is full with happiness but it’s more than that.
This massive collection of people I call my family, see the real me because they helped me find her and set her free.
They see and love the Lottie that I knew lived inside me all along.
It seems sad to think that the next book was suppo
sed to close the series off... so maybe it won’t be the end for the Soul Sisters Series and some the of characters we’ve fallen in love with.
Book Four - Finding Love is Flo’s story! And it’s coming soon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Victoria Johns is a writer who enjoys sharing a happily ever after and believes that it’s every good girl’s dream to experience a steamy one. Growing up in North West England in a large family surrounded by love and support she found her Prince Charming many years ago and enjoys living the life they’ve made with their son.
She’s always had a creative imagination and decided that some of the stories bubbling in her head needed to be shared, so she’s created this pen name to give them their freedom to be loved by others.
When she’s not writing she’s overdosing on crisps, Rosé wine and trashy TV.
If you loved this book, help others love it too by leaving a review on the site you bought it from and if you want to stay in touch with her then the best ways are:-
Website: www.victoriajohnsbooks.com
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Johns/864940723534646
Twitter: @victoriajohns75
Fated Love (The Soul Sisters Series Book 3) Page 27
