by Mia Carson
“They’re still getting Freddie into recovery, but would you like to take a peek at your children?”
Rhett found the strength to stand, and Clarice and Dr. Gibbons said they would still be there, waiting for the news. He followed the doctor to a room where he had to put on scrubs and booties and latex gloves. Once he was ready, a nurse led him inside and showed him two tiny babies. Tubes and wires surrounded their tiny bodies, but the steady beeping of their heartrate monitors had him crying tears of joy. He stood there for a very long time, watching as the little baby boy yawned and the girl’s fists curled and uncurled as she stretched.
Freddie and he had made these two tiny humans. Their babies. He wiped the tears from his face and pulled himself away so he could go see their mother and tell her how amazing she and their babies were. He found Clarice and Dr. Gibbons on his way to Freddie’s room and hugged them both, telling them how perfect the babies were. Dr. Gibbons and Clarice beamed at him as they told him they would be back first thing the next day to see Freddie. Rhett turned down the hall and walked to Freddie’s room.
The lights in her room were dimmed. He stepped quietly inside, not wanting to wake her. He took her hand when he reached her bedside and sat down, waiting patiently for her to open her eyes. He longed to see those blue irises staring back at him, full of life and laughter. Her hand squeezed his weakly, and she blinked her eyes open.
“Rhett?”
“I’m right here,” he said softly, kissing her forehead. “Right here, love.”
“The babies? Are they… are they all right?”
“The babies are wonderful,” he informed her, and she sighed with relief, tears slipping from her eyes as he cried with her. “You all will be just fine.”
“I was so scared. I thought I was losing them,” she whispered.
“You didn’t. You are not allowed to scare me like this again, though, promise?” he begged. “I don’t think I could handle it.”
She nodded fervently. “I don’t plan on it.”
“Good, that’s good.”
They held each other in the dim lighting of the room until he thought she’d fallen asleep. “Rhett?”
“Yeah?”
“What are we going to name them?” she asked. “We never decided on any names.”
He puffed out his cheeks and shrugged. “How about we name the little girl after your mom?”
“Isabel? Hmm, how about Isabel Clarice?” she suggested.
Rhett grinned at the cute name. “Only if I can call her Izzy. What about our son?”
“What would you like to name him?”
“What about Nathan? I’ve always liked that name.”
She tried it out. “Izzy and Nate. They sound good together.”
She closed her eyes and rested her head on the pillow, murmuring the names of their babies a few more times as she grinned. Rhett’s eyes refused to look anywhere but at her. When he grew too tired to sit up, he rested his head beside her on the bed and let sleep take him, secure in the knowledge that his children and his love were alive and well.
Chapter 14
Little Izzy clasped Freddie’s finger, and she smiled down at her baby from behind her mask. Both babies were so tiny, but a week after the emergency C-section, the doctor said they were doing better than could be expected. Freddie was on the mend, but he insisted she remain in the hospital for a while longer to be on the safe side.
“They look huge already,” Rhett whispered beside her.
“I know. I can’t wait until we can all go home.”
“Dr. Gibbons called. She and your sister will stop over for a visit in a few hours.”
“Good. They need to meet their aunt,” she mused. “What about your family?”
“What about them?” he grumbled. “Rodney said he would be here after work, but none of the others need to know anything.”
“Not even your parents?”
He pursed his lips as he turned away. Freddie asked him every day to tell his family. They needed to know that their brother and son had a family, a wonderful growing family. Besides, their kids would only have one set of grandparents, and at some point, she thought they should find out about their grandchildren.
“We’ll get there,” he replied finally.
Freddie and he finished their visit with their babies. Leaving them was always hard, but she needed rest and food. Her stomach grumbled as they reached her room, and Rhett said he would call up some food for her.
“Everyone decent?” Rodney asked as he knocked on the door.
“Yes,” Rhett told him, shaking his head. “That was one time, man.”
Rodney smirked, his smile a dead ringer for his little brother’s. “Just saying you could always close the door if you feel the need to make out with your fiancée.”
Freddie giggled as Rhett’s cheeks burned red. Rodney had stopped by a few days earlier, and though she and Rhett couldn’t have sex, they were enjoying a nice heated kiss Rodney had the misfortune to walk in on.
“How are my favorite niece and nephew doing?” he asked.
“Wonderfully,” Freddie said as he approached her and kissed her cheek.
“And my favorite sister-in-law to be?”
“She needs to rest,” Rhett uttered.
“I thought you were ordering food,” she commented. “And I am resting, see? This is me resting, in bed and not moving. I’m doing fine. The doctor said he’ll release me in another week.”
“And the babies?”
“Another month, probably, but that’s okay. The house isn’t ready yet and won’t be, so I have to come up with a nursery at my place.”
Rodney frowned and turned to his brother. “Did you forget to tell her?”
“Tell me what?”
Rhett cringed. “I think I did. It slipped my mind.”
“Since Rhett finally sold his house—which, judging by that look of surprise, he forgot to tell you that, too—”
“It just went on the market,” she said, surprised. “That was fast.”
“Yes, but anyway, you four will stay with me at my place. I have plenty of room, and I think the babies will lighten up a rather dreary home until your new house is finished. We set up the nursery last night.”
Freddie hugged Rodney and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, really.”
“Oh, what, I don’t get a kiss, too?” Rhett asked mockingly, placing a hand to his heart.
“What you should get is your ass kicked,” Ryan seethed from the doorway.
Freddie glared at him as Rhett and Rodney stood between the pissed off man in the doorway and her bed. “No one invited you here, so get the hell out,” Rhett snapped.
“I thought we told you to dump the woman and the baby,” Ryan snarled. “Look what you’re doing. You’re ruining us. All she’s after is your damn money anyway!”
“The hell I am!” Freddie yelled. “I love him and you can either deal with it or get out!”
“You are not getting a dime from the Macon name, do you hear me?” Ryan stomped forward and poked Rodney hard. “And you—what are you doing here with him? I knew you two were up to something. I smelled it on you both this whole time!”
“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Rodney insisted. “We have something we need to discuss anyway.”
“Oh? Is it how you’re going to be out on your ass, too?”
Rodney’s cocky grin matched Rhett’s as he said, “You’ll find you can’t threaten us anymore because we are no longer under your umbrella of control.”
Ryan’s jaw clenched as his hands curled into fists at his sides. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means we are buying LM Solutions out from under you and will be running it together,” Rhett explained. “You can do what you want with the rest of the company, but you no longer have a say in anything we do, especially with our lives.”
“You can’t do this,” he hissed.
“Actually, we can. I went over your head and talked to Dad. He agreed it was time I step
ped out on my own, and the fact that Rhett wanted to come with me…well, that was icing on the cake to Dad,” Rodney said, shrugging. “The papers will be signed today.”
“You can either be with us on this decision,” Rhett told his brother, “and stop being an arrogant prick, or you cannot and we’ll never talk to you again. You won’t be invited to the wedding and you will have no part in our children’s lives.”
“Children?” he blurted out, glaring at Freddie between their shoulders.
“Twins,” she told him happily. “Your younger brother is the proud father of twins who could use four uncles in their lives, if you’re willing.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed to slits and his jaw worked, but no words came out. He huffed angrily, and spewing curses, stormed out of the room.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Rodney said brightly.
“How could it have gone any worse? He doesn’t want anything to do with us,” Rhett pointed out.
“Yes, but he didn’t deck you this time.”
“Actually, I started the fight last time,” Rhett muttered.
“What am I going to do with all you boys?” Freddie sighed, holding out her hands for Rhett’s. He took them, and Rodney murmured something about finding some grub as he left the room in a hurry. Rhett kissed her and she melted into his touch.
***
Rhett made faces at the tiny bundle in his arms. Nate calmed down immediately and his face scrunched in a half smile. “Ha, look at that. Look who’s smiling at Daddy,” he cooed at the baby boy.
Rodney glanced over. “Or it’s gas.”
“What? No, it’s not, he loves me.”
Rodney leaned closer and sniffed. “Oh, damn, you sure about that?”
Rhett lifted Nate and gagged as the waft of fresh poop hit his nose. “Say shut up, Uncle Rodney, or it’ll be your turn to change the baby. I’ll be back.”
He grinned and greeted people at the first annual charity ball held at Dr. Gibbons’ home. The silent auction was well under way and so far, had brought in several thousand dollars, not including the donations, which, he was happy to report, were already approaching twenty-thousand. It was a damn good start and they were only two hours into it. New Year’s Eve was three hours away, and there was still plenty of time to bring in more cash. He carried Nate into the bathroom after picking up the diaper bag on the way and changed his son’s diaper. The babies had been home from the hospital for two weeks. Rhett was exhausted beyond all reason and worried out of his mind, but he was so damn happy, none of that mattered.
When he exited the bathroom, Freddie was there to greet him, Izzy sound asleep in her arms.
“How can she do that?” Rhett mused as his baby girl yawned and the music played on around them.
“She takes after her father, who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat.” Freddie kissed him. “It’s going so well. I’m not sure I can ever thank you for all this.”
“How about you be with me for the rest of my life?”
“I think I can manage that.”
“Good, because we’re getting married—right now.”
Freddie glanced wildly around as Clarice and Rodney hurried over to take the babies in their arms. “What?”
“Everyone’s already here,” he explained. “And I want to remember this night for a very long time. What do you say? Marry me right here and now?”
“Who’s marrying us?”
Rhett chuckled as he turned her to face the other end of the room. “I think you know her quite well.”
“Rosie? Oh, hell, do you realize what this ceremony will be like?” Freddie said, but she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Why the hell not? Let’s do this.”
Rhett raised his hand and the band switched their tune to a different song as the people parted to make an aisle for them to walk down. Arm in arm, they moved towards Rosie and their future as Mr. and Mrs. Rhett Sable, all because of the fatal day he took over a company and found his new assistant named Freddie. He took a chance and couldn’t have been happier.
JILTED GROOM
Chapter 1
String music filled the old church. Edmund Eastwood tugged at his bowtie as he prepared to start the rest of his miserable life with a woman he didn’t want to marry. The soft music drowned out his pounding heart but did nothing to dry his sweaty palms. His best bud since they were kids, standing next to him in dress greens as the best man, nudged him with an elbow.
“What?” Edmund hissed out of the side of his mouth to Tommy.
“You look ready to keel over,” Tommy observed with a grin. “I have the keys to the car. You want them?”
“Not funny, man,” Edmund replied as a nervous laugh escaped him. The priest shot them both a frown, and he mouthed an apology. “We’re supposed to be serious right now.”
“Hey, you’re lucky I even made it.”
Edmund turned and held out his hand. “I know, and I don’t think I had a chance to thank you this morning, for everything.” They shook hands like brothers, and Edmund pulled him into a quick one-armed hug.
“Thanks, Ed, really,” Tommy said then choked on a laugh. “Your mom’s glaring at me.”
“Good,” he muttered. “Let her glare. This is all her fault anyway.”
“You could’ve joined up when I did,” Tommy reminded him.
“If I could’ve, I would’ve,” he agreed. At the time of Tommy’s enlistment, though, Edward, Edmund’s dad, was sick—too sick to work, and his mom, Sarah, was beside herself. Edmund ran the family businesses until his dad was back on his feet, almost six months later, and by that time, Tommy was gone. Now, he was trapped in a life his parents had planned for him since the second he popped out and said hello to the world.
The music changed tune, and the doors at the rear of the church creaked open. Edmund refused to force anyone else he knew to be in his wedding, so the seven bridesmaids walked down the aisle single file, alone. Jenny, his wife-to-be, had argued until she was blue in the face, but Edmund stood his ground. He didn’t like any of her friends, and the glares they shot him led him to believe the feeling was mutual. They reached the steps to the altar and walked to the left side, lining up as they were instructed. Jenny’s niece stepped through the door next in a frilly white dress, carrying a small basket of red rose petals. She ran more than walked down the aisle and reached her parents as she upended her basket at the end of the aisle. Edmund laughed with everyone else then straightened as the music changed again.
“This is it, man, last chance,” Tommy urged, but Edmund couldn’t back out.
The music played on, but Jenny didn’t appear at the rear of the church. He shifted on his feet and tugged at his bowtie as the seconds ticked by, then minutes. Sarah stood and, giving the church apologetic smiles, rushed towards the back with Jenny’s mom. The people murmured to each other in the pews, shooting Edmund pitying glances, and he plastered a confident smile on his face. With everyone staring at him, he fought the desire to haul ass out of the church and take off. Being the center of attention might be something his parents enjoyed, but he despised it. His goal was to not be suckered into the gossip of their white-collar world. Today, however, he was the main topic.
“I sense trouble,” Tommy said and stepped down from the altar as Sarah marched towards them. She held a piece of paper in her hand, and if looks could kill, half the church would be on the floor. Tommy stepped out of her path as she reached Edmund and thrust the paper at him.
“Here,” she snapped. “It appears we were wrong about your sweet Jenny.”
Edmund read the words on the note, and his heart lifted in relief as he sat down hard on the steps. “‘I’m saving us both. Go live. Jenny,’” he read aloud for Tommy. “She’s gone, then?”
“Took off ten minutes ago in her daddy’s Porsche,” Sarah huffed. “That insolent little girl! She thinks she can just take off and ruin our big day!”
“Maybe she wasn’t ready,” Edmund suggested as he folded the note
and tucked it away.
Sarah’s eyes narrowed, and suddenly, she burst into tears, lunging forward to hug her son as if he was a toddler who had scraped his knee. “My poor baby boy! She broke your heart, didn’t she? I’m so sorry she ran off. I know how much you cared about her.”
Tommy smirked behind her shoulder, and Edmund patted his mom on the back, pursing his lips at Tommy to make him stop before he lost it and laughed. “It’s fine, Mom. I’ll be fine, given time,” he told her, hoping his sadness sounded sincere. “Life will go on, really.”
Life would go on, and a new life awaited him, unexplored. Getting out of this church and away from the prying eyes of his parents was the first order of business. Most of the guests lingered, waiting to see if any more drama developed, but he did not want to be here if Jenny decided to come back. This was his out, and he was going to take it. Quickly. He widened his eyes at Tommy, making a leaving motion with his hand behind Sarah’s back. Tommy winked, straightened his jacket, and cleared his throat.
“Mrs. Eastwood, why don’t I take Edmund out for a drink, to help sooth his sadness over this horrible tragedy?”
Edmund rolled his eyes, but Sarah leaned back and rested her hand against his cheek. “I need to get out of here,” he told her quietly. “Please? Give me some time to collect myself?”
She sucked in a shuddering breath as Edward strolled over and laid a heavy hand on his son’s shoulder. “Let him go with Tommy, Sarah. He doesn’t need to be hounded by everyone right now.”
“Alright.” Sarah sighed. “But don’t get drunk. She’s not worth it, and the last thing I want to hear about is my son wasted at some bar and having sex with some piece of no-good, white trash.” She stood and smoothed her hands down her skirt and jacket. “We’ll deal with the guests. Go with Tommy.”
He kissed her cheek, thanked his dad, and followed Tommy down the aisle and out of the church. “You're a lifesaver, as always,” Edmund said as they slipped into Tommy’s truck. His old Mustang was parked behind the church, but he’d fetch it later. “Where to, Lieutenant?”
