How to Be a Blissful Bride

by Stacy Connelly

  She’d spent the morning on the phone with Raquel after informing Virginia that she was extending her stay until the end of the month.

  “A Mayhew does not abandon her duties, Alexa.”

  “I know, and I’m not. I’ll check in every day, and I’ll be back before the benefit,” she’d promised.

  Her grandmother had been far from pleased, and Alexa feared she would be even less so once she told her about her pregnancy.

  But Alexa wasn’t ready for that conversation, and she’d been surprised and relieved when Rory had called her later in the day to invite her to lunch with some friends. Alexa didn’t think she could start another cooking lesson with Chance in the kitchen that didn’t end in the bedroom.

  Wanting to make a good impression, Alexa had debated over what to wear, trying to find a balance between too dressy and, well, way too dressy. Despite the ridiculous amount of luggage she’d brought with her, her expanding waistline was starting to limit her options.

  Finally, after the third outfit change, Chance had caught her by the shoulders on the way back to the bedroom.

  “What are you doing?” he’d asked.

  She waved a hand at the wide-legged burgundy slacks she wore with an ivory scoop-necked sweater and multicolor, knitted scarf. “I need to change.”

  “Why? You’re perfect just the way you are. Relax, Lexi. You don’t have to be the face of the foundation. Just be you,” he had encouraged her.

  Keeping that in mind, Alexa took a deep breath and smiled at his sister. “Thank you for inviting me.”

  “We’re heading into town for lunch at Sugar & Spice,” Rory told her.

  Recalling that the café was owned by the baker who supplied Hillcrest House’s wedding cakes, Alexa said, “I’ll be sure to save room for dessert.”

  “It’s better to play things safe,” a slender honey-blond woman said as she joined them. “I’ve been known to order dessert first.”

  “Alexa, this is Lindsay Kincaid, and Sophia Cameron will be here as soon as she’s done chasing down Kyle.”

  “Chasing—” Alexa started at the unexpected feel of something tugging at her burgundy slacks. No, not something. Someone, she realized as she glanced down into a chubby-cheeked face and big dark eyes.

  “Looks like you found Kyle.” Rory bent at the waist to offer a four-fingered wave at the baby. “Or he found you.”

  “This is Kyle?” The little boy who’d pulled himself unsteadily to his feet wore a long-sleeved red T-shirt beneath the most adorable pair of denim overalls. A bit of demand entered his babbling as he slapped a dimpled hand against her leg.

  “He’s not walking on his own yet, but he’s the fastest thing on all fours,” Lindsay laughed.

  A particularly exuberant pat had the boy losing his grip. He teetered for a moment before toppling over and landing on the patterned carpet. Looking a bit stunned, the baby stared up at Alexa for a moment before those big eyes stared to fill.

  “Oh, sweetie. It’s okay. Don’t cry!” Without stopping to think, Alexa bent and scooped up the little boy. He was heavier and studier than she expected as he settled into her arms.

  Despite the tears dampening his long lashes, the little boy rewarded her with a drooly smile, showing off two shiny white bottom teeth. The baby patted her shoulder this time, and as ridiculous as it was, Alexa couldn’t help but feel like she’d received a stamp of approval.

  Five months. In five months, I’ll be holding my baby. Our baby.

  “Honestly, I don’t know how I am going to keep up with him once he starts walking!” A petite dark-haired woman with a huge diaper bag strapped to one shoulder crossed the lobby to join them. Her dark eyes and pixie haircut immediately identified her as the boy’s mother. “He only recently learned to crawl, and now every time I turn around, he’s broken some speed record in getting away from me.”

  Handing the little boy to his mother, Alexa said, “He is so cute.”

  “Thank you. I’m Sophia Cameron, and you’ve already met Kyle.” She bounced the baby in her arms, eliciting a gurgling laugh that had them all smiling.

  “I’ve asked Alexa to join us for lunch.”

  “The more the merrier,” Sophia said, smiling her welcome. “So long as you don’t mind this guy coming along. My babysitter canceled at the last minute.”

  “Of course not. He is so cute...” Noticing the other women exchanging smiles, Alexa felt her face heat. “I already said that, didn’t I?”

  “You did. Do you have children?” Sophia asked innocently.

  Alexa froze, aware of Rory’s gaze on her. She wasn’t sure how much Chance had told his sister but figured she wasn’t revealing any secrets when she said, “Actually, I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh, how exciting!” Sophia exclaimed.

  “Congratulations, Alexa,” Lindsay offered.

  “It gets even better,” Rory added with a grin. “Not only is Alexa going to be a mother, but I’m going to be her baby’s aunt.”

  The two women squealed again, hugging not just Rory but also Alexa. Their exuberance caught her off guard as did the sudden rush of emotion. Sophia was the first to notice. “Oh, my goodness. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Alexa wiped at the tears on her cheeks, feeling extremely foolish for breaking down. “It’s just—”

  The first time anyone had been truly happy to hear about the baby.

  Her shock at discovering she was pregnant had barely worn off when the news reports had announced Chance’s “death.” And then she’d made such a mess of telling him he was going to be a father. She couldn’t go back and do things differently, but going forward...

  “I’m happy,” she told the other women. “I’m crying because I’m happy if that makes any sense at all.”

  “Are you kidding?” Sophia asked with an understanding smile. “Welcome to my world. When Kyle got his first tooth, I went from overjoyed at how big he’s getting to devastated that he’s growing up too fast in an instant.”

  “Alexa.”

  The deep voice rang out across the lobby, and she glanced up to see Chance striding toward them, an intense look on his handsome face. Reaching her side, he all but glared at the three women around her. “What’s wrong?”

  She blinked at him, dislodging a lingering tear, and said, “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

  “Me?” His brows pulled together over the brilliant blue of his eyes. “I’m not the one who’s crying.”

  Butterflies fluttered in Alexa’s stomach as he reached out to brush a thumb beneath her eye. Catching his hand in hers, she promised, “I’m fine, Chance. It was just, well, hormones.”

  His gaze searched hers as if searching for the truth to her words. Seeming satisfied with what he saw there, he stunned her a little by pressing a kiss to her forehead. “If you’re sure you’re okay.”

  “She’s coming with us to lunch, big brother, where we promise the only tears will be ones of ecstasy over to-die-for desserts. That’s assuming you’ll let her come out and play.”

  He didn’t appear the least bit embarrassed by his sister’s teasing, and as he feathered his fingers through Alexa’s hair, the sights and sounds of the elegant lobby faded away until only the two of them existed...

  When Chance had entered the walnut-paneled lobby and saw that Alexa had been crying, his overriding instinct had been to rush to her side. Only once he realized she was fine did his focus expand, taking in the smug smile on Rory’s face, the two wide-eyed women beside her and the grinning, dark-haired baby one of them held.

  “Da-da!” the little boy shouted, his chubby arms reaching out toward Chance.

  “Whoa! Hang on there, kid.” Catching the boy as he practically dive-bombed from his mother’s arms, he murmured, “I’m not a daddy yet.”

  Although that wasn’t entirely true. He was already a father
to the unborn child Alexa carried, but it still didn’t feel entirely real. The baby was just an idea, a concept he had yet to wrap his mind around. Nothing as substantial as this little guy currently wrapped around his neck.

  But when he saw the watery, tender smile on Alexa’s face as she reached out to touch the baby’s soft cheek before brushing her fingers across his own bristled jaw, the emotional blow was real enough to leave him weak at the knees.

  His sister’s laughter broke the moment, and she said, “Sophia, Lindsay, this is my brother, Chance. The baby magnet.”

  Not too long ago, Chance would likely have been annoyed at his sister’s teasing. But now... The wonder of it all had him smiling even as the little boy’s responding grin had drool running from his dimpled chin and soaking into Chance’s T-shirt.

  A bit of baby slobber couldn’t hurt, and the kid really was cute...

  “Da-da!”

  “Looks like little Kyle here knows how to spot ’em,” Rory said as she patted Chance’s soggy shoulder.

  “From the moment he was born, Kyle’s been a daddy’s boy. But Jake’s been traveling a lot lately. You miss your daddy, don’t you?”

  “Da-da!”

  His mother laughed at what sounded like a firm agreement. “It is his favorite word, and one that can pretty much mean anything, including a name for big, masculine men.”

  “No need to apologize. Really,” he said, handing the boy back with a surprising amount of reluctance.

  As Alexa asked Sophia a question about Kyle, Chance could already see how Rory’s friends had accepted her. She smiled and laughed with the other women, and seemed as fascinated by little Kyle as he was, reaching over more than once to grasp the baby’s hand or to adjust the strap of his tiny overalls.

  “Thanks for inviting Alexa,” he told his sister quietly. “I appreciate you making the effort.”

  “I like her. And I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I would, considering your past taste in women.”

  “Alexa is nothing like Lisette,” he argued. And yet hadn’t he had doubts of his own, questioning if she’d used her wealth and status to try to get him that gallery showing for his work?

  Lisette had been a master at manipulation, going behind his back and working behind the scenes to make sure he was offered jobs at star-studded events and along red-carpet runways, but always for her own benefit.

  He couldn’t deny that Alexa’s motives were pure and unselfish, but her efforts still made him wonder if she could ever accept him for the man he was.

  His editor had called again to let Chance know he’d been given the green light on a follow-up to an article he’d written on a refugee camp in Serbia—if he was ready to get back to the job.

  “Three weeks,” he’d heard himself say to the other man.

  Alexa had given him three weeks before she planned to go back to LA, the same amount of time he had to convince her that he could be a husband, a father and a photojournalist.

  He watched as Sophia pulled a toy from the large diaper bag hooked to her shoulder. With the boy focused on the stuffed dinosaur, she swooped in to wipe his glistening chin with a small cloth, her movements easy and efficient.

  When Kyle reached out again, this time to Alexa, a beatific smile curved her lips as she caught his pudgy hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. He babbled happily as she entertained him with a game of peekaboo using her scarf. Making the little boy belly laugh and making Chance... He didn’t know how to describe the sucker-punch feeling inside.

  “She’s so good with him,” he murmured. “She’s going to be an amazing mother.”

  “You didn’t think she would be?” Rory asked.

  “No, I knew... Alexa was the one who doubted it. It will be good for her to spend some time with Kyle.”

  “Good for Alexa?” she echoed. “Because she’s worried about motherhood?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  Too late, Chance turned his attention back to Rory. He didn’t know what he’d done to make his sister’s eyes narrow like that, but nothing good could possibly come of it.

  “Hey, girls, my big brother just had a brilliant idea,” she announced as she reached for the baby’s bag. “He’s volunteered to watch Kyle while we go out to lunch.”

  “Wait! What?” Pure reflex had Chance catching the diaper bag that hit him straight in the chest—right along with a huge dose of panic. “No!”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Are you sure Kyle’s going to be okay?” Alexa asked as the four of them sat down at one of the white wrought-iron tables inside the Sugar & Spice café. The small space was sunny and cheerful, with buttery yellow walls, white wainscot and primary-colored accents in the ceramic pots of fresh herbs displayed on floating shelves.

  The scent of vanilla and cinnamon filled the air and gorgeously crafted desserts glistened behind a gleaming glass display, but Alexa was too distracted by thoughts of the man—and baby—they’d left behind.

  “My three brothers have all taken turns watching Kyle, and only one of them has experience with babies, and that was over a decade ago. If Kyle can survive the Pirelli brothers, he can survive Chance.”

  “Personally, I’m more worried about my big brother than I am about Kyle. Did you see the look on his face when I suggested he babysit?”

  Pretending to fan herself with a laminated menu, Sophia said, “I’d rather talk about the look on Chance’s face when he first came charging over. He looked like he was ready to rescue Alexa from fire-breathing dragons.”

  “Hey, I think I resent that,” Rory interjected.

  Wishing she could fan her own suddenly heated face without drawing too much attention to herself, Alexa shook her head. “I’m sure Chance was just worried about the baby.”

  “I’ve seen a worried-about-the-baby look,” Sophia pointed out. “That was not it. That was definitely a man-worried-about-his-woman look.”

  Nerves danced in Alexa’s stomach, and she fisted her hands in her lap, frightened by how badly she wanted to believe the other woman might be right. That the caring and concern Chance had shown over the past few days was more than a sense of responsibility for the child she carried.

  Had he given her just a hint that his feelings for her were because of something more than overwhelming attraction or the result of that attraction when he proposed, Alexa was afraid she very well might have said yes.

  “Stop, Sophia,” Lindsay chided gently. “At least allow Alexa some chocolate reinforcement before you start investigating.”

  “Oh, all right,” the brunette agreed. “But you are having dessert first, aren’t you?”

  Alexa couldn’t help but laugh, though she was relieved when the dark-eyed woman’s attention shifted to the server who stopped by to take their order. And, no, Alexa did not order dessert first, settling instead for a grilled turkey panini with a garden salad for a side.

  As the server walked away, Lindsay leaned forward, her eyes bright with excitement as she said, “I’m so glad everything for the shower is coming together.”

  At Alexa’s questioning glance, Rory explained. “Lindsay’s sister-in-law, Nina, is due right before Christmas, and we’re having the shower at Hillcrest.”

  “And we can’t thank you enough for offering to let us use the parlor room, not to mention asking Chance to take pictures.”

  Rory waved aside the thanks. “Hey, as long as he’s here, I’m planning to put him to work.”

  As long as he was there.

  Alexa’s appetite faded as worry about the future grabbed hold. She had promised Chance she would stay through the end of the month before heading back to LA. But she had no idea where Chance’s next assignment might take him.

  “Nina’s going to be so surprised. It’s her third baby,” Lindsay was saying, “so she said she didn’t want a shower.”

  “But we couldn’t l
et that happen.”

  “Absolutely not. A baby is always something to celebrate.” Seeming to have read into all Alexa hadn’t said earlier, Rory repeated, “Always.”

  As the server arrived with their food, Alexa forced herself to focus on the positive. “Thank you again for inviting me. This looks wonderful, and it’s nice to get out.” Alexa cut herself off before she could add “with friends.” That would be assuming too much, and while neither Sophia nor Lindsay questioned her tagging along, Alexa hadn’t missed the whispered conversation between brother and sister. She was certain Chance had had something to do with his sister’s sudden invitation.

  “Of course. And, Lindsay, you and Alexa have something in common,” Rory told the blond-haired woman as she added a splash of vinaigrette to her salad. “She’s in charge of fund-raising for the Mayhew Foundation, her grandmother’s charity organization.”

  Turning to Alexa, Rory added, “Lindsay works for the chamber of commerce, and she just organized a rodeo benefit for a local horse rescue a few months ago.”

  Lindsay shook her head. “Jarrett Deeks and his wife, Theresa—who also happens to be Sophia’s cousin—did the majority of the legwork. I mostly helped with the advertising and reaching out for donations. Still, I was happy that the rodeo was such a success. And the best part is that they’ve already been able to make some upgrades to the stalls and take on more horses with the money raised.”

  “How wonderful that you can see the good your work has done firsthand.”

  “Well,” Lindsay said, her cheeks brightening at the praise, “it’s nothing on scale to all you’ve accomplished.”

  The foundation had raised millions of dollars over the years, but rarely did Alexa see that money put into use. She talked to people who knew people, and made sure the events went off without a hitch. And then at the end of the night, she would present the head of the charity with a big check—literally—as she smiled and posed for pictures.

  But then she would move on. To the next charity in need and to the next celebrity golf tournament, star-studded concert or golden gala. The foundation received pictures of improved schools or health clinics or housing for those in need. But that wasn’t the same as seeing the benefits firsthand.