“Fuck it,” Ren muttered, closing the space between us and kissing me, which was ruined five seconds later when the sound of a squealing micro pig broke us apart.
“What the fuck was that?” Cole asked, looking around the area.
“That’s Pippa, my piglet,” I said, holding her up proudly with her little legs moving as she tried to get to the addition to the group. Ren lunged for her, like he thought I was stupid enough to drop her, and took her over to Cole.
“Damn, she’s cute,” he said, taking her from Ren and getting the now customary nose-to-chin nudge. “Why’d you get her a pig, man? I mean, I like her and all…aww, fuck, look at those eyes, and the teeny weeny nose,” he cooed, turning her onto her back. “And look at these ittle wittle feet…”
“Uh, dude, you want five minutes alone? I’m thinking the ASPCA won’t like it, though. Plus, Dash is looking all kinds of jealous and left out over there.” Ren pointed at where Dash was lying on his stomach with his head on his paws, watching Cole with sad eyes.
Clearing his throat, Cole walked over to the enclosure and stepped over it to put Pippa on the floor, staying in there with her. “So, yeah, why the pig?”
“She asked me to marry Ren for him.” I held my hand up with the ring back on it.
“What the fuck?” he whispered, glaring at my hand. “Your idea of a fucking awesome proposal was with a fucking dwarf pig?” he yelled at Ren.
“Dude, she’s always wanted a micro pig, and Pip’s a Doodle Dandie, which is a champion breed.”
“You couldn’t do fucking rose petals or anything even slightly romantic?”
Ren’s eyes narrowed before he bit out, “Shut the fuck up, you don’t know a damn thing. Her favorite book since the age of five was Charlotte’s Web purely for fucking Wilbur. When Babe came out, she gushed for a year over how she wanted a pig of her own. When Bathsheba went into labor two months ago, she sat with her inside the enclosure telling her the story of Charlotte’s Web and was there to welcome each piglet into the world. She even went as far as shaking the shit out of Maverick’s lungs when he wasn’t breathing.” Well, when he put it like that, didn’t I sound like a pathetic nut sack? “She has loved pigs since she was little, and this way she has a house-sized pig that will always be inside with her. It’ll walk beside her and can also be housetrained. So if that isn’t goddamn fucking romantic enough for you, then you can—”
“You did good, bitch dick, you did real good,” Cole interrupted, leaning over the enclosure to throw his arms around Ren and swaying him violently back and forth. I had to admit, I agreed—he’d made it the most romantic proposal a girl could ask for.
Just as I was about to get my phone out and share the news with my parents and the girls, the sound of tiny grunts came started. It all hit us at the same time, and we looked down to see Pippa the randy piglet humping Cole’s boot with gusto.
“Aw, come the fuck on,” he yelled, jumping out of the enclosure, only to change direction and jump off the porch and run when Dash immediately started jumping up at him with that special twinkle in his eye.
Pip let out a little cry from her enclosure, so Ren picked her up and brought her back over to me.
“So, is that a yes, Mrs. Townsend?”
“It’s an I don’t give a shit if our kids can only turn in circles or they get their hands stuck in objects, it’s a hell yes!” I replied, grinning and leaning up to give him a kiss, only to get a wet snout stuck between our chins.
Moving her out of the way, I tried again to give my future husband a kiss, but just as I reached his lips, he suddenly turned and started walking away and muttering to Pippa, “I knew we’d ace it. No dickless thundertwat is ever gonna be able to top this.” And then he started talking about pubescent zit-riddled pecker heads not standing a chance with his daughters and including her in a tattoo so she’d have to meet her uncle. When he got to the part about them living at home until the age of at least fifty, I thought about the number Ebru had passed me the other day for the specialist when I’d mentioned, albeit jokingly, about getting Cole tested. Maybe I’d start with Ren. He’d never know…
Bonus Scene
Maya & Cole
Sitting next to Maya as we watched a program about some wives who were scaring the shit out of me it suddenly hit me.
"Hey Maya?"
Without tearing her eyes away from the tv screen, she grunted “yuh."
"You ever tried haggis when you lived in London?"
That got her attention. Pausing the show she turned and looked at me.
"Yeah, why you asking?”
Shit, I couldn't tell her it had been in the book I'd downloaded the other night. I know the guys laughed, but those damn things were addictive. Think Cole think!
"Uh just wondering what it was like?”
"It's honestly lush sweetie. You wanna try it sometime?”
Hell yeah!
5 days later…..
"What do you think then?" Maya sat back and picked up her glass of wine after we'd inhaled a haggis....haggi....haggigi....haggises...whatever but it was gone!
"God that was beautiful. Here you sit I'll go do the dishes." She'd cooked after all.
Walking into the kitchen, I saw the wrapper of the haggis and decided to see if I could make it at home.
Ingredients:
"Sheeps pluck"- heart, liver, lungs......
I could feel the bile rising and put the wrapper on the counter quickly when I swayed. Just as I took the first deep breath to stop the roiling in my gut, I saw five words that sealed my fate….
Presented in a Sheeps Stomach
I never made it to the bathroom and hearing Maya cackling as I threw up into the basin in the kitchen I swore I'd get her back…
More Than Forever
Luke & Isla
Providence Series Book 2
Luke
Fate is a funny thing. It brings us together, tears us apart, brings us back together, makes us do stupid things that people find out about…then it keeps you stuck in a damn hospital bed, in a coma, while the love of your life goes to Singapore. And the cherry on the sundae – I obviously couldn’t talk to her to tell her the truth.
Then fate just adds to that already big steaming pile of ‘fate crap’ and you wake up and lay in your hospital bed watching the love of your life get sick on television thousands of miles away.
But you can change your path so that fate is actually a good thing – right? At least that’s what I’m going to try to do.
Isla
I never wanted to see his stupid face again. I mean, I hope he got better, but his face was still stupid. And now I’m in hospital and it’s all his fault – well, kinda.
Then he turns up and I’m stuck with him because he’s keeping us all safe!
I’ve got a choice to make now – do I forgive him or not? Do I believe that it wasn’t what it looked like? Yes. Do I believe that he knows how stupid he was? Yes. Am I ready to walk away from the man that I’ve been in love with for most of my life? No.
And now there’s more for us to fight for.
Our lives, our family’s lives, and our babies lives.
Chapter 1
Luke
“L uke’s recent tests confirm that he does have good brain function. However, the severity of the impact to his brain is keeping him in a coma. How long he’s in the coma for? We don’t know, but his recent tests are encouraging. Unfortunately, it is just a matter of waiting.”
“But, he’s been in the coma now for six weeks. His other injuries are almost healed; why can’t he just wake up?”
“He will wake up, Christie; he just needs time.”
I could hear what they were saying and I wanted to scream that I was here, but my body wasn’t letting me. I wanted to open my eyes, but they wouldn’t do it. Where was Isla? I needed to see her.
“Look, George, his eyes are opening. Luke, Luke, come on now. Open those eyes for me, please.”
The worry in my mom’
s voice gave me the extra boost to force my eyes open.
“Mr. Montgomery, I’m Doctor Fenwick. How are you feeling? Have you got any pain anywhere?”
I did a quick mental body scan of what I was feeling and where. “My leg,” I croaked because that was the area that stood out the most and I just couldn't say more than that right now. Why was I here?
“I'll get you something for that in a minute. I’ve been looking after you while you recovered from your accident. Now, I’m just going to shine a light in your eyes quickly, I apologize if it’s uncomfortable. Can you tell me the last thing you remember, please?”
I tried hard to remember the last thing that happened. I woke up next to Isla and… “Mom, Isla?”
“We’ll discuss that later, honey. Can you tell the Doctor the last thing you remember?”
I pushed my brain to bring forward any details that it could.
“Surprise… a bang.” God, my voice sounded rough, like I’d gargled with a porcupine or something. Suddenly, I saw Maya standing beside me as everything started to fall down around us. “Maya!”
And everything went dark.
Isla
It had been five weeks since I’d arrived in Singapore; the mental image of Luke lying in the hospital bed so broken haunted me. Thinking about that day always made me feel sick, but I was also wondering if I’d picked up some sort of bug or food poisoning a couple of days ago. I felt like death warmed up; my body ached and I couldn’t stop being sick.
I missed Luke, I missed Gram, and I missed my boys. Christmas and New Year had been and gone, and the sight of Orchard Road and the rest of Singapore decorated and lit up had been beautiful and breath taking, but it hadn’t been the same as it would have been if I’d been with Gram, Reed, Caleb, and Johnny. I couldn’t factor Luke and his family into it, like I’d dreamed of being able to do one day.
“Isla, you look beautiful,” Dacks said as he leaned in to kiss me on the cheek.
This guy has been my savior since I got here; taking me out, showing me around, and just being amazing in general. It didn’t hurt that he was also great to look at.
Blonde hair, tall, dark blue eyes, built…if I wasn’t so fucked up because of Luke, I might have accepted his date requests, but he’d broken me - again. As if once wasn’t bad enough, he did it twice, and the last time was the worst because I thought we had something beautiful; I was wrong.
“Thank you, Dacks, I’m not feeling it, though.” I gave a little laugh, trying not to cry as my stomach turned again. “I know we have a lot to do on the Giambini contract, and we’ve got that meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister next week that we need to prepare for. I’m not feeling so hot today, though, so you’ll have to bear with me.”
“What’s wrong, gorgeous?” He looked so sincere and serious that my eyes started to water. Jesus, I must be ill; I never cry, but I just felt so fricking awful I couldn’t help it.
“I think I have a bug or food poisoning,” I started to say just as my stomach turned again and my mouth started to fill with that awful water you get just before you throw up.
Jumping up, I ran to the bathroom in the corner of the office and that’s when any tiny little molecule of food that could possibly be in my stomach came rushing back up leaving me retching air.
“Here you go,” Dacks’ deep voice said he held a cold wet towel to my neck. This had to pass and soon; next week was a huge week for the Montgomery’s firm, and I refused to let them down.
“Thanks, Dacks. I’ll just clean up and be out in a second.”
Looking down at the toilet, my stomach twisted again, but I leaned up to flush it and got rid of the mess staring at me without adding to it. As I stumbled to the sink to clean up, I saw Dacks in the mirror standing at the door staring at me. His eyes were flicking between my face and my stomach and he looked worried.
“It’s just food poisoning or a bug, Dacks, I’ll survive!”
“If you say so,” he replied as he turned and walked back over to the desk leaving me wondering what the hell he meant?
Luke
One week later…
Dad had loaded the Singaporean news for me on my iPad so that I could see the moment Isla met with the Deputy Prime Minister. All I wanted to do was see her again and this was the best way. God, I missed her.
“The representatives of the Montgomery Corporation, Isla Banks and Dacks Richards, will be meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister today to discuss the building of the Gambini hotel in the Colonial District. The building started three months ago and brought one hundred and ten jobs to Singapore. Once completed, the company has confirmed…”
Everyone in the room stopped talking as soon as Isla’s name was mentioned and gathered around the bed to watch it with me.
“Ms. Banks is the legal representative from MC and Mr. Richards is the…”
I could see them walking up the stairs towards the doors of the building, and I couldn’t help feeling pissed that she’d left me. I now knew what Kendal had done and I could guess what lies she told Isla, but she should’ve waited to talk to me. No, she shouldn’t have; I was an asshole, and I’d be surprised if she ever spoke to me again. I should’ve known that it was a stupid thing to do, but all I’d wanted was for the company to be the international success that it was now becoming. I’d fucked up, though, big time.
I watched the screen as Isla leaned on that bastard Richards who was whispering to her, then Isla suddenly started sinking to the ground and landed on her side on the stair as Dacks quickly reached out for her.
“As you can see, Ms. Banks appears to have fainted. Sources tell us that an ambulance has been called and that her condition at this moment is unknown. We will update you once we have been informed of Ms. Banks’ condition. Also, in the news today - Orchard Road will be…”
I didn’t want to hear about fucking Orchard Road! Throwing the covers off of my legs, I swung them over the bed to get up. I didn’t have the casts anymore, but my leg was still in agony from the severity of the breaks. I needed to toughen up and get to Isla though.
“I’m going to get changed. Call the Doctor and tell him I want to be released today.”
Thankfully my mom just nodded and no one challenged my decision as I limped through to the bathroom; it wouldn’t have been pretty if they had. This was Isla, for fucks sake!
Chapter 2
Luke
I had never enjoyed using the company’s jet to get to where I needed to, it seemed ostentatious, but I could admit that it was handy for emergencies and for high profile clients. Sitting on it now on my way to Isla, I’d never been more grateful in my life for it. My leg felt like it was on fire and the thumping in it made me grit my teeth. The doctor had given me painkillers to take, but I needed a clear mind.
Had someone done something to Isla? Was it linked to my and Maya’s accident?
Just as I was about to bark out orders to the security that Dad had insisted I bring with me, my phone rang beside me and I saw Derrik Teo, the head of our Singaporean operation, flash up on the screen.
“Derrik.”
“Sir, I’m at Gleneagles Hospital with Isla. I overheard the Doctors talking to her with the diagnosis and they will be keeping her in for a couple of days until her body stabilizes.”
Gripping my phone until it cracked, I asked the question that was worrying me to the point of nausea, although that could also have been the pain that I was in, too. “What happened? Was she poisoned?”
“Sir…” Derrik started. “It’s not that. She uh…she’s…”
Finally losing patience, I barked, “What? She’s what? Just spit it out!”
“Pregnant, Sir.”
Fuck me…
Isla
Waking up in a hospital had been surreal; the last thing I remembered was that I was reaching out to shake the Deputy Prime Minister’s hand.
Why was I here?
“Miss Banks? I’m glad you’re awake. I’m Jennifer, and I’ll be your nurse today.�
� I looked to the side and a very petite and beautiful smiling nurse stood there holding a clipboard. “You fainted earlier today and we’re just giving you some fluids and waiting for your test results to come back. How are you feeling now?”
Struggling to process what she was saying, I asked for the one thing I was desperate for, “Water, please.”
“Small sips, only for just now, Miss Banks. We’ve given you some medication which should stop the nausea your friend tells us you’ve been suffering from, but your stomach still needs small sips at a time.”
Just as I was going back for my fifth sip, a man in a white laboratory coat walked in holding some papers in his hand. “Ah, Miss Banks, you’re awake. I’m Doctor Ng, and I’ve been treating you since you arrived three hours ago. How are you feeling?”
That was a great question, how was I feeling? I didn’t feel sick anymore, which was a relief, but my throat hurt and I felt like I’d been drained completely of any energy. I was even struggling to raise the plastic cup of water to my mouth. “Exhausted. What happened to me, Doctor?”
“I would expect that based on your test results. You appear to have been throwing up for quite a while, Miss Banks. Did you not think to seek medical attention when it didn’t go away?”
“We had a lot of work that needed to get done. I thought that, perhaps, it was a stomach bug or food poisoning and that it would go away,” I was fidgeting as I admitted what an idiot I’d been. I should have gone to a doctor, now I’d probably screwed up the deal with the Singaporean Government.
“Well, Miss Banks, your ketone levels are high as a result of the nausea, so we’ll be keeping you in for a couple of days to rehydrate you and get on top of the vomiting. You’ll need to be checked weekly afterwards, as this can be quite dangerous for expectant mothers.”
Nodding my head as he spoke, I mulled over all of it. I’d never heard of ketone’s and had no idea what they meant. Suddenly, what he’d just said at the end hit me and my head snapped up.
Providence Series Books 1-4 Page 28
