Providence Series Books 1-4

by Mary B. Moore

  Ebru

  I was pissed that someone had tried to set Cole up for what had happened to Adele. Don’t get me wrong, I was shocked and upset about what had happened to her, even as a heinous lying bitch she didn’t deserve that, but someone had tried to frame Cole. Thankfully, we had enough evidence for Cole’s lawyer to confirm that his status was now ‘assisting the police’ with their inquiries, instead of being a person of interest. He’d also met with another police officer. Apparently, this was one that he knew, and after we’d gotten home he’d immediately asked Cole about who would have done this to her. She wasn’t popular apparently, and had left a trail of pissed off wives and girlfriends behind her after she’d fucked their men. I wonder if she’d known Isla’s stepmom and stepsister?

  At the moment, I was feeling guilty because I knew that I should be angry for Cole and the fact that she’d lied to him, but a bigger part of me was feeling relieved at the news, and it didn’t stand well with me. She’d never had his baby inside of her, that was something that relieved me hugely. I hadn’t ever thought of it like that, but now that I was…I think I’d worried about the possibility of me never being able to give him that. I hadn’t ever focused on that worry, but at the back of my mind, especially working in the hospital, I saw first hand that fertility doesn’t happen to everyone and what if I couldn’t ever give him that? But then there was the fact that Cole had hurt so badly over this for six years and it had all been a lie. How do you ever recover from that?

  “What are you thinking about so hard?” He came out of the bathroom and sat beside me on the bed. Shrugging, I looked towards the television on the wall. I didn’t want to tell him this because he hadn’t really spoken about the news yet. “Tell me.”

  Looking over at him, I saw the genuine concern on his face and felt frigging awful for saying this. He had every right to be the one who was sharing what was going on inside of him, not me and yet another insecurity of mine.

  “I feel guilty and relieved,” I started, picking at my nail like I normally did when I was uncomfortable. “I feel guilty because I feel relieved. I also want to cry and scream for you. It’s like a war between them.”

  He pulled my hand away and smoothed the now ragged nail on my thumb. “What do you feel relieved and guilty about?”

  “She didn’t have your baby inside her,” I whispered so low that I was pretty sure that he hadn’t heard me.

  Pulling me onto his lap, he proved me wrong. “I feel the same.”

  We were both silent, thinking about the implications of what we’d both just admitted. I don’t know how he could be so calm after finding out that the baby that he’d mourned for so long had never even existed, but we all dealt with these things in our own way.

  “I’m sorry she lied to you.”

  He hugged me tighter and kissed my hair. “I’m sorry I fell for it. I haven’t gotten my head around it yet, but it’s not really the kind of thing that’s easy to do that with is it? I promise, though, that as soon as I have, we’ll sit and talk about it okay?”

  “Cole…” I didn’t know how to even broach this subject with him. “What if I can’t have babies?” I felt like crying at the thought of never getting to have a miniature Cole, except sane, running around.

  “Is there any reason why you think that might happen?” He didn’t sound put off by the possibility, he genuinely cared.

  “With my job, I know that fertility doesn’t just happen for everyone. Some people are lucky, but some people aren’t. What if we’re not?”

  Laughing softly, he pulled away and lifted my face so that I was looking at him. “We’ll be just fine baby. No matter what!”

  “But how do you know that? You can’t be sure? And then what if…”

  “What if green men come down from the sky? We can’t live on what if’s, baby. No matter what, you and me will be just fine.”

  Life had changed so much for me since meeting this guy. It didn’t take a psychologist to point out that I’d had issues holding myself back from people, and that I’d gone through the motions but had never been fully there. I also knew that I had insecurities from my upbringing, but if I could take the steps forward with my parents, then I could trust the world and trust that good things did happen. And Cole Townsend was the best thing that could ever happen to me. I was going to help him heal from this like he’d helped me heal. He was right, no matter what we would be just fine.

  Chapter 25

  Cole

  I t was the wedding day; we’d actually reached it without Ebru murdering me, or anyone else for that matter. I discovered one thing about my fiancee during all of the plans - she had no patience, at all. If something took time to happen, she lost it. Thankfully, I’m smart enough to know that laughing right in front of her when she did it would have resulted in a painful death, so I learned to hold it all in. Ren and Tom hadn’t been as smart when they took her out to do a couple of wedding-related chores and had witnessed her lack of patience. Lesson learned.

  My family had watched me closely after the news of Adele’s lie and death. Fortunately, my friend Milo had taken over my side of the police investigation and had said that there was sufficient evidence to clear me of any suspicion. The asshole who had initially been investigating me had been let go of after it was discovered that there was a large deposit of money into his account the morning that Adele’s body was found. So far, they didn’t know who did it or why, but Piersville PD were working with the Feds, who were handling Morrison and the rest of the case. Hopefully, at some point soon we’d have an answer.

  The anger that I felt over the time that I’d spent mourning the baby still simmered inside. How anyone could lie about that, I’ll never know, but Adele was the most manipulative and malicious woman that I’d ever met to date, so I wouldn’t put it past her to do it to hurt me. The fact that it now meant that Ebru would be the only woman to ever carry my babies, though, was the most beautiful relief ever.

  Now, I was standing in the church that Louise was buried at waiting for my wife-to-be to come and say ‘I do’ so that she was stuck with me forever. There would be no black eyes, no fly’s in the mouth, no fuck up’s whatsoever today. It was going to be perfect.

  The music started up, and Brett elbowed me in the back to get my attention. Turning around, I saw Ebru walking towards me on her Dad’s arm. She’d decided to forego the bridesmaids and instead Ren, Luke and Tom had carried the babies down the aisle with them throwing out handfuls of petals. Brett had refused to carry one of them because he was still terrified of them, but looking at how close he and Sabine were, it wouldn’t be long until he had no choice to hold one - his own. The babies had been handed off to their mothers and Ava and were now quite happily smacking the shit out themselves and the poor women holding them. I just hoped that she liked the surprise that I’d had made for her side of the altar. Her maid of honor was going to be right there with us.

  Watching Ebru walk toward me in a beautiful white dress with lace over it, I couldn’t wait for us to be in the same shoes as my brother and Luke. Fuck yeah, I was looking forward to a miniature us slapping me across the face or pulling my hair out in clumps. The best part of life was about to start now. Shit, I hope I didn’t start crying.

  Ebru

  Well, I’d done it. I’d married the unicorn whisperer. I was now Mrs. Magical Horn. I’d even promised faithfully in my vows to discuss things with him first before resorting to holding a pillow over his face.

  I would have been happy going to Vegas, but his family had stepped in and put their foot down on that before planning some outrageous national holiday style wedding. Cole had known immediately that I didn’t want it, without me even saying anything in case I offended his family, and I’d had a wedding today that I never knew I wanted, but now I couldn’t imagine not having. Being so close to my sister, being able to give her the title Maid of Honor and giving her my flowers afterward had made it almost as beautiful as it would have been if she had actually been there he
rself. Next to where I’d been standing in front of the Pastor was a large photograph of her with a smaller bouquet attached to it. When I’d seen it, I’d had to do everything that I could to not cry. I’d married the most amazing man in the world, and now I had a happiness that I would never have imagined that I’d ever have.

  I had finally gotten to sit down and rest my feet. Wear these stilts they said, they’re comfy shoes they said; all lies. I felt like I’d walked barefoot across the desert.

  There had been a lot of chatter about Brett and his girlfriend Sabine, and I looked up to watch how he was with her. I hadn’t had a lot of contact with Brett, he was always away or brooding in the corner of the room, but I’d heard how bad his reputation was with women and I just couldn’t apply it to the sight in front of me. Sabine had been around us whenever Brett was home now. He refused to travel back without her apparently, and he was one of the most tactile men that I’d ever seen in my life. Cole had said he’d never seen him hold a woman’s hand ever, never seen him look after someone; basically, the Brett now was not the Brett that everyone was used to.

  I’d been helping out with Sabine’s recovery because she’d had a lot of damage to her right leg and her recovery was taking a long time. It wasn’t until recently that she’d started walking without a pronounced limp and the pain was finally settling down. I still didn’t want her to do too much on it, she was a runner who was used to going out every day, and that wasn’t going to be happening for a while. Thankfully Brett paid attention to her exercises and what she wasn’t to do, so I didn’t have any worries about her even trying it.

  I saw Coleman walk over to where Brett was sitting and lean down and whisper something to him. When Brett got up and followed him out of the room, I looked around worried that something had happened, but all of the other security seemed to be calm and relaxed. Amy was standing talking and laughing with some of the guests, but I’d seen her and Coleman watching each other when the other one wasn’t looking, and I couldn’t understand what the problem between them was.

  I was snapped out of my thoughts by my husband walking up to me.

  “Dance with me Mrs.Townsend,” he held his hand out, and we went onto the dance floor. He’d decided that he got to choose the song that we’d have our first dance to, and as God Only Knows started playing, I face planted in his chest.

  “If I end up looking like Marilyn Manson for the photos that people are taking of us right now because you made me cry, I’ll kill you.” Looking up at his grinning face, it hit me. I had my forever.

  Brett

  I didn’t want to leave Sabine behind for too long. My family loved her, and I knew this, but I worried about her.

  “Something was stuck to the fence of the ranch,” Coleman said grimly as he pulled a baggie with a piece of paper inside it out of his pocket and passed it to me.

  I looked down at it, and when I read it, I saw fucking red.

  Sabine, Sabine, Brett Townsend’s little Queen.

  The tower must topple,

  The Queen will fall,

  And will the King still be standing after it all?

  “What the fuck?” I did my best not to yell and attract the attention of everyone celebrating my brother and Ebru’s wedding.

  “I’ve told Jansen at the FBI, but Brett…I think you need to cut her free.”

  It took everything in me not to punch the shit out of him for even suggesting it. “Not happening,” I was firm on that. It wasn’t happening ever. “Pass that over to Jansen and fucking find that son of a bitch. He knows too much, so someone around here is passing it back to him. Find out fucking who.”

  “Brett, she’s in danger just being associated with you.” I knew that he was talking sense, but I wasn’t going to end things with Sabine. I couldn’t!

  “I’m not discussing this anymore. Find him.”

  Walking back into the party, I made my way through the people dancing, pulled Sabine out of her chair and led her to the dance floor. I’d never felt like this about anyone, how could I not want to hold onto her? I just hoped that we found the fucker responsible before he hurt her; I’d die before that happened, though.

  The End

  Bonus Scene

  The night of Cole’s bachelor party

  Maya

  Tony and I sat back in our recliners, popped the foot rest and got comfy while we looked at each other with crazy grins on our faces. Ebru was working late tonight and Colette had Crystal so I was free to enjoy this.

  Just as Tony opened his mouth to say something, Ren walked through the front door not looking happy.

  "Why are you here? I was looking for you!"

  I motioned him over with one finger and whispered, "Sit, you'll love it," as Tony started snorting beside me.

  Sitting on the edge of my recliner, Ren went to reply when the most high pitched and the longest honest to god scream I'd ever heard came from upstairs. Tony and I burst into the kind of laughter that can end up messy and in need of a change of clothing as Ren belted up the stairs. Two seconds later his roars of laughter joined the screaming still going on. I was seriously struggling to breathe by this point I was laughing so hard. We heard footsteps coming unsteadily down the stairs, but it was Ren not the unicorn king who was getting the revenge that he was long due.

  "Y...you...." Ren held onto the side of the door as he laughed and wiped the tears from his face. "You...put...c-clowns....every-everywhere," he gasped in between laughs. Indeed we had: bedding, hanging from the ceiling, posters and the best part- Bruce the huge stuffed clown sitting on his bed.

  Before I could answer him, the bedding passing the living room window caught all our attentions. It was followed by shredded papers, smaller clowns and their strings and then poor Bruce still smiling making us laugh impossibly harder.

  "I peed, I peed!" Tony squealed, holding himself between the legs and doing the pee pee dance.

  The screaming had stopped by now and I was trying to talk but when you're laughing so hard that very little air is going in, talking just isn't possible.

  Just as I took a deep breath, a high pitched scream followed by the sound of running and a door slamming upstairs sounded. Guess he'd found Coco the toilet seat.

  "They were everywhere..." Cole whispered at the table, staring into space with his hands shaking.

  "It's ok baby," Colette said rubbing his shoulders and laughing silently behind him. "They're gone, it's all gone."

  "I peed. I peed my pants," he continued whispering and shuddering. Tears were streaming down Colette's face and periodically she'd let out a gasp as she tried to catch her breath. "I...I...I think I sharted," he continued, making Jack stand up suddenly, his chair screeching across the floor as he ran to the other room and burst out laughing loudly.

  That'll teach him for signing me up to ‘big Bertha's bitch prison pen pal service’. Those women were scary and tenacious as hell! Forty-nine emails later and I was considering changing my name in case they hunted me down. The things they said they wanted to do to me.... Shuddering I looked back at Cole and then down at my watch. Maybe the clown stripagram waiting for him at the bar tonight was overkill, but he'd enclosed photos of me in those letters of interest he'd sent out to them. It was his bachelor party too, and who wouldn't want to see a 350 pound male clown wearing a unicorn horn strip up close and personal?

  My Forever

  Cole & Ebru (pt 2)

  Providence Series Book 4

  The unicorn whisperer is back....

  Cole

  If I had a quarter for every time I've been told to "expect the unexpected" I'd be the richest man in the world.

  Then the unexpected happens. Could people not have been a bit more specific about what it would be? They were meant to be wise words after all!

  Ebru

  Being married to Cole, I didn't think anything could shock me anymore - until I was told two words that would change my life forever.

  God help me…I’m expecting the Unicorn Whisperer's b
aby.

  Time to put the testing center on speed dial.

  Chapter 1

  Cole

  I was exhausted. I’d worked four seventeen-hour days in the garage; it was like every car was breaking down or needed shit done on it. Ren was still adjusting to being a Dad, so we’d been taking on his work to make sure he had enough time with Maya and his daughter, even though after six months, you’d have thought he’d be used to it by now. This was Ren, though.

  Walking through the door, I looked at my watch and knew that my beautiful wife would be in bed. Most likely unconscious and snoring, but still.

  Halfway up the stairs, I started hearing groans and puking sounds and started walking faster. I really didn’t like it when Eb was sick, but it was a given considering she was a nurse. Just imagining the funky shit she came into contact with on a daily basis was enough for me to want to bathe in that sanitizing hand gel shit.

  Sticking my head around the edge of the door, I saw my beautiful little wife hunched over the toilet. From the noises, she was re-enacting The Exorcist or something.

  “Baby, you okay?” I hated being near people who were yacking their guts up, it always made me start retching too, so I kept a safe distance away from her.

  “I got sick,” she groaned. “Can you get a wet towel?”

  If it wasn’t so late at night, I’d have called Ma and got her to come and do it, but I wasn’t that big of a shit stain. Putting my hands over my ears, I walked into the bathroom and went hunting for one of the little towel things that Eb insisted we have. Thankfully it didn’t take long, but then I was faced with a dilemma; to wet it, I needed at least one hand to turn the tap on. That meant taking one of the hands that was protecting me from the sounds of a Grizzly upchucking, that was then being amplified by the porcelain of the toilet, would have to be moved and I’d hear it in all its glory.