In Sickness & in Health (Vegas Vow) Page 8
“I spoke to Lance, he’s still adamant that he doesn’t want to be a part of Rhea’s life…” She shrugs, “So I told him that I wanted him to sign away his rights and he did. The rest was easy from there.”
I stare down at the termination of rights document that Lance signed.
“It’ll be relatively easy from here on out. Just a few weeks and Rhea’s all ours.” Vi tells me with a watery smile. “Yours.”
Fuck. She’s going to be mine. My daughter. I thought marrying Vi would have been the best day of my life, but I know that adopting Rhea will be.
“Sweetheart.” I can barely speak, I’ve got a lump in my throat.
“I know…” She gives me her beautiful smile, the one that she reserves just for me and Rhea. “Let’s go home and get our daughter.”
Fuck. I have a daughter.
I’ve never heard anything so perfect in my life.
“Yeah,” I say as a tear spills from my eye. “Let’s go get our daughter.”
16
Violet
FIVE YEARS LATER
“Mom!” Rhea yells as she rushes into the sitting room where I’m currently sitting with her baby brother resting in my arms. He’s two months old and Drew and I have agreed that this is the last one. We have Rhea, Amy, and now James.
“What’s wrong baby?” I ask softly, not wanting to disturb the snoozing baby.
My six year old rolls her eyes like she’s a teenager and huffs out a breath. “Mom, I’m not a baby.”
I smile at her, “I know you’re not. What’s wrong?”
“Amy, Mom, gosh. She just won’t leave me alone. Help me.” She pleads and I can’t help but laugh, “Mom, it’s not funny, she keeps taking my dolls and wanting to play tea parties.”
“Your dad should be home any minute, I don’t want any arguing when he gets here.”
She rolls her eyes once again and I resist the urge to sigh, she and Amy argue like cats and dogs. They’re only two years apart in age and Rhea hates whenever Amy wants to play with her. Not realizing that Amy idolizes her and wants to be around her always.
“Rhea, honey, were you playing with those dolls?” She shakes her head, “Then why can’t Amy play with them?”
She huffs yet again, I swear she gets her temperament from Drew. The two of them are closer than I could have ever hoped. She adores her daddy and he adores her just as much. “Mom, she’s a baby.”
The front door opens and in walks Drew, and as always his face lights up whenever he sees the children.
“Daddy!” Rhea yells making James stir in my arms.
“Daddddyyyyyyyyyyy!” Amy screams, her feet pounding on the stairs as she rushes down them to greet her father. It’s like this every day when Drew returns from work.
“Hey, baby,” he says softly lifting Rhea into his arms and she wraps her arms around his neck. “You been good for mommy?”
“Of course,” she replies as though the mere thought of her being anything else was atrocious.
Drew just chuckles and Amy rushes into the room and barrels into his legs. He steadies himself and lifts her into his other arm. Watching him with our girls always makes me happy. He’s so beyond amazing, the best father there could have ever been.
When he’s done giving our girls all the love they want, he comes to me and James, holding us tightly in his arms. “Hey, sweetheart, how are you feeling?”
I rest my head against his shoulder, “I’m okay, dinner isn’t ready,” I don’t have the energy to make any.
He shrugs, “Good, your mom and dad are coming over to take the kids and we’re spending the night alone.”
I sink further into him. God, he’s so thoughtful. “That sounds heavenly.”
He chuckles, “You go on up and shower, I’ll get the kids ready to go to your parents.”
“Hey, you, what are you doing here?” I ask Cam when I come down from my shower, all the kids are currently occupied, James in Cam’s arms, Rhea sitting on Drew’s lap as he reads to her, and Amy has Monica playing tea parties with her.
Cam met Monica three years ago and fell head over in heels in love with her. They’ve been inseparable ever since. He popped the question at Christmas and she accepted instantly, they’re planning on getting married next year and I couldn’t be happier for them.
“I wanted you to be the first to know…” He grins at me and I can’t help but return it. “Monica’s pregnant.”
I gasp, tears fill my eyes. My brother has always wanted children, he never let on just how much but the way he’s been with my children was more than telling. “I’m so happy for you,” I whisper and I hear Drew’s chuckle. “Don’t laugh at me.” I grumble as I move toward my brother and hug him. “Love you so much.” Once I’ve finished squeezing him, I go to Monica, who is also crying.
“Don’t,” she warns me. “I cry at the drop of a hat these days.”
“It doesn’t go away,” I inform her. “I still cry at commercials.”
“All of them,” Drew mutters.
I glare at my husband. “Shut it, you.” He just grins at me. I shake my head and turn back to Monica, “How far along are you?”
“Twelve weeks,” she replies with a smile. “I made him swear not to tell anyone until now. I’m surprised he’s waited this long.”
I laugh, it seems that Drew and Cam have that in common, I wouldn’t let him tell anyone about my pregnancies until we reached the second trimester, but I learned that he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and told not only Jameson but also Cam. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cam told Drew about Monica’s pregnancy.
The front door opens. “Where’re my beautiful grandbabies?” Mom yells and instantly the girls are up and rushing toward her and Dad. Soon both Mom and Dad walk into the room, each of them holding onto one of my daughters. “We’re going, you need some rest. Cam and Monica, why don’t you follow us and have dinner with us?”
Mom blows me a kiss as Dad picks up the kids’ bags off the ground.
“Girls, say goodbye to your mom…” Drew tells them as I stand here watching as everyone moves. Cam stands with James in his arms, Mom and Dad take all the kids' things out to the car as Rhea and Amy rush over to me.
I bend down and scoop them up into my arms. “Be good for Grandma and Pop.” They both nod enthusiastically, “I need you girls to behave and be good to one another.”
“We will, mommy,” Rhea promises as she places a kiss against my cheek. It’s hard to believe that my baby girl is six. She wiggles out of my hold and I let her go, she instantly turns to Drew who’s waiting for her.
“Mommy, will you miss me?” Amy asks softly and I turn to my darling girl and see her eyes are big and filled with unshed tears.
“Oh, my baby, of course I will. But you’re going to have so much fun with Grandma and Pop. Maybe Pop will let you help him in the garden again?”
She grins widely at that, Amy and my Dad are like two peas in a pod. Whatever my Dad does, Amy wants to do too.
“Love you, baby.” I kiss her forehead, inhaling her sweet scent.
“Love you, Mommy,” she whispers as she kisses my cheek and she wraps her arms around me tightly.
I let her down and she runs to her dad and gives him a kiss and hug goodbye, while I take James and snuggle him close. I’m glad of having a reprieve but I’ll miss them dearly.
“Sweetheart,” Drew murmurs once we wave goodbye to them.
That gravelly way he calls me sweetheart never fails to set my body alight.
“Baby,” I whisper as I turn in his arms, my chest pressed up tightly against his chest. “Love you.”
“Love you so fucking much, Vi. You’ve given me everything I could have ever wanted. But most importantly, you gave me you.”
Damn the man and his smooth words.
He lifts me into his arms and holds me tight. “Now, my gorgeous wife, I’m taking you to bed where I’m going to worship every single inch of you.”
I bite back a groan, “Well, who am I
to stop you?”
He throws his head back and laughs. That’s one of my favorite sounds in this world and I cherish hearing it every single time.
Other books in this series:
Vegas Vows Series
Other books by this Author:
The Deadly Series
Deadly Hunt
Deadly Obsession
Deadly Past
Deadly Encounter
Deadly Mistake
The Working Girls Series:
The Secrets of Life
The Scandals of Life
The Scars of Life
The Surprises of Life
The Heartache of Life
The Troubles of Life
Killers in Paradise Series:
Uninvited Love
Office Romance Series:
Resisting the Boss
Standalones:
Finding Home
Egotistical Executive
Bad Boy
In Sickness and In Health
Acknowledgments
Darren and Alannah: You both mean the world to me and thank you so much for putting up with my crazy. I love you both more than words could ever say. You make both put a smile on my face on a daily basis!
Jasmina Babsek: THANK YOU for everything!
Kristine Moran: Thank you so much for formatting and proofreading for me, you’re the best friend a girl could have!
Erin Toland: Words can’t express the gratitude I have for you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Jessica, Jess, Christine: My rocks, each and every one of you. Love you lots, like Jelly tots!
My Beta Readers: Ladies you are the best, Thank you so much for your input, this book wouldn’t be what it was if it wasn’t for each and every one of you!
My Brazen Bitches you and that group are my sanctuary, Thank you each
and every one of you for being a part of this process.
About the Author
KL Humphreys lives in Ireland with the love of her life and her baby girl. In a way, the world has him to thank for her debut novel, Deadly Hunt. After years of thinking about writing the story that had been dying to get out of her head, she finally confided in her other half. He gave her all the encouragement she needed to get the story out, he has been with her every step of the way.
KL loves music, especially pop, R'n'B and rap and if she's writing you will find it playing somewhere nearby. She also loves all romance novels but of course, Romantic Suspense is her go-to genre. When she isn't writing it...it's a good bet she is curled up somewhere reading it.
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