At ten Christmas morning, Easton brought Payton and little Sofia back to Wild Rose.
Everyone gathered at Payton’s cottage. It was pretty crowded. Payton rested on the couch as they all jockeyed for a chance to hold baby Sofia.
Little Davy, just learning to walk, staggered from one piece of furniture to the next. He was learning to talk, too. “Hi there!” he exclaimed to anyone who smiled at him. He reached up his chubby arms to Miles and crowed, “Dada!”
Joyce corralled Penn and Bailey. The boys were bouncing off the walls to have their mom and dad home and to finally be allowed to tear into the giant pile of presents waiting beneath the tree.
As for their new baby sister, well, the boys decided to reserve judgment about her.
“She’s so little,” remarked Bailey warily.
“And her face is so red,” Penn observed. “And she cries a lot.”
West’s dad took about a hundred pictures of the two boys sharing an easy chair with Sofia wrapped up like a big pink burrito between them. Myron got some good shots of Ashley and Hazel, too. They each got a turn holding the newest member of the family.
Except for Payton, Easton and Sofia, who rested at home, they all had lunch at Aunt Marilyn’s and Christmas dinner at Josie and Miles’s house.
West and Alex got back to their cottage at eight. He took her straight to the bedroom where they made love, talked and made love some more. It was one in the morning when Alex finally turned off the bedside lamp.
The next week was sheer heaven. They rang in the New Year together and on January 2, they headed for Portland, where they spent three days in Alex’s apartment deciding what to donate and what to keep. They took Cookie on long walks and Alex discovered she had a certain nostalgic feeling toward the apartment now. It didn’t bother her at all to be there. Because now she knew exactly where she was going next.
And she was ready when they got on the road again for the drive to Seattle. She loved West’s place near Pioneer Square. They decided to stay there, at least for the near future.
By late April, Alex had put money into a woman-run start-up called NULAC, which engineered formula similar to mother’s milk from bovine colostrum. When July rolled around, she’d invested more widely. She had a hand in a number of tech start-ups, a hair and nail salon opened by two women who had met in prison, and a pizza parlor owned and operated by a single mother of five.
West proposed in August. Alex shouted, “Yes!” as he slipped the ring on her finger. They opened a bottle of champagne to toast the moment.
Remembering their first night, West raised his glass to Leo, too. “Here’s to you, buddy! I miss you and I wish you were here.”
As for the holidays, they spent them in the Christmas cottage down in Oregon. And on New Year’s night, Alex and West spoke their vows in the event barn right there at Wild Rose. The bride was three months pregnant. They’d already chosen a name—Leo or Leonie.
After their first dance, the cake cutting and the bouquet throwing, she took her husband’s hand. “Our carriage is waiting.”
His eyes lit up. He knew where this was going, but he pretended not to have a clue. “Which carriage is that?”
“The wedding carriage pulled by two fine white horses.” She moved in close and slid her hands up to clasp around his neck. He felt so right pressed against her—all man. Her man. Leaning up, she whispered in his ear, “Time to go.”
“But where?”
“Back to the cottage—I mean, it’s a wedding, right?”
He continued the game, frowning, looking baffled. “Well, yeah...”
“Are you saying you don’t remember what we do after a wedding?”
“Hmm.”
“Weston. After a wedding, we do it. Now.”
West threw back his golden head and laughed. And then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her out into the clear winter’s night.
Watch for an all-new series starring the next generation of Christine Rimmer’s beloved Bravo family.
Book 1 is coming in March 2023 only from Harlequin Special Edition.
Keep reading for an excerpt from Thankful for the Maverick by Rochelle Alers.