With care, I peed on the stick then capped it, washed up, and carried it in my handbag to the car. Getting out of the apartment and ready to drive took two minutes, and trundling the car to the edge of the village another three.
I eyed my bag. Could I peek or should I wait?
My excitement overflowed—having news like that to deliver would be the greatest gift. In haste, I found the kit.
A blue cross beamed back from the tiny window.
Pregnant!
“Eek!” I shrieked.
Then I put my foot down and followed Bull’s map. It took around ten minutes to wind my way along an old logging trail that led deep into the forest. I knew the route—we’d taken the boys here for hikes, with them in backpacks or toddling amongst the leaves—and I loved the view of the hills and rolling woodland.
In a clearing where we’d picnicked, I spotted my husband’s car, then saw the man himself.
For a moment, I admired his broad shoulders stretching his t-shirt and his muscles flexing as he cleared a few stray logs into a pile. The morning sun fell on him, highlighting browns in his tied-back black hair, and making him golden. Then he turned and saw me and smiled. My stomach flipped. How did I ever get so lucky?
I killed the engine and hopped out onto the ground covered in springy pine needles.
“Hey there.” I grinned at him.
“Hey yourself.” In a second, he was at my side and bowing me back in a deep, satisfying kiss. With two children—currently—our alone time was limited so, usually, we grabbed at each other any spare moment we had.
“I have news,” I murmured against his mouth.
“I do, too. Let me go first,” he commanded.
“If you like.” I fluttered my eyelashes at him, and he led me into the clearing.
“Do ye like it here?” Bull asked, gesturing to the sweet site and the gorgeous views.
“Very much.”
“Good, because I bought it.”
I gaped at him. “You did what?”
“I told ye I’d build ye a house. Here’s as good a place as any.” He cocked his head, his smile irrepressible. “It’ll take a wee while, but it’ll be exactly as we want it. I’ve contracted an architect, and we get the first set of plans on Monday.”
I clapped my hands to my mouth. “What? You… I can’t even!”
Then I was in his thick arms and showing him rather than telling him what I thought.
“I did good?” He smirked, knowing he did.
I burst out laughing at the sheer joy of the moment. “What if I’d said no?”
“Then I’d build ye the house of your dreams somewhere else. But I knew ye wouldnae turn it down.”
He did. He knew me better than anyone.
I pressed my lips together, calming myself. “My go.”
“Aye? You had news, too?”
From my bag, I fished out the pregnancy kit and handed it over.
Bull’s smile dropped, and pure emotion replaced it as he stared at the reading. “Pregnant?” he said, so soft and quiet. Full of wonder.
Oh boy. Tears welled and wouldn’t stop.
“I know last time this happened to you, it hit you hard,” I said, bringing him into my arms. “But it got us Archie, and he’s perfect, just like my family’s screw-ups got us Benji. And just like you and I found each other. You, me, and our boys are going to have a baby to take care of.”
“A bairn!” he finally said, finding his words. “Not even half a year ago, I was alone. Then you drove me off the road, and my life has never been the same since.” With a whoop of happiness, Bull collected me in his arms and spun me gently around.
Then, on the site of our new home, we kissed, and kissed, and kissed some more.
I’d run to Falls Ridge seeking refuge, and the small, peaceful town had delivered so much more. Alongside shelter, I’d found family, I’d uncovered my true self, and I’d fallen so hard in love I’d never be the same again.
Come the fall, four would become five, and our happiness would be complete.
* * *
THE END
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Jolie Vines is the author of the Marry the Scot and Wild Scots series. If you like a brawny hero with a gorgeous accent, with her brooding Scottish pilot and huge alpha laird, Jolie has you covered. Find Jolie’s books at https://www.jolievines.com/ and her reader group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoliesFallHardFans
BENEATH A STARLIT SKY
Bella Emy
BENEATH A STARLIT SKY © 2019 Bella Emy
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 Bella Emy
Cover © Bella Emy
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BENEATH A STARLIT SKY
My first love.
The one I fell for so quickly.
The one who stole my heart and made me believe we had it all.
We did.
Till that fateful day when everything changed.
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Beneath a Starlit Sky is a heart-wrenching, heartrending, tear-jerker! Not recommended for the weak at heart!
Prologue
LOOKING BACK
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I’ll never forget the summer I turned eighteen.
It was a summer of firsts. It was a summer of self-discovery, and it was the summer I met Zachery Taylor and fell in love for the first time.I had just graduated from my senior year of high school, and while my friends were planning to backpack through Europe, my parents were torturing me by making me go with them to our annual summer vacation spot.
Every single summer, for as long as I could remember, my parents would drag my baby sister, Molly, and me with them to the same summer beach house in Waverly, North Carolina. While I had to admit it was a beautiful beach town with the ocean just feet away, it would get boring after the first couple of days. That year, I had wanted nothing more than to join my friends experimenting and visiting Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam. However, my parents had made me a deal: if I would spend this last summer with them as a family, every year after, I would be free to do as I pleased. Sure, I was eighteen already, but I knew how much this meant to them and how much they had always looked forward to our summer getaways; I just wished that we could have done something a little more spontaneous once in a while.