Page 51 of The CEO

Bree sat in one of the leather chairs across from his desk. “Well, not testifying is a good thing. I wasn’t looking forward to it. We can go about our lives and not think about Simon anymore.”

“That’s true. I want to discuss something else with you. What have you been thinking about your garden center? Do you still want to do it? Is it something you’d like to table for now. I want you to do whatever makes you happy.”

“Well, my writing has been taking off and I’ve sort of put the garden center on the back burner. I want to concentrate on my writing. It’s proving to be very lucrative, and I want to keep at it. So, if I do the garden center, and that looks less and less likely, it will be years down the road.

EPILOGUE

Ten Years Later

“Lilly!You get out of that tree.” She couldn’t believe that her daughter had grown so much. Lilly was already almost as tall as she was, and she was only eleven. By the time she stopped growing, she’d be several inches taller than Bree.

“But, Mom.”

“Don’t ‘but Mom’ me. Get down and come here.”

Bree was setting the patio table for dinner. “You know your grandparents will be here any minute. I don’t want them to see you climbing a tree in a dress.”

Lilly climbed down and walked over to her mother; her shoulders slumped. “I don’t see why it matters. Grandma lets me climb the trees at her house.”

Bree placed her hands on her hips. “Grandma and I are having a talk about that, too. Either way it doesn’t matter. You know your brother and sister will try to follow you, and they are too little. What if one of them fell? Did you ever think about that?”

“No.” She hung her head and kicked at an invisible rock. “How would you feel if they did?”

“Bad. I don’t want them to be hurt.”

Lilly’s mouth quivered, and tears glistened in her eyes.

“Honey, I don’t think you realize how much they idolize you. They want to do anything you can do, only they aren’t big enough yet.” Bree thought back to their first baby. Their son, Theodore. They were going to call him Teddy, but he was stillborn.

Bree’s heart still hurt when she thought of him. They didn’t try again for years because Bree was afraid, and she didn’t think she could survive if it happened again. When she was alone, she still cried. The picture of Teddy in his tiny coffin was more than enough to send her into a crying jag for days.

Finally, about five years ago, they decided to try for another baby, and they were blessed this time with Sarah. She was blonde and blue-eyed like Bree and almost as sweet as Lilly had been.

Lilly was excited at the idea of a baby sister and doted on Sarah.

For her part, Sarah now loved Lilly best and wanted to do all the things she did, good or bad, like climbing the trees. Even though she knew her little legs couldn’t reach the branches yet.

Jamie came along three years ago, and he was a boy’s boy and his father’s mini-me. He had Adam’s dark hair and blue eyes. He was rough and tumble, always getting into things, including trouble, and was the first to follow Lilly in an adventure. Whether it was playing cowboys in the back yard, which they’d had fenced, or getting into the cookie jar after Carole made fresh cookies, he was there.

And now, Bree was expecting again. Even with Sarah and Jamie’s births being perfectly—almost textbook—normal, shestill worried. She wondered if she could have done something or if there was some sign that she missed.

Every pregnancy since Teddy’s was accompanied by a healthy dose of fear. Would it happen again?

Bree did her best to shove her fears aside. She had three wonderful, healthy children, an understanding husband, and a wonderful life. Still…

The children were playing on the lawn, and Adam was at the grill when the first hard labor pain hit. She closed her eyes and waited for it to pass. It lasted less than a minute.

Adam was beside her in a second. “What is it? Are you in labor?”

Bree nodded. “I just started, so it won’t be for a while though. The kids can play for a bit longer, but you should call your parents and have them come. They’ll have to wait for a while, but I don’t think they’ll mind.”

He sat next to her. “They never mind coming to see the kids. They could probably do without seeing us, but that’s neither here nor there.” He reached into his pocket for his phone and placed the call to his parents. “They’ll be here in an hour. Is that soon enough?”

Bree nodded. “That should be fine. Now, sit back and watch the kids play tag. I just had to make Lilly get out of a tree, so she decided to do something the little ones can enjoy with her.”

“She’s a good sister.”

“That she is.”