A Soldier For Bella (Love Conquers Life #4) (19 page)
Read A Soldier For Bella (Love Conquers Life #4) Online
Authors: Alison Mello
Carter and Patty’s parents are leaving, so we quickly say goodbye. As we do, Sandra says to my mother and I, “Let’s get together to start planning this wedding.”
I nod as my mother says, “Thank you for looking out for her while we were blindly sitting by. I don’t know what we were thinking, but we thank you.”
Sandra hugs her and my eyes well at the two women before me sharing this special moment. They both love me and want to be in my life, and now I have Derek to share this all with. I am one lucky woman.
Two Years Later
Bella
Today is such an exciting day. We have so much to celebrate! Today we are not only celebrating the opening of The Bella Campbell Modeling Agency, but I’m announcing to my friends and family that Derek and I are due to have our first baby. We got married pretty quickly, keeping the wedding as small as possible. As soon as we got home from the honeymoon, I started discussing the possibility of opening my own agency. It may be a bit crazy for me to give up on modeling at such a young age to run an agency, but it was time. I did the things I wanted to do with my modeling career and with a baby on the way, I want to take myself out of the limelight a little bit. Of course Madeline has made me promise to do one last shoot for a maternity ad, which I’ve agreed to do. I’ve spent most of the past year working on lining up models to start my own agency!
My office space is all set up and decorated for the party. All of our friends and family are coming as well as the models that have already signed on with me. I even signed on Charlotte from the meet and greet. She was so impressed with the conversation we had that day she practically begged me to sign her. It turns out she’s a pretty good model, and after the conversation we had, she seems to be taking my advice. Well, at least she is when I’m around.
Derek walks in the door of my new office. He wraps his arm around my waist and asks, “Hey baby, how are you feeling today?”
“Good. Thank God the morning sickness has stopped because I’m not sure how much more I can take,” I say as I rub my belly.
It’s been really hard hiding the baby because I’m already showing. I swear it’s just because I’m thin that I’m showing already, but the doctor says that some women show earlier than others. I think my baby bump is cute, as does Derek. He’s always rubbing my belly and talking to it.
Patty and Carter arrive next. They hug me and congratulate me on the opening. I thank them and then I snag our godson, Benjamin, from his carrier. “He’s getting to be such a big boy,” I say as he smiles at me. Benjamin will be celebrating his first birthday next month, and Patty will be celebrating the release of her next book shortly after that.
Her books are doing really well, and she has been so much happier working with Elizabeth, who is letting her write when she’s ready instead of pestering her.
I want to tell Patty and Carter about the baby before I announce it to everyone else, so while I’m holding Benjamin I say to him, “Are you ready to have a friend to play with?” At first neither of them catch it, so I say, “Yes, auntie’s going to give you a little friend to play with.”
“Oh my God, shut up. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Patty shouts.
“Shh, yes. I wanted you guys to know first since I’m announcing it to everyone soon. Will you guys be the godparents?”
“Yes, of course!” she says as we hug one more time.
The place is quickly filling up, and the rest of our family has arrived, including my parents, who kept their promise and have continued to visit. They have expressed how proud they are of me for opening my own agency. I told them I got lucky, and I want to make sure I give other models the same chances I had. It’ll be hard work, but it’ll be worth it.
I tell everyone that I have to get the party started, so I excuse myself and go to the front of the room.
“Excuse me, everyone. If I can have your attention, please, I would like to welcome you all to The Bella Campbell Modeling Agency and thank you all for being here today.” I pause as people start clapping. “I’m so happy to have the opportunity to work with these five great models that have chosen me as their new agent. As you all know, I have retired from modeling so I can help other models become as successful as they can be. I have had the opportunity to work with some great people and feel my career as a model was everything I wanted it to be and more. Now it’s time that I step back and help others while I become the best wife and mother I can be.” There are a bunch of gasps from around the room. “Yes, ladies and gentleman. I’m not only proud to welcome you to my new agency, but I’m proud to announce I will be a mom in the coming months. I will end my career as a model doing a maternity ad, and I’m both proud and excited. I’ll be around for questions, but I hope you all enjoy yourselves.”
I leave the stage because I just dropped a bomb on our entire family and I can see they’re all freaking out as I walk back to them. Derek and I are both getting hugs and being congratulated.
Derek grabs me and pulls me to him. “I’m so proud of you, baby, and I want you to know you’re already the best wife and I know you’re going to be an amazing mother.” He kisses me. “I love you, Bella Campbell-Thompson.”
“I love you too.”
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Acknowledgements
I would like to first thank Mr. Mello for all of his love and support. He’s constantly there for me, talking me through scenes or different chapters of the book to help me come up with the best story possible. He deals with my constant obsessing about my characters, plots, the process we go through to get a book published, and he listens to me without complaint. I also want to say, thank you for all of your hard work. You do an amazing job of supporting our family so I can be home with our son and embark on this journey. I’m so proud of you and the work you do, so thank you and I love you!
To my awesome Beta team! A million thank yous for all of your work on this series! You are always there for me and do an amazing job of backing me throughout the entire book process. I love you all and appreciate how much you do for me!
Thank you to my ever growing street team! I want you all to know that I appreciate all the time you put into pimping me and my books! A special shout out to Shelby the queen of pimping, girl you rock! You're always entering me into contests and throwing my name and books out there! Thanks for all you do!
About the Author
Alison Mello is a wife and stay at home mom to a wonderful little boy. She lives with her amazing family in Massachusetts. She loves playing soccer, basketball and football with her son.
After having her son, Alison started reading again and fell in love with Contemporary Romance. Reading made her happy and gave her something to do when she had downtime. As she started to read more, she started to noticed things she really enjoyed in a book and things she didn’t. She began to have ideas for writing one of her own. One day she literally woke up and started writing. She realized that if there was ever a time for her to write, it was now. She had a part time job to give her something to do. The hours at work were slow and she was bored with what she was doing, so while her son was off enjoying his friends over summer vacation she got started.
Alison finished the first book in two weeks and decided that she really enjoyed writing, so she kept going. She already had ideas in mind for books two and three, so she kept writing. That is how the Learning to Love Series was born. Somewhere along the line, one of my Beta readers convinced me that Michael, a character from Finding Love, needed his own story. That is when Alison added the fourth and final book. Alison hopes you enjoy her books as much as she enjoyed writing them.
She’s so glad she started this writing journey and hopes you will stay with her for the ride. Chasing Dreams is scheduled to release in April and the first two books of the Love Conquers Life series will be out this summer!
