Ever After (The Christmas Cottage - Book 2) (18 page)

“By the power vested in me by the state of
Nevada, I hereby pronounce you, man and wife,” the preacher declared.  “You may now kiss your bride.”

And Brian did just that.  It was a kiss that sealed a promise and it went on and on until Ean discreetly cleared his throat to get their attention.

Olivia had taken to picking the wildflowers and the photographer had sort of wandered off and followed her while the bride and groom continued to kiss.  When they finally broke apart they turned to look at their friends who were beaming at them.  Hands were shaken, hugs were exchanged and soon they were piled into one of the limos and headed back to their hotel for a celebratory dinner.

Later that night, when it was just the two of them, Ava wrapped herself tightly next to Brian and kissed his cheek.  “Thank you,” she whispered.

“For what?”

“For not giving up on me,” she said simply.

“You were worth fighting for.”

She smiled and sighed.  “It took us a long time to get here.  I’m sorry that I made you wait.”

Brian pulled her in tighter.  “I’m not.  I think we had the perfect day; we made it purely about us and not about other people’s expectations or traditions and we made this day our own.”

Raising her head she smiled down at him. 
“All of my life I thought that it was a specific place that held the key to my happily-ever-after, but it didn’t.”

Taking one of her hands, Brian placed it on his chest over his heart.  “Yes it did, Ava.  Do you feel my heart?  That’s the place that holds the key to our ever after.”  And with that he gently pulled her down for another kiss; thankful for the start of their new life and the promise of their happy ending.

Contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
   Her second book, a holiday novella titled "The Christmas Cottage" climbed the Amazon charts and peaked at number ten on the Best Sellers in Women’s Fiction on Christmas Eve 2012 in books and number 116 in Kindle books. Watching the numbers rise and fall was a daily roller coaster ride but definitely an exciting one!

“Ever After” was not a planned book; the response to “The Christmas Cottage” was so great that fans of it begged to know Ava’s story.  It was something that was planned for a future book but due to the many inquiries, it was moved up to be the next story written.
   When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing way too many games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 23 years and their two sons in North Carolina.

Where to Find Samantha Chase

Facebook: 
             
http://www.facebook.com/SamanthaChaseFanClub

Twitter:                             
https://twitter.com/SamanthaChase3

Website:                            
http://samanthachaseauthor.com/

Amazon:                             
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006CZWRGC

Blog:                             
http://allstace.blogspot.com/

Tumblr:                            
http://samanthachasewriter.tumblr.com/

As I said earlier, “Ever After” was not really planned; it was a definite future project but not something I was going to go with right away.  There are two people who, more than any others, encouraged me to make this story happen and to them, I wish to dedicate this story.

To “My Biggest Fan”:  Thank you for your overwhelming daily support.  I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t there to make me laugh until I cry on a daily basis.  I pray that I never get stuck with you while in “misery” mode, but you have been such a blessing to me and made me believe that I could keep doing what I am doing.  Loving you!  Meaning it!  And I can say it without crayons and angry eyebrows!

To My Fashion Consultant:  Thank you for making me think outside the box and filling my closet with sparkly sweaters and skinny pants!  Thank you for embracing my love of the color blue and for not killing me for emulating you with that sassy cardigan!  I’m so glad that I proved you wrong and that I did last and that we get to spend most of our week hanging out laughing, dreaming of a better place to spend our time and planning our next outing to the Outback for some steak.  Thank you for supporting me in this endeavor and encouraging me to do more.

You two ladies are awesome!