Resilient Love (Navy Love Series Book 3) (27 page)

Booties?

“Why would your mom give us baby booties?”

It’s then that she hands me the other item in her hands; a reminder card for an OBGYN appointment

“Jo..”

“You said you’d be on board whenever I’m ready. Well...I hope that’s still true because I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant.”

I pull her into my chest as tears of joy fall from my eyes.

“I’m on board, I’m so fucking on board, Darlin’,” I say as a splay kisses to any reachable surface of my wife.

Grabbing her cheeks, I lean back to look in her eyes.

“You’re serious? You think we’re having a baby?”

She nods and continues to cry. I kiss her hard then immediately pull her to the bed and lie her down to pepper kisses along her still small stomach.

Sitting in the waiting room, two days later, I’m a mess.

What if we lose this baby, too? How will Jo handle it? How will I handle it?

I continue playing the hypothetical ‘what if’ game until Jo’s name is called.

The nurse runs through a line of questions with Jo; last period, experiencing any sickness...normal stuff. But when she asks the ‘previous pregnancies’ question, my shoulders immediately tense and eyes shoot to Jo’s.

All of her progress and healing over the loss of our baby comes to this moment. I maintain eye contact and wait with baited breath for how she’ll handle this situation.

“Yes, one previous pregnancy. It was a miscarriage at ten weeks.”

There’s no flinch, no tension in her shoulders as she answers. She looks over to where I’m sitting in the chair across the room and gives me a small, but assuring smile. I know the loss of our baby will always have an effect on both of us, but it seems like we’re both finally at a point of moving on from it.

Perfect timing, too.

Twenty minutes later, we walk out of the office, hand in hand with three black and white, grainy pictures of our little sprout.

We’re gonna have a baby.

Jo

Tonight is another one of our ‘family dinners’, this time at Tess and Hunter’s house.

I’m beyond excited for everyone to show up; J.C. and I are announcing our news. And, Marshall is finally bringing the mysterious Preston to meet all of us.

Apparently he put his foot down. If Preston backs out this time, Marsh claims he’s ready to move on.

Tessa comes to sit beside me on the living room floor where I’m playing with Madison and Parker in their activity chairs.

“Well, Marsh is running late, as usual,” she says by way of starting a conversation. It’s a topic we’ve discussed many times since we found out about Preston. Marsh used to be pretty punctual but now, he’s always the last to arrive and first to leave one of our get-togethers.

J.C. comes into the room and takes my hand to help me up. He walks me into the hall, away from everyone else.

“Can we please tell them now? I’m dyin’ here, Darlin’.”

Poor thing, he’s known about the pregnancy all of a week and he can hardly contain his excitement. I can’t help but laugh at his poor attempt to seek sympathy from me.

“Marsh isn’t here yet.”

“So? We can tell him whenever he decides to show up.”

Unable to deny myself or J.C. the thrill of excitement running through both of us, I agree and am immediately pulled back into the living room.

“Guess what!?” J.C. practically yells, drawing everyone’s attention.

“We’re pregnant!” I answer before anyone has a chance to guess.

The room is quickly filled with oohs and ahhs and congratulations are passed around along with hugs.

So much activity is happening that no one notices Marshall step through the front door until he speaks up.

“What’d I miss?!”

Everyone turns and our immediate reaction is to try peeking over his shoulder at who’s with him.

He steps into the already crowded living room with no visible person behind him and I’m sure everyone’s first reaction is to think that Preston was once again a no-show.

Marshall takes in everyone’s sympathetic demeanor and quickly puts an end to it.

“So, is someone going to tell me what you were all celebrating?”

“I’m pregnant,” I say with a shy smile.

“You’re shittin’ me?”

“Nope, it’s for real,” J.C. says.

“Holy shit! Congrats you two!” He pulls me in for a hug and everyone else picks up their own conversations and congratulations again now that we see Marshall is okay.

After a few moments and more hugs, Reed finally questions Marsh.

“So, what happened with the guy?”

Marsh shrugs his shoulders but can’t fight the smile on his face. The front door opens again as Clark steps inside.

“There he is, the man of the hour. We were just discussing you,
Preston
,” Marsh calls out with a sly grin.

The End

Coming soon: Marshall & Preston’s book

(Book 4 in the Navy Love Series)

This book is dedicated to two people, one being my late father in law, Patrick Santo. There were so many aspects of Jo’s mom that I took from my father in law, he was a wonderful man who our family misses dearly. He was the nicest guy, he could make friends with anyone who he spent more than two minutes with; the type of guy who would put a smile on your face just by being himself. He was silly, free spirited and so incredibly loving and giving. Pat was the type of person that people strive to be like, he was a genuinely good person, a rare thing in our time. I consider myself so fortunate to have had someone like him in my life. He was taken too soon, but even in his illness, he still remained a caring, compassionate man. He passed from cancer two and a half years ago, but his presence is still felt daily. This man made an impact on not only my life, but the lives of so many people he met, and those small impacts will never be forgotten. I love and miss you Pat.

I wouldn’t be able to do this without my family. They may not all understand my need and desire to write, but they support me regardless. Thanks to mom and gran for reading my books even though they aren’t what you really like to read. And to my husband and my three little boys, I love you guys so much.

To Alex Grayson...I feel like we grow closer with each book and this one is no different. Thank you for sharing memories of your mom with me through this. I’m sure she was an amazing person, and I’m honored you allowed me to include her in Pat Fuentes. I hope I did right by her and you.

I wouldn’t know what to do without Marie Carlisle, from the late night pep talks, to the crazy word count deadlines...I wouldn’t have finished this book, and it wouldn’t be as good as it is, without your persistence. Ready for the next one now?

My amazing team of beta readers, Amber Baker, Amy English, Erin Ann and Jeanette Christine...you guys are awesome. I truly appreciate each of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to read this and give me feedback. I seriously have some of the best betas around and consider myself damn lucky for that.

A very special thanks goes to Marie and Erin for rereading this book so many times, through all of the different stages and being listening ears for me to bounce ideas off over the past few months!

My Sailor Girls group, you ladies are so much fun and a pick me up anytime I’m having a rough time with my writing. I love getting to know each of you and can’t wait to meet some of y’all!

I have to thank all of the amazing ladies behind the scenes who are crucial in getting this book ready to go to readers. Aleesha Davis and Amy Callahan, my amazing editing team. You two rock. Thank you both for all of the hard work you put into making this book as great as it can be. I
finally
found a perfect team for me and my stories! Melissa Gill, with MGBookCovers, thank you for a beautiful cover! And the ladies at FMR Book Grind, y’all are amazing to work with and I love the support I get from you guys. That Formatting Lady, Angela Shockley, I can’t say enough wonderful things about you! I’m so thankful to have you as my formatter. You all do a fabulous job making my books beautiful and are quick and so reliable! I look forward to working with all of you again!

Lastly, to all the bloggers who promoted Resilient Love and the readers who fell in love with Jo and J.C.’s story from the start. I hope you guys enjoyed their book, it was a hard one to write for me. It touched on some very personal issues and I hope that I portrayed them well. Thank you all for reading it and I hope that you continue to see what happens with this group of characters who have become like family to me.

We are not promised tomorrow.

Live Life Today.

-unknown

Hollow
—Tori Kelly

Burning House
—Cam

I Miss You
—Incubus

How You Love Me (acoustic version)
—3LAU, Bright Lights

One Call Away
—Charlie Puth

Starting Tonight
—Chris Lane Band

The World is Ours Tonight
—Gloriana

That Don’t Impress Me Much
—Shania Twain

T-shirt
—Thomas Rhett

Georgia Clay
—Josh Kelley

Give Me Back My Hometown
—Eric Church

H.O.L.Y
—Florida Georgia Line

Unsteady
- —Ambassadors

You Should Be Here
—Cole Swindell

Break On Me
—Keith Urban

Rain
—Jacob Bryant