Unavoidable Chance (21 page)

I nod my head because the second his hand was in mine, all those thoughts disappeared anyway. I am alive, I’m here. I’m getting married. The door opens again, Quinn walks in holding one of the girls’ hands in each of hers. They look scared, and they all slowly walk toward the bed. Jax stands and moves to the side to let his girls get in closer. Hope places a yellow daisy by my leg, and then buries her face in her Aunt’s thigh. Sky lunges on my arm and holds on for dear life.

“I told the girls to be gentle, to only touch Ava’s arms,” Quinn whispers to Jax.

A few weeks ago, I was paralyzed with fear over being in these two beautiful, precious, little girls’ lives. Now, I want nothing more than to be their stepmother. Not because I was just told that I’ll never have children of my own either, but because the love bursting in my heart tells me this is my family, Jax and these girls. I never wanted an insta-family, but these girls and Jax aren’t an insta-family. They’re my life, they’re my world, they’re my sanity, they’re who I breathe for, they’re my everything. Willow was right when she said there’s nothing you can do to stop true love, it’s unavoidable. You can fight it all you want, but love will always prevail. I think Jax knew this from the start.

“Daddy said when you come home that we need to be extra careful; you know, not to hug you too hard. He also said that when you’re feeling up to it that we’re all going to bake cookies,” Hope says. I look to Jax, and he smiles big. I guess I’m moving in with Jax and the girls. He’s so bossy, even when he isn’t even trying.

“I can’t wait to bake cookies with you,” I tell both Sky and Hope.

“Aunty Quinn said she’ll help us make you an apron. What’s your favorite color?” Sky asks.

Jax and I both answer at the same time, “Yellow.”

Jax takes the girls out into the hallway; Quinn sits on the side of the bed and takes my hand. Her eyes fill with tears as she looks at me.

“You gave us all quite a scare. Your family…my brother…I’ve never seen anything like it before. They had to practically restrain Jax while you were in surgery. He stood outside the operating room doors with his head down and his fists into balls the entire time. No one could get him to sit down in the family waiting room. When the doctor finally came out and said that you were going to be alright, he broke into a million pieces. Not from grief but with relief. He never left his spot; he never left you for a minute. Until…” she says.

“Until what? He was here when I woke up. Quinn, what did he do?” I ask.

“He and your brother’s left for about thirty minutes. Once you were in recovery and they knew that it’d be a few hours until you came out of anesthesia, he made us promise to never leave your side. The men had some…business to attend to,” she replies vaguely.

“Quinn, what did they do?” I ask concerned.

“Something that had to be done…”

“Alright, Quinn the girls need to get home and into bed,” Jax says, coming back into the room. Quinn smiles, then squeezes my hand.

Quinn takes Sky and Hope home, but Jax never leaves my side. I’m not sure what Jax and my brother’s did, but I’m fine not knowing what it was. Between the nurses and my family constantly coming in for visits, I hardly got any sleep for the first three days. Jax finally had to stand in the doorway on the fourth day to lay down the law. It was quite comical to see my brooding brothers, Amelia, and my sneaky sisters-in-law try to get around Jax. I ended up staying in the hospital just over two weeks. As much as they tried to prevent an infection, I got one anyway. It was pretty serious, but in the end, I’ll let nothing stop me from going home to my man and my girls, and to start planning my wedding. Oh, my God, I have to plan a wedding. Most girls play dolls and dress up, and plan out their fairytale wedding by the time they’re ten. I didn’t. I played lawyer and buried my nose in my father’s books. I don’t know how to plan a wedding.

I get to go home tomorrow, and I couldn’t be happier. Jax is sitting in the chair by my bed with his laptop planning out menus for the restaurant. He’s been doing a lot from my room to help Parker and Mason run the restaurant, without actually running the restaurant in person. He refuses to leave my side, which I love.

Jax is currently giving me a hard time about not having space for my ginormous shoe collection in his closet. He says I’ll have to at least get rid of half of them. This may be a deal breaker. He smiles at me; I know just how much he enjoys my shoe collection, almost as much as I do. Then there’s a knock at the door.

We both look; Jax immediately stands, and by his posture and the two giant steps he takes toward the door, indicate to me it’s not a welcome visitor.

Mr. Foley is standing in the doorway with a bouquet of flowers. This is the first time I’ve seen him or any of the partners since I got shot. Reagan has been in every day, and the staff has sent flowers and cards, but nothing from any of the partners. I wonder if they thought I’d sue or something?

It’s funny that I haven’t even thought about the partners or becoming a partner in two weeks. It used to dominate my thoughts, now I couldn’t give a rat’s ass. My priorities have changed, and to be honest, I’m a little angry with myself that I let it get as far as it did.

Jax stands tall, puffs out his chest, puts his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face. He looks like a frozen, evil, mid-century statue. Mr. Foley ducks around him and places the flowers on the little rolling cart over my bed.

“Everyone at Smithe, Parker and Foley would like to wish you a speedy recovery. We would also like to offer you the position of partner whenever you’re ready to come back,” he says, looking nervously at Jax. I swear to God, if Jax growls out loud, I’ll bust my almost healed stitches.

“Thank you for the flowers, they’re beautiful. I’ll consider the offer and get back to you,” I tell him. He looks shocked, and doesn’t understand my disinterest. Like I said, my priorities have changed. Life has changed. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what I want.

Jax

No one is more excited to take Ava home than I am. I’m more relieved than anything to have her in my home, in our home. With the help of her brothers while Ava was still in the hospital, we moved all of her things into my house. Adrian built her a special closet as a surprise in one of the spare bedrooms as her very own personal closet; it even has a floor to ceiling shoe rack that’s big enough for all of Ava’s shoes. Ava and I agreed that she’ll still keep her condo, and after a few more weeks of Quinn keeping a watchful eye on Ava, Quinn will move in with Savvy. Savvy is still really busy with nursing school and working at the bar. She came a few times to see Ava, but never stayed more than a few minutes. She seems excited to have Quinn move in with her.

Ava is getting stronger and stronger every day. We’ve started to plan Hope’s birthday party. It’s going to be small, at least as small as anything a Wellington does. Family dinner is at our house tomorrow. Ava is so thrilled to have her family over for Sunday dinner for the very first time at our house. I’ve cooked for the Wellingtons before at my restaurant, but never in my home. I’ve got something extra special planned for them, my famous barbecue ribs, homemade cole slaw, and corn on the cob for dinner, with a cheesecake for dessert. I know how much this family loves their cheesecake. I think I’ll serve my famous white chocolate caramel macadamia nut cheesecake.

But today is all about lazing around the house. Ava is resting comfortably on the couch. The girls are snuggled up to her side. I’m popping some popcorn, and then we’ll spend the rest of our evening vegging out in front of the television.

After about an hour of the movie, both Ava and the girls fall asleep on the couch. I turn off the movie, then carry each of the girls to their beds and tuck them in. I bend down to pick up Ava, her eyes open, and she smiles that sunshine megawatt smile at me. I pick her up and carry her up the stairs.

“I’ve been thinking,” she says sleepily. “I don’t want a big wedding, and I don’t want to wait either.”

“That, I like to hear. The sooner we get married, the better,” I tell her. I’m glad we’re both on the same page.

“How about next week,” she says. I stop on the third step and think about it for a second. There’s nothing that I’d like more than to make her my wife, especially next week. But I’d also like to make love to my wife on our wedding night. She still needs a few more weeks to heal.

“How about four weeks?” I say, walking up the last of the steps.

“Two weeks,” she counters.

“Three and you have a deal,” I say, kicking the bedroom door open with my foot.

“Deal! You’re a tough negotiator, now kiss me,” she demands.

I kick the door closed with my foot, then lay her on our bed and give her exactly what she wants. The doc never said anything about not kissing. And there’s nothing wrong with this woman’s lips.

I pull away and grab her chin, look deep in her eyes and say, “I love you, sunshine.”

“Why do you call me that?” she asks in a whisper.

“The first day I met you, it was like the first time I had ever felt sunshine on my face. You brought color and clarity back into my life. It’s no surprise your favorite color is yellow, it suits you perfectly.” I wrap her in my arms, and tuck her into my side. With a contented sigh, she falls asleep.

Sunday morning the girls come barging in our room with a small box. Quinn follows shortly behind them.

“Sorry, I made them promise to not come in here until after seven,” she says smiling.

“Here, we’ve been working on this for days. Hurry up and open it. Do you think we can use it today?” Sky asks excitedly, bouncing on the bed.

“Girls, we need to establish some boundaries here,” I warn.

“It’s alright, Jax. Really,” Ava says, taking the box.

“Boundaries, girls,” I warn again.

“Oh, girls it’s just beautiful. You two did this all by yourself?” Ava asks.

“Aunty Quinn helped us, do you like it?” Sky asks.

“I love it,” Ava returns.

“Can we all bake cookies today for dessert to have after family dinner tonight?” Hope asks.

“We sure can,” Ava replies.

“We’ll see how Ava feels this afternoon. If she’s up for it, we’ll all bake cookies. If not she can sit at the counter and watch,” I tell the girls.

Sky and Hope start giggling, I didn’t think what I said was funny. I turn around and look at Ava and she’s mouthing to the girls that yes, she will for sure bake cookies today.

“What? You’re so bossy,” she says, and shrugs.

The girls and Quinn go downstairs; I turn to Ava and hover over her face. “You don’t have to do this you know, if you’re not feeling up to it. The girls will understand.”

“Jax, I feel fine. I’ll take it easy, I promise. Did you see their cute little excited faces? I’d have to be sliced from hip to hip to not bake cookies with those girls today.”

“Woman, that is not funny! Get your ass dressed and downstairs for breakfast before I bend you over my knee and tan your ass,” I warn.

“What if I want you to bend me over your knee?” she teases.

“I’ll remember you said that. Come on, dressed and downstairs, I’ll make breakfast.”

“See, bossy,” Ava smiles.

I help Ava get dressed; it’s still a little hard for her to lift her hands over her head to put her shirt on. Downstairs she goes straight to her expensive, crazy, over-the-top espresso machine and makes us coffee, while I get out ingredients to make buttermilk pancakes and bacon. The girls are sitting at the counter; Hope is coloring while Sky plays a game on Ava’s cell phone. Ava hands Quinn a cup of coffee, then she takes a seat between Sky and Hope. Quinn sits down next to Hope, picks up a crayon and starts coloring on her paper. I stop dead in my tracks with a frying pan in my hand.

I have it all, right here in my kitchen. This right here is the definition of family. There are no words for it. It’s a feeling in your gut, in your heart, and in your soul. There are no words to define that feeling. Family is a feeling, not a definition.

My four girls: my two sweet princesses, my wonderful sister, and the woman who brought the sunshine back into my heart... The woman who proved it was possible to find love again all lined up at the bar waiting for pancakes and bacon. My world is complete.

“Earth to Jax,” Ava calls.

I smile, then put my frying pan on the stove to make the bacon. Everyone, except Sky, gets a rhubarb compote spooned over the top of their pancakes with a dollop of vanilla crème. Sky gets plain pancakes with a few chocolate chips sprinkled on top. Sky’s bottom lip comes out, and it’s too bad. She gets what she gets. I turn around to put the pan in the sink. When I turn back around, I see Ava standing on the rung of her stool bending over the counter with her hand in the chocolate chip bag. She winks at me, then removes her hand and put’s a handful of chocolate chips on Sky’s pancakes. Sky smiles big, then digs in her breakfast.

I smile at Ava, there’s nothing wrong with a little bonding between my girls. After breakfast is all cleaned up, it’s all hands on deck for operation ‘clean the house’. Most of her brothers and sisters have been over, but this will be her mother’s first time.

By early afternoon, the house is spotless and we’re ready to bake cookies. I can see how tired Ava is, but if I know Ava, she’ll do anything to not let the girls down.

Chapter 14

Ava

Nothing can keep me away from baking cookies with my man and these girls. Just like the last time, the girls start getting out the ingredients while Jax gets out baking sheets and spoons. Sky opens the cupboard for their aprons, and the first thing I see is my yellow apron in front. When did they put it in the cupboard? Sky hands me mine, then hands them out to everyone else. Jax takes his and turns around, Sky stands behind him, and Hope behind her. They put their aprons over their heads and I feel the room close in, it’s dumb, this is their tradition. They should have it. Stop feeling so jealous. I should just be happy with the fact that they made me an apron.