The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Brad called his parents and Jed, and told them that the wedding would be going ahead when the papers were filed. As Jed owned a small ranch in Snohomish County, he planned to leave as soon as he could throw some things together. Neil and his parents wouldn’t be able to get a flight until the next day.

Brad’s neighbor, Mary Haske—a retired, gray-haired lady and friend of his mother’s— returned with Katy that afternoon. When Brad told her the news, she hugged him and Emily, before promising to return the next day to help with the wedding preparations. This time only the family would be invited and, of course, Mary.

For dinner, Emily made a pot roast with biscuits, green beans and salad. The meal was relaxed and one of the best that Brad had tasted in a long time. “You just sit here and relax. I’ll clean up after I’ve got the kids bathed and to bed,” he told her.

“Sounds good to me,” she said, turning around in the hard, wooden chair. “I am so tired and my back is killing me. I’m going to go and put my feet up in the living room.”

Brad frowned, because Emily never ever, not once, said she was going to put her feet up. “Okay…” He paused for a minute and watched her waddle away. “Katy, Trevor, come on. Go upstairs and I’ll get you ready for bed.” He lifted the two children and they giggled. Pausing for a moment, he glanced at Emily, who was sitting on the sofa with her feet up. She leaned back against a pillow and shut her eyes.

Brad hurried Katy and Trevor through their bath, dried them off, and dressed them in their pajamas. He read them only one story in Katy’s room before tucking them both into their beds. Then, turning on the nightlight, he hurried downstairs and stopped in the living room where he noticed that the sofa was now empty.

Hearing a clatter in the kitchen, Brad found Emily clearing away the dinner. She was bending over the dishwasher and loading it with dishes.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “I told you I’d clean up.”

Brad hovered over Emily, took the dirty plate she had just rinsed and set about loading the dishwasher.

“I know,” she sighed, “but I can’t relax. I need to keep moving. I think all the stress and worry of Bob not signing those divorce papers has wreaked havoc on my body. My back hurts more when I sit. I just need to walk it out.” Emily stretched her arms up and then pressed her fingers into her lower back.

“Here, let me.” Brad wrapped one arm around the front of Emily’s shoulders to hold her and then pulled her into his arms. He pressed the heel of his hand into her lower back and massaged it in circles, across and then down.

Emily leaned her head against his shoulder and moaned. “Oh, that feels so good.”

Brad brushed a kiss against her forehead. “I could continue this upstairs, and get you tucked in bed and relaxed, so you’re all rested up for our wedding.”

She opened her eyes and gazed up at him with a dreamy look in her soft blue eyes, now free of the shadow of worry that had plagued her earlier. “Okay.”

Brad touched a lock of Emily’s hair that had curled out of place and tucked it behind her ear, before tracing the outline of her chin with his fingers. Her eyes widened and she licked her pert, kissable lips as he leaned down, closing the distance between them and capturing her in a sweet, tender kiss, her breath warm on his lips.

Brad slid his hand over Emily’s bottom and up her back, caressing her shoulders as his arms tightened their embrace. Tracing her lips with his tongue, he deepened the kiss and pulled her more tightly to him, her swollen belly pressed against him. Suddenly, he felt the baby kick and he pulled away. Pressing his hand over the baby, he gasped, “My god, did you feel that?”

Emily gazed up at him with desire softening her weary eyes. “Yes, I did. I guess baby liked that as much as I did.”

Sliding her hand upwards, Emily tried to pull Brad’s head back down, but he grabbed both of her hands, stomping out the fire that was beginning to simmer. He hadn’t meant for the kiss to get so heated. But the simple fact was he missed her. Over the last few months the couple’s lovemaking had dwindled due to the stress created by Bob and the way in which he’d wedged himself between them, like a festering scab that refused to go away.

Brad’s hands slid farther down her back and cupped her bottom, before pulling away, regretfully, but what Emily needed more than anything was a good night’s sleep. “Come on, darling,” he said, turning towards the stairs, which he helped her to climb.

Tucking Emily in bed, Brad massaged her lower back, and when she was breathing softly, he slipped away downstairs. Checking his cell phone for messages, he didn’t find any from his lawyer. He told himself that first thing tomorrow, if he didn’t hear from Keith, he would be on the phone hounding him.

More than anything, Brad wanted Emily to be his properly wedded wife, because, as old-fashioned as it sounded, he didn’t feel right about his baby being born without the protection of his name. No matter how many celebrities or couples carried on in such a manner, and society had little care nowadays, to him it mattered.