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“Technically, we’ve been married for nearly a decade.” I sighed with pleasure. “And I don’t need a ceremony to know you love me. You do that every day.”
“Maybe I just want to show you off.”
“All right, break it up you two,” Kim demanded. The crowd was already moving to the reception area. “I can’t believe that you two were late!”
“Thanks for taking care of the last minute things.” I gave her a quick hug before Kim snagged Emily and smothered her with kisses. The woman was an amazing aunt, and I could not have asked for a better sister-in-law. We’d grown so close over the year that Brendan grumbled that he was outnumbered.
“It was my pleasure. We love weddings, don’t we, Emily?”
“Oh, it was so beautiful! I just love weddings,” Cindy sniffed as she joined us. Next to her, Danielle rolled her eyes. As my best friends, the two had grown close over the last year even if all they did was argue. Danielle thought Cindy was too flashy, and Cindy thought Danielle was too mouthy. That, of course, didn’t stop them from hanging out every chance they got.
“Can you not make a scene?” Danielle sighed.
“I’m not! I just wanted to snuggle Emily.” The actress snatched Emily out of Kim’s arms and hugged her closely. My daughter was used to being passed around from person to person and just soaked up the attention.
“Jillian, I know that you don’t want to talk about work here, but I have a friend who desperately needs your help. A little horse therapy would do him wonders,” Cindy gushed.
“It’s not horse therapy,” Brendan sighed. “Just because her office is on the ranch and I let Jillian use a couple of the horses to get the kids talking does not make it horse therapy.”
“Quit complaining,” Danielle laughed. “Jillian already told us that Blackwell had agreed to let you use part of his land as a trauma therapy sanctuary. It may not be horse therapy, but it’s definitely going to be ranch therapy.”
Just because I was a wife and a mother didn’t mean that I was willing to give up the career I’d worked so hard for. Joyce Reid’s surprise attack on national television had only made me more popular, and I was determined to do something good.
After discussing it with Brendan, we decided that I could practice at the ranch after I’d become an official doctor in the spring. After all, my work with Silva had done wonders for me, and I had a feeling that it would others as well. I hadn’t started taking clients just yet. We were still in the middle of working out the details, but I was staying busy. I was currently in the middle of writing my book confessing my own trauma, my denial in working through it, and how it shaped my life.
“Cindy, you can give your friend my email, and I’ll talk to them.” I grabbed Brendan’s hand as he headed to the small reception area. The band we’d hired was already playing to greet the guests, and a few had already started dancing.
“Good. He just lost his wife, and he’s taking it real hard.”
Danielle whistled. “Are you talking about—”
“No names,” I said quickly. Because of Cindy’s influence, discretion also needed to be key.
“Speaking of names,” Brendan said slowly.
And now we were back to that. “My mind is made up,” I reminded him. “And you’re not going to change it.”
Emily opened her mouth and started to babble. I reached back into the bag for her pacifier when the babbles turned into something else. “Jack. Jacks. Jack son,” she said with a bubbly smile.
Everyone froze and stared at her. “Is that her first word?” Danielle asked tentatively.
Pride blossomed inside of me. “It sure is.”
“Jackson? How does she know that name?” Kim demanded.
Brendan shook his head and reached out for his daughter. “I should have known that Emily would take her mother’s side. It’s a good thing that I’m getting a boy, so you ladies can’t keep ganging up on me.”
Cindy gasped. “You’re pregnant?” she squealed.
“I am,” I laughed. “Everything looks good, and the doctors aren’t nearly as worried as when I was pregnant with Emily. I told Brendan that I wanted to name our son after his father.”
“But she won’t explain why,” he sighed.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I reached up and stroked his cheek. “If it wasn’t for him, we never would have met. You never would have rediscovered your passion for the ranch, and we never would have fixed our marriage. I owe everything that I love to him, and I would be proud for our son to carry on his name.”
As everyone around us sighed in pleasure, he blessed me with that slow smile I just loved so much. Then he kissed me. Long. Hard. Slow.
When he finally lifted his head, he murmured, “In that case, I wholeheartedly agree. But I get to name the third one.”
THE END
