A Forever Family (Forever #6) (22 page)

Julia

Over the next week, Lucas did all the workup that was necessary and he was a perfect match. Dr. Benson was thrilled and scheduled the surgery for tomorrow morning. I was scared shitless, to say the least, but I had my husband and my family by my side. Jake and I took Lucas to dinner alone, while my mom and dad watched Brayden for us. Lucas promised to show me how to make some wonderful dishes once we recovered from our surgery. He was a godsend to me and I couldn’t stop thinking about what Denny had told me that night of the accident and how everything happens for a reason. I knew he was watching over us and I was no longer scared of what was to come. This man, my uncle that I’d only known for a little over a week, was the one who was sent to save my life. He was doing something so selfless and I’d spend the rest of my life thanking him.

As I lay in the hospital bed with Jake by my side, waiting for them to transport me to the operating room, my dad walked in and took hold of my hand.

“This is it, princess.” He smiled tenderly at me.

“It sure is, Dad. Thank you for everything. I can’t believe this is actually happening.”

“Are you scared?”

“Just a little, but I know that Denny will be watching over me.”

“If you see that old man, tell him I said thanks.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

My mom walked over and my dad went to see Lucas.

“We’ll be here waiting for you when you wake up, sweetheart. We’re all here for you and for Lucas.”

“Thanks, Mom. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

The nurses walked into the room. “The team is ready for you, Julia.”

My mom leaned down and kissed my head. “Good luck, baby girl.”

Jake brushed his lips against mine before they wheeled me out of the room. “I love you, Julia.”

“I love you more, Jake.”

As they wheeled me into the operating room, Lucas was already in there. The nurse transferred me to the operating table and I extended my hand to him.

“This is it.” He smiled.

“Yeah. This is it. Thank you again.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s only a kidney. No big deal.” He winked.

That was the last thing I remembered before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

Connor

Two Months Later…

Julia’s transplant went well and her body accepted Lucas’s kidney without any complications. Both patients were doing good and Julia was starting to get back to her normal self. Cassidy and Lucas were getting to know each other better and the three of us had dinner together at least once a week. My mother couldn’t bring herself to meet Lucas yet. She said she needed time. Collin and Lucas were growing close and it made me happy to have him as part of our family. We put our past with our father behind us and concentrated on the future.

I stood outside a building on East 76
th
Street and waited for Lucas to meet me. When the taxi pulled up, he got out and looked at the building.

“So why are we meeting here?” he asked.

“I want to show you something. Follow me.”

I opened the large wooden doors and we walked inside. “What do you think of this place?” I asked.

“It’s cool. But I don’t understand. There’s nothing here.”

“There will be if you’re interested.” I smiled.

He narrowed his eye at me. “What do you mean, Connor?”

“Take a look around at your new restaurant, Lucas.”

“No way. No way! Connor, I can’t let you do this.”

“Sure you can. It’s yours. I bought the building for you to turn it into anything you want. See, we Black men own our own businesses. We don’t work for anyone. They work for us.”

“I can’t believe this,” he said in excitement as he placed his hands on his head. “I just can’t accept this. It’s not right.”

“It’s totally right, little brother. I’ll charge you a monthly rent for the building. Other than that, everything else is yours. This is your restaurant. Turn it into your dream. You deserve it. You can consider me a silent partner if you want. I have a crew who is ready to go over the plans with you to help you get started.”

“I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe this. Thank you,” he said as he gave me a light hug.

“You’re welcome. What do you think you want to call this place?”

“Julia’s. Do you think she’ll mind?”

I hooked my arm around him. “I don’t think she’ll mind at all.” I smiled.

“I need to get my own place. As much as I like living with you and Elle, I need my own bachelor pad.”

“Ellery will be upset. She’ll miss your cooking.”

“She’ll be okay.”

“Are you going to tell her that?” I chuckled.

“I was hoping you would.” He laughed.

****

Collin

Amelia was in the bathroom as I waited nervously on the edge of the bed for her to come out.

“Well, I took it. Now we wait,” she said as she sat down next to me.

I put my arm around her and pulled her into me, kissing the side of her head.

“If it’s positive, it’ll be a good thing, right? If it’s negative, that would be good too.”

She sighed as she laid her head on my shoulder. “Both would be okay. I know we didn’t plan on having kids this soon, but if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. I just don’t know if I’m ready to be a mom yet.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to be a dad yet either.”

“I just started my career,” she spoke.

“We just started our marriage. I would have liked some more time alone before we brought a baby into our family.”

The timer on her phone went off and we both looked at each other nervously. “You go look,” she said.

“No. You go look.”

“Fine. We’ll look together.” She got up from the bed and grabbed my hand. When we walked into the bathroom, we both closed our eyes.

“Okay. I have it in my hand. On the count of three, we’ll find out if we’re going to have a baby. One. Two. Three!” We both opened our eyes and looked at the white stick Amelia held in her hand. We both let out a sigh of relief and at the same time spoke, “Oh thank God.”

She set the stick down and I wrapped my arms around her tightly. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was positive.”

“No, it wouldn’t have. But it’s not and I’m okay with that.”

I broke our embrace and placed my hands on each side of her face. “Me too. We have plenty of time to start a family.” I softly brushed my lips against hers.

Ellery

Six Months Later…

The holidays had come and gone and they were celebrated with such joy. Having Lucas here with us, his family, was the best thing that could have happened to us. The opening of his restaurant was in a couple of days and we were so excited for him. Julia was back to her normal self and now that Brayden had started walking, he kept her and all of us on our toes.

I went to Black Enterprises to have lunch with Connor. After speaking with Ethan and Laurinda for a bit, I walked into his office and found him staring out the window.

“Lunch has arrived,” I said as I held up the brown bag.

He turned around and smiled. “So has my beautiful wife.” He turned his chair around, got up and walked over and gave me a kiss.

I wiped the lipstick from his lips with my thumb. “Are you okay? You looked like you were in deep thought.”

“I’ve made the decision to hand over the company to Collin and Julia effective thirty days from today.”

My eyes widened. “What? Are you sure?”

He took the brown bag from me and set it on his desk. Taking the sandwiches from it, we sat down at the round table in his office.

“It’s time, Elle. It’s time I retire and let the kids take over. Just like my father did for me. With Julia back to herself and Collin’s superb business skills and knowledge, I don’t see why I should put it off any longer.”

“That’s wonderful, Connor. When are you going to tell them?”

“I’m planning on telling them next week.”

“They’re going to be so thrilled. I know this must be somewhat difficult for you.”

“Not really. It’ll be weird not coming to the office every day, but it’s all the more time I get to spend with you.” He took hold of my hand and brought it up to his lips.

I gave him a warm smile. “This makes me very happy, Mr. Black. We’ve waited for this day for a long time.”

“We sure have, baby. Start figuring out where you want to go for our first vacation.”

“I’ve already been thinking about that and I’d love to go to Spain. We’ve never been there.”

“Spain it is, baby. Now, it’s just you and me taking on the world.” He winked. “Oh, by the way, we’re flying to California next week. There’s some business I need to take care of there with the art gallery.”

“Oh great. We can see Diana and Jacob, Mason and Landon, and Ian and Rory.” I smiled. “Mason will be thrilled that we’re coming.”

****

Connor

The opening of Julia’s was a huge success. Lucas had done an amazing job with the restaurant and the food critics were already leaving five-star reviews in the food and entertainment section of all the major newspapers. Lucas was a true Black and I couldn’t be happier. Emotions were running high that night as I hugged and congratulated him on a job well done.

“Congratulations, little brother. You deserve all of this.”

“Thanks, Connor. None of this would have been possible without you.”

“Nah. I just provided the building. You did everything else. Look at this place. It’s amazing and look at all the people who have come here to eat your food.”

Peyton, Henry, and Hailey walked through the door and I gave Lucas a pat on the back. “Peyton and Henry are here.”

We walked over to them and I gave them each a light hug. Looking at Hailey, I took hold of both her hands and gave her a warm smile.

“How are you, sweetheart?”

“I’m good, Connor. Really good, in fact. I’ve never been better, to be honest.”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

“Lucas, I would like you to meet, Hailey, Peyton and Henry’s daughter.”

Both of them stood there for a moment and stared at each other. I looked over at Henry and he gave me an odd look. He knew just as well as I did what their stares meant.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Hailey,” Lucas spoke as he smiled brightly at her.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Lucas. This place is amazing. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. Would you like a tour?”

“Of course.”

The two of them walked away and I hooked my arm around Henry. “You saw it too?” I asked.

“Yep. I sure did. That was the look of love at first sight.”

I chuckled. “Come on; let’s get a drink.”

Connor

Ellery and I boarded the plane for California and took our seats in first class.

“I still don’t understand why you couldn’t have the plane fixed sooner.”

“I already told you Elle, that the mechanics were waiting for a part to come in. There’s nothing wrong with flying commercial.”

“No. There’s not. But I like our private plane.”

“Have a drink. You’ll be fine.” I smiled.

I was minding my own business when Ellery tapped me on the shoulder. I looked over at her and she had that look on her face, the one that she got when she was getting ready to tell someone off.

“What’s wrong?”

“Can we switch seats, please?”

“Why? You love sitting by the window.”

“Not today I don’t.”

I got up from my seat and we switched. I didn’t understand what the hell was going on and why she wanted to switch. She sat down in the aisle seat and I watched her as she looked at the attractive young woman sitting in the seat across the aisle from her. Nervousness was settling through me because I just knew she was going to say something to her. I wasn’t completely oblivious to the woman staring at me and certainly not when she dropped her napkin, got up from her seat, and bent down in the middle of the aisle to pick it up, making sure I took note of her cleavage. Oh boy. I braced myself as the woman gave Ellery a dirty look.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I disrupt your annoying little staring act at my husband? I can guarantee that I’m just as good.” She winked at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t staring at him.”

“Yes, you were. You had your eyes locked on him at the gate even before we got on the plane. What were you hoping to accomplish by your little napkin trick? You can clearly see that he’s married by the wedding band he’s wearing.”

I placed my hand on Ellery’s arm. “Elle, that’s enough,” I whispered.

She ignored me.

“I know he’s probably the best eye candy you’ve ever seen, but it’s very rude to stare. Didn’t your mother ever teach you any manners?”

I rested my head on my hand and closed my eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Yes, you did. But now, you’ll have the pleasure of staring at me.” Ellery smiled. “Word of advice because you’re still young. Imagine if someone did that to your husband. You wouldn’t be happy about it. Our men are our men and we don’t appreciate other woman gawking at them. Am I clear?”

“Yes. You’ve made yourself very clear.” She turned her head.

Ellery turned to me and grabbed my hand. “You’re the one who made us fly commercial. You knew the risk, Connor. You knew the risk.”

I sighed as I stared out the window.

****

Ellery

We stayed with Diana and Jacob at the beach house. It was so good to see them again. Mason and Landon met us there and we had a couple of drinks.

“Come on, Elle. We’re going out.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

“Isn’t that kind of rude just to up and leave our friends?”

“No. It’s not rude at all. Now get in the limo,” he commanded.

“You’re awful bossy, Mr. Black.”

He chuckled as he pulled a black tie from his pocket and put it around my eyes.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“It’s a surprise and I don’t want you to see until we get there.”

I bit down on my bottom lip in anticipation. We drove for a bit and then the limo stopped. Connor opened the door and took my hand, helping me out of the car. I could smell the ocean air and I could hear the waves crashing against the shore. He stopped and bent down and took off my shoes. He picked me up and carried me a few feet before setting me down in the warm sand and taking off the blindfold.

“Recognize this place?” he asked.

“It’s the beach where you proposed to me. I could never forget this place.” I smiled as we walked to the shore hand in hand. “What are we doing here?”

Connor stopped and took hold of both my hands. “I wanted to make this place special for a second time. The last time we were standing on this beach, in this very spot, we were going through some really tough times, but I knew in my heart that we’d overcome everything and we’d be standing here all these years later, healthy and with nothing but happiness in our hearts. Elle, these years you’ve given me have been the ultimate gift of life and I wouldn’t trade one single moment of it. We’ve raised two beautiful and successful children and created a family like no other. Our love is immeasurable and it’s forever. We are moving into a new chapter in our lives and I can’t wait to write our story and create more beautiful memories together. You are and always will be the love of my life and I want to marry you all over again.”

He got down on one knee and pulled a small blue velvet box from his pocket. As he opened it, I placed my hand over my mouth and stared down at the beautiful diamond-encased band.

“Will you do me the honor of marrying me all over again?” He smiled up at me.

He took my breath away. I didn’t think it was possible to love him anymore than I already did. But at that moment, a new set of emotions washed over me and it felt like I had fallen in love with him all over again.

“Yes! Of course I’ll marry you again.” A tear escaped my eye. “I love you so much.”

He stood up and brushed his lips against mine as I heard clapping from behind me. I turned around as Collin, Amelia, Julia, Jake, Lucas, Cassidy, Ben, Hailey, Peyton, Henry, Mason, Diana, and Jacob stood there with wide smiles across their face.

“Oh my God! What is going on?” I asked in excitement.

“This is why we couldn’t take the private jet,” Connor said. “They were all on it and I wanted to surprise you.” He wrapped his arms around me as they all came walking over.

“Congratulations, Mom. I was a little worried you’d say no.” Collin laughed.

Everyone congratulated us and we headed to dinner at the Beverly Hills Wilshire, where Connor had rented us a private dining room. This man, my husband and the love of my life, never failed to surprise me.

As we finished dinner, Connor stood up and called Collin and Julia to come stand by him. They both gave him a strange look as they walked over to him.

“What’s up, Dad?” Collin asked.

The waiter walked over and handed Connor a large brown envelope. Connor looked at his son and daughter and smiled.

“This is for both of you.” He handed the envelope to Collin.

“Daddy, what are you doing?” Julia asked with nervousness.

Collin opened the envelope and took out the papers, examining them carefully.

“Dad’s retiring and handing Black Enterprises over to us,” he said as he looked at Julia.

“Dad, no,” Julia said with sadness.

“It’s time that I let my children take over the family business. I’ve groomed you both for this day since the day you were born and now the time has come for you to take over. I’m retiring and your mom and I are going to do some traveling.”

My heart ached when I looked into my children’s eyes and saw sadness that their father would no longer be at Black Enterprises.

“Dad, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I’m thrilled to be taking over, but I’ll miss you there.”

“Yeah, Dad. We’re going to miss you.”

“It’s not like I’m moving out of the country or the state, for that matter. I’ll always be there for both of you.”

Collin and Julia both hugged Connor and tears were shed. Not only by us, but by our friends and family as well.

“I want to thank all of you for coming tonight and sharing in the special news and joyous occasion with us. But this is where I must leave,” Connor spoke.

I looked at him in shock. “What do you mean you must leave?”

“It’s the night before our wedding, baby, and it’s bad luck to see the bride on her wedding day.”

I was confused. He had me in a whirlwind of confusion. “Huh?”

He placed his hands on my hips and his forehead on mine. “We’re getting married tomorrow on the beach. That is why all of our family and friends are here. Everything’s already been arranged and tomorrow, we will renew our vows.”

“But—”

Mason walked over, handed Brayden to Jake, and placed his hand on my back. “I know what you’re thinking, Elle. You’re thinking about how you don’t have a dress, shoes, jewelry, flowers, makeup, etc. But not to worry, queen bee, I’ve got everything covered. I picked the most fabulous dress for you to wear and I know you’ll love it! So say good night to sexy daddy and let’s go back to my place. I can’t wait to show you everything.”

“I can’t believe you did all this. Actually, I can believe it because that’s the kind of man you are. I love you so much, Connor Black, and I can’t wait to marry you again.”

“And I can’t wait to marry you.” His lips locked with mine. “Now go with Mason and I’ll see you tomorrow. This is hard enough.”