Read Uniform Desires (Make Mine Military Romance) Online
Authors: Sharon Hamilton,Melissa Schroeder,Elle James,Delilah Devlin,JM Madden,Cat Johnson
Kendall’s hand moved from her hip to cover his on her belly as the baby continued to kick. When he looked up, tears had seeped from her eyes to the pillow beneath her. “He loves you as much as I do.”
The whispered words didn’t register at first. “What?”
Her smiled faltered and another silver tear spilled to the pillow. “We love you. I love you. When they were telling me everything we’d gone through, all I could think about was that I hadn’t had enough time with you yet. And that I hadn’t told you that. And then I didn’t know if I should tell you in case something happened with the baby. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to stay with me.”
He cringed at her assumption that he was only with her because of the baby. Then he realized he hadn’t given her any reason to think otherwise. “Even if there wasn’t, I would still be here for you. I have no idea if anything I do will be right, but I love you too. Have for a long time, I think. The baby was just a fortuitous excuse to get you to marry me.” She choked out a laugh and burrowed into his chest.
“Are you sure? It was my mess up and I don’t want you to feel like you’ve had to sacrifice your life for my mistake.”
“Honey, do you seriously think I couldn’t have pushed you away that night? It was a mutual mistake, but I’ve come to realize that we were meant to hook up, if not then it would have been soon.”
Some of the tension left her body and she snuggled into him, her belly pressed to his.
Grif cradled his wife and child to him and wondered, truly, what he’d done to be given this gift.
Three and a half months later...
Kendall smiled down at him, sleepy and rumpled. “Good morning, sleepy head. I’m sorry to wake you, but I need your help.”
Grif lurched into a sitting position. “Sure babe, what do you need? Glass of water?”
He scrubbed his face, blinking against the light from the bathroom.
“I need you to run me to the hospital so I can have our baby.”
Grif lurched to his feet, tiredness being replaced by fear. “What? Are you sure?
Are you in pain? They’re not the Braxton things you’ve been feeling?”
Kendall’s head nodded and shook as each question was asked, and it would have been ridiculous had it been any other type of situation.
“My water broke, Grif.”
He blinked at her.
“Get your ass moving, Marine!”
Grif bolted for the bathroom and his arm. He rolled on the sock and slammed the prosthesis on as quickly as he could, then lurched for the bedroom and clothes. He realized in passing that Kendall was already dressed in a flowy dress and sandals, and her bag sat at her feet. “How long have you been up?”
“About half an hour.” She held up a notepad. “I’ve been timing my contractions and they’re getting closer.”
“How close?”
His gut quivered in fear as he paused for the answer.
“I’m not going to tell you because it’ll freak you out. I need my calm-headed hero to get us to the hospital.”
Fuck!
Grif ripped on clothes as fast as he could, stumbling into the wall as he bounced on one foot trying to get his shoes on. Kendall giggled and sailed out of the room ahead of him. “I texted Calvert to let him know we’re leaving. Here are the keys.”
He caught them one handed then bolted for the door. Then realized what a dumbass he was and went back to grab the hospital bag from her hand and guide her to the door.
“Grif, chill. Calm headed, remember?”
Grif did not chill until three hours later, when he looked down at his screaming son in the clear bassinet. He reached out his hand to brush against the tiny little fingers and the boy’s entire fist suddenly opened to grip his finger.
“Wow, you are a hoss, little man.”
Grif knew he looked stupid in his shorts and long-sleeved button-down shirt, but he didn’t care as he looked down at his red-faced boy.
“It’s a good thing you got here when you did,” the kind-faced nurse told him. “Any later and you’d have been delivering him yourself.”
Grif actually felt himself pale. Damn. That had been too close for comfort.
The nurse swaddled his son in a striped baby blanket, wrapping him up like a little burrito. Then she lifted him and held him out to Grif.
He and Kendall had practiced this, because it had been a fear that he wouldn’t be able to handle him with the prosthetic. They’d ‘rented’ a life-size baby from the hospital, same weight, same everything. And it had been a breeze.
As he took his son now, though, all that practicing went out the window. He nestled into the crook of Grif’s elbow, with the prosthetic hand beneath his butt. Grif’s real hand was then free to do what he needed it to. The nurse smiled at him in encouragement and he turned to Kendall.
Though she’d been in labor for hours and her hair was mussed, her face flushed, tears tracks down her face, she somehow still managed to look glorious. She smiled when she saw him holding their son and held a hand out.
“You look very natural doing that.”
Grif grinned. “You know, I feel natural. It’s my son, so how could I not?”
She nodded against the pillow. “I have a suggestion for a name.”
He raised his brows. “Did you settle on one?”
They’d tossed hundreds back and forth for months, but nothing had sounded exactly right.
“I do, but you may not like it.”
Grif narrowed his eyes at her. “Why?”
“Jamison Herrington Parks.”
Emotion tightened his throat and he tried to clear it, but it didn’t work. Tears made his vision blurry as he blinked down at his son.
“We need to make your legacy a good one, and I don’t want you to have pain because of that name anymore.”
She reached out to them both, cradling them against her as he fought with his past and future. For years he’d been resentful of the name, but he realized now that Kendall had eased him past that. When he pulled away and nodded, pressing a kiss to her lips, she began to cry.
“I think it’s perfect,” he admitted.
Epilogue
Six months late
r…
The bride was truly radiant. As she walked down the aisle on his arm, Grif couldn’t help but beam as Emily took calm, measured steps toward her future husband. When they reached the altar Grif pressed a kiss to her hand and gave it to Frank, who stood tall and strong in front of the minister.
Grif took his place just behind Frank’s shoulder and glanced across the aisle to his wife, who had tears in her eyes. He smiled at her and she sent him a subtle nod, then turned back to listen to the proceedings.
Considering this was Frank’s third wedding, he should have been an old hat at it by now, but Grif knew the truth. His fingers quivered when he took Emily’s ring, and he would have dropped it if Grif hadn’t grabbed it. Emily, on the other hand, looked sedate and satisfied. She’d been waiting for this for a long time, and he prayed Frank kept his shit together.
Jamie squealed “ma” in the back of the room. When that didn’t get her attention, he started to chant it, making some in the audience giggle. Kendall glanced at him long enough to give him a little wave, which seemed to appease him.
As the ceremony drew to a close and the husband kissed his bride, the audience cheered. They walked down the aisle arm in arm.
Grif held his hand out to his wife. She snugged up against him as they walked down the aisle behind her father. Friends lined the walkway, and he wanted to be done with the requirements so he could talk to them and mingle. He was very curious about the woman Duncan had brought. His boss couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her.
Ortiz stood just outside the door in the vestibule, as close as he could get considering the group of people. Grif shook the guard’s hand, glad to have his man back in action. The Halo had come off weeks ago and the scars on his forehead had finally begun to fade away.
Lilly brought Jamison out. The little boy lunged into Kendall’s arms, patting her cheeks. “Ma.”
Kendall giggled and tried to straighten his little suit, but it was kind of a lost cause. “I see you, little Munchkin.”
The wiggly boy crawled across Kendall to latch onto his arm. Grif turned and caught him, pressing a kiss to his dark hair. He smelled of Cheerios and sweetness, but cuddled into his arms as if he’d been waiting for him for hours rather than minutes.
Jamison rested his head against his shoulder and Grif used his other arm to pull Kendall in closer, stunned yet again that this gorgeous woman had consented to join her life with his. He’d been a little freaked at first, but he was so glad they’d done it the way they had.
Everything had started to fall into place.
The cabin they were building was almost complete. The three of them would be able to move in within the next few months.
Frank had run his own investigation, with Grif’s help, to find out who on the security team had been spying into his personal affairs and recording conversations. It certainly hadn’t been done with Frank’s authorization. They’d traced the leak back to Goodrich, the head of security, who had been sleeping with Deedra ever since she’d come into the house. He was the first to be fired. Two other guards were also terminated for knowing about the crime but not saying anything about it.
Frank found himself with a one man security team and desperately in need of more.
He’d been the first contract signed with the Vail branch of Lost And Found Investigative Service. News of Ortiz’s heroism had gained them a lot of attention before they’d even opened. They were now flooded with contracts.
Kendall leaned into his shoulder. She looked as radiant as she had on their own wedding day, months ago. Considering everything they’d gone through, it seemed like he’d been with her for a lifetime. “I want to amend our pre-nup.”
She looked at him, brows raised. “Really? What part?”
Grif pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I want to take the two-year trial out of the wording. I’m in it for the long haul. I love you, Kendall. I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”
Her face softened with love and she leaned around Jamison to press a kiss to his lips. “Well, that’s a good thing. We were going to have to scrap it anyway with the other baby coming.”
Grif leaned back to look down into her face to see if she were telling the truth. The devilish glint in her eyes confirmed that she was. Exhilaration raced through him. “Another baby?”
“Another baby.”
Jamison patted him on the cheek and he thanked the stars that they’d landed where they had. And that he’d given in that lonely Christmas.
The End
About JM Madden
I am a wife and mother of two. I am now a full-time writer, which I dearly love. I was a deputy Sheriff in Ohio for nine years and I found myself tapping that experience as I wrote my first book, Second Time Around. No, I didn’t tackle and cuff my husband, although there was that time in K-Mart... Anyway, it was quite a change going from writing technical reports with diagrams, witness statements, inventories, etc., that would stand up in court to writing contemporary romance. I’ve always written and it’s been a forever dream to do something with the huge, leaning stack of spiral-bound notebooks in the corner.
I’ve published twelve books now, both indie and e-pubbed, and I have at least two more coming out before the end of the year.
I LOVE talking to readers and I thank you so much for taking an interest in my work. Stay tuned. There’s a lot more coming!
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JM Madden’s Booklist
Her Forever Hero is a novella connected to her best-selling Lost And Found Series
The Embattled Road-prequel- FREE
Embattled Home- coming soon!
Tempt Me- Book 2 of the Awakening Society
Book 6 - Cinderella Liberty