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Chapter Thirty-Nine
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A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Forty
Mia“Mia, where are you?” Grayson asked over the phone. “You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”Mia put on her turn signal and worked her way to the edge of the highway so she could get off and head up to the ranch.“I'm really sorry, Grayson,” Mia replied, checking her mirrors. “The traffic today is terrible. The snow is just slowing everything down.”“How long until you get here?” the little boy asked, obviously pouting.Mia raised her eyebrows at the phone. Grayson usually didn't care when she got to the ranch. In fact, the later she was, the happier he was because it meant more time in the barn with Star Dancer. He loved that little colt.“Five minutes, tops,” she promised, stepping on the gas and zooming up to the dirt road leading to the ranch.“Okay!” Grayson replied cheerfully and he ended the call. Mia shook her head and kept driving. Everyone seemed to be behaving oddly today.First, Laura had asked the kids to come work at the ranch today, even though it wasn't thei
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter One
Mia“Are you the parent or legal guardian of Grayson and Alexander Fitch?”The cold voice on the other end of the phone made Mia's heart drop.“I'm their social worker, Mia Amesworth,” she replied, slowly stopping as she walked through the outdoor parking lot of the grocery store. “Are they okay?”“The boys broke into Stone Mountain Ranch, ma'am.” The voice was authoritative and uncompromising.“Grayson and Alexander did what?” Mia came to an immediate and abrupt halt. It was a good thing no one else was leaving the building yet, or she probably would have been hit by a car since she was standing in the middle of the road.“They broke into Stone Mountain Ranch, ma'am,” the voice repeated. “The boys said the person to contact about this was you.”“Have the police been contacted?” Mia asked as she started walking as quickly as possible toward her car. If she sped, she might be able to make it to the ranch before the police took the boys into custody. She thought about dropping her groce
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Two
CarterCarter watched as the small car with the woman and three children drove off his ranch. He shook his head, wondering how in the world that woman was planning on managing those kids. They'd all signed non-disclosure agreements and were supposed to come back the following Monday to start work. He hoped it would go well.They seemed nice enough, as far as kids went. Carter didn't have much experience with anyone under eighteen, but they seemed well behaved once they were in custody. He could certainly understand and even relate to their actions, but they were still kids. Troubles and liabilities all rolled into one cute package.“And that's why I'm never having any,” he mumbled under his breath to no one in particular. One of the security guards raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.“So, what's the damage?” Carter asked, walking over to his head of security.To say that Brian was a big man would be an understatement. Brian Cards was a giant of a man who could shoot the
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Three
Mia“Maybe we'll get to ride the horses like cowboys,” Grayson shouted, bouncing around in the backseat. His seat belt was barely holding him down in his booster seat, and Mia had already asked him three times to remember to stay seated. He was just too excited to contain himself.Mia pulled up to the big ranch house, this time invited rather than coming to rescue her boys. All three kids were in the car, and all three of them were jabbering ideas of what they thought they were going to do.“I have a feeling it will be more like mucking stalls, or cleaning or something,” Mia said gently as she put the car in park. The kids all opened their doors and rushed out into the country air.It smelled like clean air, grass, and... horses. Definitely, like horses. It wasn't a bad scent, but it wasn't something that Mia wanted to wear as perfume either.Definitely doing something with cleaning the stalls.... she thought as she caught the main scent coming from the big barn to her left.“Glad you
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Four
CarterCarter wasn't exactly sure what had prompted him to offer Mia a tour. There were a million things that he needed to do, and walking a social worker around the ranch wasn't one of them. Yet, now that he had made the offer, he found he was actually excited to show her around. He was curious what she was going to think of the place.He took a step back from the big barn doors and motioned grandly to them. “Here, we have the barn and the stables.”She laughed, her nose crinkling slightly and her eyes sparkling. The sunlight hit her light brown hair and made it gleam. It caught him by surprise, and he lost his train of thought for a moment. She was beautiful. She turned her smile onto him, and his stomach tightened with desire and something much deeper.“Where are all the horses?” she asked, glancing about. “I didn't see any in there.”“They're out in the pasture while it's still nice out,” he replied. He motioned off toward the paddocks. “You want to see them?”She nodded eagerly.
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Five
Mia“I've got the kids, Margie, so you go to your doctor's appointment and take your time,” Mia said into her phone as she pulled up to the school pick up/drop off area. She was about ten minutes early, but that was good since it meant she got a better spot.“Thanks, Mia,” Margie, the kids' foster mother told her. “I know this wasn't the plan. This was the only time my doctor could see me, though.”“The plan was for you to take these kids because no one else would. I pulled you out of retirement because I was desperate for these kids to have one more chance,” Mia replied. Margie had been one of Mia's best foster parents before she retired and Mia had begged her to come back. “You were the only person I knew of that would take three kids out of the blue. Especially three troubled kids on the verge of being separated.”“I just wish I were younger so I could keep up with them better,” Margie said, sounding glum. “You were right. They're good kids.”Mia smiled. “You're doing more than I c
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Six
MiaThe three kids chattered excitedly as Mia drove them to the ranch. She let them talk without interruption, listening to their conversation and chiming in only when they asked her a question. They were there in the space of what felt like only several hundred questions, which was faster than Mia expected.“Laura said I get to groom the horses today,” Alexander announced proudly.“She said we all get to help groom today,” Lily corrected him.“Do I have to?” Grayson asked. He shifted nervously in his booster seat. “Horses are really big.”“You don't have to touch them if you don't want to.” Alexander reached over and gently squeezed his arm. “But I want to. It'll be cool.”Grayson chewed on the inside of his lip and nodded. He didn't look completely convinced at the coolness of horses yet.“This is going to be so awesome,” Lily said, getting out of the car. She went and opened the back door up and helped Grayson out.“You know this is supposed to be work, right?” Mia asked, jokingly.
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Seven
CarterThe inside of the garage was cool and dark after the bright sunshine outside. Mia had to blink several times to adjust to the dimmer lighting as she stepped through the doors. As soon as her eyes could focus, she gasped.Three sports cars were tucked neatly off to the side. She didn't know exactly what they were, but she recognized them from posters she'd seen over boys' beds during her home checks. She knew enough to know that these were dream cars and probably worth more than six years of her salary.The center of the room was set up just like her local mechanic's shop. There was a deep pit like what the oil change people used and a huge selection of tools. A bright red sports car was being worked on that she recognized from yet another boy's dream car poster.“Wow,” she whispered, looking around at the expensive cars.“Oh, not those.” Carter shrugged as if they were nothing. “This is what I want your opinion on.”He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her to a f
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A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Forty
Mia“Mia, where are you?” Grayson asked over the phone. “You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”Mia put on her turn signal and worked her way to the edge of the highway so she could get off and head up to the ranch.“I'm really sorry, Grayson,” Mia replied, checking her mirrors. “The traffic today is terrible. The snow is just slowing everything down.”“How long until you get here?” the little boy asked, obviously pouting.Mia raised her eyebrows at the phone. Grayson usually didn't care when she got to the ranch. In fact, the later she was, the happier he was because it meant more time in the barn with Star Dancer. He loved that little colt.“Five minutes, tops,” she promised, stepping on the gas and zooming up to the dirt road leading to the ranch.“Okay!” Grayson replied cheerfully and he ended the call. Mia shook her head and kept driving. Everyone seemed to be behaving oddly today.First, Laura had asked the kids to come work at the ranch today, even though it wasn't thei
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Nine
MiaMia glanced at the office door on her way out and recoiled. It was a miracle the man hadn't gotten through. Just a few more moments and he would have had them. The door on the opposite side of the office was in tatters and stamped with blood. She could only assume it was the man's with his attempts to get in.She wasn't far behind Carter. She could see the blue of his shirt as he disappeared out the front door. A sea of uniformed security stood in her way, but she wiggled between them hot on his tail. She had to catch him.Outside, the police had finally arrived. Ten squad cars all stood in the big driveway loop of the ranch with more lining up down the road. It hurt her eyes to look at all the lights, but she did see an officer putting a man into the back of one.He was tall and relatively good looking. He had the dark uniform of the security team, though it didn't seem to fit him very well. The man looked up, and she saw his eyes. They were ice cold and full of such fury that sh
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Eight
Mia“You killed my daughter. Now, I'm going to kill you.”The words were even and calm, yet so full of hatred that Mia winced. The man on the other side of the door wasn't nervous or afraid. He was calm and ready to deal out the justice he felt the world deserved. A justice with Carter dead.The man started to pound on the door. It shook from every blow and Mia didn't know how long it would hold. It was a heavier door than she was used to, but the man outside was determined, and a little bit of wood and metal wasn't about to stop him. This had to be the man sending death-threats to Carter. He had to have found a way to turn off the security system and phones. She wondered how he'd gotten security to leave.It didn't matter, though. He was here now. He was here and ready to carry out his threats.Carter didn't hesitate. He went to the window, ready with a plan. He grunted with the effort of lifting the big window open. Once it was open, he pushed on the screen, letting it tumble to the
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Seven
MiaMia stood in front of the ranch house and took a deep breath. The smells of hay and clean mountain air filled her lungs, and she tried to steady herself. Today was the day. Today she was telling Carter.The kids were at school, and she'd told her boss she was taking the rest of the day off, so there weren't any distractions. Today, she wasn't getting sidetracked by cars or kids or anything. Today, she was telling him that he was the father of her baby.Just thinking the words made her heart stumble. She still wasn't sure how he was going to react, and that uncertainty gnawed at her. She loved him, and she was terrified that he might push her away because of this.He didn't want children. He'd said it in interviews and even to her directly. She wanted him to be in her life, to be in their child's life, but she understood if he didn't want to be. This was something he had been very clear on not wanting. She wasn't sure how he was going to respond.Mia glanced around the ranch. It se
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Six
Mia“Are you okay, Mia?” Grayson asked, tugging gently on Mia's hand as they walked to the barn for their Wednesday work session.“Hmm? Oh, I'm fine,” she replied, giving herself a shake and smiling down at him. Her thoughts had been on the baby growing in her stomach.“Carter says that you can't let your thoughts wander when you're working with the horses,” Grayson informed her. “You need to use your full brain.”Mia chuckled. “It's a good thing I'm not working with the horses today then, huh?”On impulse, she knelt down and pulled the little boy into a hug. Grayson happily hugged her back. She took a deep breath in, pulling in his strawberry scented shampoo mixed with the sunshine in his hair. It smelled like innocence to her. He would never be this little again. Tears welled up in her eyes.“You sure you're okay?” Grayson asked, pulling back. He frowned a little, and she realized she'd hugged him for a long time.“I am,” she promised. “Go catch up with your brother and sister. I ne
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Five
CarterCarter sat in the garage and went over the designs for his next year's car models and felt a wave of frustration wash over him. He wished he could just go to the plant and start on them now. There was so much that needed to be done that he couldn't do from his mountain home. As much as he loved being out on the ranch, it certainly made doing business ridiculously hard. He wished he could go down to the city for at least a couple of hours just so that he could get a few things accomplished.Without access to his office and his usual business interactions, he felt out of control. He had far too much freedom out here, and he missed the hustle of the office. The ranch was great, but he craved the thrill of the deal and the excitement of being around people who shared his dream. He wasn't good at just sitting back and letting things happen, so being out here in the middle of nowhere was hard on him.He sighed and pushed his chair away from the drafting table. If he was feeling like
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Four
MiaMia walked down the aisles of the grocery store humming softly to herself. It was the first time in what felt like weeks that she'd had a moment to spend on herself and get to the grocery store. She was nearly out of food, but luckily, the only thing that sounded good lately was cereal, so she wasn't in too bad of shape. However, she'd run out of toothpaste this morning and was now at the store on her lunch break. She could deal with cereal for every meal, but she wanted to have nice breath when she kissed Carter.She wandered through the pharmacy, picking up some antacids. Her stomach had been a little queasy the night before, so she wanted to stock up. As she passed through the aisles, she came to the feminine hygiene aisle.The aisle was relatively unmarked, but there was a half empty stand of chocolate bars on the end-cap, so someone knew what they were doing. She chuckled to herself and tried to remember if she needed to pick up more supplies for herself. She did the mental m
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Three
MiaMia kissed Grayson's forehead as his eyelids fluttered shut in the dim light of his nightlight. Even his nightlight was race-car themed with the light coming out of a pair of headlights on the wall. She carefully closed the door and stepped into the common room. The other two were tucked in bed with books and heavy eyelids that didn't look like they were going to last long.Mia thought that the kids were going to stay up all night, enjoying their new rooms. It was the first time they'd each had their own room, let alone a room decorated to suit their preferences, and Mia has figured they'd be living it up.However, the events of the day had worn them out. It was a testament to how well Carter had crafted each room that the kids all fell asleep in less than thirty minutes once teeth were brushed and pajamas on. The kids felt like they were at home and fell asleep with ease.“Well, that was easier than I expected,” Carter announced as they slipped upstairs to the living room. “And t
A Forever Kind of Love Chapter Thirty-Two
Mia“We didn't find any sign of the intruder, ma'am,” the police officer told her. She stood on the front porch of Margie's house with police lights flashing everywhere. She was fairly sure the neighbors were going to accidentally rip the blinds off their windows if they kept peeking out like they were.Mia nodded. She could see Brian and Ben talking with two other police officers by the garage. A crime scene camera flashed for what felt like the millionth time at the garage. She turned back to what the head officer was telling her.“The window was broken in with a rock from the yard. We've cleared the house and made sure that no one is inside or anywhere on the property. We made sure they didn't leave any surprises behind in the house,” the officer was saying. “Whoever did this isn't here anymore.”“Thank you, officer,” Mia replied, nodding along. She still felt weirded out by it all though and wasn't looking forward to going to her own empty apartment. Maybe she could get Brian to c
