All Chapters of Portwood Brothers: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Emma still wasn't sure how she'd got talked into hanging out with the Portwood's for Thanksgiving. She had held her own, telling Jackson she wouldn't be hanging out with his family, and then all of a sudden she was trapped. They'd been talking football, and Emma was in the zone. She had been talking strategy, the lineup, who was the favorite and who should really win, and then Jackson snuck in asking her to watch the game with him. After she agreed without giving it much thought, she tried to bribe him into coming to her place. It didn't work, though, so she was stuck.Of course, Josh got wind of the fact that she was coming to watch the game, so the invite for the meal was back on the table. Not having the heart to tell him no, she finally agreed, but only if she were allowed to come and help out beforehand. Emma wasn't the best cook in the world, sure she could make a few easy meals if a recipe were easy to follow, but a turkey never stood a chance around her. She could, at least, of

Jackson had been talking a good game, but as the plane got closer to Nashville, the more nervous he became. All the reasons he'd been excited about going to visit Emma's family were fading, and he was starting to dread what he might be walking into. Emma had been going on and on about how bad her brothers were, and while he had told her he could deal with it, he was starting to wonder. He could have handled a few days with them, but for some reason, Emma had talked him into a whole week with them. Since they were giving time off freely during the holiday in his company, he didn't have that excuse to not stay with her. To make matters worse, he found out everyone seemed to be fighting about where they were going to stay. At one point in time, her brother Matt had suggested that Emma stay with her parents and he stay with him. Thankfully that wasn't how things ended up. He had heard a lot about that particular brother, and he knew he didn't want to be caught alone with the guy. Jackson

At precisely nine-thirty, the gift unwrapping began. By ten, all nine of the kids had opened everything in front of them and were sitting in a sea of ripped wrapping paper playing with one of the many gifts they'd received. Looking around the room filled with family and love, Emma couldn't help but notice just how perfect the moment was."Soooo," Matt said drawing out the word getting everyone's attention as he stood, "Amber and I got y'all one more thing." He went around the room handing out identical, red envelopes and instructed everyone to wait to open them. Once everyone in the family had one, he gave the go-ahead to open them.The room was eerily quiet as everyone started to open them, and then there were gasps that broke the silence. Emma looked in awe at the sonogram picture of her new niece or nephew."Holy s-h-i-t!" Collin spelled out the last word. "Again? Haven't you learned your lesson yet? Next year I need to buy you a box of condoms for Christmas. Dad obviously dropped t

Emma had been waiting for this night since Jackson had asked her to go to the formal with him. She loved getting dressed up in fancy dresses, pampering herself, and making herself look amazing. When she knew the man she was going with loved her as much as Jackson did, it made it even better. She had taken a half-day at work so she could go and get her hair done, and she'd even splurged and had a manicure and pedicure. She had been pampered from head to toe.She loved the dress she had found in Nashville, and she couldn't wait to put it on. Slipping it over her body she tried to get everything into place. It took some work to get it zipped herself. There were couple tries where her arms contorted in weird ways, but she'd finally gotten it. Taking a long look at herself in the mirror brought a smile to her face. The strapless ivory gown was so simple, but it hugged her curves and she felt like a million bucks. It was perfect. When she heard the front door open, she slipped on her heels t

Emma was measuring time any way she could. Sophia was a month old. Jackson had been gone three weeks and three days. She'd been keeping herself busy at school, cleaning her place from top to bottom, and anything else she could find to keep herself moving. She'd even been over to babysit Sophia. Josh had finally talked Payton into going out for dinner, just the two of them, and Emma was more than happy to go over and hold the baby while they were gone. It had taken everything for the new mom to walk out the door, but she finally had. Payton had only been gone about ten minutes when the texts started to come in and then the phone calls started. Every time Emma reassured Payton that Sophia was still asleep in her arms and doing fine. It wasn't more than an hour before the door opened and the couple came back in."How is she?" Payton asked as she rushed through the door.Emma smiled, "The same as when you called to tell me you were on the way back less than ten minutes ago."Reluctantly sh