Page 128 of Five Mountain Daddies

“Productivity is up. I don’t think we’ve been this profitable inyears.”

“All thanks toyou.”

I laugh and shrug. “I’ll take credit, Iguess.”

For the past few months, ever since the new contract went into effect, the upper level managers have slowly quit. They took big pay cuts, and sure enough, they weren’t happy about it. The board and I saw this coming, and we’ve been shuffling things around, paying the people that decide to stay more once some money is freed up as others quit, but mostly we’re just scrambling to make it allwork.

And that’s fine by me. I love the challenge. I have a better relationship with the board, and I’m really growing into my position. And the best part of it all is, Ingram is long, longgone.

After that day he kidnapped me, we drove him to the county seat and had him arrested. He’s rotting in jail now, with a bunch of cellphone videos entered as evidence of what he did. Most of the cops that were there that day haven’t been prosecuted, which is fine by me. I don’t care about any ofthem.

I just want Ingram torot.

As for Roy, well, we don’t talk about him. As far as I know, he skipped town and never looked back. That’s a sore spot for Samuel, so I don’t push him toomuch.

I give Stacey back to Samuel, kiss him again, and head upstairs. I get changed into more comfortable clothes, and by the time I’m finished, Samuel has dinner on thetable.

“What a great house husband,” Isay.

He grins and shrugs. “When I take a job, I do itright.”

“I can’t complain,” I say, kissing him and sitting down. “I think I have the best life in the wholeworld.”

He laughs and we start eating, with Stacey in mylap.

The early days of having a baby were hard, but Samuel was there the whole time. We got married right after she was born, and we’ve been living in my big house, although we’re talking about finding a new place. There are too many memories in here, and we both want to start over fresh andclean.

Mostly though, every day’s a little better than the day before. Stacey’s growing so fast, and Samuel’s such a good, supportive husband and father. He cooks, he cleans, he does everything around the house. He takes care of me and lets me go towork.

One day, I’ll return the favor. I’ll make it up to him when I can. I don’t know how, but I will. I try to make it up to him every night in bed, and he seems to be pretty happy withthat.

We’re already talking about having another baby. I suspect we’ll have a big family, and that’s okay with me. I love having a big family. The miners already feel like our extended family, and that’sperfect.

I’m in their world now, and I think they all mostly accept that I’m on their side. Sure, I’m corporate, but I’m one of the good guys. I gave up all my money for them, afterall.

I feel like I’m walking around with a smile on my face at all times. I can’t help it really. Things are too good, too happy, and they’re going to continue like this as far as I can tell. I don’t want anything to change, wouldn’t ask for anything more. Samuel smiles at me from the other end of thetable.

“What?” heasks.

I smile at him. I was looking at his handsome face, his deep, intense eyes, everything abouthim.

“Nothing,” I say. “Justhappy.”

“Yeah.” he says, a soft smile. “Metoo.”

We go back to eating, and I feel such a wave of contentment wash over me that it’s impossible to describe. I hold my daughter tighter and smile, just letting that smile defineme.

Lovemaker: A Secret Baby Romance

1

Cora

There’s not a lot of mourning at my brother’sfuneral.

I don’t really blame them. Atticus was a problem for most people, the kind of guy that you slowly steered clear of until one day, he was a total stranger and you were warning people about him. He was an addict, an asshole, a dangerousguy.

But he wasn’t always. I remember Atticus the way he was before drugs ruined his life, when we were just kids. I looked up to Atticus and his friends back then. I thought my older brother was the coolest guy in the whole world, and his friends were even cooler. He and his best friend, Wyatt, used to spend hours down by this creek near our house, trying to catch fish and frogs and whatever else they could get their hands on, but mostly just messing around. And they’d let me tag along on those lazy, young afternoons, back when we were still just kids, before puberty, beforeresponsibility.

---