Fulfillment by Golland, M. (best large ebook reader .txt) 📕

little while longer. The kids don’t evenknow. Only you and Bryce do.”

“Okay, well inthat case stop doing that.” She pulled my hand away from mystomach. “Oh wow, Lexi, you’re having another baby.” She took holdof my other hand and held both of them in front of us. We bothbeamed at each other and did a stupid little run on the spot whilesquealing, just like we had when she found out she was havingtwins. “You are seriously going to have one of the cutest babiesever!”

I laughed. “Iknow.”

Jen and Icomposed ourselves before leaving the bathroom, and I suddenly feltterrible for leaving Bryce alone for such a long time. My concernabout him feeling awkward without my presence, however, appeared tobe ridiculously unwarranted. Because, when I made my way back intothe Kitchen area, Bryce was in the middle of helping Mum preparethe roast chicken. Well...help was probably the wrong word, he wasactually in control and giving her lessons in what appeared to bethe stuffing process. He looked up and caught me smirking at himbut that soon changed as I took in the sight of his hand inside thecarcass—my vomit-express threatening another departure fromstomach-station.

“Are youalright?” he asked, trying to sound concerned but knowing very wellwhy I was sick.

“Yeah, I’mfine. I think it may have been a bit of delayed motion or travelsickness from the chopper ride. I felt a bit yuck when we were inthe air.”

“You’resupposed to grow out of that, Alexis,” Mum grumbled. “We couldnever take her anywhere when she was younger,” she explained toBryce.

I screwed myface up at the molested chicken. “Um...I think I might go outsidefor some air. Where are the kids?”

“Where theyalways are...on the tractor with your father.”

I nodded andpointed to the door, indicating I was hauling my arse out of thereand away from the gut-wrenching chicken.

***

After Brycehad helped Mum in the kitchen, he offered to take both her and Dadup in the helicopter for the aerial view Dad had requested. Jen andSteven were sitting on the front porch with me, the twins werestill blissfully asleep along with Olivia, and Nate and Charli hadtaken the quad bikes out in one of the paddocks. Sitting on Mum andDad’s veranda on an autumn afternoon was simply divine. Ourchildhood home, which was a large, solid brick ranch-styled housewith a tin roof and a veranda that circled all the way around thebuilding, sat atop the highest point on the property, and beingthat it was situated on a hill, allowed you to experience one ofthe most stunning panoramic views of the valley. It really waspicturesque and peaceful. Well, peaceful until the loud hum of anengine roared in the distance, getting louder as it approached thehouse.

I knew thesound of the engine did not belong to the quads or the chopper.

“Jake ishere,” I said, lifting my eyebrow while taking a sip of my cup oftea.

“Is he alone?”Jen asked, sarcastically.

“Can’t see,” Ireplied, “probably not.”

My olderbrother Jake was not married, and unfortunately I didn’t think heever would be; he was just not the ‘settling down’ type. He was atruck driver and constantly on the road, not liking to tie himselfdown to anyone or anything, and he seemed more than happy to have anew girlfriend on his arm each time we saw him. And I use the termgirlfriend very loosely.

His HarleyDavidson Fat Boy roared up the gravel driveway alongside Nate—whowas on his quad—leaving a dust cloud behind them. Charli was on herquad following, with her mouth closed and a not so impressed lookon her screwed up face. Jake jumped off the bike and removed hishelmet, then laughed at Charli who was choking on some dust.

“Now that iswhat I call ‘eating my dust’, Kiddo.”

“You could’vewaited, Uncle Jake. I had to close the gate,” she splutteredbetween coughs.

He walked overand patted her on the back. “If I had waited, I wouldn’t have won,would I?” He smiled, gave her helmet a light tap with his hand thenheaded in our direction.

“I didn’t knowit was a race,” Charli called out, unimpressed.

“Ah, there aremy two baby sisters.” He enthusiastically leapt up onto the verandathen uncomfortably squeezed in between me and Jen, putting his armsaround our shoulders and pulling us in for an embrace. “Hey,Steve,” he nodded towards Jen’s husband, who was reading thepaper.

“Jake,” Steveacknowledged, in a brief and unperturbed manly kind of way.

“So, where areyour rugrats?” Jake asked Jen.

“Asleep.”

“Too easy,” hereplied, retracting his hands from us and crossing them behind hishead. Jen elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey, I’m kidding,” he wincedwith a chuckle. “So, Lex, where’s that good for nothing, son of abitch husband of yours?”

“Jake, shhh,”I hushed him, looking around to see where Nate and Charli had gone.“Don’t speak about him like that around the kids.”

“It’s thetruth though,” he responded angrily. “I’ll fucking kill him.”

“No you won’t.And regardless, Rick is still their father and they love him soplease be careful what you say around them. Anyway, he is spendingEaster with Claire because I told him to. I didn’t think having himhere while I was introducing you all to Bryce was a very goodidea.”

“Oh yeah! Sowhere is this Bryce?” He tilted his head back to look inside.

“Up there,”Jen said as she pointed to the sky.

“What? On theroof?” He stood up and walked to the edge of the veranda lookingup, confused.

My brother wasnot the sharpest tool in the shed but he looked intimidating. Hewas a big build—quite solid. He had tattoos up both his arms andacross his chest. His hair was a colour in between my blonde andJen’s brown, and he always had a few days growth of beard on hisface. But it was his kind, gentle blue eyes that gave away hissofter side.

“No,” shemocked him. “In that helicopter flying around, Dad wanted an aerialview of the farm, so Bryce has taken Mum and Dad for ride.” Jen’sgrin widened as she noticed Jake’s expression.

“Fuck off.He’s flying that thing?”

“Yes,” Ibutted in sternly. “He is a helicopter pilot. We flew here to cheerthe kids up, they were miserable about not seeing Rick.”

Jake pulledthe ‘not-bad’ face then put his hand to his forehead to shield thesun’s blinding rays from his eyes.