Sahara (A Night Fire Novel Book 3) (13 page)

Epilogue

Fraser pushed me down the hall, urging me in an annoying way. It was difficult to move when Sahara was wrapped around one leg.

“Come on girls, papa doesn't have all day.”

Ignoring him I continued to do my limp walk down the corridor, the little arms around my leg were holding on for dear life. I looked down at those adorable eyes, like her father they were a bright whiskey color. Her hair had grown considerably, now forming soft ringlets that made her all the more adorable. She had been with us for almost ten months now and much to Fraser's disgust, I was the favorite.

We stood outside the bedroom which had once been Tyler's room. The demons were laid to rest now due to a lot of intense therapy work with a brilliant doctor. Now the room was going to be Sahara's room and as part of the therapy, Fraser had turned it into something for his little girl.

No one was allowed in, this was his pet project and he didn't want any interference. Getting the time to do it while on tour wasn't easy for him. Every opportunity to fly back for a few days was taken and now we were on hiatus while Frankie gave birth. We had been back two weeks now, expecting Frankie to drop bug at any moment but that little bugger was holding on. Frankie was waddling around like she was in permanent pain, the poor thing. I think she will be grateful to get bug out.

Fraser pulled Sahara from my leg and into his arms, she looked at him as she chewed on her dummy. We had tried to get rid of that damned thing but she was determined to keep it. Momma was working on her. Yep, I was officially her momma now, all contact with the vile creature that was her real mother was gone. Once Fraser and I married, he went and made it all legal with Kevin. Oh yes, we married. That promise ring lasted about a week before it was replaced with something that didn't remind him of his mother. He didn't regret giving it to me, he just didn't want to see it all the time. So now it was sitting in the jewelry box and when Sahara was old enough it would be hers.

Six months of being in what Fraser had dubbed the limbo of the relationship world, we married. Yep, we did the Vegas thing but with family around us. So, it really wasn't a quickie wedding more like a planned and hurried wedding. Why so hurried? Well that was because the man that said let's wait until Sahara's out of nappies before we have a kid had managed to get me pregnant. Personally I think his boys somehow managed to shoot straight through the condom because this is the second time he's gotten someone pregnant while using them.

“Papa's got something super awesome for you.”

Little miss quiet said nothing. No giggles or gurgles, baby chatter or any other noises that she usually makes. Fraser fascinated her, especially his tattoos. I am positive that once she gets hold of pens she will be drawing on herself to be like her papa.

Fraser pushed through the door, the smell of fresh paint hit us like a wave. He passed her over and moved across the room to open the window. As the smell dissipated I looked at the room in awe, he had done an amazing job. The walls were done in a soft pink, cream soft furnishings and dark wood furniture.

Sahara struggled out of Fraser's arms when she saw the giant stuffed teddy on the floor. She got a few steps and then fell onto her bottom, crawling the rest of the way. Her father squatted next to her holding his hand out. She willingly gave over her dummy.

“Kisses for papa?”

She hadn't mastered the kiss yet, it was more of an open mouthed slobbering on the cheek.

“What are we going to call teddy? How about Evan because he's only got stuffing between the ears?”

“Hilarious.”

I gasped and turned to see Evan standing behind me.

“Front door's unlocked again mamma.”

Wearily I sighed, my brain had turned to mush since becoming pregnant. Leaving the front door unlocked was one of the things that I was regularly doing. Fraser had made a habit of walking behind me to ensure that everything got done.

“I unlocked it.” Fraser offered as he stood from the floor. “You know, you did say I'll be there at one and we can get going.”

“Yeah.” he grinned.

“How's Aus?”

Evan rolled his eyes with a smug grin.

“Same as you were when you two idiots got married.”

Fraser scoffed with slight indignation, trying to pretend that he hadn't almost passed out the morning of our wedding.

Austin and Abigail were taking the momentary break in the schedule to marry. Abbey had planned everything around bug's expected due date which was officially a week ago. It had been planned that she would have the kid and be right for the wedding. Except that no one planned for a stubborn child or even the possibility that the doctor had got the date wrong. Now everyone was rather nervous about Frankie going into labor during the service.

Aus and Abbey were having a church service, one that pleased both of their parents. Unlike my family who couldn't care where I got married so long as they were invited. Fraser picked Sahara up and passed her over to me. Life with a child was interesting. There was no five minutes preparation before walking out the door anymore. Now life consisted of packing the nappy bag and a stroller, ensuring that food and milk was packed as well. Once they were ready to go we then had to ready the child, one that would fill a nappy five seconds after getting a fresh one on.

But we had been ready for hours, the bag and the stroller by the front door along with the pretty dress. It was a pale pink, soft layers underneath puffed the skirt out.

“Jack's waiting.”

I turned out of the room and saw one of the bodyguards at the front door.

“Afternoon Jack.”

He smiled with a nod.

“Afternoon Mrs...”

I looked at him, the one that I always gave him when he tried to be too formal.

“Eden.”

“How's things?”

“Bedlam, ma'am. We just dropped Jaxon and Austin at the church and the crowd went insane.”

I nodded, completely understanding. Even though Fraser and I had tried to keep our wedding a secret, we failed. In the ten months of tour that we had completed so far, I had seen a fair amount of crowds, fans and crying girls but it was nothing to what it was like when we married. And today was going to be worse. Austin was the pretty boy front man, he was the one that was idolized and fawned over and he was about to get married.

“I've put the car seat in.” Jack said as he picked up the stroller and the bag. “We should be hurrying along, wedding starts in half an hour.”

Ten minutes later we pulled up outside the church, the limousine slowly making its way through the police barricades. It was all that stopped the crowd of crying girls from getting to the steps of the church. Evan was the first out along with Jack who was getting the stroller out of the boot. The crowd went wild when he smiled and waved at them, they begged him to come over, to sign their bits of paper but we were on a schedule. We had to be out of the way before the bride arrived.

I quickly put Sahara into her dress as Fraser stepped out, turning back in to take her from me.

“There you go lil lady. Best behavior today otherwise uncle Aus is going to unleash the tickle monster.”

She grinned at the words, the smile big enough to whisk the offending dummy from her mouth. Somewhere along the way she had managed to convince her father to give it back to her. He was a sucker for her smile and a softie for her tears.

I stepped out and looked at the sea of people, mostly girls but there were a few males in the crowd. Behind them was a makeshift gantry with a row of photographers waiting for a glimpse. They were packed just as tight as the crowd of fan girls.

The cameras went crazy at us, the limousine slowly slipping back out onto the street. Sahara wasn't impressed by the sounds or the flashing and she was beginning to fuss.

“Best get a wriggle on.” Fraser muttered.

I nodded and pushed the stroller up the ramp to the church, all that it contained was the nappy bag. Fraser took every opportunity to carry his little girl, something that was a vast improvement from his reaction when she arrived into his life.

He walked by my side rather than walking up the few steps with Evan. Fraser looked incredible in his suit, I hate to say it but even Evan looked great. As I looked to the top of the stairs where Evan had stopped, I saw the PR machine going into overdrive. With these kinds of events Jerry dragged them out of wherever it was that he hid them and made them work hard. This kind of publicity was golden, it sold magazines, their music, tickets to their concerts and merchandising.

So Evan was being made to stand and wave to the crowd, his slinky date was one that I had never seen before. She hadn't bothered to come into the house with him and hadn't spoken to us in the limousine. So that kind of put her in a bad way in my opinion. No doubt she won't last long.

“I'll take that for a moment.” the little upstart in a suit said, tugging the pram out of my grip. “I can see nappy, fluff the skirt please.”

Fraser looked at me derisively, I smiled back and fluffed the skirt of the little girl in his arms. It didn't matter about the nappy, the photographers had already taken dozens of photos.

“Smile for the crowd and remember your pose.”

I narrowed my eyes at the little punk. We'd been subjected to lessons on how to pose for the cameras and when I say we I mean the female portion of our little ensemble. We had to stand a certain way that was flattering to our bodies and would work well for the cameras. There was no disguising the enormous belly on Frankie but with me I looked like I'd eaten too much. I knew what he were really saying and the little sod nearly got his nose broken for it.

“I'm pregnant you little bastard, don't you dare call me fat. I will stand however I damned well want to and if it prints in an unflattering way that so be it.”

His eyes darted to Fraser who looked like he was ready to pass Sahara over and beat the shit out of him. He shrugged as he began to push the stroller into the church, muttering something about a fat ass. In an instant Sahara was in my arms and Fraser had grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. He dragged him into the church, returning a few seconds later with a flustered Jerry a few steps behind.

“Fraser be reasonable and remember that the world is watching.” Jerry said quietly as he stopped beside them.

“No. Do it or I beat the shit out of him.”

“Fine.” Jerry sighed. “You can leave now Michael.”

He jerked himself away from Fraser's grip, sneering slightly as he stepped away.

“My office tomorrow Michael.” Jerry added.

Jerry gave him a stern look, probably the coldest that I had ever seen. He was always a happy man but this was one that was far from his happy place. Michael had broken the golden rule of his employment contract. No derogatory comments. He huffed and walked away, the cameras went into a frenzy.

“Well, that was interesting.” Jerry sighed. “Okay you three, get your pictures done. I have it on good authority that the bride is en route.”

We stood for about a minute, when a white limousine turned into the street we moved inside. Frankie was at the side of the church, looking out the window. As we made our way around the edge of the pews I watched her with a lot of worry.

“Everything okay?”

“Yep. All good. Just got indigestion again.”

She had struggled to find a dress to wear, complaining that they all looked like she was wearing a tent. I understood her pain and I was only five months pregnant. We'd had a waddle day, one that saw the two of us waddle into a store to pick our dresses and then waddle out again.

Frankie didn't waddle anymore. She gripped her back and pushed that mountain of baby and flesh around.

“Everything hurts.” she sighed as Curtis lowered her into the pew. “Poor Curtis can't even cop a feel anymore.”

He faked a pout as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, his free hand smoothing over the enormous swell.

“It's cool babe, I don't want to cause you discomfort.”

As I sat down I watched her belly ripple, Curtis frowning at the sight. I looked up at Frankie who was wincing like she was in pain.

“Oh monkey balls.” I whispered. “Are you in labor?”

Frankie nodded as she screwed her eyes shut tight. At that moment the organist started to play and Monique walked down the aisle.

To say that life was uncomfortable at the moment was accurate. Not only was Frankie in labor at the beginning of a wedding but one of my husband's former mattress bouncers was walking down the aisle.

We had discussed it after Abbey announced that Monique was going to be her bridesmaid, Fraser stated that wanted to find a hole and crawl into it. It hadn't been one of his finest moments but it was one that he was stuck with. We were in Boston after Austin had tracked Abbey to a hotel room, she had returned home after a misunderstanding with him.

So we were all stuck in a hotel room for the night. While the boys partied the night away, I nursed a monster headache. In an attempt to get my attention, Fraser flirted with Monique. It didn't work mostly because I was tired from flying and suffering a mild cold that was causing the monster headache. I also didn't know that he was trying to get my attention, I didn't think that he looked at me in that way. After I had left them to their little party, Fraser figured that he might as well enjoy his night and spent the rest of it with her. It was the same as all of the previous dalliances he'd had since my arrival. Try to make Eden jealous, doesn't work, screw the woman anyway.