First Class Voyage (First Class Novels – A Contemporary Romance Series)
Read First Class Voyage (First Class Novels – A Contemporary Romance Series) Online
Authors: AJ Harmon
Class
Voyage
by
AJ Harmon
http://www.firstclassnovels.com
Second Kindle
Edition, March 2013
Copyright 2013 by
ABCs Legacy, LLC
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without
written permission from the author.
First Class Voyage is the 4
th
book in the First
Class Novels adult contemporary romance series by AJ Harmon. When best friends
Janie and Katy fell in love with the rich and sexy Lathem brothers Matt &
Mark they didn’t realize the new family dynamics they would be sucked into.
Family time takes on a whole new meaning when Maureen, the
matriarch of the Lathem clan, decides she wants to celebrate her wedding
anniversary by taking the entire family on a Caribbean cruise. She drags her
husband, seven adult sons, their significant others, five grandchildren and a
mother-in-law onto a floating city in the Caribbean Sea with 3000 other
passengers… where insecurities and tension between in-laws begin to surface.
Matt and Janie are still enjoying their happily ever after
while Katy struggles to find her place in the large family. Frustrated by
Maureen’s constant pressure to transform her 3 year engagement into wedding
bells, Katy boards the ship expecting it to be the worst 14 days of her life.
Mid-voyage, panic sets in when Janie’s best friend fails to return from a shore
excursion with Mark. Remember what happened the last time Katy went missing?
In this book you’ll be introduced to Matt and Mark’s five
younger brothers including Paul, a Navy Seal on leave between tours of duty.
He’s not excited about being trapped on a boat surrounded by the circus called
his family. Is Paul ready to trade in the organized discipline of military life
to be a civilian with a wife and family?
First Class Voyage is a light, easy, smile-inducing read
that explores love and family in the 21
st
century.
More Top Rated Romance Novels by AJ Harmon:
First Class to New York (Book 1)
First Class to Portland (Book 2)
First Class Justice (Book 3)
First Class Voyage (Book 4)
High Praise for this Bestselling Series:
“Really enjoyed this book... nice to read a modern day
romance... Five stars without a doubt!” By Rubystar on Amazon UK
“Definitely going to recommend this book!” By kellygirl3
Amazon/Kindle
“I started reading First Class to New York and I thought
that Janie was a weak woman who needed to really find herself.... I can so
relate to Janie as she is an insecure woman… about her body and doesn't see
herself as others see her.....” By psychstudent13 "AGC"
(Wilkinson, IN USA)
“The book is very well written...destined to be a
bestseller... AJ Harmon will be a bestselling author.... I can feel it in this
awesome love story.” By Tammy - First Class Novels on Facebook
“Absolutely loved this story! So nice to read a great love
story that wasn't about a 20 year old college kid, but a middle-aged
contemporary women and mother. I felt like she was a real woman.” By Jane on
GoodReads
“...the love scenes are hot, bordering on erotica.... one
of the best romance novels on kindle.” By Book Junkie
When beginning to write this book, I knew I wanted to
celebrate family, a great big loud loving family! I suppose I made the Lathem
family big because I came from a family of six children and I am fortunate to
have had a very happy childhood.
So this book is dedicated to my family; to my husband, my
children, my parents, my siblings, all of whom bring me immense joy. I love
you.
Chapter:
Peter and Maureen Lathem were married in the spring of 1960.
Their life together certainly hadn’t been perfect, but they were happy and
still very much in love. Peter sold life insurance and had made a comfortable
living for his family. They were a solid upper middle class Catholic family,
living in Manhattan as had their parents and grandparents before them. Maureen
had been an elementary school teacher for the first few years of their
marriage, and after years of trying to have a baby they were finally blessed
with Matthew, and then Mark, and then Andrew, and then David, Benjamin, Paul
and finally, Timothy.
They had raised a family of fine young men, all of whom they
were extremely proud. Maureen had always wanted a daughter; she had waited and
waited. Matt’s first two marriages had not resulted in the daughter Maureen had
been looking for, nor were they wives she had wanted for her son. But he had
finally managed to capture the woman of his dreams in Janie, who was also the
daughter of Maureen’s dreams. Now, in addition to Janie’s two sons with her
first husband, Maureen had two beautiful little grandchildren to love and call
her grandma.
And now Mark and Katy were together. Maureen adored her
sons’ fiancée and was anxiously waiting for them to finally get married. It had
been three years since they got engaged, and still no wedding date. They had
made it clear that they would get married when they were ready. Katy had
battled some tragedy in her life and had pulled it all together and found her
perfect soul mate in Mark. The Lathem family welcomed her with open arms, along
with her son Derek, who now lived in New York and worked for Matt and Mark at
MEL Holdings - their real estate development firm - but Maureen had commented
to Father Todd on several occasions that it was hard for her with them not
being married and living in sin. Mark rolled his eyes when his mother brought
up the wedding and Katy bit her tongue, so hard on some occasions that she had
drawn blood. But despite all of that, they were all very happy and comfortable
with each other and the Sunday family dinners were always a riot.
Andrew, their third son, and his husband Rory, had been
married just a little bit longer than Matt and Janie. Andrew, a stock broker,
and Rory, an attorney, had been looking into adopting a baby. They didn’t care
about the gender or ethnicity, they just wanted to be parents and share their
love with their child. They were hoping for a newborn, but if an older child
was available they were prepared to consider all options. They had started the
long process over a year ago and with each passing day, they became more
anxious.
Soon,
they hoped.
Very soon.
David would be considered a classic middle child. His older
brothers were incredibly successful. All were in healthy relationships and all
financially wealthy. David wasn’t jealous of his brothers but felt that in some
eyes, he probably didn’t measure up to the standard they had set for him. The
bar was very high and he had stopped trying to catch them a couple of years
ago. Now in his mid-thirties, David had decided he needed to get his life
together and move out of his parent’s house. After multiple failed investments
and get-rich-quick schemes, he had found himself very happy as a curator for a
small art gallery, finally putting his education to use. In school he had drawn
for hours and hours in his text books, usually being scolded by his teachers,
until in eighth grade - one teacher took notice and pushed him into the arts.
He had loved it and excelled. An incredible artist in his own right, he now was
paid to do what he loved. Why he hadn’t figured it out sooner, he didn’t know,
but he was glad he had stumbled into his dream career. It would never make him
wealthy like Matt or Mark, but it made him happy and that was what mattered
most.
Benjamin was son number five. Ben worked for his brothers,
Matt and Mark. He had started as a lowly assistant and had moved his way up in
the company after proving his worth. Matt didn’t believe in nepotism and would
not have anyone who worked for him question whether or not Ben deserved his
position. He worked hard and was happy to have had the success he had based on
his own achievements rather than the fact he was a little brother of the
owners. Ben had been dating the same girl for about the past six years, and as
often as they were together, they were ‘broken up’. Maureen never knew what
their status was and had given up asking years ago. She had told her husband
that he should just cut ties and move on, but Peter, wise man that he was, said
that Ben would need to make that decision for himself.
Then there was Paul. Paul was the son Maureen worried about
most, not because he was a troubled child or anything, but because he was a
Navy Seal and most of the year Maureen had no idea where he was or what he was
doing. She didn’t know if he was on a ship somewhere or on a secret mission;
whether he was doing drills or killing bad guys; whether he was rescuing
hostages or in training. Yes, she worried about him most of all. This would be
his tenth year in the military and he had the opportunity to leave the Navy and
be a civilian. The last time she had spoken to him about it, he hadn’t decided
what he would do. He loved his job passionately, but he wanted to get married
and have a family and he knew he couldn’t do that while a Seal. Every Sunday
when the entire family got together for dinner after Mass, there was always a
place set at the table for Paul, Maureen’s way of willing him home safely.
And finally there was Tim, Maureen’s baby. As an
impressionable teenage boy, Tim had seen the horror of 9/11. He witnessed
firsthand the enormous tragedy, and then the weeks, then months that dragged
into years, of his city’s and its citizen’s recovery and healing. The images
had imprinted on him and after college his only desire was to be a New York
City firefighter. It had been his dream and he had worked hard to achieve it.
He loved his job, he loved the people he worked with and he loved the
fulfillment it gave him.
Maureen’s seven boys had been her entire life for the past
forty-four years. She had sacrificed so much for them and had loved them more
than any mother could, and now it was their turn to repay her. She was only
asking for one thing, one thing they really didn’t want to do, but she was
going to pull every guilt card she had stashed away, because for hers and
Peter’s wedding anniversary they were going on a cruise!
“I am the grandmother!” Maureen
yelled at the nurse.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but Mr. Lathem has requested no visitors
for another hour. You are welcome to wait in the waiting room down the hall,”
the nurse said, trying to be polite but firm.
Peter Lathem led his wife by the hand to the waiting room.
She was not happy.
Inside the delivery suite, Matt Lathem laid on the narrow
hospital bed cradling his wife, Janie, who was holding the hour-old baby boy
they had just named Christopher. Ella Rose, their almost two-year-old daughter,
whom Matt called ‘Little L’ and she called herself ‘L’Ella’, was with Katy and
Mark.
“Wow,” he whispered into her hair. “We have another boy.”
Janie’s twin boys with her first husband, Tyler and Adam,
were almost twenty-five now, but Matt thought of them as his, and the boys
loved him back.
“I’m very glad it’s a boy seeing as though it’s our last,”
Janie smiled and kissed baby Christopher on his tiny little nose.
“I didn’t care either way,” said Matt. “But I have to admit
I’m thrilled it’s a boy,” he grinned.
There the three of them lay snuggled together; Janie
exhausted from the delivery, Christopher sound asleep lying over his mother’s
heart, and Matt unable to stop grinning from ear to ear, until the moment was
broken with Matt’s mother’s voice outside their door.
“It’s been an hour. I’m going in and you’re not going to
stop me from seeing my grandson.”
“Here we go,” chuckled Matt.
*****
After Ella Rose had been born, Janie hadn’t thought much
about birth control. After all, she was forty-four years old, and her child
bearing years were coming to an end. She didn’t rule out the possibility of
another child. Matt was so in love with his baby girl that she knew he would be
thrilled to add more to their family, but she had to admit that she was
surprised when she found out she was pregnant again.
