Look After Us (20 page)

“Well I’ll be sure to purchase some football shirts for us, to even the pink out a little.”

“Or maybe we can try for a boy …” I say, being deadly serious with her. The thought of having a house full of kids feels incredibly good right now, and the thought of extending our family with a boy makes me excited to try for another baby the second Ava gets the all-clear to have sex again. I know the past several months have been tough; not knowing if Ava would make it to full term with Francesca, or if we would have had a fighting battle on our hands like we had with Lily, but all those tense moments makes
this
moment of looking down at our daughter—who is only minutes old—worth every second of panic and heartache.

Ava glares at me as if I’ve lost my goddamn mind.
Maybe I have but I want a big family, or at least enough to make us a fivesome.
“Are you being serious?”

“Deadly,” I say with a determined smile. “I see Francesca and it makes me want to have a house full of children. I come from a family where my childhood was surrounded with my brothers and I want Lily and Francesca to have that. I want a big family.”

She shakes her head, bemused at my declaration of wanting more children. “I’m currently being stapled back together as we speak … you do realize that, right?”

My mouth curls up into another smile, and my free hand comes up to caress my thumb against the sweet glow of Ava’s cheek. “I know, I’m sorry … but we’ve made one hell of a beautiful child.” I gaze down at Francesca whose eyes have just flickered closed as she falls into a restful sleep. “You can’t blame me for wanting to make another one.”

Ava looks at her, smiling contently before her eyes meet mine. “You’re right, we did make a beautiful child, but right now I want to enjoy her before we even think about adding a third child.”

“I can deal with that … but just so you know, I’ll be getting you good and pregnant again. You mark my words, baby. It’s going to happen.”

“Is that a promise?” she asks with a raised brow, a smile splaying across her lips.

I press my lips against hers before pulling away with a, “Hell yeah.”

The story after the epilogue …

I know this isn’t traditional but I still feel like their story is still unfinished—slightly. So here are a few important facts that I feel will finish off Ava and Ashton’s story completely. Call it an epilogue after the epilogue if you will …

Ashton kept true to his word, and two years later he and Ava gave birth to another little girl, whom they named Emilya. The same complications arose during the pregnancy, but again, much similar to Francesca’s birth, she was born at thirty-seven weeks. She wasn’t the boy that Ashton had hoped for, but he wouldn’t change his four beautiful girls for anything. Ava finally had the family she had wanted since she was fifteen years old and, after a lifetime of heartache and pain, she had finally found her happily ever after. And you know what they say about happily ever afters … they

Firstly, I would like to thank my family for supporting me through my writing career. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to get to this stage; completing an entire series!

Secondly, I want to thank my best friend Shardele. Unbeknown to her, she became my inspiration. While writing this book, not only did she get married to the love of her life, she also gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Ava wasn’t the only one to have a happily ever after, Shardele did too and it was incredible to be a part of it.

I want to thank Jennifer Roberts-Hall. Unfortunately we didn’t work together on this book but she helped me when I was in the early stage of planning.

Thank you to my editor Nicola Rhead. You were amazingly patient with me and my perfectionist ways.

A huge thank you to my beta readers, Jennifer Tovar (who is my American lingo wizard!), Vikki Ryan and Dawn Vickers for reading the first draft of the book.

Thank you to my PA Shona. She’s an amazing friend and no matter what life throws at her, she’s always there for me, makes my life easier and ensures that I’m always getting enough rest in between working and writing.

Thanks to all the bloggers and my street team who pimp me endlessly. Also to the bloggers who read and review my books! A single review can go a long way, so thank you.

Thank you to Susan Scott from Ladies Living in Bookland, Helen and Wendy from Your Next Hot Read, Francessca from Francessca’s Romance Reviews and Tash Drake from Book Lit Love. You guys are my go-to blogs for everything and I want to thank you for the awesome work you do. I apologize if I’ve missed anybody out, but just know that I’m thankful for all your hard work.

A huge thank you to Najla Qamber Designs for making the beautiful teasers for this book, and everything else she’s designed for me throughout the year.

Another heartfelt thank you to Sarah at Okay Creations, for designing the gorgeous book cover for Look After Us (my favorite cover of the series), as well as my logo and banner.

Lastly, I would like to thank my readers. You guys are amazing and not only do you purchase and review my books, you also help with the planning process when it comes to characters names, etc. Your contributions astound me and I love that I’m part of such a loving yet passionate book world.

Love,

Elena XX

Independent author Elena Matthews was born in Manchester, United Kingdom, where she lives with her other half, but even after nine wonderful years, she is still waiting for that
epic
proposal. Elena enjoys spending quality time with her friends and family, especially her five-year-old niece, Caitlin, who is the apple of her eye (She’s a little monkey too!). Elena is positive Caitlin is the love child of Jekyll and Hyde. Thankfully, the joys of being an auntie, means she can hand Caitlin back over to her mum and dad when she’s all tired out!

Elena spent three years of her life at Salford University studying media production, to decide at the end of her degree she no longer wanted to pursue a career in the media. Instead, it took her another two and a half years to realize her calling. Writing. Now she lives and breathes her writing. She even had to tell her colleagues at work whenever she is found daydreaming at her desk, it’s because she is conversing with her characters.

Other books by
Elena Matthews

Look After You
(Look After You #1)

Look After Me
(Look After You #2)

Contact Elena

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Instagram

Website:
www.authorelenamatthews.co.uk