Waking Up Married
Auteur
Reese Ryan
Lezers
17,0K
Hoofdstukken
25
One
Zora Abbott sat in the nursery at her brother and sister-in-lawās home, holding her new niece, who was barely a week old.
Remington Renee AbbottāBlake and Savannahās baby girlāwas the newest addition to their growing family. And Zora was already obsessed.
Zora smoothed down her nieceās headful of soft, shiny black curls as she stared into the girlās wide, dark, expressive eyes. She gently tapped Remiās adorable button nose. Baby girl blinked in response, her mouth opening slightly.
Remi stared at Zora as if she was both slightly amused and mildly disinterested at the same time.
Zora glanced over to where Savannah had suddenly appeared in the doorway. āRemiās facial expressions crack me up. She definitely has her mamaās no-nonsense fierceness.ā
āAnd her aunt ZoZoās ability to look right through you and make you question yourself,ā Savannah added, smiling.
āTrue.ā Zora grinned. āYou and Blake are going to have your hands full with this one.ā
āI donāt doubt that,ā Savannah agreed. āAnd I hate to break up the lovefest, but your brother asked me to remind you that you need to leave for the airport soon or youāll miss your flight to Vegas.ā
āI know.ā Zora brushed the backs of her fingers against the babyās rosy cheeks. Remiās skin was the same soft brown as her motherās. āI just hate to be away from her for three whole days.ā
āRemi will be right here waiting for her aunt ZoZo when you get back.ā Savannah stepped into the room with its mauve-painted walls and straightened the dusty-rose bedding draped across Remiās crib.
Zora kissed her young nieceās forehead, then reluctantly handed the baby to her mother. A hint of a smile ghosted over Remiās little face as her eyes lit up with recognition. Savannah cooed softly in the babyās ear, then nuzzled her forehead.
Zora bit back the envy that knotted her gut the tiniest bit. More than anything, she wanted children of her own. A startling realization sheād made nearly two and a half years agoāthe moment sheād first held Remiās older brother, Davis. Zora had been sure it was a hormonal phase. A passing mood sheād get over once sheād had her fill of changing dirty diapers.
But the feeling hadnāt passed.
Her desire to be a mother grew with each additional child born into their family. Davis. Her cousin Benjiās twins, Beau and Bailey. Now Remi. Each wedding or baby shower sheād attended made her painfully aware of her deepening desire. Made her ache with a sense of loss over something sheād never even had.
The night after Remi was born, Zora had lain in bed, staring at the ceiling, preoccupied with her growing desire to be a mom. Sheād climbed out of bed in the middle of the night, opened her laptop and researched the idea thatād been brewing in her brain for months.
Who said she needed to wait for Prince Charming to come along to become a mother?
Zora was the sales VP at their world-renowned family-owned distillery, Kingās Finest. Her family was among the wealthiest in the region. She certainly had the financial means to raise a child alone. And her grandfather, parents, brothers, and their significant others were all the village sheād need to raise a child.
She was days away from her thirty-second birthday. Why should she wait for some phantom husband who might never come along?
āEverything okay, Zo?ā Savannah laid Remi down.
āOf course.ā Zoraās cheeks burned, as if her sister-in-law had been privy to her thoughts. āGoing over a few things in my head before the trip.ā
āWell, Iāll go let your brother and nephew know youāll be ready to leave shortly.ā Savannah squeezed her arm. āThatāll give you two a few more minutes.ā
Zora nodded at her sister-in-law gratefully, then returned her attention to her niece, whose heavy eyelids drooped as she drifted off to sleep.
She glided her fingertips over the signature burned into the wood of the crib. It was a gorgeous original piece, handcrafted by Zoraās longtime best friendāpremier furniture maker Dallas Hamilton. The reason for her Las Vegas trip.
Dallas was being honored with an award for innovation, thanks to a stunning line of furniture heād designed the previous year. Heād spent months in Thailand working with native furniture artists, studying their designs and learning their craft.
Heād designed breathtaking pieces that were a marriage of Western and Eastern aesthetics, inspired by intricate Thai designs. And the award-winning collection included pieces designed by native artists.
Zora couldnāt be happier for her best friend.
The award presentation in Vegas capped a whirlwind year in which Dallas had graced the cover of high-profile magazines, been asked to design furniture pieces for a growing number of celebrities and done a handful of television interviews.
Since they were both currently single, heād invited Zora to Vegas as his plus-one for the award ceremony. Afterward, they would spend their final forty-eight hours in Vegas partyingāan early nod to her impending thirty-second birthday.
It was nothing unusual for them. Dallas had been her plus-one at countless weddings and business or family events. And whenever they were both single, which was far more often than she liked to admit, they vacationed together at least once a year.
Dal still owned the cabin his grandfather had left him years ago, complete with a workshop where he handcrafted piecesālike Remiās cribāor developed new designs. It was the workshop where his grandfather had taught him how to make furniture and cabinetry when he was just a little boy. Dallas still considered Magnolia Lake home, but he spent most of the year at various places around the world, opening new showrooms for his company, Hamilton Haus, teaching workshops and being inspired by the unique furniture designs of various cultures.
Zora tucked the soft blanket beneath her nieceās chin and smoothed down her hair. āGoodbye, sweet pea. Auntie ZoZo will be back soon,ā she whispered to the sleeping newborn before slipping out of the room and quietly closing the door behind her.
Zora hated to leave her niece behind, but she was eager to see Dallas. Sheād made an important decision, and she needed to ask a huge favor of him. Her stomach twisted in a knot when she imagined how he would react.
