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“Really. He’d just turned thirty, but he was sure she was too young that first day he saw her. Then he kept seeing her, rescuing her from little accidents around town, until he saw her about to go into an old club that was shut down because the silent partner was part of a trafficking ring. He was doing business with a man that was interested in Carly, and they’d set her up to get her there and do who knows what to her. He took her home with him that night and a few weeks later, well, take a guess what happened,” I add pulling a little giggle from her.
“They were married or pregnant?” she says.
“Both,” I state, nodding as her eyes widen further. “Jude is the one we were all shocked by. He swore up and down that he’d never get married, never have kids like the rest of the family were when Johnnie introduced Carly to the family. Honestly, I don’t even remember who had how many kids at that point but as of now, Jackie has ten, five of each with only one set of twins. Julie has the four—Serena carried and used her egg for Serenity, but Jesse donated the sperm, so she’d also be part Julie’s too.”
“Maddie didn’t mind?” she asks her eyes huge with surprise.
“It was before they met. He told her and she was fine with it, because he might biologically be the father, but being a dad—or a mom, is more than just biology. Julie knew that because of her bio-mom, but it’s also why she didn’t want to use her egg. She said she got lucky but didn’t want to risk some mental illness passing along to their child. They decided after having Serenity that they’d adopt if they wanted more kids, but Jesse said he’d donate again if they ever changed their minds.”
“I can’t even imagine someone doing something that sweet and selfless so your sister could feel connected to the baby as well,” Natalie sighs, her head resting against the back of the couch.
“Jesse, despite being younger than Johnnie and Jude, was more dad jr. than anything. He’s dad’s mini, while Jackie’s mom’s. He and Maddie have four kids now. Their youngest is one now. Jennie’s the oddball out of the married siblings when it comes to kids. She only has one, but she and her husband got together pretty quickly as well. Jasmine just had her second, but they have three with Cleo. While Johnnie and Carly are about to have their sixth,” I add, and Natalie’s eyes blink rapidly like she can’t quite believe it. “They’ll tie with Jude when their little Cammie is born.”
“Wait, you said Jude didn’t have any when Johnnie introduced Carly to the family, so how on earth does he have six before they do?” Natalie questions, and it pulls a deep chuckle from me.
“It was about three years after Johnnie and Carly met that Jude ran into Eden. She was trying to find the man who was the father of her three-month-old quadruplet brothers and sister,” I tell her, and her jaw drops, a silent laugh bubbling up, and I take out my phone, showing her the photos of the babies’ first birthday party so she doesn’t think I’m full of it.
“Oh my god, what happened to their mom if she was the one looking for their father?” she asks after seeing all four smiling faces on the screen. I stop before scrolling to the one of Jude and Eden that we took right before she went into labor with the twins. We’ll get to that in a minute.
“Eden was taking her mom to a doctor’s appointment when they were hit by a distracted driver. They got her to the hospital and delivered the babies, but she died from other injuries. The quadruplets were in the NICU for three months, she’d just gotten them home and knew she needed some help, especially financial help because diapers for four babies was expensive. She met Jude and they well…” I clear my throat, pulling a laugh from her that sounds beautiful, makes me want to hear coming from her a lot more. “They were interrupted by someone, and Eden freaked out. She was barely nineteen, yup, she was only nineteen too,” I state seeing the look that crossed Natalie’s face. “A few weeks later, she was leaving the doctor’s office having learnt she was pregnant with his twins…”
“Oh my god!” Natalie gasps, her hand covering her mouth quickly before little giggles explode from it.
“Pretty much the entire family’s reaction there,” I assure her. “As she was coming out, Maddie was headed in, pregnant with their third. Jesse had to go out of town urgently and she didn’t think to take anyone with her. Maddie has really low iron while pregnant,” I explain at Natalie’s confused look. “She blacked out for a second, nearly fell the down the stairs, but Eden caught her. When Jesse got home, learnt what almost happened to them, he went by to thank Eden personally. Finding her being illegally evicted when he arrived, which had him moving her into one of the houses our company owns, which in turn, brought Jude back to her. Mom called him to bring more diapers out to the house so Eden wouldn’t run out. Mom loves babies so she was there helping Eden from the moment Jesse called some crews to bring over trucks to get their stuff.
“Jude fell hard for Emma, and it seemed to be fully reciprocated. Then Eden came in from a doctor’s appointment, and that was it. Jude had his ring on her finger hours later. The girls ended up being born on the quadruplets’ birthday, so they have six kids that share a single birthday, which is far more shocking than anything because the only other ones that share a birthday, are Dad and Jillian,” I add, watching Natalie’s expressive eyes as she absorbs that news.
“I can’t even imagine trying to take care of two babies day in and day out by myself, let alone four,” she says.
“She had her hands full for sure and that was before she was pregnant. Now, they have the full support of my family so it’s not quite as rough. The twins just turned four and the quadruplets turned five. They’re starting the boys in school this fall. Emma and the twins are way too bonded to send Emma to school without them, so they discussed it with the school counselor and agreed that they could wait to send Emma until next year.”
“That’s really sweet. They’re lucky they had Eden. When my parents died I didn’t know what was going to happen to me,” Natalie says with a sigh, that tugs at my heart. “Nick was headed to State’s technical school with a scholarship. If he turned it down, gotten a job just after high school, we’d have really struggled. There was just enough for him to get his apartment, enough to send Nanci through cosmetology school and then help her and Mike buy their house when they got married. I moved in with them after they did rather than stay with his parents. I know I was in their way, but it just didn’t feel right staying with anyone else, and Nick was so busy he didn’t have time for me.”
“I’m sorry you went through that, baby. I can’t even begin to imagine losing my parents. Let alone not feeling like you didn’t have somewhere that you belonged, but I promise you, you have me now. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my folks, my brothers and sisters, is that you don’t let go of what you know is meant for you, meant for your life. I can take it slow, but I’m not going to hide the fact that I want you as mine,” I add when her eyes widen at me again.
“Your family sounds amazing Jamison, but if they own their own business, have enough money that they can just put someone in a house, let alone just have one sitting around empty, babysit for nothing, buy diapers for four babies…I have nothing. I’m at school on a scholarship, or at least I was. I likely flunked all my classes this semester because of this mess, which means I’ll lose it and won’t even be able to afford college,” she says, confirming my suspicion that she’s worried about our different backgrounds.
“My mom moved to Oak Grove when she got a scholarship to Presley. She came to get away from her mother who was having sex with her twenty-three-year-old boy toy when she was eighteen. She had nothing to her name, but our dad fell entirely in love with her. Ethan almost didn’t go to college because he was worried about his little sister Kathy because their parents were hotheads and he found her with a bruised cheek one night when he got home. I told you about Serena’s parents, they wanted nothing to do with her because she liked girls. Maddie’s parents were charging her to live in the house while sharing a room with her younger sister, and also charging her to use the car. They tried to claim Jesse kidnapped Kayla who was seventeen, when she refused to go back to live with them. Jesse put her through college, including law school,” I add giving her a soft smile.
“Jamison…”
I press a soft kiss to her lips stopping her. “No one is going to care about your past, where you came from. That’s not what my family does. Yes, we have money, but my family also helps those that need it. That landlord that was trying to evict Eden, tried to do it to another single mom and we bought out the complex. A couple years ago they added in a new building that’s just for expecting and single moms that can’t afford to rent something, let alone rent on top of taking care of kids. That’s what my family does Natalie. They help who they can, and accept the ones that come into our lives, especially when they love us. There’s no reason to worry what they’ll think about you, okay?”
“Really?” she says, her brows scrunched my way. “Even though I’m about to flunk out of college because some guy won’t leave me alone?”
“Tell me what happened. Why do you think you’re about to flunk out?” I ask, holding onto her hand.
“We broke up before mid-terms. He was already following me around, showing up when I was trying to study. It just got worse after we broke up. By the time mid-terms rolled around, I was barely holding it together. He’d call me or come by knocking on my door constantly throughout the night, stop me before I even got to class, making me late to tests and lectures. I asked the school if I could move dorm rooms and they said they didn’t have any others available. Asked them to have security keep Craig away from me and they said unless I had a restraining order they couldn’t do anything about it, even though he doesn’t even go there and has no reason to be on campus. I talked with one of the therapists there and she gave me anxiety medication, but it barely helped,” she added making me hate this creep even more.
“I’m sorry baby girl. I promise to make this better. We can talk to the school, see if there’s something we can do so you don’t get kicked out. If you lose the scholarship, it’ll be okay, baby. If you want to get your degree, I’ll make sure you can,” I promise her, sliding my hand back behind her head, pulling a sigh from her that I love and want a million more of. “Believe me, my family will lean on the family name to get Presley to let you stay. They’re not about to lose out on the Cartwright Endowments after just two years.”
“Wait…what?” Natalie says, pulling back quickly, her eyes wide in shock, worrying me entirely that I’m about to lose her.
Chapter 4
Natalie
Holy hell, he didn’t really just say the Cartwright Endowment, did he? I mean, that’s not possible, right? That the man who’s making me all hot and bothered is part of the family that’s been covering my scholarship for the last two years, and who’ll be taking it away as soon as they see my newest grades?
