Seeking Happily Ever After (Ever After #8) - Elena Aitken Page 0,52

where she left her bag, and Nick was right behind her.

“Put her off as long as you can, Char. We’re on our way. It’ll be okay.”

Nick was talking to Charlotte, trying to keep her calm and figure out exactly what was going on while at the same time, Stephanie was already pulling out her cell phone to make the arrangements that would get them to Charlotte and Amelia as fast as possible.

It wasn’t the first time that Stephanie had used her private helicopter to get her to Glacier Falls in a hurry, and despite the fact that the flight only took twenty minutes instead of the three-hour drive, it still took far too long. Nick could hardly be contained during the short flight. He spent most of the trip muttering, clenching and unclenching his fists, and texting his lawyer.

He filled her in on what the lawyer said. About how if Jessica checked out, they’d have to let her take the baby.

It was heart-breaking.

More than anything, Stephanie wished she could do something, anything to help her friend through the situation. But beyond supplying the mode of transport, there was nothing else she could do. And she’d never felt more helpless in her entire life than when she watched him run to the waiting car that would take him immediately to ElkView and his daughter.

Hopefully it wasn’t too late.

It couldn’t be. She couldn’t let herself think that way.

Steph stood and stared down the road long after the SUV had driven away and the dust it kicked up had settled.

It was only then that she felt a total emptiness settle over her. She’d been alone a long time. Even when she’d been engaged to Dax Combs, she’d still been on her own most of the time. But never had she been lonely.

There was only one place that could give her the peace she needed. At least she hoped it could.

Stephanie thanked her helicopter pilot, and got in her own SUV to make the drive to Lynx Creek.

Just as she’d hoped, the moment she drove up the windy road to the old fishing camp, a sense of peace came over her. She went directly to Bankside, her cabin, and sat on the porch that faced the creek. She dangled her legs off the deck that didn’t yet have its railing and tried to lose herself in the burbling of the water.

She’d told Nick to let her know as soon as something happened, but she didn’t really expect to hear from him for a while. Maybe she should have gone to Ever After Ranch to be around her sisters, but Faith and Hope would only be worried as well and that would only make her feel worse. She tried to take a deep breath, but it hitched in her chest as a sob she’d been holding in escaped her lungs.

All the emotion she held for Nick and Amelia, and Charlotte, too, came busting out of her. Tears streaked down her face as she let herself ugly cry. With her shoulders shaking and her nose running, she let herself cry in a way like she’d never let herself go before. Before Glacier Falls and her cabins at Lynx Creek, it felt like there was always somebody watching her and a photographer waiting around every corner, ready to jump at the perfect shot of her doing something wrong, or looking wrong, or just living her life in a way that was tabloid-worthy.

But there was no one around now. Just her and the woods.

She let herself cry until, finally, there were no more tears and she dropped backward so she was lying on the wooden deck, flat on her back.

The moment she closed her eyes, a wet tongue licked at her face with the enthusiasm only a puppy could have.

Steph squealed and sat up, wrapping her arms around Tinker Bell, who’d grown remarkably larger since she’d seen her last. “Oh my goodness.” She laughed. “Aren’t you the sweetest thing. And you’ve grown. You’re going to be a big girl.”

“Hey. Don’t give her body issues.”

Steph’s head snapped up to see Travis, looking every bit as sexy as the last time she’d seen him. Only this time, he was once more dressed in his usual cowboy boots, worn jeans, and a T-shirt. He looked down at her with a cocky grin, but it dissolved into a frown of concern when he saw her.

“Hey.” He crouched down so he was eye to eye with her. “What’s wrong? I didn’t mean to…are