My Father's Boss (The Family Affairs)

Sometime later, I woke up and slipped from the bed to grab a drink and my cell phone. I went out to the back porch and sat in one of the rockers I’d bought when Isabella looked longingly at it in a store window. I often had to remind her that she could have whatever the hell she wanted.

I pulled up Hank’s number and hit send before putting it on speaker.

“What’s up, boss?” he answered. It always made me laugh when he called me that, considering he’d been like a second father to me growing up.

“I fired…what’s-his-name. The young kid you just hired.”

Hank was silent for a moment, then sighed. “I had a feeling when I sent him up to grab some tools Annie left in the garden, and he didn’t come back.”

“He was hitting on my wife,” I gritted out through clenched teeth.

“You gonna fire everyone who looks too long at your woman?”

“Yes.”

He was silent again for a few beats, then I heard him chuckle. “Fair enough.”

“From now on, you hire women or married men,” I ordered.

“Sure thing, boss.”

Feeling a little better after we hung up, I made my way back to the bedroom and my sleeping wife. Then I climbed into bed and pulled her into my arms, resting my hand on her belly and grinning when our boy let me know he was aware of my presence by giving me a little kick. I’d never experienced such bliss, and I couldn’t imagine how it could get any better.

But with every new day, Isabella proved me wrong.

Epilogue

Isabella

Living on the ranch and building our family there was everything I had dreamed of. Except for the part where my precious baby boy decided he was old enough to get on the back of a horse and wouldn't listen to anyone who said otherwise. Even me.

Planting my fists on my hips, I called, “Samson Trahan, get down from that horse right this instant!”

“But Mama,” he cried, “I’m doing so good.”

“I can see how great you’re doing.” I swiveled my head to glare at my gorgeous husband. “But you shouldn’t even be up there in the first place.”

His lips curved into an apologetic grin as he walked toward me, while Jeff, one of the ranch hands—a happily married man in his fifties—stepped into his spot at our eldest son’s side. “You agreed that he could start to learn how to ride when he turned six.”

I quirked a brow and tilted my head to the side. “I still have five more days until that deadline passes.”

“Oh, Mama. Are you really gonna make me wait until my birthday?”

When I turned to look at my son, he had tears welling in his blue eyes that were an exact replica of his daddy’s. I knew that Beau would never do anything to put our children in harm’s way, but I just wasn't ready to admit my eldest boy was big enough to go horseback riding. Even though plenty of kids started much younger than him.

Much to everyone's surprise, I was even more protective of our kids than Beau. My mom liked to tease me about how I had the helicopter parent routine down pat, while my dad tended to back me up with comments about how I needed to keep an eye out for his grandbabies since there were so many of them. We’d only been married for five and a half years and already had three kids with another on the way.

And they each owned all of my heart, along with the man who’d given them to me. I didn’t have it in me to tell Sammy no just to buy me five more days to come to terms with how big he'd gotten. “Of course not, sweetie. But I’m going to have to put Daddy in time-out later for letting you get on Buttercup.”

“Ooh, you're in trouble, Daddy.” Sammy giggled before he showed me how he could make Buttercup trot in a circle. Beau stayed by my side, stroking his palm down my back in a soothing gesture.

When our son brought the gentlest horse in our stable back around to a stop in front of me, his smile was the biggest I had ever seen on his precious face. “I'm gonna ride just like Daddy soon,” he boasted.

“You sure are,” Jeff agreed.

He really was a natural in the saddle and had gotten plenty of practice riding in front of Beau. Almost more than me with how often I was pregnant. “I guess since your birthday is this weekend, I can't be too upset about you having your first real lesson a little early.”

“Does that mean no time-out for Daddy?”