Discoveries

The moody tunes of “Bluest Eyes in Texas” played on the radio. I was listening to the words, but my mind was miles away.

I felt a hand grab mine. Looking into the bluest eyes in Chestnut Ridge, which were just one of my fiancé Jackson Kershaw’s many noteworthy qualities, I saw him giving me an encouraging smile. He pulled my hand up to his mouth, kissed it, squeezed it again, and held it while navigating through traffic. I looked out the window at the scenery flying by.

Why so moody, you wonder? More drama? Ha, don’t you just know it.

Life had been good to me of late. My first book had been published recently. Yes, I actually finished one. And I was already drafting another.

Jackson’s cougar attack injuries had fully healed. If there were any scars, they were tiny, barely noticeable marks on his back and side. To me, they added to his rugged handsomeness, and I loved tracing them when we were together. His face, arms, and legs were healed as if nothing had ever happened.

The horses were doing well; one mare was pregnant about to foal, Jackson was trying to find a good stud for the other, and we had loaned out the younger stallion, Patches, to stand stud at two other farms. He would return eventually, but for now, we didn’t have to deal with two stallions trying to compete. Speaking of competing, Jackson had already won two championships, bringing in substantial prize money. Combined with the royalties from my published book, we were doing okay financially.

Millie, our dog, was doing great too. For some reason, she barely ever roamed anymore and stayed on the ranch property almost all the time. Maybe she felt that my brother Connor’s old dog, Morpheus, or ‘Morphy’ as we all had called him, had passed on. The two dogs had loved each other from the first moment they met, resulting in litter of puppies, one of which, Artemis, was a female carbon copy of Morphers and lived with Connor, helping him get through the heartbreak of losing his beloved best friend on four legs.

“It ain’t gon’ be as bad as whatcha thinkin’…” Jackson’s voice was encouraging, pulling me back into the current moment now.

I looked over at him, nodded and faked a smile.

No, I didn’t believe his words. I could feel something was wrong, and all the signs were there again. Just like back when I was 16. Then, I had my head full of other problems, so I did what girls that age do—I ignored it until I collapsed in my parents’ backyard. I ended up in life-saving emergency surgery and woke up to the news that I would likely never have children. Cysts on my ovaries had ruptured. One ovary had to be removed, the other could be saved, but there was scarring, and nobody knew where that would leave me. When you’re 16, that was scary, but honestly, it didn’t matter to me as much as my confusing relationship with Bradford Cunningham, a genuinely sweet guy and wealthy heir of a medical empire. His father sabotaged our relationship since I could no longer fulfill my basic function as his future daughter-in-law—producing a male heir to follow in the same footsteps as many generations of Cunninghams before. Brad and I had been doomed anyway, due to me not-so-secretly being involved with Jackson on and off. Well, fast forward some years, I was now engaged to Jackson and Brad was married to Molly, with a young son.

Currently, we were on our way to one of the Cunningham medical centers near my old hometown, Brindleton Bay, Jackson looking dapper in his suit, me in my light green cocktail dress that so perfectly matched my eyes, as he was following Brad’s car. We had just attended yet another wedding—in my old hometown of Brindleton Bay again, just barely a month and change after the wedding of my cousin Tyler Evans, a sort of shotgun style event as his bride was weeks away from making them parents. Today yet another cousin of mine, Kristin Banks, became Mrs. Sterling Covington, those two already had a sweet little girl, Julia, old enough to be walking and talking, bit awkward, as Kristin had been involved with some other guy, whom she initially thought was the father, but after all that crashed and burned she fell in love with Sterling, who turned out to be the baby’s real dad, all over again and here we are. Sterling, her groom was not only an old classmate to Iris, Jasper and me, but also my twin sister’s ex, and he had gotten into a serious physical altercation with Jasper and Jackson at her and my 18th birthday party. Luckily, all that was now over 4 years in the past, we had all matured and moved on since, my sister was engaged to Jasper, both in attendance, and while they kept their distance from the groom, the bride’s mom was our aunt on our mom’s side and my entire family being there was a sign of respect.

So, how do we go from a wedding to needing a hospital, you wonder?
Well, for that to make sense I need to back up a little. For the past week or two, I had been experiencing severe period pains and disabling cramping, so much so that Jackson kept putting me in chairs and forbade me from doing ranch chores. I got better, and we came here. During the reception, just as Kristin’s dad Aidan was in the middle of his toast to the couple, I started feeling odd, hot flashes, chills, dizziness, and then I just collapsed.

Conveniently, Brad and his father were there as invited guests, along with my brother Connor—all of them doctors. They decided I had to go to the emergency room for a check-up, my dad and Jackson agreed, since they all agreed it seemed my remaining ovary was acting up.
If this was true, if I waited too long to get this looked at, I might lose this last tiny gleam of hope to ever make Jackson and me parents too. Saying I was riddled with fear was putting it mildly. At 22 I wasn’t really into family planning, still figuring out my life on the ranch.
Jackson of course knew about my impaired fertility, and no matter how many times he told me he didn’t care and would be happy to foster or adopt, there were a lot of babies around us now from couples our age. Especially in our admittedly very backwoods home Chestnut Ridge folks didn’t put careers first. You found that special someone, you got married and you had kids, in your early 20s and that was that. Jackson’s ex Taylor and his best friend Chayton were parents already. That was how things went there. All of them were ranchers, and ranch work didn’t have schedules, so you just built your lives around it all.
Jackson had patiently taught my 7-year-old city dweller nephew Chris how to ride, to the point that Chris was constantly begging his parents Connor and Keira to take him to see us. Friends of ours with babies loved it when we came by, as Jackson was always an instant hit with their kids, giving them some moments to catch a breath. Same when we saw his dad Jack with his young wife Izzy and Jackson’s toddler half-brother Cody. That little boy adored his big bro just about as much as I had always adored my big brother Connor. So, for me, seeing him with those babies, such a natural with kids, made it painfully clear that Jackson deserved to be a dad himself. Preferably his own biological child. I mean, I am loving the idea of helping a foster kid or adopt, but have you seen my fiancé? Another helping of that DNA? Yes, please!

Connor was in the car with Brad and his father, a situation I didn’t even want to imagine. My big brother was the sweetest teddy bear—fun and happy, but extremely protective of his little sisters. He was well aware of all the hardships the two Cunningham men had caused me. The only reason he was even decent around them was because I had chosen to be friendly with Brad. Yes, I still adored my ex. No matter how clingy he had been, I knew he was a good guy, meant well, and nobody could convince me otherwise.

The moment we entered the hospital, I was rushed to the first available exam room, flanked by the owner of the place and his son, with Connor and Jackson following behind us, my parents took care of the paperwork. After a brief and very awkward debate on which of the three men would get the honor of examining me, I decided it should be Brad. Yes, having my ex examine me was awkward, but not as awkward as his father, whom I still abhorred with a burning passion. I really didn’t want my brother down there if I could help it.

Jackson wasn’t too crazy about any of the options either, so he just stayed in the room, adding to the awkwardness for everyone. He was raised in a very different world; cowboys like him don’t hang out at gyn appointments. But his take was that a) he didn’t trust Brad around me as far as he could throw him, and b) there was nothing down there he hadn’t seen before. Yeah, try arguing with that, I dare you.

I have to say, Brad handled the situation very tastefully. His bedside manner was impeccable. He did his thing, ran some tests, drew blood—the whole nine yards—doing everything he could to avoid having to actually put me in the stirrups and take a peek in front of Jackson. When the results finally came in, his eyes grew wide. He almost dove between my legs with wands and instruments.

Finally, he popped up, leafing through his paperwork again. He looked at me, then at Jackson, then back at me, swallowing hard.

“Brad! What?!” I urged, sitting up, staring at him, sliding off the exam bed, Jackson stepping next to me, his arm wrapped around my waist. We both glared at Brad, his face an image of shock. He stared at us for a moment, then waved us over, pointing at the still image on the monitor one of his wands had created while he was investigating my lower region.

“This right here, that dark spot here, do you guys see that?” he pointed.

“Looks like a smudge. What ‘bout it? That a tumor now or somethin’?” Jackson drawled, while I was speechless, rolling the worst horror movies in my head about what that could mean. But nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared me.

Brad’s head turned from the monitors to us, reading in mine and Jackson’s eyes.

“I need you both to be absolutely calm, maybe sit down, both of you, and I do not want either of you to get wound up about this, as a lot of things could happen, and …”

“Goddamn it, Cunningham! Jus’ say it already!” Jackson exploded, still standing, as was I, even though Brad was trying to navigate me into a chair. I swatted at him. Then Jackson pulled Brad’s hands off me, giving him a stern glare. Brad sighed, then nodded.

“All right. Bri’s pregnant. This smudge you saw is your child, guys. Congratulations.” He smiled encouragingly, and his smile under the familiar curly hair was the last thing I saw.

I felt my mouth gape open, felt Jackson jerk at the news, then my world went black.

I woke up—yes, I literally had fainted—in some hospital bed with my entire family around me, all of them unusually quiet and staring at me.

Jasper, my best friend since our baby days and also my twin sister fiancé, was the first to find his words.

“Duuuuuuuude … Bri, duuuuuuude… what the actual …” he said, nudged by my dad, giving him the ‘one more word will be your last’ dad-glare.

“Yeah, Bri, how?” my fraternal twin Iris wondered, and honestly, she only said what I was thinking, all of us having been under the impression I basically couldn’t get pregnant without a lot of medical help. She received glares from my parents and nudges from my big brother Connor.

“I’ll give you a refresher on human anatomy later,” Connor told her, mildly annoyed at their reactions, receiving an equally annoyed glare back from Iris, while Jasper couldn’t control his big mouth.

“Nah, thanks almost-bruh-in-law, we’re clear on all that. But seriously, what’s with everyone dropping babies all of a sudden? What’s the rush? Did we miss a memo? Come on Iris, let’s get back to the hotel room and start making some heirs.”

“Not in your wildest dreams! I have a job, Jas. You want a baby, then YOU can carry it and stay home with it! I have a career to build. Didn’t go wasting Mom and Dad’s money and most of my sanity getting a good college degree to wipe butts and get puked on! I’m trying to be a successful lawyer, not give my best interpretation of soccer mom slash babysitter!”

Jasper smirked, “I told you not to divulge our secret naughty play in front of your parents.”

Iris’s face turned beet red as she glared at him. “Jasper! Keep talking like that, and you’ll be holding your own while sleeping on the hotel balcony tonight! And by tonight, I mean for the foreseeable future, you creep!”

Chase, our dad, chuckled, “I agree, Jas. As a fellow entertainer, you should know the first lesson: know your audience. And how about you two get married before even joking about procreating? Have a decent wedding, and after that, you can have all the kids you want. I’m tired of all the shotgun weddings in the family of late. Bri and Jackson at least have a good excuse—who knew she could get knocked up without medical aid anyway?”

Mom shot him a glare, which he met with a shrug. Still shaking her head and rolling her eyes at him, she turned to me.

“Bri, baby, that is … great news … I … think,” Mom labored out, trying hard to sound excited and supportive, while her face read shocked and horrified.

“Well, Mrs. Cameron, it could be good news …” I just now noticed Brad, who looked around the room into the eyes of people now staring at him. “Guys, I don’t think it would be smart to sugarcoat this. Yes, Bri effectively is pregnant, but it is VERY early on in her first trimester and clearly, her body is having issues with that fact already, hence her recent medical problems. There is a very high chance the implantation process has not finalized properly due to the scarring in her tissue from her previous problems, and it all could just not end the way we all would wish.”

Empty glares from glazed-over eyes met him until Connor ‘translated’ the medical speak nobody currently could comprehend into normal English.

“He’s saying there is a high chance Bri might lose the pregnancy.”

A murmur rumbled up.

“Yes, that,” Brad confirmed.

“Well, I had fertility issues all my life and managed three kids. Connor and Keira had a hard time conceiving Chris, yet, there he is. Chase’s mother had a bunch of kids on one ovary…” Mom tried to lift the spirit.

“Mrs. Cameron, not to be a Debbie Downer here, but Bri’s case is very special. Conception and fertility issues aren’t all that rare these days, but Bri’s case is especially hard, as her problems focus more on the carrying to term part of the pregnancy, not necessarily just the conception, and there is very little we can do to help with that. It already looks as if the implantation process isn’t going right and I can’t fix that, only her own body can. Look, I am just as excited for her as all of you, but I just don’t want anyone to get their hopes up too much.”

“Brad, you have the paperwork. Give it to us straight, what are the odds?” Dad asked plainly.

Brad twisted and turned, trying to avoid the answer, so my dad just grabbed my file from his hands and handed it to Connor, who turned, and his sheer size was enough to keep Brad from trying to retrieve the medical files. I don’t think he even really wanted to. I think he didn’t like being the harbinger of bad news and preferred it to be Connor instead.

“You could have just asked, Mr. Cameron, and I would have given Connor the file. I was trying to answer truthfully, but I don’t want to take away all hope from anyone. There is no cut and dry answer right now, anything is possible at this point. I know we’ve all had some rough moments in the past, but it was never my doing, nor my intention. You all know I care about Bri as much as everyone else here,” Brad said in a pouty tone. He always liked being part of my family, first as Jasper’s best friend until he moved away, then by dating me. He cherished my family, but their love for him ceased when his father turned out to be a douche. It wasn’t Brad’s fault; he was nothing like his father, but to my family, he was guilty by association. Jackson, however, knew that Brad had been trying to win me back for the longest time, so he topped his shitlist for sure. From his next words, it would appear the same was still true for Jasper.

“Yeah, sure, only the best intentions, right on, Cunningham. That’s why you had your lapdog Sterling Covington do your bidding and punch my lights out at Iris and Bri’s 18th birthday party, huh? Didn’t want to hurt my feelings by fighting me yourself, knowing I could have definitely taken you!” Jasper chimed in at his former best friend, about the exact moment their friendship ended a little over four years ago now.

“You know Sterling isn’t anyone’s lapdog, and you picked your own fight with him by dirty dancing with his then-girlfriend right under his nose! Sorry Iris, but it’s true! That had nothing to do with me, and besides, you had YOUR lapdog do YOUR bidding too, since you have no chance against Sterling, so you sent Jackson into your battle!” Brad shot back, pointing at Jackson, who immediately tried to go for him, but Connor and his often-mentioned bear strength held him back, without skipping a beat leafing through my file.

Connor now looked up, slamming the file into Brad’s chest, giving Jackson a certain glare, which stopped my fiancé in his tracks.

“Knock it off, cowboy, this isn’t your local boot stomping saloon! You got bigger fish to fry than Jas and Brad running their damn mouths as if they were 13, not 23,” he snarled at Jackson, then looked around the room at all of us. “So, plainly speaking, Brad’s right. We need some tests to see what, if any, options we even have here, but don’t get your hopes up, especially you, Bri and you, Jackson, but also you, Mom and Dad. This really doesn’t look like Bri could carry to term for various reasons. The attachment also happened very high. If anything happens, this could be close to endometriosis, which renders the pregnancy non-viable but also is a risk to Bri’s life.”

“What?! In that case, I don’t want this! I don’t want nothin’ to happen to Bri. We got a little lax thinkin’ the chances were too low for anythin’ to happen when we … ya know … don’t use birth control here and there, but I want nothin’ that could be dangerous like this! I like kids jus’ fine, but I don’t like ’em THAT much!” Jackson flared up, Connor now glared at him.

“Oh, good, thank you, Jackson. Now us trained medical professionals here finally know what to do next then. Thank you, Jesus, for you! Hallelujah!” Connor snapped at him, sarcasm just oozing.

“What now?!” Jackson wondered, confused.

“He’s telling you to shut up, kid. Connor told us they need more tests to know anything. Right now, he and Brad only told us the truth and the chances. The rest is up in the air,” Dad said plainly, but with authority.

“Yup, you got it, Dad. Look Jackson, you and Bri are gonna get to make some tough decisions, that I am sure of, no way around it, but that won’t be today, cos we simply don’t have all the facts. But either way, we’re all in deep here, we all love Bri, but no matter which way this ends up turning, it’s gonna get rough for a while,” Connor confirmed.

“I’ll get those tests scheduled right away. Connor, you want me to put you on our physician’s list?” Brad asked, and for the first time Keira, Connor’s wife, spoke up.

“No need, Brad, because having Bri here makes no sense. She will be under Connor’s care in San Sequoia, and he will be happy to add YOU to his physician’s list if you want to come and help there. Right, Con-Bear?!” Keira’s tone made it clear there was no real choice. She had always been the quiet and brooding type, but make no mistake, she was very assertive, and she wore the pants in their relationship. Clearly, she didn’t want her husband to have to travel to the other side of the country for an undetermined time. She was right too; we all lived on the West Coast, and this facility was on the East Coast.

“Yeah, Keke’s right,” Connor agreed. “I have a son in school, he has things going on all the time, and I can’t be absent from his life for too long. Bri and Jackson live much closer to me than here, our parents and Iris are there, Jasper isn’t far, we need to do all this in San Seq…”

“I can stay out of school and come here with you, Dad. Is Jackson staying too? Do they have horses here?” my nephew Chris chimed up.

“Christian! You are too old to sound so stupid! As if that would fly with any of us, kid!” Dad grumbled at him.

“What?! As if you wouldn’t have tried it too, Grampa!” Chris shot back, unimpressed.

“He’s got you there, Gump. You’re right, your grandpa would have tried anything that had even the remotest chance of getting him out of class,” Mom grinned at Dad, who stuck his tongue out at her, she winked at him, then looked at Chris. “How about we go find a vending machine and get you sugared up for the drive back to the hotel. I bet your parents will love it,” she offered, exciting Chris, while his mom Keira shot her mother-in-law a look.

“Oh yeah, Hailey, you know it. Excited doesn’t begin to cover it. Thrills me so much that I’ll take Chris to the cafeteria for some hot chocolate afterwards, and I think he can spend the night with Gramma and Grampa in THEIR hotel room. How about it?” she retorted.

“I don’t care. He can stay with us and he can have candy, why wouldn’t he, he’s just a little kid. They grow up too damn fast anyway. Look at our kids. How did they get all grown up all of a sudden,” Dad shrugged.

“Well, when are YOU gonna finally grow up, babe? And of course, you wouldn’t care about our grandson bouncing off walls on some sugar high, you could sleep through a war!” Mom said.

“You started it, Patches, offering to get Chris high on sweets, and of course nothing bothers me anymore at this point. We raised three kids, five counting the bonus ones from Colton and Maddie. Plus, I was in a band most of my adult life with Chris’ other grandpa strumming on his guitar as if trying to strangle a squirrel. I am about as shocked at everyone that I have any hearing left at all,” my dad said, referring to Colton Hargrave, his lifelong best friend, band member, and also Keira and Jasper’s dad.

“Funny, he always says the same about you and your singing,” Chris shot back, exuding the same uber-confidence, cleverness, and quick wit his dad was known for. This earned him a headlock and a noogie from my dad, making my nephew squeal for joy. Well, at least Chris was having fun.

Soon after, Keira left with Chris and Dad, Iris and Jasper, followed by Connor and Brad talking ‘shop’, leaving just Mom, Jackson and me.

“Bri, baby, you okay?” Mom asked, snuggling me while gently rubbing Jackson’s back, who had been standing there, stiff and quiet from shock.

“I don’t know, Mom. What the heck? Why can’t my life be normal? I am not even sure what to hope for here? I don’t want to lose the pregnancy, but how am I supposed to be a mom at 22? Well, 23 when the kid would be born. At a horse ranch? And if not, then … I would … I mean … we came THIS close … what?” I mumbled incoherently, my eyes pleading with Jackson’s, who said nothing, just squeezed my hand.

***

Well, the tests came back just over the minimum percentage chance of this pregnancy being considered viable, which wasn’t great news, but also not bad ones, but it came with a long list of potential risks. Jackson and I were given the next awful choice.
Either we terminate right away and avoid any potential serious life-threatening emergencies, but it could mean I would never be able to get pregnant again, or I try to carry to term best I could, which had a high chance of failing and could cause medical emergencies, which we couldn’t handle living on the horse ranch.
So, we went with the following: We were gonna do nothing, I’d go back home to our horse ranch in Chestnut Ridge with Jackson and just take it easy but would have to travel the 3ish hours each way every week to have checkups. If my pregnancy made it to the 12-week mark, I would have to move back in with my parents and Iris in San Sequoia, who would get to babysit me and drive me to more frequent check-ups until I had the baby. Or until I lost it, since that would be a high chance throughout the entire pregnancy. Lovely, huh? Jealous yet?

Nope, Jackson and I hated all choices, especially since it meant I wouldn’t see him much, he had to stay with the ranch, but we decided to at least try.

***

Back at the ranch, the familiar sights and sounds brought a small measure of comfort. Millie, our loyal dog, greeted us with enthusiastic barks, and the horses neighed softly in the distance. Jackson helped me out of the truck, his arm around my waist.

“We’ll make it work, Bri. We’ll figure it out. Yer strong and stubborn, you’ll have that baby, I can feel it,” he whispered, kissing my forehead.

Days turned into weeks, and the routine of ranch life continued. Jackson took on more of the heavy lifting, insisting I rest as much as possible. My parents visited often, bringing supplies and moral support. The frequent trips to the doctor were exhausting, my anxiety through the roof, but each visit brought a glimmer of hope and either no news or good ones. A month had now passed since we first discovered the news. I was about 8 or 9 weeks along now, receiving frequent injections to ward off problems and taking handfuls of huge pills for this, that, and the other. So far, so good, but there was still a very long way to go to a place I wasn’t even ready for yet. A mom at my age? WHAT?! No, this was decidedly NOT how I would have planned it all out, but then again, what in my life was?

One evening, as the sun set over the rolling hills, Jackson and I sat on the porch, me in his lap, watching the sky turn shades of pink and orange.

“Do you ever think about what it’ll be like?” I asked, leaning against him. I knew we weren’t supposed to get too attached as the chances were very low, but it was impossible not to dream.

“All the time,” he replied, his voice soft. “I think about holdin’ our baby, teachin’ them to ride, I see them running ‘cross the fields with their momma and Millie, I see us showin’ them the stars out here where the sky is so clear, ya know, that spot ya love so much, where we like to … well, ya know.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. “Oh yeah, I know where. I can’t help but thinking that is exactly where we created this … problem. It still feels so surreal. I know what they all keep telling us, don’t dream, don’t plan, don’t get used to the idea, but I can’t help it. I want that baby so much, Jackson. But I’m so scared. What if I am not a good mom? I don’t know the first thing about parenting. I am literally afraid of babies, so delicate and little, I worry I hold them wrong or drop them or break something off. Connor even gave up his shock-therapy of just sticking Chris in my arms when he was still a baby, I just freaked out, which made Chris cry.”

He turned to face me, his eyes filled with determination. “Bri, this ain’t no problem, not at all, hope is what this is. The kind o’hope we didn’t know fer sure we even could have. It don’t matter none what happens. Either we win some, and we’ll end up bein’ parents before we’re both thought we’re ready for it, not to mention we ain’t even married jus’ yet, or we won’t be parents, and then we are just where we were before. Not like we been tryin’ for a baby, just happened, so if it don’t pan out, then we’ll still be okay. We’re young. We made other things work that seemed impossible. This won’t be no different. Our lil un got strong genes and a stubborn head from both sides, his or her daddy survived a damn cougar attack and his or her momma has been through so much I don’t even know where to start listin’. And I know yer gon’ be the best momma this world’s ever seen. Ya did great with Chris, and I seen ya hold Brad’s baby boy. When I was laid up after that cougar got me, yer nuturin’ was what made me heal so fast. Ya didn’t know the first thing about horse ranchin’ back when ya first came to live with me, and now, I’d have no worries leavin’ ya to run it on yer own and you know I don’t take any of this lightly.”

Living on the ranch had given me plenty of time to reflect on my life and the incredible legacy of my family. Dropping out of college had been a tough decision, definitely not my parents’ personal favorite one, but the distance from Jackson had been unbearable for me. So, I moved from the nice cozy luxurious life I had known all my life onto a two-bedroom cabin at a horse ranch as far removed from anything I would call luxurious as one could get, a night and day difference, and certainly a learning curve. Ranch life kept us busy, but I needed mental stimulation, so I poured my heart into writing, capturing the essence of my unique heritage. Hence the book I mentioned earlier, which generated an okay enough income for me to start writing another.

One evening, as Jackson and I sat on the porch, the old black rotary phone rang. I answered, expecting it to be my parents checking in, which they did a lot, and cell phone reception was spotty at best, so if they couldn’t get me on my cell, they always tried the landline next. But the voice on the other end was unfamiliar.

“May I please speak to Miss Briar Rose Cameron?” the voice asked.

“Yes, this is she,” I replied, curiosity piqued.

“I’m calling from the National Literary Awards Committee. I’m thrilled to inform you that your memoir, ‘Legacy of Shadows and Light,’ has won the top award for Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year.”

I felt my heart skip a beat. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. Your work about your life as the daughter of the frontman of 2Dark 2C, granddaughter to the legendary Blaine Cameron, and cousin to a queen consort, among other celebrities, who left the limelight and luxury life to go live on a ranch has captivated readers and critics alike. Congratulations, Miss Cameron!”

Tears welled up in my eyes as I thanked the caller and hung up. As I walked back out to the porch in a daze, Jackson, noticing my reaction, immediately alerted, worried, jumping up as he asked, “What’s wrong, Bri?”

“I won,” I whispered, still in shock. “My book. I was awarded the National Literary Award for my memoir.”

Jackson’s face lit up with pride as he visibly relaxed. “That’s amazin’, Bri! I knew you could do it!” he pulled me into a tight, but careful, embrace.

The news spread quickly, and soon my family was calling to congratulate me. My parents were over the moon, and even my brother Connor, who had been in full on doctor and survival mode about my unexpected and high-risk pregnancy sounded genuinely thrilled.

“That’s awesome, Bri! I knew you had it in you!” Connor’s voice boomed over the phone. Despite being a fun-loving, outgoing party animal, he was also a genius and the gentle giant of our family. A former football player, tall, athletic, and very strong, he now served as the chief of staff at a large medical center in San Sequoia. “We need to celebrate this big time!”

A few weeks later, Jackson and I traveled to the awards ceremony. As I stood on stage, looking out into a sea of faces looking up at me, as I was accepting the award, I felt a sense of fulfillment I had never experienced before. My journey had been anything but ordinary, and now, my story was being celebrated. At my ripe old age of 22. No, by now I was convinced that my life would never be normal. I was well past that by now.

In my acceptance speech, I said, “This award is not just for me, but for my family, whose legacy of music and resilience has shaped who I am. To my father Chase, the frontman of 2Dark 2C, I love you dad, you taught me so much, my grandfather Blaine Cameron, one of the greatest rock musicians to ever live and to Grandma Scarlett for keeping him in line,” my Grandpa, ever the entertainer, jumped up and bowed in various directions, when Grandma Scarlett tried to get him back in his seat, he plopped down and started smooching the lips off her, lightening the mood at all eyes were on them for a moment till the spotlights shifted back onto me, as I cleared my throat and continued, “To my Mom Hailey, the best mom, woman and role model there ever was and will be and to my amazing genius brother with a heart of gold, love you Con-Bear. To Maddie and Colton, my bonus parents, to my amazing sis-in-law Keira, my wild and incredibly smart nephew Chris, to my sweet and crazy Jasper, love you my brother from another mother and I will always be your sister from another Mister, even if you marry my crazy twin sister and get promoted to brother-in-law; love ya Iris Marie, you know I am just playin’. To Jack, Izzy, Vivienne and Cody, all my love. And to Jackson, my rock and my heart, the love of my life, thank you for always believing in me. To all my many other relatives who have inspired me—thank you. And also thanks to you, Braddy. I know you are watching this, and we didn’t always have the best of times, but I think we make some damn good friends. Love all of you!” I closed with a proper ‘yee-haw‘ which Jackson had taught me, inciting standing ovations and laughter.

The applause was deafening, and as I looked out into the audience, I saw my entire family, and especially Jackson beaming with pride. Our journey was far from over, but in that moment, I knew we could face anything together.

After the ceremony, we gathered with family and friends. Connor, true to his nature, had organized a grand celebration at Jasper and Keira’s parents Colton and Maddie’s Del Sol Valley mansion, who were my parents’ best friends longer than any of us kids had been alive. Their home was filled with laughter, music, and the warmth of loved ones and it took me back to my childhood and the many parties my parents and they had always thrown.

“To Bri, the award-winning author!” Connor now toasted, lifting his glass high. “May your words continue to inspire, and your spirit never waver.”

As I looked around at the smiling faces, I felt a deep sense of gratitude. My life on the ranch, my family’s legacy, and the love of those around me had all led to this moment. And with Jackson by my side, I knew we could face whatever challenges lay ahead. My choice, choosing him over a solid education and the old familiar life of luxury, may have been a drastic one, but I knew it was the right one.
Standing back a little, I watched them all, celebrate me, and I really felt special and ten feet tall.
I saw Jackson laughing so hard with Connor, Jasper, Colton, and my dad, it was heartwarming. And for the first time ever since my collapse at Kristin’s wedding party, I genuinely didn’t care if or if not Jackson and I would be parents in the very foreseeable future, because I just knew we’d be okay regardless. The only thing that mattered was what we already had, what was right here.