Trish’s tears flowed down her face, and it was Daddy who put his hand on her shoulder and turned her toward him for comfort.
“Okay, I can’t take it,” Kait said, her own tears fresh on her face. “These cakes look so good, and I’m starving.”
The tension broke, and a collective sigh filled the farmhouse.
“We have to singHappy Birthdayfirst,” Beth said. “Help me light the candles.”
Movement and chaos happened for the next few minutes as people found seats and candles got lit. Trey stepped over to Trish and Taylor and hugged them both, his head right between theirs. He couldn’t think of anything to say, and they remained silent too. Sometimes, though, the tightness of a grip could convey more than words ever could.
Once he sat next to TJ, his candle flickering, Beth called, “Okay, one, two, three. Happy birthday to you…”
Trey joined his voice to the song, the rendition getting louder and rowdier with every word sung. By the end, he laughed and shook his head, and he held up his phone and took a ton of pictures as TJ leaned over and blew out his candle.
He blew out his own and picked up his fork. “Cake for breakfast,” he said. “This is amazing.”
He took his first bite of the mini chocolate cake and looked around the room. The really amazing thing was this huge group of people he belonged to. He narrowed it down to his family, then Beth’s family.
Then to just him, Beth, and TJ, and he leaned over and kissed the top of TJ’s head and said, “Happy birthday, bud.” Then he turned to his wife and kissed her right on the lips. “I love you,” he murmured.
“I love you too,” she said back, kissing him again.
* * *
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Parading the Cowboy Billionaire Chapter One:
Cayden Chappell pulled up to the farmhouse where his brother lived now. The new sign had weathered its first rainstorm, and the whole state of Kentucky had come through the weekend’s downpour just fine.
Cayden felt like he’d had that storm cloud raining on him for almost three months now. The invisible weight he carried on his shoulders made him sigh as he got out of his truck. He knew where it came from, but he didn’t know how to shrug off Virginia Winters.
She’d captured him completely, and while their relationship hadn’t been traditional before, it was better than none at all.
He pushed her out of his mind, though he knew she’d just come back. She always did, and Cayden had lost way too much sleep to thoughts of the woman he’d only kissed once.
Once.
She shouldn’t have such sway over him, and yet, she did.
He obviously hadn’t made that big of an impression on her, because she’d never called him after she’d returned from her Caribbean vacation two months ago.
He went up the steps and rang the doorbell at the farmhouse, listening to it ring on the other side of the door. It sang through the country stillness too, and Cayden gazed out over the pasture that sat in the front left corner of the ranch. The grass was starting to green now that it was almost April, and Beth had two horses there, their heads down as they grazed.
There was something peaceful and serene about it that called to Cayden’s soul. As the public relations manager, he didn’t spend nearly enough time with the horses at Bluegrass Ranch. He could spend whole days in his office, in the administration building where few people normally came.
The only time the administration building was busy was during one of their events—the yearlings sale or their auctions. Then, the whole ranch bustled with activity, and Cayden was the one responsible for all of that.
He needed to get outside more, and he wandered away from the door and toward the railing on the far side of the porch. He’d just leaned against the railing when Beth said, “Cayden?”