(It Involves Monsters, Terror, a Dragon, and True Love)

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ÍSA TRIED TO REMEMBER TO do that “huff, huff, huff” breathing she’d been taught. “It’s happening,” she said almost to herself, putting down the volume of Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnets she’d been reading. “Harlow, Jake.”

The two boys, who were hanging out in her and Sailor’s lounge playing video games, didn’t take their eyes from the screen on which they were vanquishing monsters and hunting treasure.

“Yeah?” one mumbled.

“Hospital.”

The single word had them jumping up like jackrabbits, game forgotten and abandoned. On the screen, a monster ate Harlow’s head while another bore down on Jake with predatory intent. The boys, however, had other priorities.

One went to the cupboard to snag the bag she’d packed and put in there, while the other grabbed his keys. Both were qualified to drive, but it was the more experienced Harlow who was assigned as driver. Because this entire smoothly oiled operation was as a result of Sailor’s unrelenting care—and slight terror.

Ísa called her husband as she got into the front passenger seat. “Snookums,” she said in a private joke that still made her smile, “I’m on my way to the hospital.”

A sucked-in breath. “Meet you there.”

She smiled as she hung up and began to do her breathing again, her mind filling with thoughts of what it had taken to get here, to this moment when she was about to give birth to her and Sailor’s baby, adding a tiny new person to their already huge extended family. It hadn’t been easy. It had taken determination and grit and a firm belief in both their dreams.

Also included had been the vanquishing of a dragon.

Jacqueline had not been pleased when Ísa handed in her notice at the end of the previous summer. She’d been gearing up for more blackmail when Ísa told her to make a choice—a relationship with her eldest child and any children Ísa might have, or a cold, empty existence devoid of any family contact.

Unspoken had been the fact that if Ísa cut her off, Jacqueline would have to maintain the bonds with Catie and Harlow on her own. And Jacqueline frankly sucked at being maternal. It was Ísa who was the glue, Ísa who made sure Jacqueline wasn’t lost and out in the cold.

“As for Harlow,” Ísa had pointed out, “he’ll be fine.” The summer had been good for her brother—he’d come out of the internship with a new confidence that had girls suddenly giving him a second look. He was still in awe of Jacqueline, but at least now he knew he could hack it in a business workplace.

“If you think I’m letting that boy go after all the work I put into him this summer,” Jacqueline had snarled, “your head’s been addled by love hormones.” A gimlet-eyed glance. “When did you learn to be so ruthless?”

“I have your genes,” Ísa had said with a dry smile. “I try to keep the ruthless under control, but every so often it just bursts out.”

A twitch of her mother’s lips. “You know you have me over a barrel.” There was a strange vulnerability to her in that moment. “I have no desire to grow old surrounded by money and no children but Trevor.” Her lips curled up. “He sent me flowers the other day. As if Jacqueline Rain’s forgiveness can be charmed.”

Caught by that vulnerability, Ísa had done something she rarely did—she’d hugged her mother, the scent of Jacqueline’s perfume swirling around them. When she drew back, she’d held her mother’s eyes. “Keep the dragon breath under control and we’ll be fine. Also, you need to schedule a visit to Catie this weekend and take her out for a mother-daughter lunch.”

Jacqueline’s eyes had glinted, but she’d made the appointment in her diary. Then she’d sighed. “Poetry, Ísa, really? You’re truly going to waste that incredible, ruthless mind on poetry?”

“Nope. I’m going to use it to educate thousands of young minds through the years—and hopefully, one day, send my own words out into the world.” Ísa felt nothing but peace with the choices she’d made. “I’m also going to use it to love my family and create a legacy of love.”

Expression softening in a way Ísa had rarely seen, Jacqueline had touched her fingers to Ísa’s cheek. “Does that Sailor Bishop know what he’s got? Does he understand the gift of you?”

Yes, Ísa thought now, he did.

Two weeks ago, he’d brought her home a surprise, a refurbished antique writing desk that Ísa adored and petted and sighed over every time she sat down to work on her poetry. Sailor had found the beat-up and badly treated desk online, then brought it back to a lovely condition himself.

He’d stashed it in Gabriel’s garage and worked on it during the times when Ísa was in Hamilton to see Catie. Sailor usually came along, but every so often, she and Catie would have a girls’ weekend and he’d stay back to hang out with Gabe, his older brother’s life having been turned upside down as a result of a career-ending on-field injury.

“Gabe’s always been impossibly strong,” Sailor had said to her a month after it happened. “That grit’s still there, under the grief. He just needs a little support to find it again.”

Ísa agreed with Sailor; she had a feeling Gabe would surprise them all with his next step in life. What she also saw was that the brothers shared an innate strength—they simply showed it in different ways. The man she loved with all her heart and soul grinned and just kept on going step by step, while Gabriel was more intense

As for those girls’ weekends she had with Catie, Jacqueline was starting to turn up and join in once out of every three times. Mostly because Ísa would call her assistant and make sure Jacqueline’s schedule was blocked out for the weekend. But at least the Dragon was making an effort. And it was slowly paying off; Catie going as far as to invite Jacqueline to a school event—to which Ísa had driven Jacqueline when her mother made noises about canceling in favor of a strategy meeting.

Dragons didn’t change their scales without some help.

Harlow wasn’t only thriving, he’d become best friends with Jake despite the year that separated them and the fact that Jake was as sporty as Harlow wasn’t. Ísa’s brother was also, for the first time in his life, part of a group of boys and men who hung out together doing “manly-man stuff” as Catie had put it.

He’d gone white-water rafting with the Bishop-Esera males, tutored Danny in chemistry, and analyzed entire rugby games for Jake using statistical methods. Inspired by Jake’s dreams of playing for international clubs, he’d also been talking to Ísa about working abroad after he qualified.

Her brother was like a butterfly coming out of his cocoon.

Catie, meanwhile, had finally stopped growing—after reaching five feet nine. Which annoyed poor Danny no end. Sailor’s baby brother was still the shortest kid in his class, but Ísa had started to spot the signs of a growth spurt. Given the family genes, she had a feeling he’d one day be able to loom over Catie.

To which point Catie had the perfect comeback: “I’ll just get taller prosthetics.”

Laughing inwardly at the memory of Danny and Catie’s last bickering session, Ísa stroked her hand over her belly, her thoughts on the man who’d made her dreams into reality. Tough or not, she and Sailor had done it together every step of the way, sharing their dreams with one another and in so doing, making those dreams even better.

“How about Calypso?” Jake said from the back.

That happened to be the name of Jake’s girlfriend—his first real one. The two had been in puppy love for the past six months. It was adorable.

“I like Sofia,” Harlow said, pushing up his glasses at the same time. “Or you could name her after Jacqueline.” A pause. “You know she was hinting for that last weekend.”

“We’ll see,” Ísa said, not giving away the fact she and Sailor had already decided on a name for their daughter.

It had taken lots of whispered, late-night conversations and laughing disagreements before they’d agreed, but they’d been using the name for the past month when they talked to their baby girl, and it fit.

“Oh, geez, they’re doing work on the road.” Harlow swallowed and glanced at Ísa’s belly. “I really love you, Issie, but I totally don’t want to deliver your baby.”

Amused at the petrified look on his face, Ísa patted her brother’s unshaven cheek. Somehow he’d started growing into a man while she hadn’t been looking. “You’re safe. We should get there in plenty of time.”

But as the traffic dragged on, Ísa started to worry that she’d been overconfident. Because her contractions were coming closer and closer together. Biting the inside of her cheek, she managed to keep that from the boys.

When Jake said, “Do we have to change diapers?” she said, “It’s one of the duties of an uncle.”

“Oh, man.” Both boys groaned.

Someone’s phone rang. “It’s Catie,” Jake said from the back. “I texted her.”

Ísa hadn’t, aware her sister was attending a training camp this weekend. But she was happy to hear her voice. “Hey, Catiebug. How was training?”

“Who cares! You’re having a baby. I’m gonna catch the bus to Auckland! I already told Coach and he was a grump, but he said okay!”

Ísa laughed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to talk Catie out of that decision; her kid sister had inherited a full share of Jacqueline’s relentless will. “I’ll see you when you get here.” It was only midmorning—Catie would have plenty of time to make it safely to Auckland. “Message Sailor along the way, just in case I’m otherwise occupied.”

“Eee! I can’t wait!”

Ísa wished her baby would wait. A little longer, she begged mentally. “Come on, baby,” she whispered under cover of the boys’ conversation. “Wait for Daddy.”

Their baby listened—just.

Sailor was waiting at the hospital entrance, Jake having called to tell him of the delay and which entrance they’d be heading to. Seeing her face, he didn’t ask questions, just kissed her once before scooping her up into his arms and rushing her inside. Ten minutes later, Ísa squeezed his hand tight as their wriggling, squirming, pink-faced daughter made her way into the world.

Taking her indignant little body from the midwife, Sailor snuggled her. “Hello, Emmaline.”

A kiss before he placed her against Ísa’s skin. Ísa had read up about skin-to-skin bonding, and she’d been very clear with her birth team that, unless it was a medical emergency, she and Sailor would not be separated from their baby for the first hours of her life. She wanted Emmaline to know beyond any doubt that she was loved, was wanted, would never be shoved aside and left to fend for herself.

Emmaline would never feel the loneliness that was a marker of Ísa’s childhood.

“Hello, sweet baby.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she snuggled their angry little baby to the skin of her chest.

Sailor leaned down to kiss her, this blue-eyed man who’d helped make all her dreams come true.

“How was the meeting?” she asked some time later, after she and Emmaline were ensconced in a recovery room.

Sailor shrugged. “No idea. We started late and then Emmaline decided to arrive, so I left it in Nayna’s hands.”

Ísa knew her best friend—and the CFO of Bishop Gardening’s first store—would do them proud in the negotiations, but she also knew how important this expansion opportunity was to Sailor. Despite that, he was seated beside the bed and was playing with Emmaline’s tiny hand, utter fascination in his gaze.

“I love you, Sailor Bishop,” she whispered.

He looked up after kissing one of Emmaline’s teeny fingers. “I love you more, Ísalind with the moonlight skin and firelight hair.”

Emmaline chose that moment to yawn, and it was so adorable they both lost long minutes to watching her—until they were interrupted by the boys tumbling in. Alison and Joseph arrived soon afterward, together with Gabe and Danny. Catie made it around the same time as Jacqueline.

Nayna rushed in the instant the negotiations were complete, Raj with her.

Everyone wanted to look at Emmaline, wanted to celebrate.

And it was all right. Ísa and Sailor had all the time in the world for the things that mattered.

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I hope you loved CHERISH HARD! If you’d like to read Gabriel’s story, ROCK HARD is currently available everywhere. Two more Bishop-Esera brothers to go! To stay up to date with my releases and get exclusive access to deleted scenes and short stories, please join my newsletter at: - xoxo Nalini