Inevitable Fidelity (Book 3 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Chapter One

"Chamby!"

It was a voice he hadn't heard in many months. A tiny voice that he had missed, very much, since returning to school eight months before. And the same voice that brought a smile to his face as he turned around in the direction of it.

Chambers knelt down on a knee with his arms wide open. He beamed, raising his brows, excitedly calling, "Rosebud!" to a small child running towards him with her arms outward and her dark curls bouncing. Darla Henry squealed her giggle, jumping up into her Godfather's awaiting arms.

He stood up and hugged the child tightly, spinning around and smiled, "Ohhhh, my Rosebud! You are so beautiful!"

He was hugged just as tightly around his neck and Darla's tiny voice whispered, "I missed you, Chamby."

Chambers rested his head against hers, nodding that he missed her, too. He pulled his head back at the same time Darla pulled hers. She wrinkled her button nose, revealing her two front teeth as Darla raised her shoulders, "You're so tall, Chamby!"

He laughed, then shook his head with a pout. He told her that she was just shrinking to which Darla made a face at him.

"Nuh-uh! Mommy says you're tall like daddy," Darla informed him.

The twenty-two year old grinned, raising a brow and leaned close to Darla's face with squinted eyes. He whispered, "That's because your mommy is shrinking, too."

The little girl in his arms giggled behind her tiny hands, raising her shoulders again.

"I heard that, Chambers!"

Jumping at the sound of another voice, Chambers turned his body to the side and Mara came into view. He smiled widely at one of his few favorite people.

Mara was slowly walking the sidewalk with a scrunched face every few steps, having to pause and place her hands on her large round belly, to take a deep breath, then continue walking again. She glanced up at Nathan beside her, leaning over to ask her if she was alright. She nodded, waving her hand dismissively and placed a look of determination to reach the end of the sidewalk. Her husband looked up and over at Chambers, shrugging a shoulder and nodding to the side with his mouth pursed in the same direction.

The younger Henry grinned, shaking his head at the stubborn pregnant woman.

Ever since the family heard the news that Mara and Nathan were having another baby, there was non-stop excitement from his sister, mother, and Jacee. All three women would run around the Henry Estate making sure that Mara had everything she needed and wanted. But Mara Henry became more agitated with her family suffocating her. She'd lash out at the most random moments, and Nathan would have to carry her back to their bedroom until she was able to calm herself.

Over a phone call with his brother, Chambers could hear a shouting Mara in the background about having too many pillows, and that it was impossible to even know that she was in the room with the mountain of fluff on her bed.

"It drives her crazy to have to sit and do nothing while people wait on her," Nathan had explained, before he was heard mumbling over at his wife to stop shredding the pillows.

Chambers fully understood that Mara was used to doing things for other people and not the other way around. He remembered that perfectly. Now that she was well on her way into her final month, his sister-in-law was still a bit aggressive and easily ticked off. And luckily she had Nathan there who was the only person Mara didn't mind receiving so much attention from. As a matter of fact, it calmed her tremendously with the little things he'd do to make her as comfortable as possible. Chambers concluded it had a lot to do with the guilt of getting Mara pregnant in the first place and the least he could do was spend as much time with her when not at work.