Acting Happy (Texas Desires #2) (38 page)
Read Acting Happy (Texas Desires #2) Online
Authors: Rylie Roberts
Four years later
Live remote or so they kept spouting as the crowd inside her house frantically hustled all over the place, disrupting every part of Kenzie Bateman’s Texas home. Another overly used phrase: Create a natural location. Funny how she’d realized her very comfortable and nicely decorated home didn’t seem to have one of those. Apparently natural meant having to turn her living room inside out. Three quarters of the room had furniture pushed out of the way to allow for the two large cameras, all the crew, and the much needed lighting equipment to complement the asymmetry of their subject’s faces—production crew shorthand meaning her little family wasn’t near as photogenic as she’d thought. They needed lots of lighting help which forced them to move her long sofa away from the glare of the open windows running the length of the back wall.
Keeping them uncovered had been at Ty’s firm insistence. He had a thing about never wanting to be closed up again—for any reason—no matter what. So tonight, the sofas were moved, along with a few other pieces of furniture to make the corner of the living room look homey.
Seemed a little over-the-top, but what did she know?
“We need everyone in place in five minutes.” Kenzie heard Malea shout across the house and looked over at Linda Bryant or Nana as she was so lovingly called. She had graciously volunteered to come over to help with the kids. Chloe was almost two and into everything, and her pretty cream silk dress wouldn’t stand a chance if she were left to her own devices. Linda held Chloe safely on her hip, talking quietly to her and her older brother. Ashur was a five-year-old Syrian orphan they’d adopted shortly after their wedding.
Four-year-old Sabeen had only been with them for about eight weeks, and from the beginning, she’d attached herself to Ty. Even now, she was right by his side, holding his hand as he came into the kitchen looking as handsome as ever wearing his suit and tie. Anthony trailed behind, talking non-stop with Ty completely ignoring him.
“My family’s looking good,” Ty said as he came toward Kenzie sitting in the makeshift makeup chair having the last few touch-ups done on her face. He reached her, patting her very pregnant belly as his lips descended. “How’s my boy?”
“Don’t even think about it,” Connie, her makeup artist said boldly, shoving her hand between Ty’s and Kenzie’s lips. Ty wasn’t good at being scolded, but he took this one and turned back to their children.
“Come on, guys. We need to get you placed.”
Ty reached a hand out, helping to pull her up. She carried this little guy all up front, making her belly huge which in turn made it hard to navigate.
“Do I look okay? Nothing fits right,” she said nervously, looking down at the elegant silk dress Lara had sent her to wear tonight.
“You’re eight and a half months pregnant, of course nothing fits right,” Malea said.
Linda cut her protective, irritated motherly gaze over to the woman, venom in the way of words was sure to come, but Ty jumped in first as he helped Ashur from the table.
“You look gorgeous as always. You’re the most beautiful woman at the awards tonight. Stop worrying,” Ty said casually, lifting Sabeen in his arms before taking Ashur’s hand and leaving the room. She knew he meant those words, and even if they weren’t true, they did settle her nerves.
In a full waddle, she struggled to take Chloe as her little one reached for her, wanting to be held. Chloe was more like her daddy. All these people around made her a little uncertain. The thumb went to her mouth as she tucked her head against Kenzie’s neck.
“I’ve got the sippy cups, LeapPads, and wet wipes,” Linda said from behind her. They must have moved slower than she thought because Ty was back around the corner, his brows snapping together when he saw her.
“The doctor said nothing over five pounds,” he said, immediately taking Chloe from her arms. She was daddy’s girl too—he seemed to have lots of them in this family—and she went easily in his arms.
“She’s nervous,” Kenzie explained, but he wasn’t having any of that explanation as he scolded her for picking up their littlest one.
“Kenzie, the doctor said. You need to listen. You’re blood pressure’s too high. We need to keep my boy cooking a little longer.” Ty was gone again.
“Jerry was like that too, dear. It’s why we stopped at two. I couldn’t take all his worry,” Linda said as they entered the living room.
“Three minutes. We need to get you settled,” someone from the camera crew shouted.
Ty had the kids on the sofa. The plan was to have Sabeen sit between them, Ashur, who was so easy to get along with, planned to sit next to Ty. Chloe would be on Kenzie’s side. Ty helped her settle into the sofa. Good thing he was strong. She felt like she needed a crane. Once comfortable, she straightened her dress, took Chloe, and the countdown started. Ty hurriedly took his place, adjusting the kids around him.
“You ready, beautiful?” he asked. Ty was past the point of being concerned about how she handled things. Their lives in Texas gave her enough quiet balance to help compensate for the few times a year he took a movie role and required they all pack up and go along with him. Based on his commitment to their family, she hadn’t spent one single night away from him since before they were married.
“As ready as a beached whale could be,” she teased.
He immediately started to reply—he didn’t like when she said those things—but someone stopped him by yelling, “Smile!”
Ty swiveled his head back toward the camera and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, moving Sabeen in his lap as he scooted closer to her. She knew enough to understand they were live, the feed showing everything happening on the sofa. Ty would have planned that move. He always made sure he showed the world how much he loved her, and that somehow eased her nervousness. She never seemed to get used to all the cameras, but he managed it well enough for them both.
The added tension right now, tonight, had to do with the Academy Awards and Ty’s nomination for best actor. He’d declined attending due to her late in term pregnancy, but he had agreed to this remote filming setup. As much as everyone had disliked her in the beginning, now they loved everything about Ty Bateman and his growing family.
Kenzie did what she did best, sat there smiling, and kept Chloe’s focus on the LeapPad as she listened to the best actor nominees being listed. To go to this much trouble to have Ty available, she had already decided he was pretty much a shoo-in for the award. Julia Holly, one of her very best friends in the world, presented the award, and Kenzie wasn’t disappointed—Ty won for his portrayal of Raymond Babbit in the remake of
Rain Man
.
“It’s such an honor to win this award. We couldn’t be there tonight. Kenzie’s too far along to travel that far away.” Ty reached over to rub her belly, causing Sabeen and Chloe to copy his actions. That move always made her laugh, because both her children gave her the sweetest looks as they registered the big bump which meant there was a baby inside. When Ashur came across Ty to place a hand on her belly, smiling up at her, she forgot everything as she reached out to tousle his hair while hugging Chloe tighter to her.
It wasn’t until Ty leaned in to kiss her lips that she realized he was done speaking. She took the kiss and beamed up at him as he wrapped his arms around their children. She was happy. Truly, deeply and completely happy. Life couldn’t be better than this.
The End
Table of Contents
Books by
Rylie
Roberts
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Acting Happy
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Chasing Happy, A Texas Desires Novel
"Give a new author a try; it will be well worth your time."
~ Goodread Reviewer
"Captivating...Addicting...Masterful debut novel by Rylie Roberts. Rylie brings her characters to life and made me fall in love with Reed and Lara on every page. Sexy...Lustful....Passionate between the steamy scenes and meaningful topics Chasing Happy makes for an all around amazing read." ~ ~Swoon Worthy Books
" I loved this book and the characters in it. This is Rylie's first book and I think that they will just get better and better."
~Wicked Babes Blog
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