Free Moving on With Brock: A Passionate Second Chance Romance by Sandra Ross

Chapter One
    “SURPRISE!” 
    The shouts of everyone startled Portia as she turned on the lights in her house. There had to be at least 30 people all smiling at her and clapping as she gazed around her family room. Carrie, her best friend, seemed to be leading the way for this surprise party. Portia wasn’t wholly surprised, though. After all, when had Carrie ever listened to her about anything? 
    So, of course, when Portia explicitly told Carrie that she wanted to downplay her birthday this year, why wouldn’t Carrie plan a surprise party? Carrie always had a tendency to not hear what she was told or to hear it in a completely different way than it was spoken. 
    Well, Portia certainly wasn’t going to be rude to these nice people that had shown up to help her celebrate a milestone in her life that she would just as soon have skipped over. It wasn’t their fault that Carrie chose to ignore Portia’s wishes. That’s why she smiled and started commenting on how surprised she was and how wonderful it was that everyone had come. As soon as she could do it politely, though, she pulled Carrie into the kitchen with her. 
    “Why would you do this?” Portia asked her. 
    “What? Throw you a surprise party for your 30th birthday? The question should be why wouldn’t I do this?” Carrie retorted. 
    “I specifically told you that I didn’t want to do anything special for this birthday and you know why.”
    “I know that you’re being stubborn and that it’s time for you to start moving forward in your life," Carrie said while looking stubbornly at her. "Portia, what happened to you and to Gideon was horrible. I’m not disputing that and I’m certainly not taking away from the sheer awfulness of it all. But, Sweetie, it’s been nearly two years now. It’s time to start taking some baby steps out into the world again.”
    Portia simply looked at her friend and she could feel the tears that were starting to well up in her eyes. Two years ago, she and her husband were attacked in their house by a burglar. Gideon died while defending her. She, on the other hand, was under a coma for a few weeks, and when she came about, he was already buried. She also lost the baby she was carrying. The burglar was sent to jail and a year later was shot in an attempted jailbreak with others. But that did not help her move on. It was still so hard to remember Gideon and to accept that she had lost the chance of a very happy life with him and their unborn child. The burglar's life couldn't bring that all back.
    Carrie saw the impending tears. Quickly grabbing a napkin, she handed it to Portia. 
    “No. You’re not going to cry tonight! I won’t allow it,” Carrie ordered. “You’re going to blot your eyes and then walk back into that room where some of your best friends are waiting to help make this day a happy one for you. Now, come on. Dry your eyes.”
    That was something else about Carrie. Portia had never been able to argue with her when she was being perfectly logical. It was true that Portia had tried to simply hibernate after what happened but she hadn’t felt like getting out and socializing. Besides the fact that her heart was in tiny pieces, she felt it was somehow disloyal to Gideon for her to rejoin the living. 
    Of course, she knew that was also ridiculous. The one thing that Gideon would have wanted her to do was be with people that cared about her and could help pull her out of that very dark place she was in. 
    So that’s why she would be going out into that roomful of people to smile and thank everyone for being a part of her wonderful day. 

Chapter Two
    PORTIA dried her eyes, took a deep breath and walked back into the family room. 
    There was more cheering and well-wishing when when they saw her. The smile Portia had plastered on her face soon started to feel almost real. If she were to admit it, she would have to say that Carrie had made the right decision in putting this party together. 
    It kept her