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I love how at ease he is. It feels like I have my husband back. Truly. Yet I’m still waiting for the other foot to drop.
Reaching up, I quickly grab his hand and keep him close to me. “I’m serious,” I say as I look him in the eyes. “I want to know you’re okay.”
“Baby, I told you there’s nothing to worry about.” He brushes his hand against my cheek, forcing me to let go. Evan pinches my chin between his thumb and forefinger, and stares into my eyes.There’s a look there that makes me all warm and fuzzy. He’s always been able to do that, and I love him for it.
“You promise?” I ask him softly and he pecks my lips once, then goes in for a deeper one before answering me.
“Well, we do have a baby coming,” he says, still staring at my lips. “So, I’m sure we’ve got some things to be worried about, but that mess is over.”
The stir of desire drifts away, dissolving instantly when I peek back down at the article. The picture they chose is one of Samantha giving James a death stare as she was arrested. The papers paint her as the villain she is.
“And you got that package too,” Evan comments, bringing my attention back to him. My heart flickers once, then twice as I bite my lip and shrug.
“It was really nice of him,” Evan says, and I feel the need to smack his arm playfully as he stands up to keep packing.
I place a hand on my belly and tell him, “It was a goodbye and good luck gift from a friend.”
“A friend you kissed,” Evan reminds me.
“A friend who was there for me when you weren’t,” I point out.
His shoulders stiffen a little as he stops midway from taking another photo off the wall. “I know,” he says beneath his breath.
“It was a nice gift, though, wasn’t it?” I ask him. Evan looks at me with an eyebrow raised and I have to laugh. “He doesn’t have our new address anyway and he didn’t put his on the package either.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Evan says.
“I really like it.” I shrug my shoulders and remember the gift box Jake sent. Inside was a baby book calledI’ll Love You Forever. I can’t read it without crying. All the note said was that he gave a copy to all his friends who were expecting and he didn’t feel right not giving me one. One last kindness.
“It was nice of him, but it better be the last of him,” Evan warns me jokingly. I love the trace of a smile on his lips. He knows I’m all his.
I lean back in the chair, and a yawn escapes before I can stop it. I’m halfway to telling him off in some way or another, but the words are stopped.
“You ready to go home?” he asks me and I nod my head, but add, “Only if you’re all done.”
He takes a look around the half-packed house and shakes his head. I have to admit watching him cleaning up his father’s place makes my heart ache for him. I know I can’t take the pain away. It’ll always be there.
“You know our baby is going to be tough, right?” he comments just as the emotions start to get the best of me.
I rub my swollen bump in smooth circles as I pray our baby is okay in there and doesn’t know how sad I am in this moment. I only want love for him or her.
“I hope so,” I whisper as Evan comes back over to me. He wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me into his chest. I’m more than grateful as I wrap my arms around him and my cheek presses against his shirt.
“It’s true. When a mom goes through hell during pregnancy and handles it as well as you have, the baby can handle anything, you know?”
I let out a sad but genuine laugh into his shirt and try to calm myself down as he rubs my back.
I peek up at him and smile as his lips touch mine.
“Everything’s behind us,” he adds.
I feel the need to remind him, “There’s good behind us too, isn’t there?”
“So much good,” he says and then kisses me again before splaying his hand on my belly. “And so much more to come.”
EPILOGUE
Kat