Page 39 of Against All Odds (Ember Falls #3)

twenty-nine

Everett

“ G ood morning, beautiful,” I say as I enter my mother’s house with Violet.

Her smile widens. “Everett, hi, sweetheart. You brought someone.”

“I did. I brought Violet. She wanted to see you again.”

Mom reaches her hands out to Vi, and she takes them, pulling her to the chair beside her. “Oh, Violet, hello. I ... know ... we saw each other. I just, you looked different.”

Violet smiles widely. “I changed my hair,” she tries to explain.

God, I love this woman. She always makes my mother feel comfortable. If she says something or doesn’t remember, Violet never puts her down. She just gives an excuse.

“You are positively glowing, darling.”

“Thank you,” Violet says.

I’d like to think I had a part in that. I did give her two orgasms this morning. Sure, it could be the pregnancy, but I’m going to take the credit where I can.

I sit beside Violet, taking her hand in mine. Mom has had two good days in a row, and so far it looks as though we might be going for a three-peat. Last night Violet and I agreed if she looked good today, we’d tell her about the baby.

Violet is starting to show. Her stomach has the most beautiful bump, and we’ll find out the sex of the baby soon, so we thought it was time.

“Mom, Violet and I wanted to tell you something, and we’ll come all the time and tell you again, so if you forget, it’s okay,” I say carefully.

She tends to get pissed off when she can’t recall things, but my hope is that if we tell her enough, and she continues to see Violet, it will become part of her memories.

“Are you okay? Is everything okay?” She starts to panic, and before I can react, Violet moves to her, taking her hands.

“Everything is fine. This is good news,” Violet says quickly.

“Oh, okay,” Mom breathes. “What is it?”

In the millions of ways I dreamed of telling my mother big news, I didn’t picture it this way, where I don’t know if she’ll remember any of it tomorrow. If she’ll ever really know Violet or the baby when she sees them.

I don’t even know if, at my wedding, she’ll have a clue who half the people are.

It really fucking sucks, and this will be a big test for her.

Violet squeezes my hand. Right, I need to tell her. “Violet and I are together again, and we’re going to have a baby.”

Mom looks to Violet and then me. “A baby?”

“Yes, Violet is pregnant.”

Her eyes mist over, and she gets out of her seat. “You’re going to have a baby together?” she asks again.

Violet and I both rise. “Yes, are you happy?”

She rushes toward us, wrapping her arms around both of our necks. “I’m going to be a nana.” Mom steps back, tears now coming down. “Oh, I’m so happy. So happy for you both. I just wish ... oh, I wish your father was here, Everett. He would be so proud. He would be such a good poppy.”

My throat grows tight. I’ve been trying so hard not to think about him and the fact that he will never meet our child and that they won’t know the man he was.

So many things we’ll miss out on.

“He would’ve,” I agree, choking on the words.

Violet rubs my back, and my mother clasps her hands together. “Oh, no tears today. This is happy news.” Then she glances down at my hand. “Everett, are you married yet?”

I didn’t think about that one. “No, Mom.”

Her big blue eyes widen. “You’re not? Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty sure I would know that,” I say with a laugh. “We’re not married—yet.”

Then her gaze goes to Violet’s hand. “Where is her ring?”

I’m just stepping in holes everywhere I go. “I didn’t ... we ... didn’t ... you know.”

Mom huffs and shakes her head. “Do you love her?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why aren’t you married or engaged?”

My parents were really old-fashioned. To them there’s a clear order on how this would go, and I’m in violation of that precedence.

I’m pretty sure Violet’s parents are going to be just as bad with it.

The only saving grace I have is that my mother will probably forget about all of this by the end of the day.

The bad part about that is I’m going to have to tell her again and again.

Fuck my life.

“We’re taking things slow. There’s no rush to get married.”

Also, Violet is still technically married to Dylan ... so, there’s that.

“I’m not sure how you getting her pregnant is slow, Everett Michael Finnegan.” She turns to Violet. “I’m very sorry, honey. He knows better.”

Violet fights back a smile and then nods, pulling her lips between her teeth. Once she has it together, she takes her hands. “He is doing everything right, Mrs. Finnegan. I promise this is what we both want. I don’t need to be married to Everett to know he will be by my side.”

Her words cut me to the core. It’s been hard for her to trust me, I get it. She’s been fucked over by her dickface of a husband. He left her for another woman and then left her again when he found out she was pregnant—well, in a way. All that she’s seen is abandonment.

Not to mention her parents basically have done it to her since she was born.

They’d take her on those damn expeditions, leave her to pretty much raise herself, then drop her off at her grandma’s house for the summers.

Mom doesn’t say anything. She just gets up and heads back to her room. Violet looks to me. “Is she upset?”

I sigh. “I have no idea. I’m assuming this is hard for her. There are a lot of questions that she probably can’t answer.” I get to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”

There is nothing I hate more in this world than the women I love being hurt or upset. My mother has been through enough hell in her life, and I don’t want to cause her more. As I’m getting ready to head there, she comes barreling out.

“Now, I know that I have memory issues and that sometimes, my brain doesn’t work right, but I know this.

” The tone in her voice sets me back to when I was six and was about to get punished.

“I know love. I have lived it, breathed it, mourned it, and I see it when I look at you.” She takes my hand, flips it over, and places something in my palm. “Don’t waste it.”

When I look down, there is my mother’s engagement ring. The one she hasn’t worn since my father died, because it was too hard.

“Mom . . .”

“For when you’re ready, which I hope is soon, because like I said before, Everett, you can’t ever get back time, no matter how hard you try. Now I need to lie down.” She looks to Violet and smiles. “If I forget, please remind me, because I would like to feel this happiness again.”

Violet nods. “I’ll remind you every day.”

Mom taps my cheek. “Marry her before she gets away again.”

“Are you going to propose then?” Killian asks as we’re making our way back to check on his horse. It’s been a few weeks, and while I was pretty clear that the horse needed rest, his trainer is a fucking prick and ran him out, which caused further injury—like I said it would.

When we got here, Killian asked how I was, and I told him everything. Like an idiot, I just blurted it all out.

“I don’t think she’s ready for that.”

“Did you talk about it after?”

I run my fingers through my hair and shake my head. “No, we sort of pretended that entire part of the conversation didn’t happen.”

What the hell was I going to say? Do you want to get married while you’re still married? How about engaged? You can wear my mother’s engagement ring to the divorce hearing. Sound good?

No, none of that sounded good, and I don’t know that she would say yes. As much as I want forever with her, I want to do it right and on our terms.

“All right, I can’t help you there, but you know, marriage is just a piece of paper. I know your mom has her feelings, and I get it. We all know marriages end, so a ring and a license doesn’t secure your relationship any more than it is.”

“Wise words, old man,” I joke, but he’s right.

He snorts. “I’m just telling you how I see it.”

“No, I know that. I appreciate your honesty.”

Killian is quiet for a few minutes and then clears his throat. “I think being a good dad has nothing to do with a ring on her finger. It’s more about showing up, which is where I’ve failed my daughter, but I’m trying to make amends.”

He never talks much about his personal life.

Killian has always been more private, and he doesn’t live in Ember Falls full-time, so it’s hard to know him well, but he’s a great guy.

He is always there for us, and he walked away from a professional football career to try to form a relationship with his daughter.

“I just want to do right by them both. I want to be a good dad but also a good man. Violet needs someone to show up for her, no matter what.”

He clasps my shoulder. “Then she’s lucky she found you to show her how it should be.”