Page 71 of Goal Line (Boston Rebels #4)

Chapter Fifty-Two

EVA

A fter taking my and Gigi’s bags to our rooms, Luke finds me in the kitchen, where I’m arranging some of the many vases of flowers that greeted me when I walked in the door a few moments ago. Everyone’s thrilled that Georgia and I are finally home from the hospital.

The week since her birth was one long blur. I’m sleep deprived, but elated to be home and thrilled that my daughter is doing well despite being born a month early.

“Can I convince you to stop futzing with the flowers for a minute?” Luke asks as he comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him.

It crosses my mind for half a second that he can probably feel the fat and loose skin left behind post-delivery, but after the awed way he watched me give birth and all the praise he’s lavished on me since then, I can’t find it in me to care.

“Sure,” I say, leaning my head back against his chest and closing my eyes.

I’m so bone tired that I feel like I could sleep for a week.

But there’s no hope of that. Gigi’s still asleep in her car seat in the living room where we set her after walking in the door, but she’ll need to eat soon.

Maybe next time she naps I can sleep too.

“I want to show you something before Gigi wakes up.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” He unwraps his arms from me and takes my hand. “Come on. I have a little surprise for you.”

I follow as he leads me down the hallway toward the bedrooms, and I’m surprised when he stops at the guest room—the same one I was supposed to sleep in once we were married, but only spent a couple of nights in.

Pushing open the door, he leads me into a completely novel space.

The room is painted in a soft cream with a sage accent wall, in front of which is an adorable crib with a gorgeous mobile above it.

My gaze sweeps around the room, taking in every perfect detail.

It’s reminiscent of all the photos I’d saved on the Pinterest board I’d been building before I was hospitalized, but it came together even better than I could have imagined.

I’m stunned and place my hand on my heart as I take in everything—this nursery clearly required a lot of coordination and effort. How in the world did this happen so quickly?

“Do you like it?” Luke asks.

My laugh sounds a little like a snort, and my eyes fill with tears. “It’s perfection . How...?”

“Everyone pitched in. Jules and Audrey designed it based on the photos you saved. I painted at night when you were in the hospital, and then the guys helped me get it all set up while you had your shower. Then the girls came in and got everything styled afterward so it would be ready when you and Gigi came home.”

I sweep my thumb under one eye, and then the other. The fact that all our friends helped make my nursery dreams a reality makes it that much more special. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

“I know. But Evie, you should have been expecting it. You should already know that I’ll take care of every need—and want—you have. Not because you can’t do things for yourself, but because I will never stop doing whatever I can to make sure you’re happy.”

I turn and fold myself into his arms as he showers me with kisses on the top of my head. Then he takes a small step back and drops to one knee.

My breath catches when he pulls a ring box out of his pocket. What the hell is he doing? “We’re already married,” I choke out as more tears trail down my cheeks.

“I know,” he says with a wink before flipping the top of the velvet box open. “But you deserved a better proposal than what you got. You deserved to have the wedding of your dreams?—”

“All I wanted was you, Luke.”

He swallows hard and his nose flares as he takes a deep breath. “All I wanted was you, too. And Gigi. And this life we’re building together. But I never wanted any of this unless it was with you. You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of, and I will never stop showing you how much I love you.”

“With jewelry?” I ask with a watery laugh.

My eyes blur with more tears, because even though I’ve already had our baby, I still have an overload of hormones running through me.

Or maybe this is who I am now? A sentimental sap, because I forever have someone showing me what it feels like to be adored and cherished.

“It seemed like the birth of our first child should be commemorated in some way.” He pulls an eternity band, encrusted in diamonds, from the box and holds it out to me.

Setting the box on the ottoman by the rocking chair, he takes my hand in his.

“In fact, I think I’ll get you a matching one every time you have a baby. You can stack them together.”

I laugh lightly and tell him, “If I have as many kids as you want, they’ll be stacked so high, I won’t be able to bend my finger.”

He shrugs. “You’ve got plenty of fingers.” He slides the ring onto the ring finger of my right hand, which is perfect because there isn’t much space on the finger with my wedding ring.

Sinking to my knees, I hold his face in my hands. “Thank you, Luke. For everything. For taking a chance on me?—”

“You and me together wasn’t chance, Evie. It was fate. There was no other possible outcome than this.”

“But to suggest we get married when I was already pregnant?—”

“Was the easiest, surest decision I’ve ever made. And it’s one I’ll never regret.”

“The way you made sure that she could be ours, ” I say, thinking about how he managed the paperwork and got Hans to sign it, all while I was in the hospital.

The way his name is on Georgia’s birth certificate, the way he’s built and protected our family.

“I’ll be eternally grateful that things turned out the way they did. ”

He leans forward, wrapping an arm around my lower back and pulling me against him.

And then he kisses my forehead and presses his lips to the bridge of my nose, before his lips meet mine.

He tentatively sucks my lower lip between his and I open for him, wanting to taste him, to feel him everywhere.

I know we can’t have sex for weeks still, but my god, I just want his hands and mouth everywhere in the meantime.

There’s a knock on the front door, and Gigi lets out a wail from the living room. Luke practically jumps back from me, scrambling to his feet and holding out his hand to pull me up right as she really lets loose. In a split second, Luke’s racing down the hallway to get to her.

“You don’t have to run,” I call after him.

“What if something’s wrong? She’s all by herself.”

“Babies cry, you know. She’s probably just hungry.”

He turns into the living room, and I stop to open the front door.

“Surprise!” Morgan says, standing in my doorway with my friends behind her. “I hope you don’t mind that we stopped by. I was dying to see you and meet baby Georgia.”

Behind her, Jules rolls her eyes. “I picked her up at the airport half an hour ago and she insisted I bring her straight here.”

“And I figured, if my sister and Morgan were coming,” Audrey says, “you wouldn’t mind me tagging along.”

I glance at Lauren, who’s standing next to Audrey.

“And when I heard they were coming, I couldn’t resist the chance to get some more baby snuggles.

” She smiles as I step back to let my friends in and then she pauses in the doorway.

Dropping her voice, she continues. “I also figured that you could use someone to round them up and get them out of here if having company on your first day home was too much. ”

“Thank you. For now, I’m very happy you all are here. Hopefully, you can give me some pointers on settling in. It feels like all I do these days is feed her.”

“That pretty much is all you do with a newborn. And change diapers, of course.”

I think about the fact that Lauren was doing this with two babies at once, and I suddenly have a whole new respect for moms of multiples. I feel like I have my hands more than full just with Georgia.

Luke heads to the gym for a quick workout as I settle into the living room with the girls. Everyone’s spread out on the couch and chairs, and the conversation flows naturally as I feed Georgia. She’s so tiny and tires easily, so her eyes drift shut almost immediately.

“You might want to stroke her cheek or something to keep her awake,” Lauren suggests. “Otherwise, she’ll only snack and never get full, then she’ll want to eat all the time.”

“Oh, is that why she wants to eat, like, every hour?”

“Probably. She’ll eat more and stay full longer if you can keep her awake long enough to finish eating.”

“Things you think they would’ve mentioned in the hospital.

” I shake my head, realizing that it’s entirely possible they did tell me, and I was too sleep deprived to remember.

“C’mon, Gigi,” I say as I stroke her cheek.

She doesn’t open her eyes, but she starts sucking again so I keep stroking her cheek as she eats.

“I’m so glad I have friends who have done this whole motherhood thing before. ”

“Happy to help,” Lauren says. “All three of my best friends from when I lived in Park City have recently had babies, so I’m living my best auntie life at the moment. ”

“Oh yeah,” Audrey says. “You just did the annual trip with them. How was it?”

“Well, now that I’m not the only one with children, we brought all the kids.

It was great, but Jameson and I skipped going on our honeymoon so we could do this annual trip, and now I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation.

Oh, speaking of...” Lauren’s head swivels to Morgan. “How was your mom’s wedding?”