Page 41 of It Happened Back Then (Nilsson Family #3)

I couldn’t wait to get to Blossom.

We only saw each other in passing; it took me a couple days to recover from the bachelor party and then I had double shifts at the restaurant. She’s been exhausted, falling asleep before I even leave the restaurant.

I pull into her driveway and find her standing on the porch. She looks nervous, but I’m not sure why. She smiles when she sees my car pull in, but it feels forced. Something in my gut tells me there’s a problem.

I get out of my truck and walk toward her, hands in my pockets. The moon is making itself known, but the porch light gives us what we need right now.

“Hey, Peach.” My voice comes out quieter than usual.

“Hey, you,” she says, and welcomes me in with a hug. This feels nice. I’m welcoming the cool air right now to keep my breathing steady. But standing here with her? It steadies me. Even when everything inside me already knows this is the calm before something bigger.

“You survive all the testosterone?” she teases, bumping her shoulder lightly into mine .

“You mean did I survive your brother?” I chuckle.

“And the answer is barely. Barely. I think he threatened to neuter me at least twice.” She laughs and the sound uplifts me.

“It was fine. Lief and I talked . If you could call it that. He was definitely playing the big brother on all fronts. I caught the brunt of it, but Drake didn’t escape it. And neither did Cole.”

She shakes her head and tsks. “I really expected Lief to be cool with everyone.”

I shrug. “He was. He just had to assert his dominance. I respected it.”

She smiles and we sit together on the little porch swing. It’s not the safest, it creaks when we both land in it, and I vow to myself to buy us a house with a wraparound porch and swing big enough to hold us and our baby. “We need to talk,” she says softly.

My heart drops, but I just nod, offering my hand without thinking. Whatever it is, I’m not going anywhere. Ever again.

“Let’s go to Bean Lake.”

~~

The moon mirrors off the surface of Bean Lake. It’s quiet out here, just the breeze and the occasional ripple of water from fish jumping. This place has meant something to a lot of people, but for me. It’s always been her . This is where everything started.

We walk side by side until the trees thin out and the shore opens up before us.

The lake laps at the edge, steady, small waves kissing the sand.

We sit, and my legs stretch out in front of me, hers tuck in crisscrossed like they always have.

She looks nervous. I feel it too, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for what she’s about to tell me.

“Are you okay?” I ask. “We can go sit in the truck if you want.”

She shakes her head softly. “No. I’d like to feel the air.” She breathes in, and it’s further confirmation something’s coming.

“I talked to my mom the other day,” she says.

I smile. “Is she happy about the baby?”

Her laugh is light. “She’s so happy. Already wants to shop, already thinking about names. She’s driving me crazy.”

“I haven’t told my parents yet,” I admit, then rush to add, “I will. I just… wanted a second to have this. You and me. Before anyone else gets a piece of it.”

She nods, but her eyes are heavy now. Her smile disappears. “That’s what I wanted to talk about. When I talked to my mom, she reminded me I don’t have to carry everything alone.”

“Why would you be alone?”

“I’m not. Not now anyway. But there’s something I never told you. From when we were kids. Before you left for college.”

The shift in her tone punches the air right out of my lungs. I turn to her fully, watching emotions play out on her face, knowing she’s about to hand me something heavy.

“Okay,” I swallow hard. “What is it?”

She clears her throat, eyes locked with mine as she replies. “I was pregnant, Bennett. At eighteen.”

My body freezes, but my heart pounds in my chest, like it’s trying to tear its way out. My hands curl into the sand, grounding me, because everything else suddenly feels like it’s spinning.

I don’t say anything. I can’t . I’m trying to understand, trying to breathe . She watches me, waiting, but I don’t even know what the hell I’m supposed to do with that.

“I didn’t even get to tell you,” she says, her voice cracking. “I lost it. I had a miscarriage.”

And fuck.

I feel it all hit at once, rage, heartbreak, guilt, like a storm that’s been hiding inside me finally lets loose. My hands ball into fists, jaw locked so tight it hurts. I want to say something but I’m afraid if I open my mouth, I’ll explode.

So she keeps going, rushing to explain.

“My mom was the only one who knew. I was scared. I wanted to tell you; I was just so—” She stops short, swallows a few times while she works to form more words.

Then she rushes on, “And your dad, I don't know how, but he found out. He knew before I even realized. I mean, I had an idea, but he,” she takes a breath, “he confronted me. Said he knew what was going on with us and wouldn't let me trap you, and that he didn’t want you stuck in this town.”

My voice escalates in disbelief. “He said that to you? Those exact words?”

She nods. And I feel sick . “He got in your head,” I whisper. “And you believed him.”

“I was terrified, and you had everything ahead of you. Culinary school. A future. I didn’t want to be the reason you gave that up. So I told you to go. To date other people. I thought I was protecting you.”

I can’t speak. I want to scream. I want to cry.

I want to go back in time and fix everything.

But all I can do is whisper the truth that’s been choking me since I was eighteen.

I knew leaving then was a mistake. We had it planned out; she was coming with me.

I should have known there was more. I should have seen the signs.

Finally, I whisper, “I would’ve stayed. ”

“I know,” she whispers back. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. Because I knew you would.”

And that? That shatters me more than anything else. Not because she was wrong to think it but because she was right . I would have put everything on hold to be with her.

“You never gave me the chance to decide that for myself though, Blossom.”

“I know,” she says, voice shaking. “I’m so sorry. I really am. But you were settled on Seattle and then I lost the baby, and?—”

“I could’ve been there,” I snap, voice breaking. “It was my baby, too.”

Her tears spill, fast and hard. “I know what I took from you, and it wasn’t fair. And all these years, it sat in my mind. I needed you to go to school. I needed you to see what else was out there. I was already dealing with so many losses, and you didn’t deserve to clean up another.”

My throat aches, my chest burns. “It’s not about me cleaning it up; it’s about us walking through things together. It’s all I've ever wanted, Blossom. From the time we were ten, through your dad’s death, through this, I could have been there.”

Her voice drops to barely a whisper. “Please don’t hate me.”

I look at her and all I see is the girl I’ve loved my entire life. Scared, hurting, trying to do the right thing even when it broke her.

“I could never hate you.” I reach out, cupping her face in both hands. My thumbs catch her tears. “You don’t have to carry it alone anymore.”

She nods, and her tears don’t stop but this time, they don’t scare me. They break my heart in the best way. Because she’s not hiding anymore.

“I never stopped loving you,” I whisper .

“And I’ve loved you every day since I was ten,” she replies.

Then I kiss her. God, I kiss her like it’s the first time, like it’s the last time, like it’s every time I wanted to and couldn’t. I pour everything into her, every year we lost, every single piece of me.

We’re not two broken kids anymore. We’re a man and a woman with something real between us. We’re covering every loss and win over the last ten years, rewriting how we saw things and deciding how we’ll move forward together.

And this baby?

This baby is our new beginning.

~~

We sat at the lake for I don’t know how long, and I had to go over everything she told me in my mind. So much started to make sense yet nothing did at the same time.

I remember thinking about things my dad said throughout the years. I wondered about him saying I needed to find a good girl and how it changed everything. Hearing her tell me how he spoke to her, though, that infuriates me.

The rain starts to fall so we run back to my truck. The ride back to my cabin is quiet, and I don’t even ask if she wants to come in. I skip her road completely. I need to have her in my space. Whether we live here together or not doesn’t matter. For tonight? She needs to be in my bed.

I take a breath and step inside.

She follows me and quietly says, “We came through the door this time.”

I chuckle. “We don’t have to sneak through windows anymore.” I shift slightly, arms wrapping around her, holding her like she might disappear. Like she’s done to me so many times before. “I meant it, you know. Every word.”

“I know.”

I press my forehead to hers and close my eyes. We breathe the same air. The kind that feels like forever.

She whispers, “I wish I’d told you back then. About everything.”

I understand why she didn’t. We were young, she was scared. I’ll replay this night over and over, probably compare it to thousands of other conversations throughout the years, seeing the holes, having questions answered, but I’m not mad.

The air feels different. There are no secrets anymore. “You thought you had to protect me.”

She nods, looking down.

“I would’ve chosen you.” my voice cracks. “Don’t ever be afraid to come to me, or to tell me anything because then, now, a thousand years from now, I’ll always choose you.”

The weight of the night finally hits, and she cries.

The tears come hard and fast but all I can do is hold her, while doing my best to hold back my own.

I need to be strong for us both. She’s unloading a whole decade of hurt and I need to be the man she needs right now, a strong and safe place for her.

“Will you stay with me tonight? Let me hold you.”

She nods. “Please.”

My fingers intertwine with hers and I lead her to my bedroom. I begin to undress her, slowly. I want to take my time, let her feel my love.

Pulling her shirt over her head, I bend and help her step out of her shorts. Seeing her in just a bra and panties, I lay my hand on her belly, which has me feeling things I’ve felt before, but on a whole new level. Protection. Lust. Forever.

We move to the bed, and I lay her down, placing a kiss on her belly before sliding her out of her panties and removing her bra, just looking at her before me, taking her in. “You’re fucking beautiful, Blossom.”

I quickly shed my clothes and lay down next to her, loving the feel of her body pressed against mine.

I kiss down her neck, flick at her nipple, and when she arches her back, I dip my head low and kiss her belly again.

Nipping with my teeth then soothing with a lick, I tickle her where our love grows.

I rise above her, eyes locked on hers, and when I enter her, it’s slow and deliberate.

One deep thrust and everything else falls away.

Another, and I can’t stop, I can’t get close enough.

There’s no sound but the rhythm of skin meeting skin, the movement of the bed, her breath catching beneath mine.

“I’m glad you told me.” I whisper and she wraps her arms around me, holding me tight. She’s had years to come to terms with this, but I’ve had an hour, so while I say I’m okay, I still need her to put me back together.

I move with purpose, not just to feel her, but to claim this moment. She needs to know, as much as I do, that we’re going to be alright. “I’m never leaving you.”

Her nails dig into my back, and I welcome the sting. Every clench of her around me feels like a promise, or maybe forgiveness. Like we’re healing wounds I didn't know were there, but together we can move forward.

“There’s no one who fits me better than you.

” I thrust deeper, slower, then harder, reminding her who I am to her, reminding her who we are as a couple underneath all the hurt and miscommunication.

All the texts and late-night conversations.

All the years between us and even just nights where there was only a windowpane to crawl through to get to her.

My forehead rests against hers, slick with sweat. We breathe together, gasping, trembling, the moment growing bigger than either of us.

I feel something shift between us as I slide my arms under her back, holding her shoulders for leverage so I can pour all of myself into her. We’re not just making love. We’re remembering how it was, we’re growing it into more, and we’re never giving it up.

“I’m in love with you, Blossom.”

And when we both come together, her cry is soft against my mouth, and I whisper her name like it’s the only word that’s ever mattered.

Right now, there is no past.

Only us, in this bed, our love and our future.

Together.