Page 41
Aiden, One Year Later
I check the mailbox on my way into the house, knowing that Luna will have forgotten it.
Mostly because she’s had a lot of other things on her mind with the rollout of her insulin program over the last couple of weeks.
But also making sure that Bri’s felt at home.
Because Bri has finally given in and agreed to move into the Maybelle-Black residence.
She’s spent the last year completing her GED, working at the bakery, and…learning to trust the good people around her. And now that she’s officially eighteen, she’s officially moving in.
Officially letting us in.
Well, it was either that or my mom was going to find a way to get her to move there, and that would really cut in on hers and Luns’s reading time.
But seriously, she’s doing great—making friends, excelling at work and school, and she’s even applied to a few colleges for the spring semester, though she’s not entirely sure what she wants to study.
Luna thinks that she’ll be an author.
And I don’t think she’s wrong.
I just know that after all that Bri’s survived, she can do anything she puts her mind too.
The mailbox is empty except for a few letters, so I snag those, grab the rest of my stuff from the back seat of my car, and head into the house, wondering how I’m going to give Luna her surprise now that we have with a teenager living with us.
No more stair sex.
Or kitchen sex.
Or living room sex.
Definitely no library sex.
Good thing I excel at bedroom sex.
Grinning, I round the corner from the hall, mouth already watering in anticipation of my hot cocoa and?—
“Surprise!”
I jump—nearly all the way out of my skin, and whip around, mouth falling open at the sight in front of me—the kitchen full of my siblings, my parents, Bri…and Smitty and Kailey.
Frowning—mostly because I’m wondering what laws my teammate broke in order to make it here before me (or maybe what land speed records since we both left the arena at the same time)—I turn from him to the woman who owns my heart.
She’s smiling and leaning back against the opposite counter. “Happy Anniversary,” she says softly.
I shake my head at her, mouth curving.
Mostly because I had other plans to celebrate our anniversary.
With ice cream and pastries, books…and most importantly, orgasms .
None of which is all that conducive to our family surrounding us, eyes locked onto Luna and me, the mood oddly anticipatory.
I glance around again, trying to put my finger on that.
I mean, Luns makes great hot cocoa.
But it’s midnight after playing a tough game against the Eagles, and…
Well, we should all be heading off to bed—and the aforementioned bedroom sex for Luns and me, to whatever else the rest of these jokers want to be doing in their own bedrooms (in their own houses, except for Bri).
Instead, everyone is standing around… waiting .
For what, though, I don’t know.
“Bri?” Luna murmurs and I feel the energy ramp up, practically ripple through my mom and Smitty.
What the fuck?
“I got it,” Bri replies softly, lifting the tray from beside Luna that I hadn’t noticed before.
I see now that it’s filled with enough mugs for everyone, all steaming, all filling the air with the delicious smell of hot cocoa.
Bri carries it carefully to the kitchen island, setting it between everyone.
But in front of me.
I guess they want me to pass them out?
I smother my frown, reach for the first glass, intending to give it to Luna?—
And then I freeze.
Because there are letters in each the mugs—candy letters tucked into the mounds of whipped cream.
Letters that don’t make sense…
Except they do when I put them all together.
Because they’re spelling out:
Happy Anniversary.
And after that:
Congrats, Dad!
I turn to my dad, genuinely perplexed—especially since everyone seems to be waiting for a response from me. “Did you get a promotion or something?” I ask him.
There’s silence.
Then Bri starts laughing. She turns to Luna, eyes dancing. “You called it!”
“I, um, called what?” My dad’s job? I thought he was going to retire next year.
Bri shakes her head and, eyes twinkling, she starts passing out mugs. But her words are directed at Luns instead of answering my question. “I think it’s time for you to go to your plan.”
Luna’s eyes are sparkling similarly, but she doesn’t argue, just lifts a small gift bag from behind her and brings it over to me.
“What’s happening?” I ask as she sets it in front of me and curls into my side.
“Open your present.”
Scowling, I tug out the tissue paper, pull out the contents…
And freeze.
Because the Congrats, Dad! suddenly makes sense.
Fingers clenching on the edges of the book—the baby book—I glance down at the woman I love with everything I have in me. “Always surprising me, aren’t you?”
She grins, leaning closer, settled enough in us that she knows this little— huge —surprise would never be anything but completely welcome. “I know we just started talking about kids,” she says. “But apparently the universe decided it was time for us to expand our family.”
Not start—because we’ve already done that.
The people in this room are evidence of that.
But expand —because love isn’t contained, isn’t divided, carefully portioned into bite-sized morsels.
It’s infinite.
It’s showing up for hot chocolate at midnight and sharing a book with a friend. It’s karaoke and twinkly lights and matching rugs on the floor, standing at our sides against people who want to tear us down and filling a locker room with confetti.
It’s showing up, sticking around, and being the steel wall of support as needed.
It’s recognizing the gifts the universe gives us—and protecting them, keeping them safe and secure and fully in the knowledge that there’s nothing they can do to decrease their value.
Because they’re perfect, just as they are.
And…it’s putting aside fear and thoughts of shoulds and what ifs aside in order to just be an us.
“I love you,” I murmur, laying my hand over Luna’s still flat belly.
“I know,” she says. “And we”—she covers my hand with her own—“love you right back.”
My heart is so full it could explode.
Luckily, it doesn’t get the chance to.
“This hot chocolate is the shit!” Smitty booms.
“Language!” my mom warns him even though Bri has heard much worse, many times over.
“It’s fine, Kathy,” she says, right on cue.
“It’s not fine! It’s…”
I sigh.
Luna giggles.
But eventually the trio turns off the antics for long enough for everyone to get in on the conversation, to give Luns and me their congratulations, and to drink their hot cocoas.
It’s messy and loud and filled with teasing.
It’s a family.
My family.
And looking around this room, I know I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Still, I can’t wait for them to all leave so Luns and I can commence with my version of celebrating.
Because it sure as hell isn’t going to involve hot cocoa.
Luna
I pad into the kitchen, pleasantly exhausted from the excitement of the night before.
Bri’s joining in on the hot cocoa, coming up with the adorable idea of announcing my little—or really, big —surprise to Aiden and getting everyone in on the action.
And no surprise, our family showed up for us.
At midnight.
With their own lives and responsibilities and their own early mornings to get up for.
But they came anyway—because of course they did.
So, it’s with a full heart that I’m walking into the kitchen, my socks silencing my footsteps as I make my way over to the coffee pot.
Bri’s already left for the bakery, having the earliest morning of all of us, and I’m next up, needing to meet with Jean-Michel and Jace to give them an update on the rollout.
It’s not perfect—there have been hiccups with insurance companies and legislators, confusion from patients.
But we’ve crossed the finish line.
Now it’s just troubleshooting and working through whatever problems crop up.
And maybe planning my next way to save the world.
With Aiden and the others at my side, how can I not?
Lips turning up, I pour myself a mug of coffee and sip deeply. One per day is what my doctor recommended, so I’m going to savor it… and make it a really big cup.
I set it on the counter, allowing the caffeine to hit my bloodstream.
I need it.
Between the impromptu celebration with our family and then the private one Aiden and I held, just the two of us, I was up late.
Obscenely late.
And I don’t care that exhaustion is clinging to my bones.
Because…I’m happy.
And I’m not alone.
And I’m not weighed down by a curse, by my father and brother—not that they’ve become any less annoying…they’ve just become less important.
As in, I don’t care what they think of me.
As in, I’m not an easy target any longer—both because I’ve found my spine and because I’ve built a family who takes my back instead of trying to tear me down.
I take another sip of coffee, but this time when I set it down, I see a pile of mail that Aiden must have brought in the night before.
It looks to be three days’ worth—because that was when he left for his road trip and…
Pregnancy brain strikes again.
Too bad I won’t have that excuse forever.
Then I’ll have to blame myself for forgetting to check the mailbox.
I sort through the pile—most of it destined for the recycling bin, but an envelope at the bottom catches my attention.
I tug it free and have to lock my knees so I don’t collapse.
Because Grams’s handwriting is on the front.
“What?” I whisper, hands shaking as I lift it, tear open the flap?—
The paper smells like her and I hold it close to my face, inhaling the floral scent of her perfume for a long moment.
Then I start reading.
My baby girl,
I hope you weren’t too mad at me for the stunt I pulled with my will, but if this letter’s reached you, it means that you’ve managed to fulfill my last request…and that you’ve done it by connecting with Aiden Black.
I gasp, fingers crinkling the edges of the paper, eyes stinging.
Then I manage to calm myself enough and go back to reading.
Table of Contents
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- Page 21
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- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
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- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41 (Reading here)
- Page 42