Page 62

Sixty-Two

Jade

A large hand runs down my back, and I open my eyes to find Henry standing next to me. He’s in his button-down dress shirt and slacks from his suit, looking mouth-wateringly gorgeous. In the middle of a freaking hospital.

“Hi.” My voice is raspy with sleep.

“Hey.” He bends down and kisses me, then kisses Bodhi’s forehead. “Hard day, huh?”

Tears well in my eyes. “I’m sorry, Henry.”

He shakes his head. “Stop apologizing. It was an accident, it happens.”

“But—”

“No. There’s no buts here, Jade.” He tucks my hair behind my ear and bends down again to kiss me, but when he’s millimeters from my lips, he stops. “Thank you for taking care of him.” He presses his lips to mine again.

“I think there’s some room for you to join us.” I pat the other side of Bodhi.

He walks around and gently gets on the bed. I slide over as much as I can, and he’s careful of Bodhi’s broken arm in the sling. He stares at it and blows out a breath. “It must have been scary.”

“For you too.”

His eyes meet mine. “For both of us.”

I nod because it was. But I feel so much better now that he’s here.

He takes my hand. “Jade, I’ve been going about this the entirely wrong way. I’ve only been opening the door a little bit for you instead of giving you full access.”

“It’s okay. This is hard.”

“Yeah, it is, but we can make it easier, I think.” He glances down at Bodhi, and so do I. “I want to do this with you, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. But I want you to move in with me, and I want you to raise Bodhi with me. One day I hope you’ll marry me, and I’d love to make another Bodhi with you. Actually, more than one. Does that scare you?”

My chest fills with so much happiness and gratitude for having this man back in my life that it feels near bursting.

I laugh and shake my head. “No. I feel like I’m just finding my footing though, trying to push away the nerves and fear that I’m doing it wrong. But I don’t want to find out who I am in this role with anyone but you.”

He blows out a breath. “Thank God. That makes me really happy.”

“So, what exactly are we agreeing to?”

“I think you just agreed to marry me,” he says, cockiness in his tone.

“You’re gonna need to get down on one knee with a ring, buddy. I didn’t wait this long to get engaged to have my proposal be in a hospital room, with bedhead and swollen eyes.”

He laughs and squeezes my hand. “Will you move in with us?”

I nod. “Yeah.” A tear runs down my cheek, and I wipe it away. “God, these happy tears are killing me.”

He raises his hand and shoos mine away. “That’s my job.” He wipes the tears from my face as we stare at one another.

If he’s thinking the same thing I am, he’s marveling over the fact that after all these years, we’ve finally arrived here.

Bodhi wiggles, and his eyes open, focused on me.

“Look who’s here.” I nod toward Henry.

He turns his head, and a relieved sigh slips out of him. “Daddy!”

“Hey, bud. Broken arm, huh?” Henry acts so cool about it.

“Yeah, Jade came up with this game where she lays pillows on the ground and these animals are chasing or swimming after us. I tried to save her from a killer whale.” He frowns. “I shouldn’t have jumped.”

Henry glances at me. “I don’t know, I’d probably dive into killer whale waters to save her too.”

“Then you would have broken your arm,” he says.

Henry nods. “Yeah, but I’d have it no other way. But I do think Jade’s pretty strong and could probably save herself too.”

I smile at Henry, and he winks at me.

“She made these protein banana pancakes.” Bodhi cringes and shakes his head as if I can’t see him.

“Hey, you said you kind of liked them,” I tease.

Henry laughs. “I guess I’ll make the pancakes, and Jade plans the games?”

“Yep.” Bodhi nods and looks between both of us. He picks up my hand and places it over his stomach, then puts Henry’s hand on top of mine. Then he covers them with his own and smiles.

I have no doubt we’re on our way to that happily ever after people talk about, but I’m also sure there will be some roadblocks or speed bumps along the way. Hey, that’s life. It’s who you travel the road with, not the smoothness of the ride.