ASHLEY

Sometime later…

Life had shifted in the most unexpected, beautiful way—and Ashley felt every moment of it deep in her bones.

It wasn’t just a change. It was a transformation as if some invisible thread had pulled her and Liam together and then woven their paths into one.

Whatever doubts or fears they had once carried were long gone, scattered behind them like leaves caught in the wind.

They had chosen each other every day, in the quiet and the chaos, in the routines and the spontaneous laughter.

It felt like they’d linked arms and stepped into a whole new world together—hand in hand, hearts tethered, marching boldly into a future neither of them could have ever predicted.

There were quiet evenings curled together on the couch, her cheek resting on his shoulder as they watched mindless television and whispered little nothings that meant everything.

Dinners out where he’d slide his hand across the table to hold hers, his eyes shining like he couldn’t believe she was really his.

And then there were the public moments—the on es where she stood beside him at team galas or charity auctions, her fingers laced with his while cameras flashed, and reporters swarmed.

Liam was the face of the team now—charismatic, composed, effortlessly charming.

He smiled for interviews, posed for pictures, and made speeches at fundraising events.

And even when she wasn’t physically by his side, Ashley found herself trailing behind him in the digital world—watching clips of his post-game interviews, scrolling through pictures of him at events she couldn’t attend, reading quotes he’d said that made her heart swell with pride.

He was out there in the world, and she followed him like some teenage fangirl with a crush, smiling stupidly at her screen before driving home just to feel his arms around her again.

They talked constantly. Not just about day-to-day things but about dreams. Plans. Big ones. The additions to the cabin that they wanted to do someday. The future of his team, and the direction of her career.

Lately, the word family had begun to echo between them like a soft whisper.

It wasn’t a topic they’d fully embraced yet, but it lingered in their conversations, hovering just outside the edges of their current life.

There was time. But the thought of children—someday—had stopped being something vague and distant. It had started to feel real.

And then, tonight.

They were in bed, the world outside their room hushed and still.

Ashley’s head rested on Liam’s chest, her fingers absently tracing little circles across his skin as she listened to the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat.

It calmed her, grounded her. It was in this kind of moment—unguarded, wrapped in shadows and warmth—that their most honest conversations tended to slip out .

“Jett Acton’s wife is pregnant,” Liam said quietly, his voice nearly swallowed by the silence of the room.

Ashley blinked, her mind slowly shifting gears. “Karen?” she asked, trying to place the name. Jett Acton—now there was a man who lived up to his last name. Loud, unpredictable, always doing something to cause a scene, ‘acting’ up in strange ways.

“Yes.”

“Heaven help her,” Ashley murmured with a quiet laugh, though her gaze drifted upward toward his face, trying to read his mood.

“Jett is not exactly a ‘ calming’ persona. Karen is going to need support as her body goes through a bunch of changes. She can’t ‘ raise her husband’ and a child at the same time.

She might as well have twins—or triplets. ”

“He can be… challenging, but I don’t think it’s quite like that,” Liam admitted, and there was something in his voice that made her pause. He wasn’t looking away—he was watching her, intently as if waiting for something.

And then she saw it.

That flicker of something unspoken in his eyes.

And she knew.

“Do you want a baby?”

“Someday,” he murmured, the word barely above a breath. It sounded like a confession he hadn’t meant to say out loud, something fragile and precious that had finally found its way to the surface. “Do you?”

“Maybe someday,” Ashley said honestly, her voice softer now, careful. “But I’m gone so much with my job, and we’re just figuring this out between us, you know?”

“I know,” he said, the weight of understanding in his tone.

And then, slowly, he shifted. He sat up, pulling away from the warm cocoon of their shared comfort, and Ashley instin ctively followed, adjusting the covers and tucking them under her arms as she turned to face him.

He leaned back against the headboard, thoughtful, his eyes still on her.

“Yesterday was our ninety days.”

Ashley’s breath caught in her throat like a sudden gust of wind stealing the air from her lungs.

Ninety days. That was the original deal, the quiet agreement they had made for their so-called marriage of convenience.

Three months of shared space, shared names, shared lives—but not necessarily shared hearts.

And now, sitting beside Liam in the soft glow of their bedroom, the weight of those ninety days pressed against her chest like a heartbeat she couldn’t quite catch.

It felt both impossibly brief and achingly endless.

Why was he bringing this up now?

Her heart began to pound, an anxious flutter that echoed louder in her ears than the quiet stillness around them . Was he having second thoughts?

“So?”

Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but it cracked through the silence like lightning.

“I’m just checking to see how you feel,” he said, eyes searching hers—wide, open, and so heartbreakingly vulnerable. “I meant forever, but you’ve never mentioned how you feel about me – about us.”

She stared at him, blindsided. Did he not know? Had she really kept it so close to the vest that he couldn’t see it in the way she looked at him when he laughed? Or how she reached for him at night when she thought he was asleep?

“Liam,” she breathed, her voice trembling with a cocktail of surprise and emotion.

She reached for his hand instinctively, like it was the only anchor in the room, her fingers weaving into his as though that small gesture could say ev erything her lips hadn’t.

“You’ve never mentioned how you felt either. ”

His eyes widened, then narrowed with sudden intensity.

“Sheesh, Ashley – I love you,” he blurted, the words rushing out in a storm of passion and frustration. His voice cracked on the confession, his disbelief at her not knowing as raw as the emotion written all over his face. “I’ve told you that and…”

“No, you haven’t,” she said quickly, cutting him off, her voice low but firm. She shook her head, her thumb gently brushing across his knuckles. “It’s almost like we’ve both been hanging onto the words, afraid that the other person was going to break our hearts.”

His hand shifted, gently moving to her face, warm and tender, as he cradled her cheek in his palm. Her eyes fluttered closed under his touch for the briefest moment, then opened again to see the truth etched in his features.

“I’m never going to hurt you – and I love you more than anything,” Liam said, his tone a soft promise that wrapped around her like a blanket. “When I said forever , I meant it.”

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as the walls she had so carefully built around her heart crumbled in the face of his honesty.

“I did, too,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “I love you. I love us , but it’s so perfect between us that it almost feels fragile. Like I might ‘break’ something with our marriage by doing the wrong thing.”

She wasn’t sure when the fear had crept in, but it had taken root quietly—this whisper in the back of her mind that said if she moved too fast, if she leaned in too hard, the delicate balance between them would shatter like glass.

“Having a child would not be the wrong thing,” he said gently, his eyes never leaving hers, his voice deep and reverent. “It wou ld be a chance to leave a marker of our love for generations to come. A part of you, a part of me, cherished and raised with our thoughts, our beliefs…”

Ashley looked away for a moment, her mind flashing to the long hours, the travel, the passion she had for her career. The dream she’d spent years chasing.

“But my job,” she whispered, the words falling like a confession.

“You are what I love,” he said simply, unequivocally.

“You, Ashley Savage, my wife. I would support you in anything you choose, anything you do. If you want to work for another five years, great. If you choose to quit tomorrow, super. If you wanted one child or a dozen – I am here for everything and anything you choose to do because that is what love is.”

Her breath caught again, but this time, it was from the sheer, overwhelming swell of love rising inside her chest. He saw her—not just the woman she was, but the woman she wanted to be.

Her doubts, her fears, her dreams. He didn’t just accept them—he held space for them, letting her make the decisions with patience and understanding that was staggering to behold.

“So it’s okay if I’m scared and want to wait?”

“Of course, honey – but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it and snuggle together,” he said, his voice touched with a soft smile as he opened his arms.

Ashley didn’t hesitate. She went to him, curling into his embrace as though it were the safest place in the world. Because it was, but the thought was now there in her mind- a baby.

What would having Liam’s baby be like?

What would her career look like?

So many things would have to change, but maybe this was so mething they could revisit after the season. Maybe she could negotiate fewer hours in her contract?

Time would tell, but her marriage of convenience, their fake marriage, was now exceedingly real. They were looking at futures together, children, and if someone had asked her that a year ago – she would have laughed in disbelief. But now?

Now, her hand was resting on her stomach… thinking.