Page 120 of The Promise Of Rain

The arc of his blood.

His tooth hitting the floor.

In my pretty, little kitchen.

My safe place.

My stomach rolled.I spun around just in time and threw up in one of the last remaining snowbanks.

Deacon’s hands covered me, one steadying me at my shoulder, the other rubbing slow easy circles over my back as I retched.

Stomach emptied, I braced my hands on my thighs and hung my head.“I don’t want a hard life,” I pleaded.“I want softness and peace and soft—”

“And I’m going to ensure you have it,” he stated, pulling me upright and wiping my mouth with his sleeve before tucking me against his chest.

My arms shot up between us, a barricade, but he was so warm, and I’d waited for him for so long.

I stared up at him, stricken.“With your fists?”

“When necessary,” he answered, his jaw hard, gaze unyielding.

“You have to use your words!”I cried.“We could have called Sergeant Elliott!”

I turned my face away, but neither hell nor high water could pull the rest of my body from his embrace.

“Sometimes words aren’t enough, baby,” he murmured low, his large hand braced against my lower back.

“I can’t handle it, Deacon,” I admitted.

His hands moved up to cup my face, turning me to meet his midnight eyes, nothing but warmth and sweet concern reflected in their depths.

I latched onto his wrists.

He stared down at me, dark eyes serious.“You’re searching for excuses to end this.I’m not saying I’m not a violent man, Jenny.I am.But I will never use violence against you or our children.”

I sucked in a breath.“Children?”

How can he be thinking of children at a time like this?

“Children.”

I dropped my gaze.

Children?

A little girl with his dark eyes and that long dimple I’d barely seen since he came back into my life.A boy with his full lips and wide smile, his chubby arms wrapping around my neck as he smacks a wet baby kiss on my cheek.

I love you, Momma.

His thumbs caressed my temples.“I’ll protect them and you.Always.Do you want children with me, Jenny?”

I raised my eyes to meet the hope in his and swallowed.It was time.“There’s something I need to tell you.”

He erased the final bit of distance between us, pulling my front flush to his.

I sobbed with something akin to relief and dropped my forehead onto his chest.

“Okay, sweetheart,” he murmured, bending to scoop me up in his arms.“But first we’re going to warm you up.”