AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m glad I got a chance to say it again.” I yawned.
“Isabel,” he said, nudging me back awake.
“Hmmm?”
“You know you’re going to have to marry me, right?”
Eyes still closed, my mouth curled into a smile. “As proposals go, I give that a four.”
He laughed quietly. “Just making a general statement. You’ve ruined me from sleeping alone.”
“Good.” I turned to my side, and he folded his body around mine, burying his nose in the back of my neck. “Because yeah, I’m going to have to marry you, Aiden Hennessy.”
We slept like that, soundly and deeply, until I felt a light stroke on my arm.
When I blinked, I saw a small body standing on my side of the bed. My stomach seized instantly at how she might react.
Anya grinned down at me. “I knew it was you,” she whispered.
I sat up, glanced over at a still-sleeping Aiden, sprawled on his back with a hand laying on his chest.
My heart raced as I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and she climbed up into my lap.
“You knew it, huh?” I asked her quietly.
Anya nodded, playing with the end of my braid where it hung over my shoulder.
“Want me to bring you back to bed, sweetheart?”
She nodded again, and without waking Aiden, we walked upstairs, and once in her room, I held back the covers on her bed. She pulled the blankets up to her chin and looked over at the picture of Beth. “It’s behind there,” she said. “You can take it out.”
Carefully, I picked up the frame and studied her face. She was pretty. A big smile and laugh lines that told me she’d done both things often.
“Behind the picture?”
Anya nodded.
I pulled the back of the frame off, and a folded-up piece of paper was wedged behind the image of her mom.
When I opened it, it was hard to make sense of what I was seeing. Anya pointed at the side, letters I couldn’t really make sense of.
“She told me I’d know,” Anya said. “Even if you didn’t match the list, I’d know.”
My throat thickened, and I smoothed her hair back from her forehead. “Yeah?”
Anya blinked slowly, sleep pulling at her. “I wrote it on the side of the paper, but I don’t think Daddy could read that part. Mommy said I’d know because she’d make us all happier. And that’s you.”
A tear slid down my cheek as I leaned down to place a featherlight kiss on her forehead. Her arms snaked around my neck in a tight squeeze.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too.”
I stood from the bed and turned, stopping short when I saw Aiden watching us from the doorway. He’d tugged on some cotton sleep pants, arms crossed over his chest, and a small smile playing over his mouth. His eyes were red.
“We’re busted,” I whispered.
He held out a hand, and I took it.
