AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“All his life,” he told me without hesitation.
I didn’t know how to take that. I knew he loved me, but was he in love with me? Had he ever been?
Muttering something under his breath, Luca stood. Carefully, he placed the baby in her bassinet and then turned and trapped me with hazel eyes. I gasped at the pain in their depths, but I was too caught up in the confusion clouding my head to dare reach for him.
In two giant steps, he was leaning over me with his hands braced on either side of my head. “Are you still punishing me, Vi?” he demanded. “Will I never get your love back after what I did?’
“I love you,” I whispered.
“Fuck, I know that. But will you ever be in love with me again?” Tears filled his eyes. “I know I fu—screwed up. But I swear I’ve tried to make up for it. I don’t know what else to do, though. I don’t know how to make you fall back in love with me. I thought I could give you time, but after what happened today, after nearly losing you forever, I don’t know if I can.”
He pressed his forehead to mine, and one of his tears fell onto my cheek, mixing with my own. “All these years, I thought I would die from the pain of not having you beside me, you loving me and me loving you like we always dreamed about. I didn’t know what had kept me alive until Remington showed up, and I
realized that was why I’d been spared. I went through hell for so long because I needed to be here when you and Love Bug needed me most.”
“Luca.”
“Shh,” he growled, as several more of his tears landed on my cheeks. “Just be quiet for a minute.” He kissed me, but it was over before his lips could even fully touch mine. “All these months, helping you get past Remington’s death, I kept telling myself I would wait. If you fell in love with me again in a year, ten, twenty, nothing else mattered. In the meantime, I would still have you and Love Bug at my side. I knew deep down you loved me—I just had to show you I’ve changed and am worthy of your love again. I told myself to be patient and one day you would look at me like you used to.”
“Luca,” I tried again, but he kissed me quiet once more.
“I said hush, woman.” He cupped the side of my face, wiping away our mixed tears. “I told myself so many times that if I told you how much I loved you before you were ready, it would ruin everything. But I can’t be patient anymore. I almost lost you today, and I can’t contain these words, these feelings that have been choking me for months. I love you, Violet. I’m in love with you. I have been my entire life. I’m sorry it took me so long to grow up, to realize what are the most important things in life. I promise you—I’ve grown up now, and I’m finally worthy of you and Love Bug. Please give me a chance. Please…” A sob choked out of him, and he clenched his eyes closed as he pressed his forehead to mine once again. “Please let me love you and Love Bug forever.”
“Luca…”
A knock on the door cut me off, and I nearly growled in frustration as it opened and a woman walked in with a clipboard in her hands. “Knock-knock, Mommy and Daddy,” she said with a smile as she came toward us. “Sorry to bother you, but I promise not to take up too much time. I’m from Vital Records and just need to confirm everything is correct for the baby’s birth certificate.”
“Oh,” I muttered. “I haven’t—”
“Yeah, sure,” Luca said, cutting me off and taking the clipboard from her. “What do you need me to do?”
“Just confirm the spelling is correct, sign off that you are Daddy, and then Mommy can do the same,” she instructed.
“No problem.” He read over everything and then scribbled his name on the paper before handing it to me.
I frowned but slowly took the clipboard from him. But when I saw what was on the paperwork, I gasped. It had Love Bug’s date and time of birth, but it was the names listed that made me blink back tears.
Child’s Name: Remi Sawyer Thornton
Mother’s Name: Violet Hope Stevenson
Father’s Name: Luca Nikolas Thornton
In a daze, I signed my name and then dropped back against the pillows as the woman beamed, congratulated us both, and then told us to have a great night with our new bundle of joy.
“What just happened?” I whispered when the door closed behind her.
“It was just a formality about Love Bug’s name.” He glowered down at me. “Let’s get back to what I was telling you…”
“You told them you are her father,” I interrupted him, and his eyes darkened again.
“Because I am,” he growled. “Don’t ever say I’m not.”
“I wasn’t going to.” Because he was. Maybe not biologically, but he’d already proven to me that he was Love Bug’s daddy in all the ways that counted. In every way he’d promised Remington he would be.
“Good. Because it’s official now. You signed off on it. I’ll be her daddy on her birth certificate, and I’ll never let you change that.” He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to intimidate me.
If I were an offensive player having to face down that look, I probably would have been. But I wasn’t a football player, and I knew this man couldn’t have physically hurt me even if there were a gun to his head.
