“Of course, he knew. Where do you think Bianca got the information from?” I let that settle. “I’ve been asking myself for weeks how a woman just stumbles onto a secret I kept locked down like Fort Knox. She didn’t. Somebody handed it to her. And there’s only one person with the reach to find it and the reason to use it like a weapon.” I held his eyes. “That’s my opinion. But you know I’m right.”
He was quiet, but moving Cadence between us, careful not to wake her.
“And for the record,” I added, “I’m not afraid of your father anymore. Not even a little. Truthfully, I wouldn’t piss on that man if he were on fire.”
That pulled a short laugh out of him, but it was gone before I could bask in it.
“Where is all of this coming from, Ducane?” I asked, softer now. “The real reason. Not Ruben.”
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Cadence showed me something today. By accident. She got her tablet out to show me baby pictures, and I ended up playing your videos.”
The videos. Shit. I’d forgotten they were even on her tablet. When I started recording for him, I was positive I would show him one day. But as time went on, I wondered if they would just make things worse. Now they were out in the world without my permission, and I had no idea if that was the worst thing that could have happened or exactly what needed to happen.
“Ducane—”
“I appreciate that shit, Skye.” He reached down and lifted my feet into his lap before I could pull them away. “Lately, I’ve been wrestling with not being around and her having everyone but me. But I felt like I was there today. I needed that.”
His thumb pressed into the arch of my foot, and I bit back a sound.
“And life ain’t over. There are more memories to make. A whole lifetime of them.” He kept working my feet, his eyes down on what he was doing. “I can’t make any of those holding a grudge or straddling the fence. I’ve been doing both since we made it back, and I’m tired of pretending I don’t know what I want.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, quieter than I meant to.
He looked up at me then.
“You. Same as day one. You’ve been my moon and my sky since I followed your smart mouth out of that classroom, and I’m done acting like that ain’t still true.” He shrugged, like it was simple, like it hadn’t taken us years and a whole secret to get here. “I don’t know how to make this work yet. I just know I want out of the guest room so we can figure it out. Together.”
I didn’t have a single smart thing to say back.
His thumb dug into a knot in my heel, and I forgot all about being emotional.
“Ouuu,” I moaned, my head dropping back against the seat.
He cleared his throat, low.
“Chill out. My baby’s in here.”
“You started it.” I kicked at him with my free foot.
He put Cadence back into his lap and patted the seat. I scooted over, resting my head on his shoulder, breathing him in for the first time in weeks. He smelled like home. He always had.
“So.” I kept my eyes forward. “I just want to hear you say it. Where do we stand?”
I felt him shift, then his hand was under my chin, turning my face toward him.
The look in his eyes stole my breath.
“Skye...we’ve been married.”
He reached for my left hand and turned it over in his.
His thumb brushed over my ring finger.
“You’ve always been my wife. Clear?”
“Crystal.”
