I lifted my chin, just enough to realize that he was kneeling in front of me now, only inches away. My knees brushed his T-shirt, and our eyes caught on each other.
God.
Would it ever belessintense to be this close to him again?
“It’s different now,” he acknowledged softly as he gently parted my knees, wedging his broad torso between them as I sat on the couch. “It is. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want this. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a part of me that’selatedinside.”
I shouldn’t feel so hopeful, shouldn’t feel like my heart was in my throat, but it absolutely was. “Yeah?”
The corner of his mouth tugged up in a smile. “Yeah.”
He ducked his head, surprising me when he rested it against my stomach again, like he was whispering secrets to the Chiclet-sized fetus.
After a second, he peeked back up at me. “Ya know, they’re going to be so smart.”
A laugh burst out of me. Sully’s eyes lingered on my mouth, on the stretch of my lips. He wore a half-smile. A familiar, goofy smirk I hadn’t seen in so long.
“A certified genius,” he murmured.
“They’re going to have great hair, too,” I said.
“Yeah.” Sully reached up, head still on my stomach, as he twisted his finger around the ends of my hair. “They are.”
We were silent for a long moment, and I felt a sense of peace settle on my shoulders—heavy and sweet and reassuring.
“Does anyone else know?” he asked as he straightened himself.
“No,” I said and then amended myself. “Well, Delaney. Sort of. I was on the phone with her and might have asked her a highly specific hypotheticalquestion.”
Sully raised a brow, clearly surprised. “Not Natalie?”
I shook my head. “I wanted to tell you first. I thought it was only fair to everyone.”
“Thank you, but…” The corner of his mouth dipped. “How long have you known?”
“A couple weeks.”
He considered that, looking concerned. “That’s a long time to be alone with this, Eleanor.”
Yeah, it was. It really was. I mean, in reality, it was such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of this pregnancy, of my life, everything. But such a long, long time to be carrying this secret on my own.
I nodded, not really trusting myself to speak.
But Sully just kept looking at me, unnamed emotion swirling in his gaze, patiently waiting to see if I’d say more. That, or maybe he was just content with this. Just, I don’t know, looking at me. Looking at…us. Baby and me.
The thought made me smile.
“I wasn’t really alone,” I eventually managed to say, wrapping a hand around my belly. “I won’t really be alone for a while now.”
“No you won’t.” Sully’s voice was firm, confident. He was staring at my stomach like he wanted to join me, to touch it, too. But he didn’t. He lifted his gaze to my face, waiting until I looked back at him. “Neither of you will be alone now, got it?”
“Got it,” I breathed, feeling a little overwhelmed by Sully’s intensity, even if it was exactly what I’d expected. And honestly, a huge reason I’d come back. Because, despite everything we’d gone through, I’d known that we could do this together.
Seeming satisfied, Sully sank to the ground, leaning back on his hands and acting like he was getting comfortable.
“I don’t know…” He was looking around the room, assessing it. “Maybe I should just move back in, too.”
“Sawyer…” I started, but then he rolled his eyes, his lips tilting.
