Page 125 of Declan

“Yes,” she whispered. “I didn’t think I ever wanted them.”

“Yeah? But now you do.”

“I think so.”

My heart was thumping in my chest and a golden burn started.

Fucking, fucking, hell.

“I want kids,” I admitted. “Didn’t think I’d ever want that again. Didn’t think I’d ever be able to think about the possibility without it eating me with guilt. But with you, I want that. I want us to have a family. So when that maybe turns into a yes, you tell me and we’ll talk.”

“Okay, Dec.”

Fuck.

Sometimes it was easy to forget. I saw her smile every day. I heard her laugh, tease, be cute as all fuck when she was being silly. It was easy to forget that she wasn’t always like this. That it had only been seven months since we left.

But it felt like a lifetime ago.

“You ready to go see your sister and your parents?”

Meggy had sold her house in Iowa and she and Justin had moved to Maryland. They’d been discussing getting remarried. Then one day they called Autumn to tell her that they’d gone to the courthouse and tied the knot. They also explained they didn’t want a celebration. The way they viewed it, they’d simply set things right, and now everyone was moving on.

And when Meggy Pierce wanted something, she got it.

So everyone moved on.

“Are you ready to see the guys?”

I was nervous as all hell to see them but I wasn’t going to tell her that. The first conversation I’d had with Thad had been difficult. I’d run out on my team, abandoned them, but I quickly found the awkwardness was coming from me. He harbored no bad blood and told me none of the others did. This became clear the first time I spoke to Max. Straight out, he told me he was happy I’d taken Autumn and left.

I didn’t speak to them every day but it was often enough that I knew what was going on in their lives.

Brooks and Tatiana had their daughter, an event I missed because we were in Utah, and Tatiana had to have an emergency C-section. When we’d tried to make a plan to come out, Brooks told us to hold off because Tatiana’s recovery hadn’t been going well. Luckily, the women did what they always did and rallied around her and pulled her through what Brooks had described as the hardest time of his life. His wife had battled postpartum depression while recovering from major surgery. But the guys had taken his back and helped both him and Tatiana.

Something I felt guilt over. I should’ve been there for Brooks. But like with everything, Autumn guided me through, reminding me that Brooks knew I was a call away, and if he needed me, my ass would’ve been on a plane.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

I folded out of the rental, met Autumn at the trunk, and took her hand.

Another thing that was natural now—simple things, easy things, normal things. But for us, there was nothing easy about the obstacles we’d overcome.

The elevator doors slid open and the lobby was packed.

Zane turned first and Autumn’s hand spasmed in mine.

“One word about his dimples—”

“Jeez. Touchy much?” she returned, and yanked me forward.

“Declan,” Max boomed and everyone stopped talking and turned.

“What’s up? Why’s everyone out here? No waiting room?”

“We’re waiting on your dumb ass,” Kyle told me and made his way over. “Autumn,” he greeted, then pulled me in for a one-armed embrace and a slap on my back. “Good to see you.”

“You, too.”