Page 280 of Show Me

“We will.” His voice softens as he says it, and he points to the blueprints on the workbench. “I have the plans here.”

I clutch my chest. He’s planning to build our baby a nursery. My chest is going to explode. I turn toward him and wrinkle my nose. He’s not standing where he was a second ago.

Xavier kneels on the concrete floor, and my heart is pounding so hard I hear it. “Xavier…”

His hand shakes when he pulls a small black box from his pocket. That alone nearly wrecks me. Because Xavier never looks nervous. Not like this.

He exhales roughly once before opening the box. A simple diamond catches beneath the overhead lights. Beautiful. Classic. Perfect.

His eyes lift back to mine. And for one second, he looks terrified. “I had this whole speech planned,” he admits roughly. “Turns out I’m bad at those when they matter.”

“Yeah?” My breath catches over the lump in my throat.

“Yeah.” He nods his head once and looks down briefly before meeting my eyes again. “I don’t even know what I was doing before you.” The words hit hard enough to steal my breath again.

“I mean it,” he says. “This house. You. The baby. The pigs.”

“You’re crazy.” I laugh through tears.

His expression softens. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you laugh. You made all this feel…” He shakes his head. “Real.”

Emotion climbs painfully into my throat.

“I used to think I’d never be in another relationship.” His thumb brushes against the ring box. “Then you happened.”

My vision blurs.

“You made me want things I never thought I’d want.” His voice catches. “And now I can’t picture my life without you in it.”

Tears spill freely down my cheeks now.

Xavier laughs under his breath when he sees them. “Ah, hell. Now I’m gonna lose it too.”

That makes me cry harder.

He shakes his head once and looks up at me with so much love in his eyes it physically hurts. “I love you, Ruby.”

The words are simple, but they’re the only things that matter.

“You’re gonna be an incredible mom.” His gaze drops briefly toward my stomach before lifting again. “And I want all of it. The messy stuff. The scary stuff. The forever stuff.”

A tear slips down his cheek before he can stop it. And that destroys whatever control I had left.

He laughs shakily. “See? This is why I shouldn’t plan speeches.”

I laugh through my tears and wipe beneath my eyes. “No. You don’t get to do that.”

His brow furrows. “Do what?”

“Say all of that and then make a joke because you’re scared.” His smile disappears. I step closer. “You spent so long believing people leave when things get hard.” My voice catches, but I keep going. “And then you spent months proving to me that you wouldn’t.”

His eyes shine again. “Ruby–”

“So, I need you to believe me now.” I interrupt him and reach for his free hand. “I want the messy stuff too. I want mornings when neither of us has slept because she’s been screaming all night. I want you hovering and driving me crazy. I want arguments about kitchens and pigs and whatever else we manage to screw up.”

A broken laugh escapes him. I squeeze his hand. “I want you, Xavier. Not because everything got easy. I want you because I know what hard looks like with you now.” His face crumples enough to make my own tears fall faster. “And I’m still here.” His fingers tighten around mine. “I’m not going to go anywhere.”

“Ruby….”