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I want to call him back, have him tell me then and there what the problem is, but Octavia in my arms is the deciding factor against. I feel the warm press of her belly in my side, of our baby. She doesn’t need more stress. She’s had enough of that between the morning sickness she suffered with for months and finishing her Associate’s Degree.
Yeah, fuck that. I’d better talk to him alone, later.
Find out what happened, and fix it, so our lives can go on as they have for these past couple of years—peaceful, bright and happy.
It’s all I want. This second chance at happiness, with Octavia, my kids, and my brother by my side. This happy ending.
I’d do fucking anything it takes to keep it.
* * *
&n
bsp; As we arrive at Trevi’s, Octavia squeals like a little girl, and I laugh, pleased at her reaction.
“This is where you proposed to me,” she says breathlessly.
“I know. You seemed to like it.”
“The food?”
“Getting married to me.” I wink at her, and she leans in to kiss my cheek, cupping my face.
“I loved it,” she murmurs. “I love being married to you even more.”
The three rings on her right hand are cool on my skin. She never takes them off. There’s the engagement ring with the blue stone that matches her eyes—the one I gave her right here, when I asked her to marry me—then her golden wedding band, and finally the first ring I gave her back in Destiny: a slender golden ring with no markings.
My first promise to her. A promise I kept.
“Good.” I turn my face to kiss her mouth. “Get used to it, because I’m not going anywhere.”
Cole makes a vaguely disgusted noise from the back seat. Through the rearview mirror, I see Mary frowning at something outside the window.
I wonder what’s up with her.
Trevi’s is an expensive place. Back when I proposed to her, it was way over the top, but now I have more money than I did then. I put money aside, Kaden moved here to St. Louis, and we opened a shop together. Hansen Brothers Workshop officially.
We call it the Mancave between us.
Octavia started it. She was always saying, “You going over to the mancave now? Is Kaden at the mancave?” She said it so many times it stuck.
And it fits. Where else is a caveman to go but into his mancave?
Although to be honest, I’m happiest at home, with her and our little family. She tamed me, turned me from a beast back into a man, and this man is so in love with her, there are no fucking words to describe the feeling.
We stop at the restaurant entrance, and I jump out to go around and help Octavia. She insists she doesn’t need help, but I’m fucking protective of her, especially now. She smiles up at me as I hold her in my arms, while the kids climb out as well and come to join us. I ruffle Cole’s hair, try to do the same to Mary, but she sidesteps me neatly with a small eye roll.
The valet approaches us, a young guy with a flop of blond hair, like Merc’s. I give him the keys and we step inside the restaurant.
Our table is in the back, and Octavia’s family is already there, seated and perusing the menu. Her mom gets up to hug her daughter again, telling her how proud she is, and then they sit down and start that whispered conversation they’ve been having ever since Octavia got pregnant.
Women, baby and pregnancy matters, I assume, and I leave them to it, suppressing my burning curiosity, hoping one day Octavia will tell me all about it.
Not that she doesn’t talk to me. She does, and lets me help her. It makes me fucking glad, and hey, I’ve been a father before. I know a thing or two about all that.
My kids go directly to sit beside Gigi, Octavia’s sister, because they’re both in love with her, I swear. I think Mary wants to be like her when she grows up, and Cole wants to marry her.
I suppress a sigh. My kids are growing up way too fast.
