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Realizing what I’d just blurted, I bit my lip. “I’ve never said that out loud to you before, have I?”
He shook his head back and forth, just watchin
g me.
“Well.” I blew out a long breath. “I know it’s true. It came out way too easily and naturally not to be.”
His chest heaved as he sucked in a deep breath, seeming even more surprised that I was willing to confirm my declaration of love after it had accidentally slipped from my tongue.
Grinning affectionately, I touched his face. “And I know I’ve felt it for a while. I can’t pinpoint when it started, but I know it only grows bigger and brighter each day. I love you, Wick; that is the God’s honest truth. I...love...you.”
“Holy shit.” He covered his mouth with his fist, and his eyes sparkled with moisture. “After all these years, I’ve entertained daydreams about everything, from simply approaching you and saying hello to proposing marriage and having children with you. But never once did I imagine what it’d be like to hear you say that to me.” He shook his head slowly. “I guess I was too scared to even hope for it.”
“Wickham Henry Webster,” I scolded softly, pressing my forehead to his. “How could I not love you? You’re my other half.”
“Jesus,” he breathed, cupping my face in his hands and pressing his mouth to mine. “I love you too, baby. I swear, I was made to love you.”
50
Epilogue
WICK
I woke in the middle of the night to a hand nudging my shoulder and Haven’s voice in my ear.
“Wick. Honey, get up. The baby’s coming.”
My eyes sprang open wide. “What?”
She was already flipping on the nightlight and sliding out of bed to bustle around the room, opening drawers to pull out underwear and clothes. When she flopped a suitcase onto the mattress by my feet and began to stuff it with both our things, I sat up watching her from blurry, blinking eyes.
“If we leave now,” she said, unsettling Bingley, who’d been curled up asleep in her pillowed bed on the floor as Haven tugged a jacket out from under the cat, “I think we can make it to the hospital by four.”
“Hospital? Four?” I glanced toward the nightstand where the clock told me it was barely two in the morning.
“Yeah. I definitely don’t want to be on the road when the baby arrives.”
Finally awake enough to think a bit clearer, I shook my head. “But what baby?”
Pausing abruptly to send me a harassed glance, Haven cried, “Teagan’s! Oh my God, what baby do you think I’m talking about? She’s the only pregnant person we know, isn’t she?”
“Right.” I nodded and yawned, scratching my chest. “Right. I knew that.”
As Haven shimmied out of her pajamas and tugged on the first pair of jeans she came across, she sent me another impatient look. “Well, why are you just sitting there? Get your ass dressed!”
I jumped at her tone and decided to get my ass dressed. “So, uh…” I staggered out of bed and tried to pull on the first pair of jeans I found as well, only to realize they were Haven’s, not mine, when they got caught at my calves.
Jesus, it was way too late—er, early—to deal with clothes.
“Why again do we have to be there when your cousin’s baby is born?” I asked, squinting around the room on the hunt for my own jeans.
“Crap,” Haven yelped, slapping her palm to her forehead. “You’re right.” Unfortunately, she’d already found a top, so I had no more peek of nipple to help awaken me further. “I forgot to tell you. Teagan said she’d name the first girl cousin to show up when the baby’s born as godmother. And I’m winning this time. Lucy and Cress got to be Braiden’s godparents. It wouldn’t be fair at all if I didn’t get to be a god-mama to any of my first cousins once removed, don’t you think?”
“I guess,” I said, only to pause. “So, wait. This is really a thing in your family? You guys make a competition out of god-parenting?”
Haven paused to pat my cheek lovingly. “Baby, we make a competition out of everything.”
Good to know. “Oh.” Finding jeans that actually fit, I jerked them on. “But why is only the godmother spot the one up for grabs? Why not the godfather too?”
