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I leaned toward him. “Are you sure about that?” I threw his words back at him. “I’ll let you retract it this one time.”
He edged closer, his proximity causing a shiver to roll through me.
At first, I was overly cautious about displaying anything remotely resembling affection in front of Imogene and Eli.
Then Wes reminded me it was good for them to see stuff like this. Especially Imogene. That I shouldn’t hide my feelings from my daughter. That she needed to see what a healthy relationship looked like so she’d recognize a bad one if, God forbid, she ever found herself in one.
“Flip it, Hale.”
He stared at me for a moment, then turned over the two cards.
A chorus of cheers erupted when he revealed I hadn’t been lying after all.
Giving him a coy smile, I lifted the imaginary crown off his head. “I’ll just take this back. It appears you’ve been dethroned as the King of Bullshit.”
“It appears so.” He leaned toward me, pressing a soft kiss to my neck. “But you’ll always be my queen, love.”
* * *
“He’s so good with Eli,” Londyn commented from Lachlan’s chair now that he, Wes, Imogene, and Eli had started up an impromptu game of cornhole. “And Imogene, of course.” She gave me an endearing smile. “He’s a great guy, Julia.” She squeezed my hand. “A really great guy.”
“He really is,” I replied, turning my gaze back to the yard as Lachlan high-fived Imogene after they sank nearly all their bags in the small opening of the wooden plank several feet away. “I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle all of this. Me having a teenage daughter and whatnot.” I sighed, shaking my head. “But he’s been incredibly patient.”
I took a sip of wine, pushing down the feelings of guilt that always seemed to resurface whenever Lachlan joined us for our family gatherings and I saw how great he was with Imogene and Eli.
“What is it?” Londyn narrowed her gaze on me, able to sense my unease.
I hesitated, unsure how to even give voice to what was going through my mind. But if anyone would understand, it was Londyn. After all, she had the unfortunate luck of being one of Nick’s early assault victims when she was a student at one of the colleges where he taught.
If she’d never met my brother, if I hadn’t seen her strength in saying enough was enough, I doubted I would have found my own strength.
May still have been married to Nick.
Or worse.
A shiver rolled through me at the thought, but I quickly suppressed it.
“When you and Wes first got together,” I began, fidgeting with the stem of my wine glass, then lifting my gaze back to hers, “did you ever discuss the future?”
“What do you mean?” She shifted in her chair, attempting to get comfortable around her swollen belly, absentmindedly placing her hand over it. When I glanced at her stomach, realization washed over her face. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“I guess we never really did. After everything I’d been through, I never thought I wanted kids. I’m pretty sure I mentioned something to that effect to Wes, and if memory serves, it didn’t faze him. He just wanted to be with me, as he proved through…everything.”
A distant expression crossed her dark complexion, but it disappeared just as quickly.
She tilted her head to the side. “Why do you ask?”
“Lachlan and I haven’t really discussed it. I know it sounds crazy, since we’ve only been together a few months. What couple in their right minds has the ‘kids talk’ this early on in their relationship?” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “But I’m not sure he understands that when I say I can’t get pregnant, it’s not just because I’m on some sort of birth control.”
“And seeing him with Imogene and Eli makes you feel like you’re depriving him of something,” she said, filling in the blanks.
I shrugged, neither confirming nor denying her statement.
“Listen, Julia…” Londyn placed her hand on mine. “I can’t speak for Lachlan about what he wants out of life. Only he can do that. But I see the way he looks at you. The way his eyes light up the second they fall on you.”
She leaned toward me the best she could. “Don’t let your head get in the way of your happiness. Don’t let the games he played on you in the past get in the way of your future. You’re more than just a womb meant to bear children. If the way I’ve seen that rather fine specimen of a man treat you is any indication, I’d bet he wouldn’t care about that. That, at the end of the day, he just wants to be with you.”
