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Then his sweet buttercup, his beautiful, submissive babygirl burst into tears. Of course he wanted to be respectful of her wishes, but he also couldn’t stand looking at her standing all alone in front of him, shrinking into herself, her shoulders heaving as she wept.
“Oh, Devy baby,” he said as he took her into his arms, picked her up and carried her to the couch where he sat with her on his lap and grasped her tightly while she struggled. She knew what to say if she really wanted him to let her go and she didn’t. Maybe she just needed to put up a fight so she wouldn’t feel like a failure. Sometimes you just had to know in your gut that you’d reallytried.
“I had no idea you were so torn up, that you had so much on your mind. Why didn’t you talk to me?”
He wanted to turn her over his lap and spank her bottom for that. Little girls didn’t keep secrets from their daddies, especially when they were about their emotional or physical well-being and he thought he’d made that crystal clear.
“Because you were already doing so much for me and I hated to ask you for more. And I…I heard you talking to Carter. Heard what he said about me and I didn’t hear you argue with him.”
Fuck. If he hadn’t wanted to throw Carter off a cliff before, he sure as fuck did now. Carter was the boys’ father so he’d always be in their lives but Eric would find ways to minimize their dealings with him, especially Devy’s if this was what he could do to her. Poor thing.
“I didn’t argue with him because he’s not worth arguing with. I hate to say it because I know he’s your ex-husband and the boys’ father, but I hate that fucking guy. He’s an asshole of the first order and I wasn’t going to change his mind. He’s a jackass who knows nothing and I don’t want either of us wasting time or energy on the patently ridiculous shit he says. If the boys had been there, I would’ve said something, I swear to you. If I knew you could hear him, I would’ve said something. And if it’s important to you then I will happily start something with him every time he so much as looks at you sideways.”
He set his hands on her face, cupping her cheeks and stroking away tears with the pads of his thumbs. It might be hard for her to look at him right now, but he was going to make her. He wanted her to see the sincerity and devotion in his eyes as well as hear it in his voice that was going to be husky from emotion.
“As for kids… Yes, I want to have kids. But there are a dozen different ways to make that happen and it doesn’t really matter to me how. Adoption, surrogacy, fostering, biological children, I don’t care. But I do know one thing.”
“What?”
“That I want to have them with you. And if all that stuff I just mentioned is too much and you’re done, that’s fine too. I know I’m not Chase and Logan’s father and I’m not going to try to replace Carter. But they can still be my kids. There is literally no way you could disappoint me.”
Hope shone bright in Devy’s eyes but she still looked fretful.
“What is it, baby?”
“I would love to have more children. I always wanted a big family but Carter wanted to wait after Logan and then it took a while for me to get pregnant. After we had Chase, Carter was done even though I didn’t feel that way. But it’s too soon. I don’t want you to feel like I trapped you into being with me and then have you resent me later. I couldn’t bear it.”
“What if I told you that since the first night you spent here, I never wanted you to go home?”
She blinked at him, eyes wide with skepticism. “What? I was so sick. I puked on your floor.”
“Sure did. I loved you even then. And I love you a hundred times as much now.”
“You do?”
“Maybe even a thousand. I love you more than I hate jam hands.”
That got her to giggle and he was so grateful for her gorgeous smile.
“But in all seriousness, I love you more than I could’ve dreamed was possible. If I thought you’d say yes, I’d get us on the next plane to Vegas and marry you in the first chapel I saw. Instead I’ll just ask you to be mine, forever and always. I know it’s a little crazy but I can’t stand the idea that you don’t know how I feel about you. No matter what happens with your migraines or your endo or having more babies or whatever else life might throw our way, I want to get through it with you. So please, buttercup, say you’ll be mine.”
Her pretty face was tear-stained and splotchy but with so much love and hope in her eyes, she’d never looked more beautiful. Especially when she said those perfect little words: “I love you too, Daddy. And yes, please, I want to be yours. Make me yours forever.”
