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“Fine,” Pete groaned, but didn’t let up on his hold on me. I snuggled into his chest and resting my cheek on his shoulder. Streetlights outside our cozy, warm bedroom sent rays of dusty silver light dancing over the bed.
“It’s snowing,” I whispered.
He turned his head a bit to look. “You’re right, it is. That’s pretty early for this time of year.”
My eyes stayed locked on the lazy, wet clumps of slush starting to stick and freeze to the window, but my mind was wandering back to Jonah.
“What are you going to say to him?” Pete asked as if able to read my thoughts.
I breathed deeply, exhaling and sighing. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I don’t want to have to talk to him at all. I just… I just left him, you know. I didn’t try to argue with him or explain why I was breaking up with him and running. I just got to the point where I couldn’t do it anymore. The wedding date felt like a prison sentence and I knew if I didn’t run then, I’d be trapped forever. So I… I took off my engagement ring and set it on top of the note I’d left in the entrance of my parents’ house. I told them not to come looking for me, I was done. No goodbye, no I’m sorry. Just done. Just, no… No.”
Pete’s fingers dusted over my spine as I kept my eyes on the window.
“I don’t regret it. Regret leaving, I mean. Even if it’s been… a mess.”
“I just wish your ring would have been done in time for the big showdown.” Pete smiled.
I laughed, rolling over onto my belly so I was looking up at him. “You act like I’m such a catch—”
“You are!” he exclaimed. “Are you kidding me, Sierra? That ass alone—”
“Alright.” I laughed, swatted him.
“I’m serious,” he went on, smirking down at me. “You’re a total babe.”
“Oh, thanks,” I snickered, and Pete’s silent laughter made his chest tremble.
“He had no idea what he had until he lost it. That’s why he’s here. But it’s too late for that now. You’re mine, and honestly, you have been since the day I first met you.”
“Well, I’m glad you feel that way because it’s a little too late to go back and change your mind now.” My words were meant to be teasing, but they faltered and crumbled a bit as a sinking sensation settled in my stomach. “Pete… I don’t have any money. The only job I’ve ever had is at your bookstore. I feel like… I have very little to offer you—”
“I thought we were past this?”
“I can’t cook worth a damn,” I continued, ignoring him. “I turned all of you work shirts pink the last time I did our laundry—”
“Then I’ll hire a maid,” he said, pressing a kiss to my temple. “And Keely can make us a bunch of dinners you can just pop in the oven from time to time.”
I rolled my eyes. “What I’m saying—”
“You are worth so much more to me than you realize. I don’t care that you don’t have any money. I don’t care that you’re useless in the kitchen unless it’s eating ice cream.”
I swatted him again but we were both laughing hysterically.
“You are going to be the best mother on this planet, Sierra. That’s all the matters to me.”
“You don’t know that for sure—”
“I know that for sure. I know that more than I know anything else. There is no one else I’d rather have giving birth to my child and raising it up. I would be the luckiest man in the world if our baby turned to be half the kind of person you are.”
I was close to tears as I laid my cheek on his chest and closed my eyes.
I was on the verge of sleep when Pete sat up abruptly.
He was out of bed in an instant, sheets flying and covering me completely.
“What—” I said groggily, rubbing my eyes to try to adjust them to the darkness.
He threw our bedroom door open and I heard muffled, somewhat frantic conversation.
