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Now she looked up at me, her eyes sparkling with confusion. She probably thought she’d misheard.
“You said earlier—” she began.
“Those are the words I’ve been telling myself all week,” I interrupted. “I thought if I put them on repeat, eventually they’d stick.”
“So yesterday, when you rushed out of here…?”
“I was chickenshit,” I said. “I wanted to get you pregnant and marry you and move you into my cabin. Not necessarily in that order.”
For what seemed like hours, she stared at me without speaking. In the silence, I was sure she could hear the pounding of my heart. But I did my best to look cool and calm on the outside.
“You want to get me pregnant?” she finally asked.
There was no mistaking the smile that spread over her face. It was like the sun coming out after days of rain.
“I wanted it yesterday and I want it today,” I said. “I can fight it, but I’m miserable without you. I can’t enjoy anything.”
Her smile widened, boosting my hope she felt the same. I was pouring out my heart here. I’d never done that before. I was usually on the other side of this conversation.
“I know it’s a lot,” I said. “And I’m not suggesting we get married and start that family today. I’m just saying?—”
“We should see where this can go?” she asked.
Now I was the one smiling. A big, goofy smile, I was sure.
I took a tentative step toward her. “If, that is, you’re game for it.”
“Oh, I’m game.” She took a step toward me. “And we can start practicing our baby making after work today.”
“Now that you’ve had your first orgasm, you want more?” I teased.
“I’ll never get enough of you,” she said.
“Promise?”
Her expression turned serious then. The look in her eyes went straight to my heart.
“Promise,” she said.
So much was packed into that one conversation. So many things that we weren’t saying. We weren’t ready to use the “l” word yet, but I would be soon enough.
All I knew was that I’d be with this woman the rest of my life. And I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more.
EPILOGUE
TRAVIS
I pulled into the driveway and cut the engine. Normally, I’d hop out and rush inside, eager to see my wife and kids. But tonight, I stopped to count my blessings.
In front of me was the two-story log cabin I’d built with my own hands—well, with the help of my crew. I now ran my own construction company right here in Rosewood Ridge. No more waiting around for subcontractors to flake out. My team got the job done.
But I was known to put in plenty of hours alone when I was building this house. I was often here well into the late evening hours. I was determined to get it built before we started trying to have a baby. Unfortunately—or fortunately, as the case may be—we’d conceived right here on this very site. Sierra visited me wearing only a tool belt, and I was so caught up in the moment, I didn’t even think about protection.
I smiled to myself as I climbed out of my work truck. I was smiling not just at the memories of our hot lovemaking session that day five years ago, but also at the thought of the son who came from it.
Tanner had shifted my perspective on life completely. When Serenity came along two years later, our family was complete. Or so we thought. Sierra had been talking lately about having more kids, and the idea was growing on me.
I could hear the chaos on the other side of the door as I stepped up on the porch. That brought a smile to my face too. I could barely remember the days of coming home to an empty cabin, sitting in front of the TV, and chugging a beer until it no longer mattered that nobody was home with me. Today, beers were rare, usually shared with my buddies when we met up at the small bar near the square.
