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“Love you.” His gaze seemed to be caressing her face, and her own eyes stung. “I love you. I have for months, but I couldn’t tell you. I wanted to, but I was scared. I was terrified that I’d love you and lose you.”
“But now . . . ”
“Now”—he reached across the table and took her hand in his—“I don’t want to regret not being all in, not loving you with everything I have. Because I do, Hannah. I love you so much. The day you left, I wasn’t even human anymore. I screamed at my squad and lashed out at my friends. I need you. You keep me balanced and make me happy. I can give you anything you need; just tell me I didn’t blow it. That you forgive me.”
Hannah started to squeeze his hand before something occurred to her. “Dani didn’t say anything to you, did she?”
He cocked his head with a smile. “Sparks told me that if I just got my shit together, he had it on good authority that you would take me back.”
“I would. I want to. But there’s something I should tell you first.”
“As long as it isn’t that you’re in love with someone else, we’re good.”
His teasing tone made her more anxious. “Come on, Blake, be serious. What I have to tell you, well . . . it is kind of a big deal.”
“What?”
Hannah took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
Blake looked shocked. “How?”
“Maybe there was a hole in one of the condoms? All I know is I’m seven weeks, and I’m going to keep it.”
“Wait, were you not going to keep it?”
Blake’s tone was outraged, and Hannah raised her chin up in defiance. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do yet. I wasn’t sure if we were going to work or whether I wanted to raise a baby on my own. And then I saw the ultrasound picture, and I knew.”
“Ultrasound?”
Hannah got up and went to the cupboard, pulling down the picture. As she handed it to him, she smiled.
Blake stared at the picture for several seconds, shaking his head. “I can’t believe it.”
Hannah bit her lip with worry. “So, if you want to take it all back, I understand.”
Blake’s gaze lifted to hers, and then he reached out, pulling her against him so his head rested at the top of her abdomen.
Hannah held him against her, shocked when she realized his shoulders were shaking with sobs. His lips pressed to her stomach, and he murmured, “I love you.”
Hannah’s heart melted as he gazed up at her with hazel eyes shining.
“And I love you, too,” she said. Her voice came out raspy with unshed tears. “I guess that means you’re not taking it back?”
He shook his head and stood up, holding her to him gently.
“Never.”
Epilogue
Three Years Later
BLAKE PULLED UP to the house and let Charge out of the back. He held onto his leash and reached in for the trophy they’d won in Montana for the third year in a row. The Hound It Search and Rescue Tournament had been theirs, but Blake figured it was their last, with Charge being six and starting to get a little arthritic.
But it was still fun to win.
The hot July sun beat down on him as he climbed up the walkway and opened the door. He’d been gone for ten days, and it felt good to be home.
All of their friends and family were inside, milling around the house. His in-laws stood in the doorway to the kitchen, talking to Nicki and her latest boyfriend. Sitting on the couch was Hannah, with all of his friends and their wives and girlfriends spread out around the room.
