Page 84 of About That Night

He pulls back and looks at me. “I thought that was the value you were putting on my sperm.” He gives a chuckle.

Then we’re laughing.

We’re laughing and hugging and kissing. Hank sweeps me up in his arms. I give a startled shriek. He throws me on the bed, and as he climbs back onto the mattress, all intensity and strong arms and loving eyes, I want everything to be like this forever.

Hank

I study Chastity as she’s sleeping beside me. Nevaeh called and asked to keep Josiah overnight in Baton Rouge. I think under normal circumstances, Chastity would have said no. But to my surprise, she readily agreed, and after a hot shower, she fell asleep almost immediately.

It feels like she’s finally grasping it’s okay to live for herself. That she deserves happiness.

Sleep is eluding me. Not because I’m panicking over a pregnancy.

But because I’m in awe of the twists of fate that have brought me to this moment. With her.

Her mattress is garbage. It’s killing my back, but not even that can ruin my mood. I’m actually sitting up, back against her headboard, her head in my lap as she sleeps. I’m stroking her hair and admiring the perfect little button nose she has.

I can imagine that nose on a baby.

Scrolling through my phone, I flip through photo after photo that Cash has sent of little Nelson. My brother looks over the moon in the ones where he’s holding his son. Sera looks exhausted, but she is, in fact, glowing. The cliché exists for a reason. New mothers have a special look to them that is probably rooted in science, but I’m enough of a romantic to want it to be just the pure joy of creating a new human.

There are photos of Sera’s older children with the new little guy. They look just as in-awe as their mother and stepfather.

The role of stepfather is intimidating. My brother makes it look easy, but at least I have him to go to for advice. He took on three kids, including two teenagers. One four-year-old should be a breeze. But if Chastity isn’t pregnant, which she isn’t if she has an IUD, we don’t have to rush anything. We can take our time dating, and I can get to know Josiah better.

Naked still, the sheet is pulled lightly over us, Chastity has turned so that she’s twisted in it, and my thighs are mostly exposed. The room is cool, but I don’t want to disturb her.

I want her to be pregnant. I can’t say that out loud because she might actually kill me in my sleep later, but this is what I want. Her and me and a couple of kids. My restaurant. Her nursing career. Family coming out of our ears to help us.

Well, my family anyway. Which is more than enough. I don’t understand what the deal is with her parents, but I don’t care. What I care about is that it hurts Chastity. But I can’t change that. I can only try to make it up to her. To be more than enough. To have my family be hers.

She stirs a little in her sleep. I stroke her hair, wanting to reassure her.

I’ll be here for her.

No one is cursed. Curses don’t exist.

“I love you,” I murmur to her, hoping it causes me to enter into her dreams where we live happily ever after.

I’ve gotten to be a sappy motherfucker all of a sudden. I don’t even mind.

If I’m going to fall, might as well fall hard.

I don’t like to do anything half-assed.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chastity

I wake up uneasy and uncertain what I’m supposed to say or how I’m supposed to act. Nevaeh texted me an hour ago saying she is on her way home, so it’s important to get Hank out of the house now. He grumbles a little and kisses me a lot, but he drags his clothes on, rakes his fingers through his hair, and stuffs his feet into his shoes while he yawns.

Impatient and afraid Josiah will get home while he’s still here, I offer Hank a sip of coffee from my mug, then immediately take it back. “I’m sorry. You have to go.”

“I’m going.” He just stands there, smiling at me.

“What?”

“You’re so cute.”

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