Page 102 of Before I Loved You

And it feels…perfect.

“I can’t believe you put everything together.” My eyelids flutter open as I turn my head to the side, focusing on the baby crib, perfectly standing against the side of the room. The changing table appears assembled beside the far wall, and the matching rocking chair sits in the corner of the room with…

I step away, tilting my head to the side. “Is that Teddy?”

Paul strides toward the chair, picking up the unrecognizable teddy bear. “I took Teddy to the dry cleaners. They cleaned his fur, sewed his eye back on, and gave him a new pink bow.” He hands him over to me. “What do you think?”

I clutch the bear to my chest, sobbing like a baby. “He…looks…perfect.”

He took my ratty old teddy bear to the dry cleaners.

He did that for me.

“Don’t cry, baby girl.” His fingers slide against my cheek, his knuckles running against my jawline. “I’m here.”

“I can’t help it. Everything makes me cry now because my hormones are all over the place, and I hate it so much,” I confess. “I saw one of those ASPCA commercials the other day. The one with the Sarah McLachlan song, and I cried for almost two hours straight.”

Paul rolls in his bottom lip, stifling a laugh.

I swat at his chest. “It’s not funny!”

He clears his throat, shaking his head, trying to appear serious. “Definitely not funny.”

I purse my lips, considering, and take a step away to place Teddy on the changing table. “I guess it’s a little funny.”

His lips curve up the tiniest bit as he bundles his arm around my waist and pulls me into him.

I clasp my arms around him, gripping his shirt in my fingers. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you everything. I shouldn’t have lied to you. I was just so scared. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to—”

“Breathe, Sarah.” He rubs my back. “Just breathe. Everything will be okay.”

No, it won’t. Not until I tell him about Greyson.

“Paul, I…I want…no, I need to tell you everything.”

His hand runs over the back of my head and down my spine in a soothing, gentle motion. “Have you eaten tonight?”

I shake my head.

“Why don’t we order some delivery, and then you can tell me everything?” His cheek rests on the top of my head as his arms wrap tighter around me, making me feel safe, protected, and…loved.

“Okay.” I let out a deep breath. “But can we stand like this for one more minute?”

He kisses the top of my head. “Of course.”

After a few minutes, I slowly unwrap myself from around him and look up into his eyes. “I’m ready.”

He takes my hand and leads me to the living room, but as we walk out the door, I take one last look over my shoulder at the room that, thanks to Paul, now looks like an actual nursery.

Seeing everything put together makes this all feel more real.

“What are you in the mood for?” Paul plops down on the sofa, pulling me down beside him. He pulls up his phone, scrolling through his food delivery app. “There’s Chinese, pizza, Mexican—”

“Mexican!” I exclaim.

“Mexican it is, then.” He presses a few buttons and then places his phone beside him. “It’ll be here soon.”

“How did you even know what I wanted?”

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