Page 109 of I Can't Even

She walked toward me with her father escorting her, and I felt my chest expand.

Mine.

She was mine.

“Hey, Calamity,” I said when she finally got to me.

She beamed. “Hey there, Hot Cop.”

“You’re not wearing white,” I teased when I held out my hand.

She placed her hand in mine, then moved until her belly was pressed into mine.

I felt the kick of our son between us and realized I’d miss that when she had him.

I loved the feel of him moving.

Ever since that day in the ambulance, I felt like I had this tie to him that not even his mom shared.

I couldn’t wait until he was here, and I could hold him in my arms.

Even more, I couldn’t wait to hold them both in my arms as I finally got to take a deep breath and revel in the fact those two vile creatures disguised as doctors didn’t take them away from me.

Her dad let her go, and it was only us standing up there, listening to the preacher start his spiel.

Ellodie and I ignored him as we continued to speak.

“I hate to tell you this, but I’m not a virgin,” she admitted. “And I like red better. It can hide stains.”

I snorted. “Maybe if you were more careful about your hot dog eating…”

“Who takes this woman to wed?”

I jerked and said, “I do.”

“And do you…”

There was more talking, more agreeing, and then the pastor, who took us at our word of fast is best hastily pronounced us man and wife.

I pulled her in close before he could tell me I could kiss her, and said, “You’re mine to the world now, Calamity. What are you going to do about it?”

She threw he arms around my neck and said, “I guess kiss you anytime I want, Hot Cop.”

She was sitting on a camping chair, dressed in leggings and one of my old DPD sweatshirts, with her feet in Auden’s lap.

Auden was drinking a beer and talking to Gable about the security protocols at the hospital. The ER director was forced to enact them after another gang shooting had happened while Ellodie had been out on medical leave.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that they waited that long.” Gable was agreeing with Auden. “That little girl could’ve been seriously hurt. It’s amazing to me that all it took was someone with clout to point a magnifying glass at the issues with the ER for things to get changed.”

“Agreed,” Auden said. “Ellodie, are you sad that you won’t see these new protocols in action?”

Ellodie’s gaze caught mine as I walked up to her before she said, “I’m actually happy. I still have some friends there. I would hate for them to have to deal with anything scary.”

“You know what’s scary?” Gable asked as he was throwing darts across the room at the dart board that Garrett was retrieving. “That it was the mayor’s granddaughter. That woman is terrifying. I hate going to meetings where she’s in attendance.”

“She’s not that bad.” Garrett admitted.

The rest of my family was scattered around.

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