Page 263 of The Last Good Man

“That’s what I said,” I murmur, shifting my gaze to her.

Alice is pregnant with twins and lives not far from us.

She wears a cute flowing dress and a sweater.

“How is life at home?” she asks, moving away from me and claiming a chair by the window. “I’ll sit if you don’t mind.”

“Please do so. Do you want something to drink? Before dinner? Milk? A cookie?”

She smiles and gestures at me.

“No. I’m good.”

The house is quiet. Jax is in the nursery with our daughter. My parents are in the guest room getting ready for dinner. And the food is downstairs, probablyreadyto be served. I have people helping me these days.

Life is good.

“I really can’t complain,” I say, sitting across from her.“I thought staying home would be horrible. Especiallysince he is so busy. But he’s always home in the evenings. Sometimeseven during the day.He never misses a holiday and never goes out unless it’s for work. This was our understanding from the beginning. But you know him.”

Everybody knows Jax. And everybody loves Jax.

One thing I can say about him is that he’s never let anyone down. He told me never to leave his side. He said he would protect me and make sure nothingbadhappened to me again, and he had kept his promise.

After that harrowing night with Ellis Wilton, a lot of things happened.

I’ve never spent another night over there.

We lived in a hotel for a few days so I could be close to work, and he could run his business in Manhattan.

I closed on my apartment, and we lived there for a while before he formally proposed to me, and we started to look for a different home.

He didn’t want us to live in a place I had bought for myself, and I didn’t want to live there either.I had a different plan in mindwhen I set my eyes on that apartment.

We still own it, but our home is here in Long Island.

He doesn’t mind commuting.

And I commuted in the beginning as well.

We had a car and a driver.

Jax always dropped me off at work before picking me up in the evening. It had worked for a few good months before I found out I was pregnant.

We set a wedding date and didn’t wait any longer.

My wedding dress was gorgeous, simple and it hit above the knee, and I had flowers in my hair.

Jax was stunning in a three-piece gray suit, and the wedding reception was a success. The only noticeable absence was his father. He sent us a card, which I’m sure had been his wife’s idea.

Renata London couldn’t be prouder of her son, and my parents were over the moon.

My father had always trusted my mother’s intuition. She was already a goner for Jax London since she met him at the restaurant.

I never thought I’d be a stay-at-home mom, but we discussed this possibility, and he made it look appealing to me.

I thought I’d be restless. Noneof that happened.Maybe it had to do with this house.

Before the baby came, he showed me this place.