Page 70 of Merciful Lies

“Yeah. I understand.”

“Anything else you want to ask me?” He smiles and my heart thuds in my chest.

“Did you marry me just to give the baby a name? I mean, I know you love me now, but you couldn’t have loved me then.”

I make a noise I intended as a laugh, but it’s something between sob and whimper.

“It was one of the reasons,” he says, and he moves closer.

“What's the other?”

I ask as he cups my cheeks in his hands.

“Don’t you know?”

I shake my head.

“Because, Rosebud, you were mine from the first moment I saw you. You're all I need, all I want. I love you, Wife. You’re my everything.”

“I love you, too,” I say and sigh into his kiss.

Nico envelops me in his embrace and I feel him sink into every part of me.

My heart. My body. My mind, My soul.

I am so in love with this man. He ends the kiss with a moan and presses his forehead to mine.

“I’ll finish cleaning up. Go put on something comfortable, and we’ll watch TV.”

I change into a soft maternity pajama short set and snuggle next to Nico on the enormous sofa to watch an old movie with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

It’s a romcom with a wonderful supporting cast of characters and there’s even a dinosaur and a leopard.

It’s hilarious. I’m surprised Nico likes it, but really, I shouldn’t be.

My husband has a lot more depth than I think he gives himself credit for.

The sun is setting outside, and I doze off before the film is over. I stir when I feel Nico lift me, but he brushes his lips over my temple and tells me to go back to sleep as he carries me to bed.

It seems ludicrous that I’m so at ease with an admitted murderer. And yeah, it’s entirely possible Nico is a little crazy.

But I’m surprisingly okay with that.

I love him.

I love everything about him.

His unhinged tendencies.

His dark parts.

All the good and the bad.

And I hear my husband whisper the last part of our vows against my temple as he kisses me and tucks me in, and I fall into a deeper, more contented sleep than I ever have with our baby growing right under my heart.

“Till death do us part, Rosebud.”

And my soul rejoices at his vow.

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