Page 79 of Love You Too

I shake my head. “No, it’s amazing, but you’re right. This is her day, and we’ll have our own day. I’ll be more than happy being engaged to you for a while and spreading out the good stuff over a much longer time.”

“Yeah?” he asks. “No multitasking?”

I shrug. “Not today.”

We thank the minister for sticking around and make our way to the reception, Ren’s arm draped around my shoulders. The voices get louder as we approach, and I get ready to dance with my fiancé.

“Wait,” Ren says, halting our steps. He comes around to face me and drops again to one knee. “I screwed it all up. I never actually asked you to marry me.”

Looking down at this man who’s had my heart since I wastwenty years old, I clap a hand over my mouth and shake my head. “Ren, you did ask.” I pull him to his feet and put my cheek against his chest, nodding as I wrap my arms around him. “And I said yes. I will marry you, Dominick Renaldi. Yes. I’m yours. Forever.”

Ren slips the engagement ring onto my finger and pockets the box with the wedding bands. “I’ll save these for another time, but I’m holding you to it.” He grins with that schoolboy charm I love, and my heart spills over.

With his arm draped over my shoulder again, we make our way to the reception, where we both drink sparkling water to toast my sister’s wedding and our engagement. I keep my ring finger hidden for the remainder of the night, so the celebration is only about PJ and Colin. But when Ren pulls me close and we dance to a slow song, he holds my hand right over his heart, and I never plan to let it go.

CHAPTER 36

Beatrix

Four MonthsLater

It’sthe middle of the night, and one of Ren’s practice tees hangs down past my knees. It’s stretched tight over my belly but baggy everywhere else. I haven’t slept for hours because of the contractions, but they’re pretty far apart. My doctor told me I don’t need to come to the hospital until they get closer together, but…

“I think my water just broke,” I whisper to Ren, waking him from a deep sleep.

I’m expecting panic, both because I’m waking him abruptly and because it’s two weeks before my due date. Instead, he rolls over and takes my hand. “There’s a bag in the closet.”

At first, I think he’s in the middle of a dream. “Ren, I’m in labor,” I say more urgently. He needsto wake up.

He sits up, still no panic in his face or his voice. “I know. This is it. Are you ready?”

“Areyouready? We need to go to the hospital. We need a change of clothes and stuff for the baby to go home in. And we didn’t install the car seat.”

If he’s not going to panic properly, I’ll feed him the necessary lines.

“I practiced installing it a week ago. I can do it in under a minute. I’ll get the bag. You… Is that what you want to wear?”

He’s out of bed and pulling a shirt over his head. His gorgeous abs disappear, and I’m momentarily distracted by the fact that he’s still naked from the waist down until he snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Earth to baby mama.”

Walking over to the closet while calmly pulling on boxer briefs and sweatpants, he guides me to his dresser. “Pick out some sweats. The shirt’s fine.”

Numbly, I fumble through the drawers and take out another shirt. Ren shakes his head and opens a different drawer, where he finds a pair of gray sweats for me. By the time I pull them on, Ren has taken a large duffel from the closet and extends his hand toward me.

“What’s that?”

“Clothes for us, baby stuff, snacks, crosswords. We’re set for the hospital, and I just called an Uber. You ready?”

I stare at him, dumbfounded, as my heartbeat ratchets upward. This is really happening—we’re going to be parents. But for the moment, I’m more interested in when Ren became a multitasker. “You called an Uber and found my clothes and produced a bag from nowhere…”

“Trix,” he says, pulling me close and calming me with a deep, thorough kiss. “I promised you, remember? For as long as I live, I’ll never break another promise to you. Never.”

I nod, the last piece of doubt falling away. Until this moment,I didn’t realize I was still holding on to it, but there it was, lurking in the recesses of my brain, worried about the future because I couldn’t get over the past. But now it’s time. “I know.”

“I’ve got you,” Ren says, draping one arm over my shoulder and slinging the duffel over his other arm. “And we’ve got this.”

CHAPTER 37

Ren

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