She takes a staggering breath and then nods, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her fork clatters to the plate and I can’t help but reach out to pull her down to the floor with me, taking her in my arms.
I want her to be happy. I don’t know why she’s reacting like this, but I intend to find out why.
I press a kiss to her temple, burying my nose in her hair, keeping my voice low and calm. “Shiloh, you don’t have to decide today. How can I help?”
She pulls away from me slightly to look me in the eye. “Liam, of course I want this baby with you. I just… I don’t know how I can have a baby and go to Trinity,” she says. “It will be a newborn next fall… and I’ll be alone. I can’t bring a baby into Nadia’s house—”
“You won’t be alone.”
She swallows a choked sob. “I won’t?”
“No,” I shake my head. “I’m coming with you, sweetheart… if you’ll have me.”
She stops crying, more surprised now than anything else. She turns in my arms to sit face-to-face with me, straddling me. It isn’t comfortable on the cold tile, but I don’t care; at least she’s here in my arms.
“But you can’t just up and leave your job at Aegis,” she says. “You’re too important.”
“You think I would prioritize my clients over you?” I ask. “Shiloh… I can work from Dublin. I can be back and forth on a plane multiple times a week if I need to. All I care about is being with you. Do you understand me? When I said that I wanted my future to have you in it, I meant that. No long distance, no pauses, no breaks. I’m all in.”
She stares at me as if I’m speaking another language. I don’t know if I’m getting through to her; she’s had a bad morning, she’s probably been freaking out for hours.
“Then…” she pauses, biting her lip. “Then I definitely want to keep it.”
I hold her face gently in my hands, looking into her eyes with all the love and certainty I can muster. “Then we keep it,” I say firmly. “We’ll figure everything out together, Shiloh. I promise you won’t be alone in this.”
A shuddering sigh escapes her lips, and she leans into me, wrapping her arms around my neck tightly. I feel the weight ofher relief and gratitude in the way she clings to me, and I hold her just as tightly in return.
After a few moments, she pulls back slightly, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. “I don’t know what to say…”
“You don’t have to say anything,” I assure her, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “We’ll take this one step at a time. But the first step is to make this official.”
She smiles softly. “Liam, we’re already planning on going public, telling HR.”
“Not like that, sweetheart,” I say. “I didn’t want to do it like this… but before you vanished this morning, I was planning on sneaking out myself. I was going to get you an engagement ring.”
Her eyes widen and I watch as she works it out—puts the puzzle pieces together. A future that seemed so unattainable is suddenly falling into place, and I want to give that to her.
“Marry me,” I go on. “Marry me, then let’s move to Dublin and have our baby. I want a future with you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”
She bites her lip, eyes sparkling once again. Then she’s crying happy tears, flinging her arms around me.
“Yes,” she breathes. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
And in that moment, I know everything is going to be okay—and that the future is looking as beautiful as the woman I love.
The world seems full of possibilities, and I can’t wait to explore them all with her.
Chapter thirty-three
Shiloh
I didn’t think Iwould ever come back to this house.
The last time I crossed this threshold, Chris had made sure to mark the occasion with humiliation served cold. But that's not what sticks in my memory—it was the same night Liam and I shared our first kiss, a secret branded into the shadows of the past.
Now I'm back, hand adorned with the evidence of commitment, ready to face whatever this evening throws at me. My lover—no, my fiancé—Liam has his hand on the car door. The thought alone, the word 'fiancé,' sends a thrill through me. It's only been a few days, and I’m still reeling from the pregnancy… his proposal.
Our decision to move to Dublin together so I can go to Trinity and chase my dreams.