Page 139 of Sweet Little Thing

She sat there thinking about it a moment more.

“Jasper told you?” she said it like a question more than a statement.

“He did.”

She frowned. “What did he tell you?”

“That I was a bastard that needed to think before I spoke.” She didn’t stop frowning. She was being careful. Although I deserved it, her distrust of me was like a punch in the gut.

“He also told me that my future, my happiness, and the woman I loved were in Beaufort, South Carolina, and she was carrying my child.” I reached out and cupped her face with my hand. “I’m sorry, Beulah, for saying what I did. I was upset about Wills. I was saying shit without thinking. Things I didn’t mean.”

She looked at me nervously. “I can’t…I can’t let my baby ever feel as if it isn’t wanted. I, I love you. I will always love you. But if you don’t want it. If this is too much, please leave. Don’t force something you don’t truly think you can deal with. It will causeharm I can never fix.”

Leaning down so that our faces were only inches apart, I made sure she could see my eyes clearly. The truth in every word I was about to say.

“I want you and our baby more than my next breath. I was scared I couldn’t be a father. But someone unexpected pointed out that I knew exactly what not to do. That I knew what a kid needed because I never had it. I want you, I want our child, and I want both forever. I’ve wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you, Beulah. And that has only grown into something very fucking powerful.”

Tears filled her eyes. “You sounded so sure,” she said as her voice shook. “I don’t want to force a family on you. It wasn’t planned-”

“If you say anything else I don’t think I can take it. You’re killing me, baby. Please, believe me. Forgive me. I swear I will spend my life making this up to you.”

I wiped the tears off her cheek with my thumbs. Her bottom lip trembled as those eyes that had owned me from day one stared up at me. I wasn’t sure she would ever understand the depth of what I felt for her. “Come home with me,” I pleaded. “Let me take care of you and our baby. Give me another chance.”

Her lips pressed together, and she sniffled then nodded her head. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

I wanted to laugh but I didn’t.If I was sure?God, I’d fucked up if this woman didn’t realize how I needed her to take a deep breath. “Beulah, without you there, it’s not home. You’re my home.” I placed a hand on her stomach. “And so is the child you’re carrying and the one I will fight for until he is with us.”

Epilogue

Dark brown curls danced in the wind as laughter carried across the field. I smiled as I drank my tea on the back porch of our home. I loved hearing their laughter. It never failed to bring a smile to my face. Prim tilted her head back to look up at her big brother as he pushed her on the swing she’d gotten for her third birthday last week.

Wills was her hero. From the moment she could toddle around on two feet, she’d followed Wills around the house. When he left for school, she would stand at the door with big crocodile tears in her eyes, watching him go. The moment he walked in the door in the afternoon, she would run to him with her arms wide open.

There was a time when I feared she might not get to know her brother. Stone had gone after his father with everything he had. Child abuse had been his first accusation. Not just for Wills but for the abuse he had suffered. Then he’d submitted the proof of Wills’s DNA.

The trial never came, and the fight ended quickly. Not because his father backed down but because he suffered a stroke that put him in a coma for six months. During that time, Stone was able to get temporary custody of Wills. Having him with us hadbeen wonderful, but we were still haunted that it might prove temporary. Now that we had Wills losing him wasn’t something either of us could face. Stone worked hard to continue to build a case against his father. Hilda was unresponsive to any contact we attempted with her.

When his father didn’t wake from the coma, but his body started slipping away, Stone was called in because his current stepmother wasn’t on his father’s living will as the person to decide to pull him off life support. Stone was. He couldn’t make the call that day. It was something he had to be sure was the right thing to do. He spoke with several doctors. Each one said his father was slowly passing, and there was less and less brain activity. To the point, if he ever woke up, he’d be in a vegetative state at best.

Stone didn’t sleep that night. He’d sat outside on the porch.

He made the final decision, and three weeks after I gave birth to our daughter, Stone’s father was buried. His stepmother didn’t contest the will, seeing as she received the home in Manhattan and twenty million dollars. Much more than she would have gotten in a divorce. The prenup made that very clear.

Hilda once again signed over custody of her child, this time to Stone, when the courts tried to say that Wills legally went to his mother. Wills didn’t even ask to see his mother. He began to accept that he was safe with us, that we loved him, and that he had a home here. Soon, he began to act more like the child he was than the child too old for his years.

Heidi loved staying with us over the weekends and spending holidays together. She adored her niece and nephew, and they loved her. She had a room in our home if she ever wanted to live with us, but she was happy with her life at Among the Spanish Moss.

The door behind me opened and I turned to see my handsome husband walk outside. He was watching the kids play with apleased smile. His eyes shifted to me. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

I held up my cup. “The ginger tea Geraldine suggested works wonders. Just like it did with Prim.”

Stone walked over and pressed a kiss to my head. “You decided when we’re gonna tell them yet?” he asked, referring to the kids.

I hadn’t yet, so I shook my head.

He shrugged. “Whenever you’re ready. No hurry. We can let them think you’re getting fat.”

I shoved him and laughed. “Not funny,” I said, not amused even a little.

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