Page 147 of Tangled up in You

“Yeah, we will,” Chris said, leaning in for a kiss of his own once Mark stepped back. “And I love you, too.”

She smiled. “Love you.”

Chris and Mark kissed good-bye and Mark headed for his truck while Chris climbed behind the wheel and cranked it, sitting there for a moment. “We’re not rich. You know that. But we want to?—”

“I’m not worried about financial support,” she said. “We’ll figure the rest out.”

CHRISTOPHER

He couldn’t believe this was happening.

Not only were they getting Jesse back…they were going to be dads.

When held her hand during the drive back, his heart felt lighter than it had in months.

“We have a lot to talk about,” he said, carefully modulating his tone. “We need to make plans.”

She squeezed his hand. “I know.” A soft laugh, the one he’d missed so damned much. “At least money is no object.”

“We’re not looking to be leeches,” he said. “We enjoy what we do for a living.”

Another squeeze. “That was a joke.”

He glanced over to find her smiling. “But, yeah,” she added, “it’s not a joke. Our discussions need to start with the fact that you guys don’t need to worry about money. We’ll make this work.”

“Might have to put a radio tracking collar on you,” he said, earning him another laugh.

“That sounds kinky,” she teased.

He rubbed his thumb against her hand. “Missed you, baby,” he said, surprised at how his eyes pricked with tears, accompanied by a tightness in his throat he hadn’t felt in years. “I worried we’d never see you again.”

She heavily sighed. “Yeah, well, I was worried about that, too. And then…this.” Her other hand rested on her tummy. “I’m sorry I ran and didn’t confront you guys then.”

“We need to move forward, not back.” He had to stop due to a bear jam in traffic and looked at her. “Igetit, now that I know what happened. But just like I had to learn with Mark in the early days, you have to learn with us—trust us. Don’t trust the RSD. Don’t retreat from us. Stop, breathe, and tell us you’re triggered so we can figure it outthen. We’ll always catch you, but we can’t if we don’t know you’re falling. Right?”

She sniffled. “Right,” she quietly said. “I guess I’ve been so used to catching myself over the years I just…reacted.”

“What about your dad? Seems like he loves you.”

“Oh, he does. This isn’t on him. I put myself into that position. I’m the one who asked to go to boarding schools.”

“Why?”

“It was too empty at home without Mom. I thought Dad might be able to get through things easier if he didn’t have to worry about me every minute of the day. He was smothering me and I couldn’t take it. And I knew I wouldn’t hurt as much if I had other things to think about besides her not being alive. It was pain I couldn’t do anything about. I couldn’t…fixit. That’s why when I decided to become an engineer I knew I wanted to make a difference. Maybe stop people from going through tragedy.”

“Don’t mask around us,” he said. “Please? As you saw, I don’t mask with Mark. I know we joked about him being a clueless neurotypical guy, but he tries. He triesreallyhard. Like you, he’s a fixer of things. Of what he loves. He loves me, he loves Yellowstone.” He squeezed her hand again. “And he loves you. We both do.”

They started moving again. When he reached their house, he rounded the truck to open her door and help her out. They both turned at the sound of a vehicle approaching.

Chris thought it would be Mark, somehow managing to cut loose early, but it was a large, black SUV.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Jessie muttered, storming that way.

He followed. “What’s going on?”

She stalked over to the driver’s door, where the man rolled the window down. “He in there?” she barked.

The back driver’s side window rolled down and as Chris walked up he realized it was her father, wearing a sheepish grin. “Hi, honey.”

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