Page 76 of Inked Devotion

She reached up, her fingers touching the edge of the bandage. “I almost lost you tonight. I don’t want to lose you either.”

“I know it might be too soon for you to say anything, for you to get through all of your emotions because I know you keep thinking too hard, but I need to be here. No matter what.”

My heart ached, and I wanted her to say the words back, but I knew that she might not be able to. It would be too quick for her, and I understood that.

It didn’t ease the wanting, though.

She put her fingers to my lips then and smiled. “I love you too, Benjamin Montgomery. This isn’t exactly how I pictured saying it, but maybe it’s how it needed to be. I think I started falling in love with you on that road trip when I got to spend time with just you without the others around us. You faced my family, faced my own tumbled thoughts. And you haven’t shied away. You haven’t run away. I was the one who tried to do the running, and I failed. I love you, Benjamin. And we’re making a family.”

“We already are a family. We’re just growing it. And I can’t wait to see what else we do.” I leaned down and kissed her and ignored the throat-clearing of a nurse that walked in. Yes, we were going to be in trouble. Yes, if we weren’t careful, we’d somehow get kicked out of the hospital, even if I wasn’t sure that actually could happen. It didn’t matter. I was holding the woman that I loved, the future mother of my child, and nothing else mattered.

Chapter 21

Benjamin

This Montgomery Ink family dinner hit a little different. Probably because there weren’t going to be any new announcements from Brenna and me. The family already knew that we were engaged, that we had a child on the way, and we were working on moving her into my house. I had the extra space, and my place was closer to both of our works. It only made sense. We were still trying to figure out if we would sell her place or do what Annabelle and Jacob had done and rent out the house to somebody. Those are decisions that would come soon, but were not the major ones that we had already announced to the family. Today, however, was just about food and wedding planning. Just not ours. No, first up was Beckett and Eliza, Archer and Marc, and then us. I didn’t think we were going to go to something too big, not like the others. No, we had talked about just a small backyard wedding, one possibly a little sooner rather than later, since Brenna wasn’t sure she wanted to go full Grecian gown over a large baby bump.

I didn’t care. As long as Brenna was by my side, that was all that mattered.

I hadn’t been expecting her, but I wasn’t sure you could expect her. She was full of surprises. With every new breath I took, I felt like I was falling harder for this woman, finding unique aspects about her that I wasn’t prepared for.

Part of me thought that perhaps we’d always one day be at this spot, maybe not in this exact way, but we would be together. It might have taken getting my ex-girlfriend pregnant so she could have a baby with her wife to get me here, but that was not the strangest way a family member of mine had fallen in love.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Brenna asked from my side as she wrapped her arm around my waist.

It had been a couple of weeks since the accident, and we were both healed, though the cuts on our faces were going to need a little bit longer before they entirely faded away. One of our cousin’s friends was a plastic surgeon and had come in to help with the stitches in the end.

I wasn’t sure what it said about the Montgomerys that we had a plastic surgeon on hand for accidents, but I’d do whatever it took to make sure Brenna never had to think about almost losing each other again.

I’d never forget, however, as I dreamed about it often, yet waking up to Brenna in my arms helped.

“I was thinking about weddings and how our families exploded over the past year or so.”

She looked up at me and grinned. “You’re right. What’s funny is I felt like I’ve always been here. And I have. I’ve been the best friend of the Montgomerys, and now I’m going to have your last name. That is, if my family lets me change it.”

I snorted, thinking about her family, her parents, brothers, and sisters. “Your sisters changed their last name to their husbands’.”

“They did, but I was the last holdout. And I think they are afraid the Montgomerys will truly take over the rest of the world.”

“It only takes a few more marriages, and then we’ll probably have enough of us in offices and leadership roles around the country. First the US, and then the world. Soon it will just be the United States of Montgomerys.”

She blinked up at me and burst out laughing. “You sounded so serious just then.”

“I am serious. It’s in our doctrine. Soon you’ll learn it. Once you get the tattoo.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve always wanted the Montgomery Ink Iris. Are we going to go down to Denver or Colorado Springs to get it done?” she asked, speaking of the two tattoo shops that were in our family.

“You make the decision, though there will be a battle over who gets to do it.”

“Really?”

“Pretty much. I think it’s an inside family joke, but Austin Montgomery did mine.”

“Then maybe he should do mine too.”

“That’s a good way to make it work. That way, you don’t have to make a decision.”

“I like the sound of that,” she whispered, and I leaned down and brushed my lips against hers.

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