Page 71 of Inked Craving

“I’d say you could move in with me, but my house isn’t big enough for the three of us.”

She smiled softly. “I know. What about maybe moving into a new Montgomery build? The three of us.”

I leaned down and brushed my lips against hers. “I think I can do that. I mean, I was already wondering when I could find the courage to ask if I could just stay here forever. With you. Just move in. Or maybe I would just do it quietly, and you never would have noticed.”

She laughed softly just like I wanted her to, the sound a soothing balm to my scratched soul. She let out a breath, taking a step back. “I think you and I going in on this together would be good. It’d be rational and what I want. Because I love you, Lee. And Emery loves you, too.”

“I love you both. Even if this wasn’t exactly how I planned it.”

Paige’s eyes widened as I went to one knee and kissed her hand. “Paige Montgomery, help me find a house for the three of us, be my forever, and be our future. Marry me. Let me finally become a damn Montgomery.”

She threw her head back and laughed wholeheartedly, the sound surprising me because I thought I wouldn’t hear it again. And when she dropped to her knees in front of me, I nearly melted in rapture.

“Yes. I’ll marry you, Lee Grier. And I cannot wait for you to become a Montgomery.”

I winced. “Well, I really mean a Grier-Montgomery.”

She winked at me and I laughed. “Oh, you said it. You’re going to be a Montgomery. Sorry, that’s how it works. It’s binding. And you can even get the tattoo.”

I reached around and gripped her hip right over where she had the Montgomery Iris tattoo. “I think I can do that. For you. I’m going to ask for one more thing, though.” Nerves overtook me, and I took a quick inhale of breath.

“That you want to adopt Emery and be her daddy in truth?” Paige asked, and I shook my head, a smile playing on my lips.

“Thank you for taking my thunder.”

“We need good, Lee. After so much, we need good. We’ll be your family. And you’ll be ours. And we’ll figure out what happens next. Just you and me and Emery. I love you, Lee. I need you, and I want to be with you. Forever.”

“Good. Because I’m not going anywhere. Even if I have to be a Montgomery.”

She laughed, and I kissed her right when Emery woke up and started to cry. And so we stood, held our daughter in our arms, and I had to wonder exactly how this was my life. I hadn’t known that this was what I wanted until I almost lost it. I would fight every day to prove that I was worthy of them, worthy of this, and worth what happened next.

Because I was going to be a Montgomery.

I was a father.

And I would be a husband.

Three things I’d never thought were in the cards for me, and yet were the only things I wanted.

So, I kissed Paige, then the top of Emery’s head, and I held my girls as we planned our future, and I did my best not to only think of the darkness.

And I remembered that within each dark moment, there was light. A light to remind us of what we were fighting for and what outshone that darkness.

Epilogue

Paige

“To Paige and Lee, my best friend and my sister, I guess it had to happen,” Benjamin added to his toast, and I rolled my eyes.

“Thank you for all the love. And for not beating up my fiancé.” I wiggled my fingers, the diamond catching the light, and everybody clapped their hands and cheered again.

My mother held Emery close, my father behind her as they took care of their grandchild. I just sighed as Lee held me around the waist, doing my best not to move forward and pluck Emery out of my parents’ arms. It wasn’t going to be easy, this whole healing from the scariest moment of my life thing. I’d thought I had been scared when I almost lost Emery during the pregnancy, yet that was only a fraction of the fear I felt during her kidnapping. However, we were seeing a therapist, we were talking about it, and we were finding a home. All of this while planning a wedding and dealing with more than a few work issues. However, we were doing it. All of us.

And now we were at a Montgomery dinner and our engagement party.

I didn’t need a full-on engagement party, nor would I have a huge wedding. Though the wedding would be big enough with only family. Still, I didn’t need to invite the entire world. I didn’t need the lavish wedding I had dreamed of as a little girl. I already had my forever, and anything else would just be icing on that wedding cake.

“So, when do we start planning?” Annabelle asked as she moved to my side. She pulled me away from Lee, who just kissed me softly before going to speak with Jacob.

---