Page 80 of Last Minute Fiancé

“I’m just happy we were both going slow enough that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I would never forgive myself if you guys were hurt because of me. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you or Keeley.”

I cursed under my breath because I had been so selfish in my panic over losing him and Keeley that I hadn’t thought about what he might be feeling.

I softly touched his face and kissed his chin. “You did everything right. I promise. We’re okay.”

“I thought I was supposed to be reassuring you.”

“How about we reassure each other.”

“We can do that. I love you, you know. I am so fucking happy we have each other. I’m not normally an emotional guy, even though sometimes I feel like it with you.”

“Oh?” I said with a laugh.

“Yes. Oh. I just get so happy sometimes, so happy that we have what we have, even though we didn’t quite ask for it. And I just don’t want to lose that.”

I pressed my lips together, nodding. “Same here.”

“You’re never getting rid of me, Addison. You’re stuck with me.”

“I don’t mind. Not at all.”

I kissed his chin again, while Keeley slept on the little nursery bed beside us.

When the doctor came in to give us an update, I sagged in relief.

“She doesn’t seem shaken up or hurt at all from the accident, and we’re going to give her some medicine for her cold to try to get the fever down. We want to keep her overnight, just in case. But that’s being overly precautious, and you guys are already here, so let’s make sure that we’re all on the same page, and she’ll be right as rain soon. You have a lovely family,” he added at the end, and I wrapped my arm around my best friend’s waist and smiled.

We did have a lovely family.

It wasn’t what we thought we’d have, it wasn’t what we’d planned, but it was exactly what we needed.

I had fallen in love with my best friend, and I had somehow manifested him into being my boyfriend, my fiancé, and the father of my child. And not in that order. I knew that, no matter what, I would forever be grateful, I would forever know that this was what I had chosen, subconsciously or not.

This was my family. My future, my everything.

And I couldn’t wait to make more memories with my best friend.

ChapterEighteen

Luca

“There’s nothing like cold fried chicken on an afternoon picnic. Don’t you think?”

I looked over at Heath and raised a brow. “Did you utter that sentence unironically? That doesn’t sound like you.”

Heath shrugged. “What? We’re new dads. We’re supposed to enjoy this shit.”

I looked down at the babies in the covered bassinet between us that were sleeping after a lovely afternoon of giggling and screaming their little heads off. Although at three months I didn’t know if it was giggling and smiling or if it was just them filling their diapers. Honestly it could be either.

I had never imagined myself as a father like this. I had never imagined that when we moved from Portland to Denver, this would be my life. We had come here to be with Greer and to start over. Each of us had started over in our way. Greer with her business and her husbands. Heath with his business as well, having wanted to see if he could make it with his friend rather than at the place he had sold out west. And he wanted to start over with all of us as the big brother he was.

I had needed a change when I could start my career as a vet, and I needed to get away from a place that had so many memories. I still thought of Ashleigh from time to time, as she had been my friend and a girl that I loved. But I wasn’t in love with her anymore. That distinction had taken a long time for me to figure out. But it was something that made my love for Addison all the more clear.

You were allowed to have more than one love in your life.

Just because you didn’t have the life you thought you would didn’t mean your life wasn’t worth living. And that had taken me a long time to figure out.

Or at least longer than I had planned.

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