Page 118 of Seven of Hearts

She blinked with heavy lids. “You’re back.”

“Yeah. You wanna stay on the couch or go back to your house?”

She stretched, then debated. “I’ll go. I’m getting too old to sleep on the floor.”

I laughed. “You’re still a teenager. Call me in fifteen more years.”

“Lo?”

My attention immediately snapped to Leah as she tried to wiggle out of the cocoon she had made for herself in the recliner.

“Hey, beautiful,” I said as I stepped over Zoey to kiss Leah.

“You’re back,” she said, startled and blinking.

“I’m back,” I said as I cupped her jaw and kissed her. A tear streaked down her cheek, and I kissed it away too.

“Sorry,” she said, quickly drying her tears. “I’m such a mess. I just missed you and the hormones make me cry over everything.”

“It’s all right, honeybee. You ready to go to bed and get some sleep?”

“Hey,” Kylie said as she eased in beside me. “We’re gonna head home. Zoey’s coming with us.”

Leah reached out and squeezed her hand. “Thanks for . . . for everything.”

Kylie smiled. “Text me tomorrow. Get some sleep.”

While the three of them slipped out the door, I dug Leah out from under the blankets and pillows she had burrowed in. When I looked back up at her, the tears hadn’t stopped falling.

“Baby...” I pulled the lever on the side of the recliner so she could sit up and get out. “Why are you crying?”

“I told you,” she whimpered. “It’s just the hormones. Everything makes me cry.”

“Maybe, but I still want to know why you’re crying,” I said as I kneeled in front of her and wiped her tears away.

Leah chewed on her lip. The bags under her eyes were prominent. It looked like she hadn’t been sleeping well. There was a weariness about her.

“I just missed you is all,” she said.

I had a feeling that was only the tip of the iceberg, so I pressed a little harder. “I missed you too. But why are you sad now? I’m back.”

She shook her head. “It’s stupid.”

“If it matters to you, it matters to me. Tell me what’s got you upset.”

She let out a trembling breath. “I was scared.” My furrowed brows must have clued her in that I was confused, because she continued. “I just...I didn’t know what was going to happen when you got to Chicago. Everything with the baby was so unexpected, and I wondered if you would want to go back to your life there when you remembered how good it was.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “How good it was?”

She nodded. “You worked so hard to get out of Beaufort. You had the job and the office and the city apartment—all of it. You weren’t tied down with a baby and a girlfriend. I just...I want good things for you. I never wanted you to resent me. That’s why I kept the pregnancy a secret until you found out.”

“Leah,” I said, interrupting every wrong thing that was coming out of her mouth. “I’ve had good things. But you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” I tipped her chin up so she had to look me in the eye. “There is no life for me, apart from the one where you’re my friend, my love, and the mother of my child. I could not ask for more than this.”

Her lip quivered, and her eyes were glassy. “You’re sure?”

I took her hands in mine, and kissed her palms before lacing our fingers together. “You know what I’m excited about?” I leaned up and kissed her forehead. “To give our son things we never had. Unconditional love. Showing up for him. Parents who put his well-being first. And parents who are madly in love with each other. You and I get to do that. Together. We get to put the best of both of us into the world, knowing that his future is rewritten because we’re choosing us. Our family.” I smiled against her lips as I cupped her cheeks. “Do you realize what you’ve done, sweetheart? You haven’t just given me the best life I could imagine. You’re setting the standard for every generation after us. I’m just honored that I get to be your partner in it all.”

Leah threw her arms around me and buried her face into my shoulder.

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