Page 104 of Guarded from Treachery

“Yes,” I reply. “Of course.” I lunge at Matt, flinging my arms around him. “Yes. A million times, yes. I’ve been hoping so badly that you would ask.”

A relieved sigh escapes. Matt stares at me for a moment before covering my lips with his. Then he looks at me again with tears shining in his eyes. “I can’t even… Are you sure? Really sure? You and Dove? And me? We’ll be a family?”

“Yes.” A laugh bubbles up. “I’m sure. Really sure.”

His face lights up. “Oh, Isles.” With a trembling hand, he slides the ring onto my finger. “You have no idea how happy you made me.”

“Yes, I do. Because that’s how happy I feel.”

Matt lifts my hand to his lips and presses a soft kiss to the back of it before looking back at me, his eyes shining with joy. “I’ll doanything, Isla. Anything for you and the baby. You are the two most important people in the world to me.”

As I look into his eyes, the eyes of my future husband, I ask the last question I’ve been hanging on to. “Would you want to be on the birth certificate? So you’d be the legal father? The donor doesn’t have any rights, so it’s my decision. And I was just thinking, if we’re married…”

“Yes.” He kisses me again. “Yes.Yes. I absolutely want to be on the birth certificate. I wouldn’t treat her—” He pauses. “Or him any differently if I wasn’t. But to be named as the father? It would be such an honor.”

“Okay, then.” Somehow I’m laughing and crying at the same time. “I love you, Matt. And you are going to be such a good dad.”

Matt puts his hand on my belly. “I’m going to do my best.”

A moment later, his eyes go wide. “Did the baby just move?”

I smile at him, feeling happier than I’ve ever been. “Yes. I think she’s happy, too.”

“Oh, Isla.” Wonder shines in his eyes. “I’m so happy. And I love you so much.”

“Matt.” I lean in to kiss him. “I love you, too. And I can’twaitto be married to you.”

As I meet his gaze, the baby moves again.

And I know I found everything I ever wanted.

My eye in the storm.

My silver lining.

My treasure at the end of the rainbow.

EPILOGUE

6 MONTHS LATER

MATT

The first time Isla and I made love, I didn’t think it could get any better.

Then the second time, I thought,This is it. Thisis the most magical thing in the world.

But each time just gets better. More intimate. More meaningful.

And now I’m not just making love to the most incredible woman I’ve ever met, I’m making love to my wife.

Mywife. It’s been five months and I still can’t quite wrap my head around it.

Not just my wife, but the mother of my child.

I don’t know what I did to get this lucky, but I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove I deserve it.

And I feel especially lucky with my gorgeous wife stretched out naked on the bed in front of me, her skin warm and satiny soft beneath my lips. I feel lucky as I kiss my way down her belly, across the faint lines she wears proudly. And as her eyes meet mine, desire darkening them to a deep indigo, I feel even luckier still.

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