Page 73 of Cautious

“I promise to not get shot again, at least not for a while,” he vows with a strained smile.

“You better stick to that or you’ll miss out on the top uncle spot,” I tell him.

He looks at me with a frown before facing Blake. “What’s she talking about?”

“Callie’s pregnant,” Blake answers, letting the weight of his words settle over the room. “I’ll never be able to thank you, man.” Blake’s voice croaks so he stops and clears his throat.

“No, thanks necessary, Blake. You know I’d do anything for you, for both of you. I’m hoping whatever kind of magic you guys have rubs off on the rest of us.”

“You want a wife and kids, Popeye?” I ask softly, looking up into his eyes.

“I never thought I would, but after seeing you two together, yeah, I do. Besides, if Blake here can land a girl like you, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about. I’m ten times more manly than he is,” Marcus jokes, making me laugh as Blake calls him a dick.

Blake has lost his home and his business, but none of that matters to him. I can see it in his eyes. Everything he cares about is right here in this hospital.

Buildings are just bricks and mortar that can easily be rebuilt.

Family is what makes a place a home.

Epilogue

CALLIE

I gaze out the window of our new home and into the backyard and smile, watching Felix and Kellen arguing over the construction of the playhouse they insisted on building.

At my twenty-week scan, we discovered we were indeed expecting a little girl, and all the overprotective men in my life went batshit crazy.

I laugh as Kellen shoves Felix, who falls on his ass, cursing.

So much has happened in the time Blake and I have been together that quiet moments like these are sometimes as much a blessing as a curse. Like stepping off a rollercoaster where you’re thankful for the reprieve, but your stomach still revolts, and your legs feel like Jello.

Christian’s death was a blessing, bringing me nothing but relief and a sense of safety. My mother’s death, however, brought me nothing but nightmares.

The aftermath of the fire didn’t kick in until a week or so after I left the hospital. I don’t know if it was because I had been so busy focusing on Marcus and June that it just took my brain awhile to process everything, but the nightmares started coming thick and fast after that.

I know I did the right thing that day. Opening the door to the panic room would have, at the very least, resulted in Marcus’s death. And, given Christian’s frame of mind at the end there, it would likely have been the end of mine and Peaches’s life too.

As if she knows I’m thinking about her, she gives me two hard kicks to the bladder, making me grimace.

“And now I need to pee,” I mutter to myself, heading away from the window and moving toward the bathroom, almost colliding with Aiden in the hallway.

I don’t know Aiden as well as I do the others, but only because he had been away on a job for a chunk of Blake’s and my courtship. And what a job it turned out to be. Car crashes, bad guys, movie stars, and an epic romance all spilled over into real life, but that’s a story for another day.

He came back for our wedding—a simple affair held right here in the backyard—causing a stir when he brought Hollywood’s sweetheart Matilda Carson as his date.

“Sorry, Callie.” His deep voice rumbles, his hands wrapping around my arms to steady me. “I’m just finishing up the furniture in the nursery. Want to take a look?”

“Oh, hell yeah, but let me pee first. This kid seems to think my bladder is a football.”

He chuckles and lets go once he’s sure I’ve got my balance. “You do that. What time is Blake supposed to be getting here?”

I look at my watch as I start jigging on the spot. “In about an hour if the traffic gods smile upon him. June wanted him to meet her latest suitor first, so who knows.” I shrug, smiling, and for the first time in a long while, it doesn’t feel forced when talking about her.

Much like with my mother and Danny, June is another person I feel tremendous guilt toward. Especially when it wasconfirmed that it was the same two goons who beat Danny that attacked June. They were arrested and won’t be hurting anyone else again, at least not for a while. I’ve been working through my feelings, but I often wonder if I will ever be able to look at June and not feel responsible for what happened.

Initially, despite her attack, June had been doing well. But on day three of her hospital stay, she had a massive stroke and almost died. Thankfully, she pulled through, but her road to recovery will be a long one with zero guarantees at the end. She was moved to a speech and physical therapy rehabilitation center when she was strong enough, which is where Blake is picking her up from now.

She doesn’t want to miss out on today’s celebration, but she has flat-out refused to move in here with us. Blake assumed when she was finally strong enough to come home, it would be here with us. A fresh start for us all. But he seemed to have forgotten how fiercely independent June is, and how stubborn she can be when she sets her mind to something.

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