Page 148 of Stay for Me

But something was wrong. I knew today would’ve been her first day teaching law at Yale, and no matter how much she denied it, I knew she was wondering what could’ve been. After Lucas kidnapped her, she told me she never wanted to go back to the East Coast again. She turned down Yale. I respected her decision. Though, I was grateful she wouldn’t be gone from me months at a time, I still carried guilt.

When I walked in this morning, I expected her usual brightness, her smile, or even her laughter. The last thing I expected was the hint of fear in her eyes. I asked her about it, and she told me not to worry, giving me a half smile and a kiss. After I walked her to her car, I went inside, needing to take a piss before heading back out to the pasture.

The pregnancy test was sitting on the back of the toilet, the wrapper in the trash bin beside it. The double lines were engraved in my heart, branded on my soul, highlighting a future I never thought I’d have.

I was going to be a father.

Immediately, I called Kings, telling him I was taking the afternoon to help Diana in town. He didn’t mind; I’d only recently started going into town on a regular basis.

The first time was the day after I spread Lucas’ ashes on the mountain and took Diana to her house…

“Ihatehim.”

My firefly’s whispered confession was louder than a grenade.

My hand cupped her face then, forcing her to look at me and not at her destroyed living room. “I’ll clean it up.”

She tossed her hand out towards her desk. “My desk is broken.”

“Already have another built for you in the warehouse, beautiful,” I countered.

Her brows came together as she jerked in surprise. “W-what?” she stammered.

Chase shouted something from the other room, but I ignored him, bending and brushing my nose against hers. “Designed and built it for you years ago, my love. It just needs a stain, which you can pick out.”

Tears hit her eyes then, her bottom lip trembling. “Mags.”

“Don’t worry about your house,” I told her, kissing her. “I’ll get the twins out here to clean it up.”

“Thought you said you were going to clean it.”

My lips twitched. “I’m cleaning the office. Those lazy fuckers can do everything else.”

“And what will you do?”

My answer was firm but warm. “Be with you.”

Ireleasedashudderedbreath, opening the box up to reveal the ring I’d chosen for her months ago—the thin gold band, delicate and beautiful like her soul, the glimmering oval diamond, radiant like her smile, intoxicating like her heart.

The second I saw it, I knew it belonged on her finger.

“Fuck,” I muttered, grabbing my hat from the dashboard and putting it on, popping my door open with the other hand. As always, once I was on the sidewalk, I kept my eyes to the ground and counted the steps until I reached my destination. I’d been back in therapy, having weekly sessions, and since coming back out into the public, I realized I have a small fear of crowds. Hayden wasn’t a big town by any means, but even when the local grocery store was crowded on a Saturday, I couldn’t get past the mental block of being in there, surrounded by strangers.

“Afternoon, cowboy.”

My eyes lifted to find an older woman in a track suit, a small rat dog trotting in front of her. I tipped my hat and walked right by her.

“You better take care of her.”

My footsteps halted, my shoulders tensing. I looked over my shoulder, meeting the stranger’s kind eyes. “Pardon?”

She smiled and stretched out her index finger decorated with gold and silver rings, the nail painted a bright pink to match her tracksuit and pointed behind me. “You better take care of my lady lawyer, mister.”

I stared at her, unsure of what to do. My knee-jerk reaction would be to tell her to fuck off, but according to Mason, that wasn’t polite.

“I’m Martha,” she tacked on, beaming. “I attend book club with Diana.”

Realization dawned on me then, and I nodded. “She’s told me about you.”

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