Page 138 of The Locksmith's Promise

He handed me out of the car, and I tipped my head back as the morning sun shone warm on my face.

I sighed. “I love spring.”

“I know you do,” he murmured. “Hang onto me, Mags. We’ll go slow.”

Finally, he stopped and moved behind me. Pulling my back to his chest, he palmed our baby between his big hands as his body vibrated with nervous energy.

“Open your eyes, baby.”

At first, I didn’t understand what I was seeing. There was colour, brilliant splashes of colour everywhere.

I gasped and slapped my hands down on his over our baby.

Tulips.

Hundreds of them.

Every colour I could imagine swayed in the breeze, their proud heads bright and unbending.

“Bax,” I wheezed. “Who did this?”

His shoulders shrugged against my back as he tightened his hold on me. “I did.”

“By yourself?” I squeaked.

“Every single one,” he promised.

“How many?”

He rubbed his hands over my belly. “Not nearly enough.”

At my feet, two rows of yellow tulips delineated a makeshift path.

“This will be the path up to our front door,” he explained softly, then pointed to the back of the lot. “Those ones at the back should survive construction and they’ll come up every spring.”

I turned my head, first one way, then the other, taking in the hundreds of tulips scattered over the lot.

“Bax,” I whispered. “It’s stunning.”

“They won’t make it through construction,” he murmured, tugging one of his hands out from under mine, “but this will.”

Reaching in front of me, he placed a velvet box in my hands. “Open it.”

Hands shaking, I flipped the lid up.

And my throat closed tight at the sight of the tiny gold key resting on a bed of velvet.

“I made you a promise a long time ago.” He swallowed.

Turning me in his arms, he plucked the necklace out of the box and undid the clasp.

“I promised you, Mags, a gold key and as many flowers as you can stand for the rest of our lives.”

I shivered as he tucked his hands under my hair and clasped it around my neck.

“My Maggie,” he murmured. “You hold the key to my heart. Always have, always will. This is just a reminder.”

“Thank you, Locksmith,” I teased, smiling and crying at once as I was wont to do throughout my pregnancy.

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