Page 124 of Against All Odds

“Mom . . .”

“For when you’re ready, which I hope is soon, because like I said before, Everett, you can’t ever get back time, no matter how hard you try. Now I need to lie down.” She looks to Violet and smiles. “If I forget, please remind me, because I would like to feel this happiness again.”

Violet nods. “I’ll remind you every day.”

Mom taps my cheek. “Marry her before she gets away again.”

“Are you going to propose then?” Killian asks as we’re making our way back to check on his horse. It’s been a few weeks, and while I was pretty clear that the horse needed rest, his trainer is a fucking prick and ran him out, which caused further injury—like I said it would.

When we got here, Killian asked how I was, and I told him everything. Like an idiot, I just blurted it all out.

“I don’t think she’s ready for that.”

“Did you talk about it after?”

I run my fingers through my hair and shake my head. “No, we sort of pretended that entire part of the conversation didn’t happen.”

What the hell was I going to say? Do you want to get married while you’re still married? How about engaged? You can wear my mother’s engagement ring to the divorce hearing. Sound good?

No, none of that sounded good, and I don’t know that she would say yes. As much as I want forever with her, I want to do it right and on our terms.

“All right, I can’t help you there, but you know, marriage is just a piece of paper. I know your mom has her feelings, and I get it. We all know marriages end, so a ring and a license doesn’t secure your relationship any more than it is.”

“Wise words, old man,” I joke, but he’s right.

He snorts. “I’m just telling you how I see it.”

“No, I know that. I appreciate your honesty.”

Killian is quiet for a few minutes and then clears his throat. “I think being a good dad has nothing to do with a ring on her finger. It’s more about showing up, which is where I’ve failed my daughter, but I’m trying to make amends.”

He never talks much about his personal life. Killian has always been more private, and he doesn’t live in Ember Falls full-time, so it’s hard to know him well, but he’s a great guy. He is always there for us, and he walked away from a professional football career to try to form a relationship with his daughter.

“I just want to do right by them both. I want to be a good dad but also a good man. Violet needs someone to show up for her, no matter what.”

He clasps my shoulder. “Then she’s lucky she found you to show her how it should be.”

thirty

Violet

“Have a good night, Ms. Stewart,” my last student out the door says.

“You too.”

It was a long day, but thankfully I felt great, as though maybe this pregnancy isn’t trying to kill me.

So there’s a plus.

I grab my bag, ready to get the hell out of here, and head home.

My life has finally fallen into a pretty amazing cadence. I usually wake up with Everett, we have breakfast with his mom before both of us go to work, then we come home, eat together, and most nights we end up naked.

He brought over his Doppler last night, and we sat, listening to the baby’s heartbeat for an hour. It was ... magical.

We’ve started trying to guess the sex of the baby too. I’m pretty sure it’s a boy. I don’t know why, but it just feels—male.

Everett warned me that if he is a boy, baseball will absolutely be introduced.

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