Page 80 of No Going Back
Dianna’s eyes came to his. “So it will be kind of like a greenhouse?”
“It will be whatever you want it to be.” He’d researched all the options there were for an addition, settling on the one offering the closest likeness he could create to the mornings they used to spend together. “You said you were going to be sad when we couldn’t sit on the porch for breakfast anymore. Now you don’t have to be sad.”
Dianna smiled at him. “This is really thoughtful.”
“This isn’t how I wanted it to be when you saw it for the first time.” He took a deep breath, but it wasn’t as difficult as he expected to explain what he’d been doing while they were apart. “I wanted to finish the house so you would know I was serious when I asked you to marry me.”
Dianna’s head tipped back a little. She opened her mouth, but he wasn’t ready for her to respond just yet.
“I started going to therapy. Started trying to figure out why it’s so hard for me to share how I feel. I wanted to have everything so much farther along before I came to you and begged you to forgive me.” His eyes dropped to her belly, fingers itching to reach out and touch the spot that derailed all his carefully-laid plans in the best possible way. “I know I won’t ever be perfect, but I wanted to try to prove I could be good enough to make you happy.”
Dianna’s dark eyes moved over his face. “You’re going to therapy?”
He nodded. “Once every two weeks.”
It actually turned out to be the easiest part of all of this. Certainly easier than finding enough people to finish the home he wanted to convince Dianna to make hers in record time.
“His name’s Mike. He’s about my age. Gets that this shit is hard for me, but he pushes me because he knows this is important to me.” He reached out, letting his fingers slide across her face, finally giving in to the need to touch her. “He knowsyou’reimportant to me.”
Dianna’s brows lifted. “He knows about me?”
Griffin smiled. “Everyone knows about you.” He traced the line of her jaw. “I thought Troy and Amelie were going to throttle me when they found out what happened.”
“Oh.” Dianna’s eyes went to her stomach. “Oh.”
Griffin spread his palm over the curve of softness protecting one of the most important things in his life. “Don’t worry. They’ll be happy.”
Dianna chewed her lower lip. “But it will be weird. Their baby will be older than ours.”
“Don’t care.” Griffin leaned in to rest his forehead against her temple, breathing deep, relaxing for the first time in weeks. “All I care about is having you with me, Di.”
TWENTY-NINE
DIANNA
DIANNA SAT IN the chair she’d been directed to occupy, watching as mover after mover walked past, carrying in boxes and furniture and appliances.
“This is a lot of stuff.” Amelie sat beside her, occupying a chair of her own. “And some of it looks pretty new.”
Dianna watched a man walk past with what appeared to be a box with a drawing of a crib printed across the outside. “I didn’t realize when Griffin was asking me if I liked things he was immediately purchasing them.”
Griffin had clearly been collecting everything he needed to fill his home.
Their home.
From furniture to linens to plates and silverware, the giant house was starting to feel a little less cavernous, and a little more like a home.
“He definitely makes shit happen.” Amelie shook her head as a man carried in another box, this one displaying the picture of an infant swing. “He does realize people are going to want to throw you a baby shower, right?”
“I don’t think he’s thought about anything outside of making sure he is the best dad he can be.” Griffin hit the ground running the second she told him she was pregnant, and he hadn’t slowed down since.
He’d hired yet another crew to work on the house, determined to have the whole thing completed as quickly as possible so they could have plenty of time to get settled before the baby came in the spring.
“I might have to tell him to simmer down. We’re going to have a bunch of pissed off people if there’s nothing to buy for this damn baby.”
Amelie scratched across her expanding belly, wincing a little as she stretched to one side.
Dianna watched her closely. “Everything okay?”
