Page 121 of The Mistakes I've Made
I placed a single finger against her lips, and she quieted instantly.
“It’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”
“Really?” she said, a sob escaping her lungs.
“Really,” I confirmed as I wiped the tear that had trickled down her cheek.
She did the same to me, running her fingers across the stubble that had grown along my chin.
“I like the beard.” She smiled, cupping my face in her hand as she gave me an appreciative look.
“Yeah?” I grinned. “It’s calledI just gave up the woman I love and can’t stop drinkinglook.”
Laughing, she briefly kissed me. “I think we should rename it toI stupidly gave up the woman I love but she wouldn’t go, and now she’s forcing me to keep this beardlook.”
“Kind of a mouthful, but—”
Her eyes glimmered, and it was that moment that both of us realized just how long it had been since we’d been in each other’s arms because half a second later, our lips were locked, and I was hoisting her up in the air to carry her toward the bed.
“Can you—I mean, will it hurt the baby?”
She laughed. “Do you think I’d be ripping open your jeans like this if it could?”
“Good point.”
Clothes fell to the floor as I found my home, my center, my world, all wrapped up in her arms.
“I love you, Lani,” I said as our bodies joined together once again.
“I love you, too, Taylor,” she echoed back.
And we spent the rest of the night making up for lost time.
Waiting out a storm was brutal.
Waiting out a storm while you were far away from home was even worse.
I was used to the abuse, having evacuated more than my fair share of times over my lifetime on the island.
But, for Lani, this was definitely a first.
“Do you think it’s okay?” she asked, watching the news from her perch on the edge of the bed, a place she’d made her home over the last week. “I mean, can’t they just give me one shot of Ocracoke? Just one? They keep mentioning damage in the Outer Banks, but they don’t say where! I need to know where, stupid weatherman!”
I slid up behind her, straddling her from behind. Running my hands over her shoulders, I proceeded to massage her tense muscles, hoping to force her into relaxing.
It seemed to be working, as her body began to melt into mine, and I inhaled the citrusy smell of her shampoo clinging to her hair.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” I said. “The storm has already passed. We’re just waiting for the all clear.”
“All clear? What does that even mean?”
I smiled, pulling her already-tense body back to mine. Pregnant Lani was a high-strung Lani.
Jake had already informed me that these were all good signs—the mood swings, the extreme nausea. It showed the pregnancy and the baby were strong.. Although the IUD had been removed, there was still risk of miscarriage and a whole host of other things I didn’t want to think about. She could have all the damn mood swings she wanted if it meant her and our baby stayed healthy.
I was tough; I could take it.
“They just need to make sure the roads are passable. It takes a while for the water to recede. And, if there are places that washed away—”
