Page 74 of The Biggest Secret
“Know what, pal? You’re the best thing I never planned,” I talk softly to Dominic. I can feel his little body go lax in my arms. Complete trust. In me, his dad.
“You came crashing into my life just when I needed it the most. IknewI was missing her, but I didn’t know Ineededyou, until you werehere.” I give him a squeeze, and rock him slightly. “The absolute best kind of surprise. You brought my girl back, and my heart. You became the reality I was hoping for ever since I met your momma. The love I have for you both, I never knew it was possible.” My heart pounds in my chest as I watch Chelsea slip out the folds of the tent. “It’s time I did something about it.”
Standing with Dom in my arms, I turn and notice Mom watching me with a sly smile. She puts her arms out and waves me over. Without saying a word, she takes Dom from my arms, and I walk over quickly to where I saw Chelsea step out. I find her out on the makeshift patio my guys put together. It’s cool tonight, unseasonably so, but she doesn’t cover her dress. And I’m thanking God for that as I would have missed all those delicious curves.
Standing just outside the flaps of the tent, I take her in. “You look beautiful.”
She turns and looks over her shoulder at me, not surprised to see me here, almost as if she’s been waiting for me.
“Thank you.” There’s a pause where we just take each other in. “Your speech was great.”
I huff out a laugh and look down, shuffling my foot along the brick. “He didn’t even proofread it beforehand. Jackass.”
“If anyone needed a proofreader, it was Britt.” I grin at her. This is good. We’re talking. It’s progress.
I walk toward the end of the patio, stopping next to her, both of us looking out over the football field, lit with tiki torches and white string lights. Taking a breath to calm my nerves, making sure my next words come out right.
“I need you to forgive me, Chelsea.”
She turns to me quickly and my peripheral catches a look of shock on her face. “Adam, no?—”
“No, please just listen.” I drop my head and lean on the railing. I feel her watching me as I gather myself. Today was emotional and it opened my eyes to everything I could have lost.
It’s time to take it back.
Turning my body to face her, I begin again. “I need you to forgive me for all the years I missed. And I’m not talking about the last two, I’mtalking about the ten before that. I brought you here to Christmas with me, intending to start our lives together, and then I didn’t do my part in keeping you here. I recognize it now. I see how my focus was all wrong. What I thought was right to do at the time was ultimately what cost me.”
We’re both absorbing the words I’ve put into the atmosphere. Then she quietly begins, “I’m the one who needs forgiveness, Adam. I’m still carrying the guilt with me every day. Being here with you, living this new life, the three of us, it’s all I’ve ever wanted. I just didn’t realize it until I lost it. And I was still triggered by things I didn’t have control of and it’s an active fight for me, each day, tochooseto let the day happen, you know? To just let it play out and have faith that at the end of the day, we’re coming home to each other. Instead, I fell right back into the Chelsea who runs, and I don’t want that. I don’t like that girl and I don’t want to be her.”
I grin at her and take her hands. “I love that girl. And I’ll take her anyway I can get her.” A tear rolls down her check and I’m doing my best to keep my own tears in check. “I can’t do this life alone. I need you and I need Dominic. I told you all those years ago when we first met that you were the breath that I needed in life. Without you, there is no air. I knew you belonged to me, on that very first day. It was true the day you left and it’s still true today. You’re mine. You’re both mine.”
“Tell me you forgive me; Adam I need to hear it from you.” Her tears come faster now and mine leak out, too.
“I forgive you Chelsea for what you think you took from me. Yes, you left, but look at all that you’ve brought back to me. I couldn’t ask for more than what you’ve given me already.”
She steps into me, and my arms wrap around her. We both let out a sigh finding our home within one another. She looks up to my face, my arms still holding her close, and I kiss the tip of her nose. “I love you, Chelsea Jo.”
She closes her eyes and smiles, then whispers, “I love you, too, Adam. But what if I have something more to give you. What would you say?”
Furrowing my brows, I ask, “CJ, what are you talking about?”
She looks at me with wonder in her eyes. They glisten with more tears and my vision becomes cloudy, too. “Adam. We’re pregnant again.”
I huff out a laugh. “You’re serious?” My heart is racing. I always wondered what this moment would feel like. What it would be like hearing those words ‘I’m pregnant’ coming from my woman. The excitement and love in those first few seconds while we dream together. Flashes of her growing belly, painting a nursery, being in the hospital when the doctor hands that baby to me for the first time. Holding him or her against my chest and breathing in the child I helped make.
She nods and the tears fall. It hits me like a brick. I’m getting my second chance right now. I drop to my knees and pull her in tight to me, kissing and nuzzling her belly.
“Adam!” She’s giggling but pulling at me to stand. “Someone’s going to see! Stand up!”
I hold her tighter. “I don’t care. I’m about to go in there and scream it over the mic.”
“No, you’re not! Not on your sister’s day!” I allow her to pull me up. “We can tell them later. Tonight, is for you and me.”
“I’m so in love with you.” The words fall from my lips. I can’t even explain how on top of the world I am feeling right now.
“Let’s go home.”
Chapter Forty-Five
