Page 107 of No Greater Love
His lips brushed mine tenderly, urgently. "Never."
Together, we climbed higher, every movement filled with aching sweetness and fierce determination. When we fell over the edge, we fell together, my cry mingling with his whispered promises, our hearts beating in perfect sync.
Afterward, tangled together in our quiet sanctuary, Nate’s fingers traced slow patterns down my spine, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear. For the first time in months—maybe ever—peace enveloped us fully, a profound sense of completeness filling me.
I'd never imagined happiness could feel so complete.
"When will we tell Paige?" he asked softly.
"Tomorrow, when we pick her up from Maya's. She'll be so excited." I smiled against his skin. "She's going to be an amazing big sister."
"Paige is going to lose her mind," Nate chuckled softly, fingertips tracing lazy circles on my shoulder. "She’s probably going to start planning the nursery tomorrow."
I laughed quietly against his chest. "You realize we’re never going to hear the end of her baby name ideas."
"Good," he murmured warmly. "I can't wait.”
“Me either,” I agreed, smiling.
“You know she's going to be protective," he said with a chuckle. "God help anyone who tries to mess with her baby brother or sister."
"She gets that from you."
"She gets that fromus," he corrected, and the pride in his voice made my heart flutter. "She's ours, Tasha. Really ours."
I lifted my head to look at him, seeing the wonder in his eyes, the disbelief that this was really his life. "What are you thinking about?"
"Everything," he said simply. "A year ago, I was just a single dad trying to get through each day. Now I have you, and Paige loves you, and we're having a baby together. Sometimes I can't believe this is real."
"It's real," I assured him, pressing a kiss to his chest. "We're real. This family is real."
"Our family," he repeated, like he was testing the words. "I like how that sounds."
As the afternoon faded into evening, we stayed wrapped around each other, making plans for the future. Names for the baby. How to rearrange the house. Whether Paige would want to help decorate the nursery.
Normal things. Beautiful, ordinary things that a few hours ago we'd thought we might never get to experience.
When we finally dozed off, it was with Nate's hand resting protectively over my stomach and my fingers intertwined with his. Two people who'd found each other in the chaos of an emergency room, who'd built something beautiful from the wreckage of their pasts.
Tomorrow we'd pick up Paige and tell her she was going to be a big sister. Tomorrow, we'd start planning for the arrival of our baby. Tomorrow, we'd begin the next chapter of our story.
But tonight, we were exactly where we belonged.
Home, safe, and completely, perfectly whole.
forty
nate
Maya's housewas a modest ranch split-level in a neighborhood that screamed "normal suburban family"—basketball hoop in the driveway, bikes scattered on the front lawn, the kind of place where kids could be kids without worry. I sat in the car for a moment, hands still trembling slightly from the morning's adrenaline crash.
"You ready for this?" Tasha asked, squeezing my hand.
"Are we ever ready to tell an eleven-year-old her life is about to change completely?" I managed a smile. "Again?"
We'd rehearsed this conversation during the drive over. How to explain that the woman who'd tried to take her away was gone forever. How to share the news about the baby. How to gauge her reaction to both pieces of information that would reshape our family.
Maya's mom, Jennifer, answered the door with the harried expression of someone who'd been supervising a sleepover. "ThankGodyou're here," she said with a laugh. "They've been up since six AM making friendship bracelets and planning some elaborate dance routine. I think they've had enough sugar to power a small city."
