Page 65 of 5+Us Makes Seven

“Do I look upset?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“No,” he said. “I’m not upset.”

“I don’t have a place to stay right now, but my next stop is to go talk to my previous landlord. Maybe I could get an apartment in the same complex I was at. It was a pretty safe side of town.”

“Or you could take me up on the offer I tried before you left.”

“Offer?”

“To move in, remember?”

I had tried to block that moment from my memory. Allowing it to fade away as if my feelings for Carter could.

“Either way, it’s in the past,” he said. “And I think that with this new journey we’re about to find ourselves in, it’s best if we stick together.”

“We?” I asked.

“Yes, ‘we’. That’s my child you’re carrying. Do you think I’m going to let you sleep alone in some apartment while you’re pregnant?”

“So… you’re going to do this with me?” I asked.

“Natasha, what did you think was going to happen?”

“I don’t know. I guess I was bracing for the worst.”

Carter gathered me in his arms and my face fell into the crook of his neck. I breathed him in as the children ate, their minds preoccupied with their food. I nuzzled into him and felt his scruff against my skin. How soothing such a rough feeling could be if it came from the right person.

“Move in with me,” Carter said. “You can have any room in the house. Any section of the house. But we should be together through this. I want to come home to you, Natasha.”

“What if I’m too tired to nanny?” I asked.

I felt his lips plant into my forehead, pressing a kiss into my skin.

“I’m not asking you to take care of the kids. I’m asking you to be with us,” he said.

“Then how will I afford things? My stuff’s in storage and I’m still paying the insurance on my car-”

“I don’t think you understand me,” he said. “I’m taking care of you.”

“Yes, physically. But not monetarily.”

“Any way you need,” he said.

I rose up and hooked my eyes with his before my face grew stern.

“You’re not paying for my life. That life is mine,” I said.

“And I would never take that independence away from you. But you’re going to be the mother of my child, and I want to take care of you. I want to make sure you’ve got everything you need. That means paying for medical bills, paying for things our child needs, and taking on your bills so you can be around us without having to kill yourself at a job somewhere.”

“Carter, I don’t know if-”

“Will you move in with us?” he asked.

I looked up and saw the kid’s attention trained solely on me.

“They’re looking at us,” I said.

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