Page 76 of This Is Love (The Light to My Darkness 3)

“Me either. Isn’t that half the fun? Besides, a publisher will want to change it. And I don’t want you to change one word.”

“You really liked it?”

“I loved it.” He leaned down and kissed me. “You were meant to do this.”

He wasn’t trying to help me with his last name or money. He was offering to help me research how to be an indie author. How to create a new business. “I thought I could do this all on my own. But I don’t want to. I want to do it with you.” I wanted to do everything with him. “But don’t get any ideas on Hunter Publishing House or anything else like that. All of this has to be anonymous.”

“What, you think I can’t be a well behaved Mr. Smoak?” He backed away from me slowly with his eyebrow raised.

“Mr. Smoak. I scrunched my nose up. Stick with Professor Hunter.”

He laughed as he hopped up onto the statue. “Now let’s see if we can get this echo thing going.” He held out his hand for me.

I grabbed it and climbed back up on the statue with him. But we didn’t clap. Instead, he pulled me in for a kiss. Right in the middle of campus. And I savored the moment. It was something we’d never been able to do when we first met. Our relationship had been a secret. But he wasn’t a professor anymore. And I wasn’t a student. We had escaped to New York so we could be ourselves. But he was right, we could move here now and be happy. I just wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted.

I pulled away from his kiss. “Rehoboth.”

He smiled down at me. “What about it?”

“I want to stay in New York. But we should look into getting a beach house in Rehoboth. Where we can come whenever we need a break from the chaos of the city. It would be perfect with the kids. I loved going to the beach when I was little with my parents. Liam and Scarlett will love it too. And I know you’re relaxed at the beach, so if we get away more often…”

“Done. You don’t have to sell me on the idea. I think it’s great. We can look at properties as soon as you want.”

“And we can always stop here on the way down to the beach. Make sure our kids know how important this university is to our family. We can annoyingly point out all the silly changes they make. And talk about the good old days. It’ll be perfect.”

“Hmm. Perfect.” He stared at me like I was the perfect one. Like nothing else in the world mattered to him. We stood in the middle of the statue for a long time, just being happy. Being us. “Let’s take our son home,” he finally said, breaking the spell.

I felt tears welling in my eyes. Because it wasn’t just me who he thought was perfect anymore. He loved his children just as much as he loved me. And that was perfect.

He jumped off the statue and pulled me down into his arms. My feet stayed suspended in air as he held me tightly in his embrace.

I had never felt so full. I had come to Newark scared of losing the two men in my life. But I was keeping both of them. Liam was healthy now. And James was too. There was no alternate ending to our story. It had to be a happily ever after.

Chapter 21

3 Months Later - Saturday - Penny

The seagulls cawed as I walked through the sand. But the sound was mostly drowned out by my family’s laughter.

“Welcome to our little slice of paradise,” I whispered to Liam as I showed him the ocean for the first time. We had finally found a beach house that was big enough to accommodate our extended family. And this weekend everyone was here to celebrate our new home away from home.

“Most people think paradise has more palm trees. But this is paradise to me too,” Melissa said as she stared at the ocean with us.

I glanced down at her stomach. She was finally starting to show. She and Josh had originally planned their trip to help me out while Liam was born. But they also had news of their own that they hadn’t shared because of all the chaos. She was pregnant. A wonderful, unexpected surprise for her and Josh. But she was so excited.

“No bikini today?” I asked with a smile. “I swore I wore a bikini the whole time I was pregnant with Scar.”

“No. No bikini and no wedding dress until after this little girl is born.” She put her hand on her stomach, her engagement ring shining in the sun. “Besides, moving back to New York has been stressful enough. I can’t even think about planning anything else.”

“It’s good to have you back. Even though I had to settle for us being neighbors instead of roomies.”

She laughed. “It’s crazy how much we’ve grown up. I mean, who would have guessed we’d be here?”

“I always knew you’d end up with Josh. You guys are perfect together.”

“She just needed some time to be convinced,” Josh said as he wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss on the side of her neck.

I left them alone as he tried to pull her into the water.

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