Page 74 of Damaged King

“When were you going to tell me? After the baby was born, when he or she took their first steps, or maybe never?”

She raised her hands like she wanted me to calm down. Again, I thought about leaving, but dammit, I deserved answers.

“Grant.” She tried and failed to stop my tirade because I was on a fucking roll.

“When did you know? Is that why you left? Don’t you think I had a right to know what was going on with you and why you left? You said nothing.”

“You have a right to be angry.”

“You’re right. I do and I am,” I spat, trying to reconcile the woman I loved and the one who’d lied to me for months.

“Now it’s your turn to hear me,” she demanded. “I thought I might be pregnant before I left. But what was I supposed to do? Ask for a ride to the small-town pharmacy and get a test so everyone in town would know?”

“Yes,” I yelled.

“Well, I didn’t. I was confused and scared.”

“You didn’t trust me enough to be with me.”

“It’s not that. I trust you, but if it was positive, I would have had to come home and seen my doctor anyway.”

“Which I would have come with you.”

“I know,” she yelled back. “But I didn’t know what I felt, how I felt, or what the hell I was going to do. Plus, what Cara said about you not wanting kids messed with my mind. I didn’t want to force your hand. I thought I was doing us both a favor by figuring it out first.”

“Meanwhile, I missed every appointment.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to go anyway with everything that’s happening. You missed nothing,” she screamed.

I took in a deep breath because arguing wasn’t solving anything.

“Am I to assume you’re keeping it, or do I have a say?” I asked with no bite behind it.

“Of course, you have a say. And yes, I’m keeping the baby and I was going to tell you.” She fiddled with her phone, and moments later held up the screen for me to see. “I was coming this weekend to tell you. I even rented a car. I just thought that texting you or speaking to you over the phone wasn’t the way.”

Seeing the confirmed plane ticket took all the fight out of me and I sagged some before shifting my shoulder and standing straight.

“Marry me.” It wasn’t a question in my mind.

“You don’t have to do that. I would never come between you and your child.”

“I’m not giving up on you,” I declared. “You’re the one I want, and I will pursue you to the ends of the earth if that’s what you want. But make no mistake, I will walk through fire to get you to marry me one day. Or we can cut to the chase and you can be my wife now.”

“What a great proposal,” she said, smiling.

I loved the fight in her.

“You want a proposal?” I asked.

She nodded and I got on one knee, pulling a box from my pocket.

“I came prepared.”

That got the reaction all guys hoped for. The hands covering the gasp and tears, happy ones, brimming in her eyes.

“Just like I keep chains for my tires, even though we don’t always get heavy snow that warrants it, I like to be prepared. I came here to get you back by any means possible. And no, marrying you isn’t the desperate attempt the teenage boy in me did years ago. The ring was a promise to you from me that I was in this for the long haul. If you don’t believe me, keep it until you’re ready. I know now I’ve never loved anyone before because I’ve never been willing to fight. You are worth fighting for.”

I waited a second longer. “Will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”

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