Текст книги "Taking Chances"

Автор книги: Molly McAdams

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 27 страниц)

17

“How are you feeling sweetheart?” Brandon asked popping his head into the bathroom where I was finishing my make-up.

“I feel great! I’m so excited to get out of the house again, you have no idea.” Not that it had been long since we were out, we were just out Thursday night, the night of the fight, and it was only Monday. But I’d had so much energy the last two days, Brandon promised if I took a shower, got ready and was still feeling fine, he would take me out to dinner, then to see Mom and Dad.

He wrapped his arms around me and brushed his lips lightly against my neck, I almost groaned from the heated pleasure that instantly zinged through my body. “You look incredible.”

“Not so bad yourself.” I said a little breathless, remembering our first date and he laughed against my throat.

“Are you about ready to go? Because if we don’t leave soon, I’m not sure we ever will.” He pressed his body closer to mine and tightened his arms.

“I kind of hate Dr. Lowdry right now.”

Brandon laughed and released me, “We’ve made it this long, we can wait a few more weeks. Go get changed, I’ll be in the living room.”

I pouted but left the bathroom and walked to the closet. I chose one of the shirts Bree had gotten me for my Birthday. Those things had definitely lasted the entire pregnancy. I plucked the dark blue one and a flowy knee-length white cotton skirt from their hangers and walked back out of the closet. Hooking my thumbs into the waist band of my sweats, I started to pull them down when I felt something pop and my legs instantly got warm and wet. Oh my God I just peed myself! You have got to be kidding me, I’ve made it this far in the pregnancy without having an accident, and I get all cute for a date and I freaking pee on myself? I didn’t even have to go. Frustrated, I threw my sweats into the hamper, walked back to the bathroom and hopped into the shower, being careful to keep my hair and face away from the water. I reached out to turn the water back off and froze. Oh. My. Word.

“BRANDON!” I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me, “Brandon!”

He came bursting through the door less than a second later, “What’s wrong?!” His eyes were wide and panicked. “Are you okay?”

I laughed and nodded, “My water just broke!”

“Are you serious?” His face fell for a few beats then broke out into a wide grin. Closing the distance between us he kissed me until my knees were weak. When he pulled back, he cupped my cheeks tenderly and smiled. “So he’s coming?”

“Guess so, you ready for this?”

Brandon suddenly gasped, “Wait, we have to go! That means we have to go!” He turned around and took off into the bedroom. By the time I dried myself off, I could hear him on the phone with either my family or his.

I felt strangely calm as I pulled on the dark blue shirt, and searched around for a clean pair of sweats. Brandon rushed out of the room with the hospital bag, I heard the front door open, close, open and close again before he came running back to me. I was sitting on the bed smiling at his behavior.

“Harper, we have to go. Come on sweetheart, is there anything else you can think of?”

“Phone chargers.” I watched as he yanked both ours from the wall. “Headphones, can you grab me one of your sweatshirts?” I didn’t care if it was September, the nights were cool, and when we’d been in that hospital last week, it was freezing.

“What else?”

“I need you to kiss me, then calm down and drive us to the hospital.” I smiled against his eager lips as he gently pulled me to my feet and led me out of our house.

As soon as we were driving, he was back on the phone calling the rest of our family. He was so excited, his smile stretched across his face farther than I’d ever seen it, and all I could do was sit there and stare at my favorite dimple. I reached out and ran my fingers over his buzzed hair and he looked over quickly before looking back to the road.

“Are you okay?” He asked as he set his phone down in one of the cup holders, “You’re really quiet.”

I shrugged, “I’m great. I was expecting it to hurt or something, or to freak out. But I’m just really happy. I feel peaceful. Is that weird or what?”

Yeah. That didn’t last long. Right before I was taken to my room the contractions started getting really painful, another two hours later and they were even worse and coming much too often for my liking. I gripped Brandon’s hand tight as another one started and he brushed a few loose strands of hair behind my ear before resting his forehead against mine.

“Good job Harper, it’s almost done. I love you so much.” His deep voice was slow and rhythmic, I’m pretty sure it was the only thing keeping me from screaming right now.

I blew out a deep breath when it was over and relaxed my hold on him. He kissed my lips softly and sat back in the chair, keeping his hand wrapped around mine. If there was ever a next time, I was definitely getting the epidural, I didn’t care what they had to stick in my back. I looked around at my family and smiled at them. They were all caught in conversations, reading books, or talking on their phones to extended family and friends. Jeremy walked back in with bags and boxes from In N Out.

“I hate you.” I grumbled as I caught a big whiff of the delicious food.

“Sorry sis,” he grinned and started passing out the food, “I got you a cup of ice.”

I narrowed my eyes and everyone but Brandon laughed. He shook his head when Jeremy passed him his food and I pulled my hand from his. “I know what you’re doing, if you don’t go eat, you’re not staying in here when it’s time.” We obviously hadn’t gone to dinner, so I was starving, and he hated that all he could do for me was get me more ice.

He looked at me for a moment, brow furrowed, then with a sigh walked to the side of the room where the food was. I put my headphones back in my ears and closed my eyes. When another contraction hit I gripped the side of the bed and tried not to inhale too deeply, I knew Brandon would come right back to my side if he knew what was going on. But since I couldn’t hear them, I’d forgotten about the monitors and within seconds his hand pried my fingers from the thin mattress and held it tight until it was over. When I relaxed, he kissed my hand and went back to his dinner.

Another hour went by and everyone was now curled up on the couches and chairs watching something on the muted TV. Brandon helped me onto my side, and when I was comfortable he brought his chair around the bed so he could be facing me and rested his head next to my chest. One hand acting as his pillow, the other holding mine loosely for when I would need it again. I was glad he was going to get some sleep. I knew when I rolled to the side, he would think I was going to sleep as well, and would do the same. But that hadn’t been my reasoning. I was now in so much pain, I couldn’t hide it anymore and I didn’t want the family to see. My face twisted when another one hit, but I kept my fingers from curling around Brandon’s large hands. A few tears escaped my eyes and I let out a sigh when it was over again. Brandon’s thumb started making slow circles against my palm and I opened my eyes to see him watching my face, his head still resting on his other hand. He looked like he was in as much pain as I was by just having to watch me.

He rose out of the chair, bending over to brush the tears off my cheeks, and then rest his forehead against mine. “Is there anything I can do for you sweetheart?”

“You’re doing it.” I replied. I wouldn’t have been able to do even this part of it without him. He was my rock. “What time is it?”

Brandon glanced at his phone before shoving it back in his pocket, “Almost eleven. Try to sleep, he’ll be here before you know it.” He kissed me softly once, then pressed his lips harder to mine.

“As long as you get some sleep too.”

He sat back in the chair and put his head back on his hand, this time it was next to mine, so our noses were touching. His other hand cupped my cheek and his jaw fell slack within minutes. I smiled at him and braced another fierce contraction before dozing off as well.

Loud persistent beeping jolted me out of my nap, Brandon jumped out of the chair and turned to look at the monitors. His eyes went wide and he ran to the door but a nurse was already coming through and began checking everything. She had me turn onto my back again and made everyone except Brandon and Mom leave. Another nurse came in and they spoke quickly back in forth while having me do certain things. Mom was holding one hand while Brandon gripped the other, keeping his gray eyes trained to mine. I felt like neither of us was breathing while we waited for the monitor to go back to normal, or for one of the nurses to tell us what was happening. Dr. Lowdry walked in and began speaking with the nurses and taking one of their spots, but I couldn’t look at her. Brandon was now cupping my cheeks with both hands, and whispering to me, trying to calm me, but his own eyes looked terrified.

“Okay Harper, are you ready?” Dr. Lowdry asked from the end of the bed, Brandon released my face and I finally looked to her, “We’re going to have to do this now, the umbilical cord is wrapped around his neck, but you’re both going to be fine. Just do exactly as I say, and we’ll have him out in a few minutes.”

I nodded and took a deep breath, squeezing Brandon’s hand like it was the only thing keeping me tied to this earth. Mom squeezed my other hand telling me everything would be fine, Brandon kissed me quick and hard and continued to say reassuring and loving words throughout the next six minutes. We all cried in relief when we heard little Liam’s piercing wail. While they cleaned him and did a quick check to make sure he was okay, Brandon leaned over and alternated between kissing me sweetly through our smiles and pressing his cheek against mine to tell me how proud he was. As a nurse brought Liam over to us, she repeated information they’d been saying sporadically throughout their mini exam. Fourteen point three inches, six pounds six ounces, born at twelve oh three in the morning.

She handed me Liam and I knew I would never be the same. He was no longer crying, his wide eyes were staring right into mine while his mouth was shaped in a perfect little quivering O, like he didn’t know if he should cry again or stay silent. He was beautiful. Mom was standing near my head, silently crying, Brandon was bent close to us, lightly brushing his fingers up and down Liam’s side. His eyes were bright and his smile breathtaking as he looked at our son.

“Hi Liam.” My voice cracked as I smiled down at him.

He wiggled his hands out of his blanket and was clasping his long fingers around each other. While still brushing his fingers down his side, Brandon let his thumb brush against Liam’s fists, and Liam instantly grabbed hold. Brandon’s breath came out in a huff and we looked at each other, smiling wide before looking back down. Mom rubbed her fingers over where Liam was holding onto Brandon, before kissing each of us on the cheek and leaving the room to let the rest of the family know.

The nurse took him out of my arms and placed him in Brandon’s while the Doctor did some last minute things with me. I understood immediately why Brandon wanted to see me hold him. Looking at Brandon, all six feet four inches, two hundred and forty pounds of pure muscle holding our six pound son was what finally had the tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Hey little man.” He whispered as he stood a couple feet from the bed.

“Babe,” his head snapped up to look at me, his smile the only thing I could focus on, “did you hear the nurse? About when he was born?”

Brandon nodded and looked back down to Liam, “You have pretty good timing son. You couldn’t have come on a more perfect day.”

I smiled at them and the nurse piped up, “Did you want him to be born on September eleventh?” She asked, her face gentle and sweet.

Looking over at Brandon, I saw the tears falling down his face and knew he wouldn’t be able to respond, “It’s not that we wanted it, we really weren’t expecting him yet. But it’s fitting for us and our family. He’s named after Brandon’s dad, Liam. He was on one of the planes that crashed into the twin towers.” I said softly.

Dr. Lowdry and both of the nurses gasped and fell silent. After Dr. Lowdry was done fixing me up, she looked at the baby, still in Brandon’s arms, and said, “This day will always be significant for you three. Loss and a gain, it’s bittersweet, but I agree, it is perfect.”

Brandon walked back over to me and gently placed Liam back in my arms. He kept one hand on him, the other on me. “You were amazing. I love you so much Harper.”

“I love you too. So much.” Liam let out a soft cry, and we both looked quickly back to him. “Look at him Brandon. He’s perfect.”

“He is.” Brandon agreed, “He’s finally here.”

“I know, this is so surreal.”

Liam started crying harder, sounding so precious, and so sad. But with his little arms waving and finally hearing him, I still couldn’t stop smiling. Brandon put one of his fingers near his shaking hand, and as soon as Liam touched it, he grasped it again and fell silent.

“Daddy make everything better little Liam?”

Brandon looked at me, his expression full of pride, love and so much joy I started tearing up again. “I’m a dad.” His voice was thick as he tried to speak around the lump in his throat. He pressed his lips to mine and pulled away slightly, “Thank you sweetheart, you have no idea how happy this makes me. How happy you make me.”

With the hand that wasn’t holding Liam, I ran my fingers down his jaw before cupping his cheek. “I think I have an idea. You are my world Brandon, I couldn’t do any of this without you, nor would I want to.”

Mom came back in then followed by Carrie. They both took turns holding him, and while they did, Brandon and I shared sweet kisses and meaningful glances. When he told his mom what time Liam was born, she smiled at us before seeming to understand what that meant. Her face fell soft, her eyes misting.

“Well hello Liam.” She said like she was just seeing her husband for the first time in years, “You sure know how to make an entrance.”

My heart tugged as I recalled stories she had shared with me. The night she first met Liam, it was pouring rain outside and she’d just been about to leave a coffee shop with her girlfriends. Liam opened the door and stepped in, his foot sliding on the wet tile floor and knocking into Carrie causing her to fall on him. They had laughed so hard it took them almost two minutes to finally get standing again and when they did he apologized and held out a hand to her, introducing himself.

She took his hand and shook it lightly saying, “Well you sure know how to make an entrance Liam Taylor.”

When she turned to leave, Liam looked at her and said, “You’re really going to leave after something brought us together like that?”

Instead of leaving with her girlfriends that night, she decided to take a chance on a stranger and had another coffee with him. They talked until the shop closed and were married six months later. That first sentence she spoke to him became a joke in their relationship as well as their family once the boys were born. And now, our little Liam was carrying it on for her.

***

“Sweetheart,” Brandon groaned, his voice was thick with sleep, “is it your turn or mine? What time is it?”

I turned my head toward where the clock sat on my nightstand, but couldn’t open my eyes just yet. “I don’t know. It’s probably my turn though.” Finally forcing my eyes open I blinked at the bright green numbers. It was a little after four in the morning, I smiled that at least he’d slept a little longer this time. Grabbing the comforter, I flung it off myself and onto Brandon. Before I could fall out of the bed though, he grabbed my forearm and held me down.

“If you think it’s your turn, then it’s most likely mine.”

“I have to feed him anyway Brandon, he’s been asleep for three hours. I’ll go.” I threw my legs off the bed and sat up. Brandon grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back down, crawling over until his head was hovering over mine.

“Then let me get him and bring him here for you.” He kissed me softly, then pressed his lips to my throat. “Get comfortable, I’ll be right back.”

I sighed happily and propped the pillows up against the headboard and sat against them. Liam was a little over six weeks old, and while some nights we had to wake him up to feed him, tonight wasn’t one of them. Brandon had been more than helpful with him, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have him love and help me. I thought since I was the woman, I would be the one waking up every time to be with Liam, or be the one to change him. I was breastfeeding so of course I was the one doing all the feeding, but like now, Brandon would sometimes get him and bring him to me so I could stay in our bed. And we were always taking turns with everything else. Brandon was an amazing father. He loved Liam and was always so excited to see him, and the same went for our son. Whenever Brandon would talk to him, Liam went silent and just stared at him. If Brandon rained little kisses on him, or offered up his fingers to be gripped by his son, Liam smiled wide at his dad and my heart would melt watching them. They both made my days better, spending time with the two of them was what made me jump out of bed in the mornings, and although I wanted Brandon there as much as possible, I cherished my time alone with Liam whenever he went to his classes.

Brandon walked in holding him against his chest, and of course Liam was completely silent. “Someone’s hungry, he kept trying to go for my chest.”

“Did you tell him the restaurant is closed?” I snickered as he handed our son to me. I smiled widely back at the toothless smile facing me and kissed his forehead before setting him up to eat. Didn’t matter that we were exhausted, I loved seeing my little man.

“I told him that restaurant had never even opened.” Brandon laughed heartily and kissed both of us before climbing into bed next to me. He flipped on the TV and turned on the news, the only interesting thing on in the early mornings.

“How was your nap little Liam?” I played with his hand as he greedily ate, like he wouldn’t ever get another meal.

Brandon placed a hand on my thigh and leaned over to be closer to us, “How was your nap Harper? You’ve been getting less sleep than I have.”

“I know,” I sighed and lay my head on his, “I can’t help it though. Ever since he went to the nursery I feel like if I go to sleep, something will happen to him.”

“He’s fine, and he’ll continue to be fine. But you need to sleep. Maybe –”

“No Brandon, I don’t want to bother them.”

“Harper.” He moved his head out from under mine and tilted my chin so I was looking into his brown eyes. “You know you wouldn’t be bothering them. They’re here almost every day and they ask every time if they can babysit, so don’t act like we can’t call my mom or yours. Tell me what’s really stopping you from asking them.”

 I looked down to my precious son before glancing back up to my amazing fiancé. Tears began rapidly filling my eyes.

“Sweetheart, you’re crying? Why?”

“I can’t Brandon…I can’t.” I choked on a sob and put my fist to my mouth to muffle it, Liam had started dozing off again.

“Harper what is wrong? Please tell me.”

I was trying, I just couldn’t speak yet so I held up a finger, silently asking him to give me a second to calm down a little, “I can’t leave him. I’m terrified of what might happen if I do. Chase and your dad were gone just like that. I don’t want to lose him and I don’t want him to lose one or both of us. We know what it’s like to be without a parent, I can’t do that to him.”

“Aw hell, sweetheart that won’t happen. I know why you’re scared, but we can’t live like that. We can’t let what’s happened in our pasts, rule our lives now and in the future. That’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to Liam. Nothing is going to happen, you need to allow yourself to enjoy our lives, as well as his. I don’t want to be away from him either, but I will admit, I want alone time with you. We need to have time where it’s just us. Even if it’s just a couple hours, once a week.”

“I’m sorry.” I pulled Liam up to my chest and tried to burp him before taking him back to the nursery.

“For what?”

“For neglecting you. You’re right, we do need time for us.”

Brandon chuckled and removed the pillows from behind my back, so he could slide in behind me. “Harper, you haven’t been neglecting me. Not at all. We’ve been extremely busy, and spending time as a family is more important to me than anything.” His deep voice got even lower and he leaned forward to nibble at my ear, “But I’m selfish, and I want my girl for myself sometimes. Do you think we can figure out some us time?”

My heart started hammering from his lips brushing against my skin and I realized we hadn’t had anything other than hugs and chaste kisses since Liam had been born. “I think we need to.” I said a little breathless.

“Date night, every Thursday?”

“How convenient that it’s Thursday.” I smiled and nestled deeper into his chest.

Brandon lightly brushed his hand over Liam’s head before he dropped both of them to my waist and then over where my stomach used to be.

“Do you miss it?” His hands had stilled for a second before sliding over my flat stomach again. I know, I know, I already have a lot of women that hate me. When we walk into the appointments for Liam, everyone asks if we adopted because within a week, my stomach went completely back to normal. It was mind blowing even to Brandon and me, and we definitely knew that my stomach had been close to the size of a beach ball not long before. I had one stretch mark, and it was mostly unnoticeable because it ran along a tip of one of my lilies. But if it weren’t for that and my chest, I would think I’d made the entire pregnancy up and just stolen a baby from the hospital.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen either way.” He shrugged and kissed the top of my head, “I do miss it, but I’m glad that he’s here now. It will just take some time to get used to not having your stomach there. Like right now, I keep going to run my hands over it, and then they just continue to slide straight across and it throws me off for a second.”

“Throws you off? Think about how I felt when I went to set that bowl on my stomach and it fell into my lap.”

Brandon’s husky laugh sent a shiver through me. “I’m sorry, but that was funny as hell. Your face was priceless.”

Liam stirred and we both held our breaths until we were sure he was still asleep. “I’m going to put him back in his crib.” I whispered, “I’ll be right back.”

I slid off the bed after letting Brandon kiss his forehead, and headed to the nursery. Rocking Liam for a minute, I pressed my lips to his head and put him down.

“I love you Liam Chase.” After one last longing glance, I left the door cracked a bit, and went back to my other man.

“Did he wake up?”

I shook my head, crawling onto the bed and over to him. Grabbing the remote, I clicked off the TV and pressed my lips to the hollow at the base of his neck, letting my tongue glide over his collarbone. “Are you tired?”

Brandon groaned and wrapped his arms around me, “Not at all.” He flipped me onto my back and hovered over me.

“I was thinking we could have a pre-date, date.” I shivered as I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him closer.

“Harper,” he spoke against my neck, “you have to tell me if anything has changed. We haven’t done anything in a long time, and unless you set boundaries now, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop once we’ve started.”

“The only thing that has changed, is that I want you more now than I ever have before. I don’t want to wait anymore, I want to be with you.”

He crushed his mouth to mine and tugged lightly on my bottom lip, keeping his hold on it as he sat me up. In a move so fast, he pulled my shirt off and pressed me back down to the bed. Just having my bare chest against his was incredible and heat churned in my stomach. I arched my back into him as he started trailing down my neck to my chest. When he got to my stomach, he hooked his right hand into my shorts and started tugging down. My breathing was ragged as I waited in heated anticipation for what was finally going to happen between us. After my shorts and underwear joined my shirt on the floor, Brandon slowly explored my body with his lips and hands, but every time I tried to do my own search of him, he’d grasp my hands and pull them over my head. I was whimpering by the time he released his hold on my hands and put them on either side of my body, only leaving his mouth on me. Slowly I ran my hands down his muscled back, narrow waist and hips before gripping the top of his jersey shorts. His breath caught as I ran my fingers back and forth along the top and I laughed huskily when he quickly brought his lips back to mine. Before I could pull his shorts down, Liam woke back up and let out a long wail. Brandon cursed and fell to the side, pulling me on top of him. He held me tightly as we listened to him for a minute, both silently praying that he would fall right back to sleep. When he didn’t, I pressed my forehead against his and sighed deeply.

Brandon was still trying to return his breathing to normal, his lips mashed into a tight line, his eyes shut. “Tonight,” he said tightly, “nothing is stopping us. I’m going to take my time with you, and I’m going to make love to you all night.”

“Tonight.” I promised. Kissing his cheek, I rolled off him and the bed, got dressed and went to go get Liam.

When I walked into the room and brought him out of the crib, he cried even harder and it took a few minutes to calm him down. I walked around the dark room with him in my arms, trying to soothe him. Only after his long fingers grasped onto a chunk of my hair, did he finally stop crying. His eyes went wide and his mouth molded into that little O shape I love so much.

“Well hello grumpy.” I cooed at him lovingly, “Thirty minutes is pretty short, even for you mister.” I turned when I heard a noise from the hall, and watched Brandon as he leaned against the door jam. I took in his tan muscled body and bit my lip, thinking of our few moments we just shared, and the hours we would spend together tonight. My breaths were getting heavier and coming quicker as I thought about his body pressed to mine. It really had been too long since we’d kissed like that, let alone done anything more. The last time we’d gotten as far as we had now, had been before our horrible break up.

“Still my favorite thing.” He said, breaking me out of my fantasy.

“What is babe?”

“Just watching you hold him.” I smiled as he sauntered over to us. “How’s he doing?”

“Good now. He was mad that it took me so long to come see him.”

“Oh he was mad?” Brandon took him from my arms and kissed his head tenderly, immediately offering up his finger for Liam, “I hate to break it to you little man, but you interrupted my very important time with your mom.”

I laughed and sat down in my glider chair, suddenly exhausted with the three and a half hours of sleep I’d gotten in the last forty eight hours. Watching them walk in circles for a few minutes, I fought to keep my eyes open. Brandon walked up to me and carefully bent over so I could kiss our now sleeping son before putting him back in his crib. When he was all settled, Brandon slid an arm under my knees, another behind my back, and carried me back to our bed. I tried to pull my shirt back off but Brandon stopped my hands and kissed me softly.

“Just sleep sweetheart. We can pick up where we left off tonight.” Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me tight into his chest and let out a content sigh. “I love you so much Harper.”

I pressed my lips to his throat and whispered back my love for him. I was out in seconds.

***

Leaving Liam with Mom and Dad was incredibly difficult. Of course he didn’t notice because he was sleeping, but it took me over five minutes to actually leave the house. I almost started crying when I got back in the car but forced myself to keep it in. I knew he would be fine with them, I wasn’t worried about that at all. It’s just that other than taking a shower and the few hours I did sleep, I hadn’t been separated from him since we came home from the hospital. Taking a deep breath, I focused on Brandon and what we had planned for when he got back from his class. Glancing down at the clock, I cranked the car and drove home.

I enjoyed taking my time in the shower since I hadn’t been able to do that in almost two months. All my showers were about five minutes these days, and I’d been in serious need of this. After I was done, I took my time doing my make-up and hair as well. I know Brandon loves me without make-up, but I was starting to feel like a slob since I never got ready anymore, and I wanted him to know that I wanted to look good for him. I stood in the closet for a few minutes trying to decide what to wear, but eventually ended up in matching hot pink and black lacy underwear and bra. I wasn’t confident enough to just be naked when he got home, but I was pretty sure actually getting dressed was unnecessary. Running back into the bathroom, I studied my reflection to make sure I looked perfect. Tracing the lines of my tattoo, I was still beyond words that I’d just given birth a little over six weeks ago, and the only real physical evidence was my chest. Bree and I had gone shopping when my boobs grew two cup sizes during the pregnancy, and I was glad she’d forced me to get a few sexy bras, because everything else I had either wouldn’t fit now, or would be anything but a turn on. I put a little bit of body spray on and turned to leave the bathroom when I heard the front door open. My heart picked up pace instantly as I forced myself not to run to my future husband.

“Harper? I’m ho–” He stopped short when he saw me, eyes bulging, “dear Lord.”

I smiled and slowly walked toward him, “Good or bad?”