He cupped my cheek. “And you’re going to be the best damn mother on this planet.”
8
Clinton
I kissed her marked shoulder. “Morning.”
Rae yawned. “Mmm, morning, handsome.”
I kissed her cheek. “It’s time to wake up. We have an hour before the moving truck will be here.”
“Five more minutes?”
I chuckled. “Want me to shake you when I get out of the shower?”
She wiggled her butt. “Yes, please.”
I patted it softly. “Sounds like a plan.”
I planted one more kiss against the mark I’d left on her shoulder last night. Then I forced myself out of bed. If I had things my way, I’d stay in bed with my naked woman all day long. But today was a big day and I needed to be prepared. Last night had been such an emotional drain on my heart. We’d stayed up all night, making love and talking about the life blooming in her belly. She told me all about the names she already had picked out. And I was thrilled that she kept leaning toward boy names. Not that I’d mind a girl. I just thought I’d be better suited to raise a boy.
So long as they’re healthy, that’s all that matters.
As I showered for the last time in this old shower of ours, I thought about my dream girl still fast asleep in bed. I thought about all we had been through over the past few years. High school. Bullies. Traveling. Getting stuck in airports due to bad weather. The struggles of getting her through college and the all-nighters we’d pulled together so she could help me crank out books for my fans. We’d been through so much in our short lives. We’d seen and dealt with and fought through so damn much.
Damn it, I’m the luckiest man alive.
Suds dripped down my neck as I lathered up my hair. I closed my eyes, remembering the troubled teen I used to be. All the fire and fight with no grace. The mean, nasty attitude I used to carry around with me. The assholes I used to party with. The idiots I used to entertain. I’d been nothing but a glorified villain. A jerk with absolutely no future.
Until Rae came along.
I’d been an asshole. An instigator. And had it not been for that perfect woman lying spreadeagle in our bed right now, I’d be dead. Literally and metaphorically. I would’ve died in that accident had she not come after me. Had she not cared enough to come searching for me. Even when the people I considered my best friends now hadn’t even come after me. Raelynn Cleaver not only saved my life, she saved my soul. She pulled me out of the bowels of hell and showed me a life worth living. She shone light into my darkness, and no matter how much it hurt my eyes, she kept shining brighter. Shining deeper.
Until I adjusted and started enjoying the warmth against my skin.
She invaded every part of me as a teenager. She came in and wrote over every part of my life I couldn’t stand. And had it not been for her unwavering support, I’d be dead in a ditch.
Or dead on the side of an embankment.
As I rinsed my hair out, I smiled. Today was the day. The day I showed Rae just how much she truly meant to me. Without her, I’d be nothing. I’d be nowhere. I’d have no one. That woman changed my life. She changed the course of it the second she set her sights on me. And for that, I’d be eternally grateful. I’d spend my entire life worshipping her, if it came down to it. Anything she wanted, it’d be hers for the taking.
For the rest of our lives.
I turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around me. I wiped off the condensation on the mirror and took a good, hard look at myself. I saw my father’s eyes staring back at me. I saw his stubbled jawline taunting me in the mirror. But the light behind my eyes as I re
called last night forced all of his features to the side.
“I’m going to be a father,” I whispered.
Joy filled my heart. Hope filled my soul. And fear gripped my gut. A father. I was going to be a father. I’d have a child in nine months’ time. And I’d be responsible for that child. I gripped the edge of the bathroom counter and closed my eyes. I’d never been much of a God person. Especially considering how I grew up. But at that moment, I needed a bit of His attention.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, or if you even exist. But if you do, and you can hear me, I just have one thing I want to ask.”
I opened my eyes and found my face staring back at me. Just my face. Not my father. Not my mother. Not even Cecilia.
Just me.
“Help me be the best father I can be,” I whispered.