Relief has his shoulder lowering as he relaxes back into me. “What is it, babe?”
I swallow back my fear and decide to just get it over and done with. “Do you remember that day we were sitting in my car outside ‘Read My Tulips’ and you were telling me about…”
He nods, finishing my sentence. “About my past.”
“Yeah…well, you had told me there were two children that day and that…”
“I never knew what happened to them.”
“I found them,” I tell him, rushing out the words to get it over and done with. “I had this need to check up on them and make sure they were doing alright. Your story hit something within me and…I’m sorry, I should have talked to you about this first, but you were gone and I…”
“You found them?”
I nod, looking up into his eyes that seem so far away. “I did and they’re doing ok.”
“Are…” his words fall short and I realize that he’s not sure of what he wants to know or if he’s really ready to know, but in order for him to heal and move forward, sometimes hearing a bit of good news can help heal wounds that you didn’t realize were still gaping wide open.
“Their names are Skylah and Blake. And you were right, after they lost their parents, life really sucked. I haven’t worked out exactly what Anton had done with them, but they popped up on the radar last year. They must have been able to get away from wherever it was they were as there’s nothing on them before that. It looks like they’re living in Aston Creek now with family.”
“Aston Creek?” Rivers questions. “That’s only a few hours from here.”
“Yeah, I know. I looked that up too.”
“How did you find all this stuff out?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I mean, I had to do some pretty epic investigating and searching to try and figure out their names, but once I did, it all pretty much came out on Facebook.”
“So, you think they looked happy?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. They looked as though they’ve seen way too much for their age, but they also look like fighters. They’re ok, Rivers. They made it through the other end just like you did.”
He takes my hand and laces his fingers through mine. “Thank you, Tully,” he murmurs. “Those two pop up in my dreams every now and then. It’s good to know that they’re doing better.”
I nod as my head falls to his shoulder. “Maybe one day we could go and visit them.”
“I don’t know, Tullz. I’m the monster in their story just as Anton was the monster in mine. A visit would probably do me good, but this is about them and I don’t want to cause them any more pain than what I’ve already done. Let’s leave them be and hope that one day, they can find their own happiness.”
I take hold of his chin and draw his face to mine before brushing my lips over his. “You really are the most selfless, incredible man I’ve ever met,” I tell him. “I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have you loving me the way you do.”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m the lucky one. Now, what do you say we christen this place?”
“You don’t want to wait until we have a bit of furniture?” I grin as his lips come down against mine.
“No way,” he laughs, falling to the deck and bringing me down with him. “What can I say? I’m a friendly guy and it would only be polite if we let the neighbors know exactly who we are.”
I shake my head, grinning down at the man who has made me feel every tiny emotion humanly possible since the day I first met him.
This next part of my life is going to be the biggest adventure that I’ll ever live through and I can’t wait.
Epilogue
Tully
I pass my little Lily Rivers off to my mom as I work on shoving my tits back inside my shirt. This whole breastfeeding thing is really not as beautiful as all the books suggest. I mean, there’s a human being sucking on my tits most hours of the day. It was hard enough with just Rivers insisting on having them in his mouth, but now I have this tiny little human who insists on squeezing my nipple between her little toothless gums. I mean, fuck, give a woman a break. That shit actually hurts, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
The past two months since her birth have flown by. I can’t believe just how quickly it’s gone. It feels like only yesterday that Rivers and I were in that hospital room cursing each other out. Though, if you asked him, he’d say that I was the one doing the cursing. But here we are, two months in and absolutely in love with this beautiful little creature that we’ve brought into this world.