“I said, I’mnottaking it. I’m not taking the position.”
“Em… this is your dream. This is everything you’ve worked for.”
“Itusedto be my dream. It’s not anymore, and you and the girls helped me realize that. I read Rob’s email so many times, Graham, I have it memorized. I used to imagine this moment, when I was in college, filing for the firm. I was so tired, even the three expresso shots I had wasn’t enough to put a dent in my exhaustion. I kept telling myself, it’ll pay off. One day, your name will be on that wall, and every ounce of hard work will have been for something amazing. I imagined the moment where I would read those words, and what it would feel like. Except when it happened, I didn’t feel anything. Nothing but dread at the thought of having to go back to work and leave my girls.”
Graham shifts under me, tightening his arms around my back as I continue.
“I can’t take it, because I can’t leave you. I can’t take it because law isn’t my dream anymore. My family is.”
I watch his throat bobs as he swallows. “I was going to talk to you tomorrow about this, but I wasn’t sure… I didn’t know how you’d react.”
My brow furrows in confusion. “About what?”
“Em, I think I want tostayin Strawberry Hollow. Not just while Ma is sick, but for good. I was hoping that you’d want that too because, no matter where we go, you and the girls are my future. I-”
I stop him by slamming my lips onto his, sucking his plump bottom lip into my mouth, moaning when his tongue slips inside and dances with my own.
He pulls back and looks up at me. “So…”
Shutting him up, I kiss the crazy man again, until his hips move beneath mine, causing me to ache with anticipation.
“That sounds crazy, right, to leave our entire life behind in Chicago?”
He shrugs. “I think we do crazy well, baby, and I don’t think it’s thatcrazy. I want to be close to my ma and Allie, and I don’t know. I just keep thinking about building us a big house here, filling it with our babies, getting a golden retriever, building a white picket fence. Living our life in peace, quiet, and happiness. Em, you could work anywhere you wanted. You could pass the bar here.”
He’s not wrong… I could actually work anywhere else I wanted to, not that I’m even thinking of going back right now. Not until the girls are older. I want to cherish every single second I have with them.
“I don’t think I’m ready to go back. Not right now, and not anytime soon. When I think about having to leave the girls, my stomach physically hurts. I just don’t want to miss any moments with them. What if I miss their first words while I’m at work, or their first steps? I just…I’m just not ready.”
“Hey, hey, look at me,” Graham says softly, gripping my chin between his fingers and pulling it up so I can look at him. “If you’re not ready to leave them, you don’t have to, baby. If you need more time with them, then that’s okay.”
“I have my savings, and I’ve put away a good bit to survive on for now and I-”
“Emery. You are my wife, and I will take care of you. And my girls. Period. Don’t ever worry about that shit again. This is my job as your husband. If you want to stay home with our girls, and the new baby, then okay.”
I pause. “Wait, new baby?”
A sly, devilish grin spreads on his lips. “Yeah, the one I’m trying to put in you, starting tonight.”
“You are incorrigible. Are we doing this? Are we going to stay in Tennessee?”
He nods. “If that’s what you want, then hell yes, we are. I’m going to talk with Chris, see about maybe working with the high school’s hockey team. Coach youth on the weekends. I already ordered the girls jerseys and skates so…They’ll be ready.”
“Graham, they’reinfants.” I giggle, the sound echoing around the walls of his childhood home.
“I like to think ahead, Em. What do you think Ma will say? Your mama? Hell, all of our friends?”
“I think that no matter what we do, they’ll be happy for us. They’ll support us like they always have. Your ma needs us right now, Graham, and I think being near her is what’s important. She seems like she’s getting stronger every day, and I want to be here to help her until she’s completely better. Until neither of us will lay awake at night and worry about her. Honestly, I’ve fallen in love with your hometown. I never expected to, but I wake up every morning happier than the day before. It’s calming and cathartic. I feel myself becoming… healthier, happier, every day. My postpartum seems like it’s no longer weighing me down. Home can be wherever we make it.”
He looks at me, rubbing his thumb along my jaw, staring into my eyes intently, with so much love that my heart seems to jump out of my chest. This is my man. My future. My heart. My husband.
“Home is whereveryouare, Emery Adams.”