She stretched up, pressing a kiss to my lips. But in the middle of it, she jerked away. "Oh!"
Immediately, I went on high alert. "What's wrong?"
She leaned back from me, bringing her hand to her belly, her head tilting to the side as if she were waiting for something. A second later, her face lit up even brighter than I'd ever seen it before. Her gaze turned to me, her expression giddy. "The babies are moving."
"What?"
She took my hand, pressing in on her belly. I wasn’t sure what was happening, and then I felt it. A flutter inside her. Like the fucking Grinch, my heart swelled until I was sure my chest would burst open.
"Jesus fuck."
Her face shone with happiness and tears fell down her cheeks. "I've never felt them before. But there they are."
Filled with love beyond anything I'd ever felt before, I leaned over, giving her a hard kiss. I wanted her to know how much I loved her, how she'd given me purpose in life.
I pulled away. "I think they're happy for us too."
She laughed. "I think you're right."
We settled back in the bed, each of us with a hand on her belly, and we lay silently. There may have been no words, but love filled and surrounded us. I was awed by it. I hadn't ever dreamed that love could be like this. I'd seen glimpses of it in Amelia and Max but hadn't fully understood how intense, how big, how all-encompassing love could truly be. Reyna gave that to me, and I planned to spend the rest of my life giving it back to her.
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
Reyna
Even on the days I had wanted to build a life with James early in our fake marriage, I hadn't conceived of something as grand as the reality of my life now. I had wanted James even when he was closed off to his emotions and prone to grumpiness. That wasn't to say he wasn't ever grumpy now, but he wasn't closed off. It was like a switch came on, and he opened his heart and his soul to me. And only me, which I knew because to the rest of the world, he could still be grumpy. Like when Simon Jones showed up on our doorstep a week after we reconciled asking James to return to the company. James told him he could go to hell. But Simon persisted, telling him that George was out and was currently being investigated for fraud. Several other members of the board had resigned, probably to avoid getting caught up in their illegal activities.
Simon earnestly pleaded with James to reconsider. "We need a leader with integrity and strength. We need someone to rebuild the board and to boost morale. You were well-liked by everyone in the company. In fact, when word of your resignation got out, many others followed suit."
James maintained his scowl, but I knew him well enough now that this news had made him happy. I'm sure he felt redeemed, not that he’d let Simon know. He shrugged. "I don't know. I like being retired. I get to spend all this time with my wife, and maybe you haven't heard, but were expecting twins. I plan to be here for them."
Simon's eyes lit up. "Congratulations. I understand how devoted you are to them. This company could be your legacy, though. And now you have nothing standing in your way. You could run it as you see fit."
James remained nonchalant, but I got the feeling that he was considering the offer. Before our reconciliation, that might've concerned me. I would've been afraid of him becoming overly involved and focused on business, closing himself off to me and the babies. But over the last week, I’d come to understand that James's love for us would be first in his life. I had no doubt of that.
After Simon left, James made me a cup of tea and we went to enjoy it in the living room. It felt very indulgent to lounge around during the middle of the day. And yet, it was exactly the time we needed to rebuild the foundation of our relationship, to add to it so that it would endure a lifetime.
"So, what do you think?" I asked, my back resting against his chest as we stretched out on the couch.
"I'd rather spend my day with you."
I tilted my head back to look at him. "It's okay if you want to go back and fulfill your goal."
“I want to be here for you and the kids."
I turned in his lap so I could look him in the eyes. "You will be. I have no doubts about that. But being here for your family doesn't exclude you from pursuing other goals."
"I don't know. What are your goals?"
I turned, leaning back against him again. "Right now, my goal is to grow these babies." The truth was, I still didn't know what to do with my life. Vivie was still moving forward with her attempt at being a romance writer, and while I worked with her on ideas and critiquing her writing, I determined that being a novelist wasn't a passion of mine.
"You know, you don't have to work if you don't want to." His voice was tentative, like he was worried that suggesting being an at-home mom would bother me. I believed that women could do whatever they wanted in career and family, but considering I had no clue about a career, and I very much wanted to be a wife and mother, his statement appealed to me.
"Or you could work with me. In fact, you could be on the board."
Intrigued, I turned in his lap again. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you can work from home like you did before, set your hours for the kids.”