mouth to hers and then he just stared into her big brown eyes.
Her voice was hoarse and hardly over a whisper when she asked, “What are you doing?”
“Seeing inside you.” His hand wasn’t steady when he brushed a lock of hair from her face. “I almost lost you. I can’t even begin to tell you what that feels like.”
“I—”
But Trace wouldn’t let her speak. “I need to say this. I was so afraid that I was going to lose you, that without you I would become the horrible guy I used to be. But you changed me, you’re inside me, and I can’t find the words to tell you just what that means to me except to say thank you.” His finger brushed over her lips. “Thanks for not letting go.”
He wiped the tears that rolled down her cheeks before he kissed her, her salty tears lingering on his lips.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“Love, sweetheart, is not strong enough a word.”
She turned her head and pressed a kiss to his palm. Her eyes were sad when she looked back at him.
“I can’t have any more children, can I?”
“We have a child.”
The sight of her heartache ripped at him as silent tears streamed down her face. Somehow she managed to ask through her tears, “Have you seen her?”
“She looks just like you.”
“Have you named her?”
“I was waiting for you, but I do have a name, if it’s all right with you.”
“What?”
He touched her face. “Everyone said I needed to have faith that you would come back to me and so it seems fitting that our daughter should be called Faith.”
“There’s someone here to see you.” Ember looked past Trace to see her dad in the doorway, and in his arms was a small bundle. Behind her dad was her uncle, Chelsea, Lucien and Darcy, Rafe and Kyle, and even Brandon and Seth were there.
Shawn walked across the floor and lowered the baby into Ember’s arms. Trace watched Ember’s face as she looked at her daughter for the first time. Her pain was still there, but a radiance covered her expression, and he knew what she was feeling because he had felt it too. He brushed his finger across his daughter’s cheek. He hadn’t thought there was room, but his heart swelled looking at his daughter. His daughter. He had feared he’d become his dad, but looking into her sweet, innocent face, he knew he was nothing like him. He would fight all the world’s armies for her; he would walk right into hell and take on the devil himself for his daughter.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Ember said softly.
“She looks like her mom.”
Tears that were still fresh in her eyes began to well up and over, trailing lines down her cheeks, but she didn’t seem to notice.
Her eyes looked up into his. “Our daughter.”
“What’s her name?” Brandon asked.
She reached for Trace’s hand and they shared a moment before she said, “Faith Amanda Montgomery.”
Darcy sat in her office, but her thoughts were on Trace and Ember. Ember was growing stronger every day and, though Darcy knew her friend was heartbroken that she would never have another child, she had Faith and Trace. It was a beautiful sight, seeing the three of them together, knowing how close Trace had come to losing her.
Her thoughts turned to her son. It was just another twist to the tale that they’d only met him because he’d worked with Ember. It was amazing to her how so many lives could be entwined, especially in a place as large as Manhattan. Thinking about that, she wondered: Had it been a coincidence that Brandon worked at the Michaels campaign headquarters?
She had thought about it a lot during the weeks since her reunion with Brandon, and finally her curiosity over whether Charles intentionally brought Brandon into their lives made her want to talk with him. If he had, she needed to thank him, because he had ultimately brought them together. Ember had said that he was still maintaining the headquarters while he tied up a few last things. Darcy had called and explained who she was, and he was very amenable to talking to her that same day. She was supposed to meet Lucien and Brandon at Clover, but she didn’t have to be there for an hour.
The headquarters were empty. Apparently everyone had been let go the same time as Ember and Brandon. There was a light in the back where she assumed Charles’s office was.
“Hello. Is anyone here?”
She walked