positive she didn’t want to be alone right now, and he didn’t want her to think his feelings had changed because of what she’d told him. While he wanted kids someday, they were far off on his radar. They were both young and had a lot of fun in their future, both individually and as a couple. He wasn’t ready to be tied down to kids yet. He wanted to travel and show her people, places and things he loved so he hadn’t thought to bring up children at all.
They had plenty of time to worry about kids and that sort of thing. Right now, he just wanted to love her and make her happy. He had no doubt that with his love and enough time, she would work through all of these feelings of regret. She obviously loved kids or she wouldn’t be a kindergarten teacher, so he wasn’t worried about her concern about whether or not she wanted to have children someday.
She was curled up in a little ball on the bed when he came out of the bathroom, and he approached slowly.
“Come. We’re going to take a bath.”
She didn’t answer, merely glancing over at him with sad blue eyes.
Without a word, he gently tugged off her blouse and then undressed her, one piece of clothing at a time. When she was finally naked and sitting up, he carried her into the bathroom and put her in the water. He shed his own clothes and joined her, moving behind her and wrapping his arms around her. It was a tight fit, but he didn’t care. He just wanted her to stop crying.
“I’m sorry,” she said after a few minutes, the back of her head resting against his chest.
“For what? Telling me about what happened to you?”
“Are you disappointed in me?”
“Disappointed?” He gently splashed water on her torso, hoping to warm her up because she was shivering a little. “No. You’re my sweet Char-lot and I love you. What happened to you was terrible, but not your fault.”
“Getting pregnant was my fault.”
“Did you do it on purpose?”
“Of course not, but—”
“Accidents happen. All the time. Condom breaks. Birth control fails. You were only seventeen. Your boyfriend, well, if I ever find him, I’ll kick his ass, because that’s not cool. Even if he didn’t love you, he had a responsibility to do the right thing. What an asshole. I’m angry at him and your parents, and even your grandfather. But not you, muruseni.” He brought one of her hands up to his mouth and his lips skimmed her knuckles. “Everything is going to be okay. We have so many things to do in our lives. Travel and house renovation and time with friends and family… Let’s just be in love and be happy. Together. Everything else will work out.”
“Are you sure, Miikka?”
“Yes.” He leaned forward as she tipped up her face, and kissed her.
Gage always had an end-of-season party for the team, no matter how bad the season had been, and Miikka looked forward to it every year. Gage was a billionaire, and now he was married to Coach Saunders, but Miikka never felt like he had to be on his best behavior when he was at their house. They were laid-back and threw the best parties. There was always great food, his pool was heated, and the drinks were stellar.
He was excited to be taking Charli with him this year, and figured this would make their relationship official. A few of the guys and the WAGs had seen her in the family lounge a few times, but probably didn’t know if it was serious or how serious. He figured he’d be answering a lot of questions about that today, but he needed to make sure Charli was okay with it because she was still pretty shy when it came to things like this.
“Logan is bringing Tara to the party,” he told her as she got dressed. “So we don’t have to pick her up.”
“Oh, okay. So we have a little time.”
“Yes.”
She’d braided her hair today, just like she did for school, pulled to one side so it dangled over one shoulder.
“I love your braid,” he said with a smile, tugging it gently.
“I thought it was perfect for a barbeque. Unless you think the other girls are going to dress up?”
He shook his head. “No. Every year we go and they wear jeans, shorts and bathing suits since the pool is heated.”
“I didn’t think anyone in Alaska had an outdoor