Southern Comfort - Natasha Madison Page 0,85

and I’m so happy that our children are going to have you.”

I don’t move from the spot still on bended knee when it finally hits me. “How?” I ask her, the tears now leaking down my face. She laughs at me.

“If I need to tell you how?” She shakes her head.

Laughing, I grab the box that fell out of my hand and open it, and just as I know, my girl doesn’t even look at the ring. She couldn't care less, but I care. So, I went overboard, and she is probably going to moan about how big it is, but I couldn't care less. She now looks down and gasps out at the five-carat pink square diamond ring that I got for her. “I know that it’s not traditional, but when I saw it, the only thing I could think of was the sunsets that we watch every night. How the sky turns a light pink right before the sun sets, and I knew that it felt like home.”

“Yes,” she says before I say the words again and lunges for me, making me fall back.

“I love you,” I say to her right before I rip off her new panties.

Epilogue Two

Olivia

Five years later

“What is all this fuss about?” I ask, walking into the nursery while my two-week-old daughter, Harlow, cries at the top of her lungs. “I just fed you,” I say, taking her in my arms, and I kiss her soft cheek. The minute she is in my arms, she quiets. “Not you, too,” I say to myself, walking over to the rocking chair and sitting down. “After your two brothers, we said you wouldn’t be spoiled,” I say, and she just closes her eyes while her hands are folded over her chest. “I’m giving you two more minutes, and then I’m going to put you back in your crib.” I rock her back and forth and look around at the pink nursery. After having the boys, Quinn, who is four, and then Reed, who just turned two, I went full-on bubble gum pink for her.

I rock her for five minutes and then get up, placing her down gently. She stirs for just a moment, and then I walk back out of the room. I walk down the hall to Quinn’s room, and I find him in the middle of his bed, sleeping like a starfish with the covers already thrown on the floor. My son hates to be covered, no matter how many times I try. Walking in, I turn off the light and lean over, kissing him on his cheek. He looks exactly like Casey, right down to the way he smirks at you. He is also the biggest daredevil in the world. Last week, he somehow convinced Billy to let him ride a mustang. “I love you,” I whisper and walk out of the room, pulling the door closed behind me but leaving it open just a crack. I walk over to the other room and find Casey in bed with Reed. My heart stops in my chest when I see him spooning Reed. I lean down and kiss my husband’s cheek, and he slowly opens his eyes. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he mumbles. “Is she asleep?”

“For now,” I say. “I’m going to go to sleep.” I lean over and kiss Reed’s cheek, and he turns over right away. He also came out looking exactly like Casey, something that I resented since I carried them for nine long months.

Casey gets off the bed and turns off the light. He puts his arm around me as we walk toward our bedroom. I grab his hand that is on my shoulder, and I kiss it. His wedding band shines in the dim light. It took him three weeks to wear me down and agree to a shotgun wedding. If I’m honest, I would have married him the same day he asked me. “If you want, I can take the next feeding.”

“No,” I say softly. “It’s fine.” I didn’t know what type of mom I was going to be. I mean, I had an idea of what type of mother I wanted to be, but I didn’t know I would be that type of mom. The mom who didn’t let her kids do anything unless I was there. The mom who spent all her waking time with them, the mom who would make five different dinners just so they would eat. I’m the pushover mom, the mom who says no, but really, it’s a yes.

“You're tired, and if you don’t get the rest you need,” he says, “you are going to get sick.”

“I know,” I say. I pushed myself after we came home with Harlow, and within four days, I was in the hospital after fainting. “Fine, you can feed her,” I say. “There is a bottle in the fridge.”

He gets into the bed, and when I slide in with him, he quickly finds me and pulls me to him. “I love you, darlin’,” he says softly, and I kiss him. The kissing quickly takes on a life of its own, making us itch for more, but we still have another four weeks to go. “Fuck,” he whispers, and I know that it’s killing him. “I thought six weeks would have been easier the third time around.”

I laugh into his neck, and I close my eyes. It takes maybe three minutes before I fall asleep.

I wake up when my breasts start to hurt, and when I look over, I see that the spot next to me is empty. I turn and look at the clock, and it shows that it’s a little bit after midnight. I’ve been sleeping for four glorious hours. I’m about to get up and find Casey when I hear him in the monitor and look over to see the image of him rocking Harlow on the screen.

“I know you don’t like the bottle, Princess H.” He talks to her. “But Momma needs her rest.”

The sounds of her little cry fill the room now. “I have the goods right here. All you have to do is take it. That’s it, my girl.” I wipe the tear that is now rolling down the side of my face. I didn’t know that someone could be this happy. I didn’t know that I could love someone so deeply that I can’t exist without them. I didn’t know that my biggest nightmare would be my fairy-tale ending.

I watch the two of them the whole time, my eyes never leaving them, and when he puts our daughter on his chest, I can’t stop the tears from coming. I can’t stop these overwhelming feelings, and when he comes into the room five minutes later and takes me in his arms, the only thing I can do is whisper, “Thank you for giving me my home.”

He kisses my lips. “Thank you for filling my home.”