we could just dodge the obstacles that still remained in our course.
Evan kissed across my fingertips that were busy running the edges of his lips. “Why do you think I put that ring on your finger? That way I get to get lost in this sweet body every single night.”
A giggle rippled free.
“Oh, you think that’s the way it’s gonna work, do you?”
He gave a little rock against me. “I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”
He gave me this wicked grin. My insides twisted up in glee. Heat skating my flesh as my mind went back to last night.
You could say we’d done a bang-up job of christening this room.
I burrowed my face in his throat to hide my smile.
Evan rolled me onto my back. Gathering me up in those strong arms, he stared down at me like I was the falling star he had wished upon. “You are so beautiful, Frankie Leigh. Do you know what you mean to me? Fact you let me put that ring on your finger? After everything? For your forgiveness? For your belief?”
Apprehension pooled in my stomach. Guilt for the unspoken words I’d yet to confess.
Uncle Kale was right. The longer I’d held onto them, the harder it was to find the right time to release them. The more it felt as if I’d been keeping a secret. The more my silence had begun to feel like I was doing nothin’ but telling a lie.
I wasn’t to blame. Of course, I knew that. But that didn’t mean I didn’t owe him the truth.
I reached up and played with the flop of hair that had fallen over his eye. “I think I’m gettin’ the idea,” I whispered, searching for the right way to open up. My chest tightened. I didn’t know how to steal this joy from him when we finally were feeling it. When we finally had it.
I didn’t want to let it go.
He brushed his fingers through my hair, his smile turning into something wistful and sweet. “I can’t wait to spend my life with you.”
“We’re already doing it,” I told him because we didn’t need a wedding day to tell us we were forever.
His eyes dropped closed for a beat, and he leaned down and pressed the softest kiss to my lips. “Every day.”
“Every day,” I whispered back.
His phone buzzed from the nightstand. I didn’t think he noticed, so I nudged him a little. “Your phone is going off.”
He dipped down and pecked me on the lips before he sat up on the edge of the bed and put on his glasses.
He looked so damn good in them they should be illegal in all fifty states. A crime for him to wear them any time he wasn’t looking at me.
He swiped into his phone. Could feel the mood shift. Tension ridged his back.
Worry slammed me. I couldn’t help it. Couldn’t help that I was immediately on edge.
Everett’s mother was still out there, at large. No word in days. Seth hadn’t been able to get in touch with her brother, either.
All of it sat so wrong that it left a bubble of dread sitting permanently right at the center of me.
I climbed onto my knees so I could move over and wrap myself around Evan’s back. I angled around enough so that he could see me. “What is it?”
He looked up, and where I was expecting to see him upset, he was bleeding relief, his eyes flooded with hope. “It’s my attorney. He got the approval from the judge to get my name on the birth certificate. He needs me to come down to his office this morning and sign some papers so he can request Everett’s medical records.”
I swore I could feel it—deliverance rumbling through the air. Blistering and streaking. Wrapping us in it.
Joy split my face, and I eased around farther. “I’m so happy. This is such good news.”
He set one of those big palms on my face. “It’s all coming together, Frankie. Our home. Our family. Us.”
Emotion pulsed.
I swallowed around the severity of it. “Us,” I repeated.
He gave a tight nod and then pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I need to get over there. Are you okay with Everett for a couple hours so he doesn’t have to sit in an office for so long?”
Awe tugged at my mouth. The fact that this was goin’ to be my life. “It’s my honor to care for him, Evan. Always. Every day. Without question.”
Understanding moved through his features, and he dropped