Fucking finally.
* * * * *
Sylvie
“Shit, I’m nervous,” I whispered.
It was early. I was standing at the front door in Creed’s arms and he’d just finished kissing me a kind of good-bye, the kind of part being that I was returning in less than two hours.
“Don’t be,” he whispered back.
“Kids like me,” I kept whispering. “But what if they’re, like, the only two kids I’ve ever met who think I’m a loser?”
Creed grinned and his arms gave me a squeeze. “They’ll love you, Sylvie. Honest to God. Don’t worry.”
Being back in Creed’s arms always felt good. It made me feel safe in a way I hadn’t since I lost him.
It just wasn’t working then.
“Creed –”
He suddenly let me go and his hands came up to cup either side of my head and his face, already close, came to a breath away.
“My kids are not dumb,” he announced and I stared into his eyes.
“I didn’t say they were.” You guessed it. I was still whispering.
“Baby, they’ve seen my tat.”
I pulled in breath.
He kept talking.
“It was not lost on them I was fakin’ it with their Mom and not just because we got divorced. Kids sense that shit. Trust me. It was not lost on them that things didn’t get a whole lot better for me when she and I were done and it will not be lost on them that you got the name inked on my skin and I’m finally f**kin’ happy. One day, when they’re older, when they know you better, when they can deal with the part of the story we’ll share with them, we’ll share it with them. They’ll get it and be happy for both of us. That’s what love is, Sylvie. That’s family. I didn’t know it because I didn’t grow up with it. You didn’t either. But havin’ my kids, I get it. The change might take some gettin’ used to and I’m not sayin’ the road won’t turn rocky along the way. I just know my kids love me and they’ll see me happy, so they’ll love you at the very least for makin’ me happy.”
Right, that made me feel better.
“Okay,” I agreed softly.
Creed’s eyes roamed my face then his hands slid down to either side of my neck before he said softly back, “Can’t wait to give you that.”
“Give me what?”
“A family.”
My heart lurched and it didn’t feel bad. Not even a little bit.
He kept speaking.
“Just you wait, baby. Didn’t live free and easy. Didn’t feel totally alive. Not without you. But I got my kids and I had somethin’ to live for, work for, keep goin’ for.” His thumbs moved out and stroked my jaws before his voice went rough to say, “Now, I got it all.”
Jeez, he was killing me.
“Shut up or you’ll make me cry like a girl and I never cry like a girl except when I find out my Dad was more of an ass**le than I already knew him to be and the man I loved since I was six was tortured at his hands. Furthermore, crying makes me cranky. I don’t need to be made cranky three hours before meeting your kids. Get me?”
He grinned and muttered, “Got you.”
“Good,” I muttered back.