This time she knew what she wanted to say. Becky cupped Trevor’s face in her hands. “Mark gave me a future where I found you. Falling in love with you and having you love me back has been beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined when I was living in Paradise.”
Trevor leaned in and kissed her. Sweet and intense. “We live somewhere better than paradise. We have a home.” He slipped a hand over her belly. “We’re building a family.”
“We are, and I’m so glad.” It’d taken a while, but between therapy and Trevor being his sweet, unendingly patient self, their physical relationship had changed. Sex no longer traumatized her. It was something that—with Trevor—made her hot and ache and truly feel alive to the center of her being.
Just the thought of getting tangled up with Trevor in bed sometime in the future made her heart skip a beat.
“Hush.” She tapped him on the chest and pushed back, offering a wink.
They walked another while, dealt with more contractions, before Becky pulled the conversation back to what she needed to share. “When I lived with Mark, before he dropped me off at the house here in Rocky? We talked a bunch. You know that. But while he shared some information about his home, it always seemed as if something about what happened here with his family was missing. I want to help him if he needs it. I want him to be happy.”
Trevor nodded. “Of course we will. He’s a good man, and he’s family.”
“He was family to me before I ever met you.” Becky’s throat was tight. “I need him to know that.”
Trevor squeezed her fingers. “We’ll make sure he does.”
Not long after, Rachel showed up. Her sister-in-law was nearly ten years older, but she’d become more than family. She was pretty much Becky’s best friend.
“Too bad I’m not working any longer. I could’ve come straight with you from the café,” she teased.
“Where are your babies?” Becky asked. Rachel and Lee’s children had come ten months apart from each other, which meant Liam had just turned one, and Ava was barely two months old.
“Mom and Dad have them,” Lee said as he patted Trevor firmly on the shoulder. He waited for Rachel and Becky to untangle themselves from their massive hug then swooped in and squeezed Becky tight. “You’ve got this. We’re here for you, and Rachel’s ready to give you tips.”
“Since you’ve practiced a couple of times already,” Becky teased before adding, “You should get pregnant again soon, so you don’t forget how it’s done.”
Rachel visibly shuddered. “No. Please no. I love the babies, but that would be too soon.”
“Didn’t Ashley almost do that?” Trevor asked.
“She waited a full three months between starting the next baby,” Lee said before adding dryly, “I’m surprised it took that long since she’s got two guys to deal with.”
Becky had to stop snickering to breathe through a contraction.
The wonder of it hit. So much had changed over the past years. What she had lived through in the cult and their strange sexual norms had nothing to do with the loving relationship that Travis, Cassidy, and Ashley shared. Knowing that to be an absolute truth was amazing.
Love was love, and it could shine out in many different ways. Without love, nothing was right.
The distraction of having Rachel and Lee there was good, but when push came to shove, literally, it was just Trevor in the room with her. The nurse practitioner helped, the doctor arriving barely in time. Moments later, Dr. Kinkaid laid a sweet, squirming little girl on Becky’s chest.
A few precious moments of quiet followed after the baby was cleaned up, her little pink mouth moving in a bow as she attempted to latch on and nurse.
The physical tug at Becky’s breast was nothing compared to the one squeezing around her heart. Seeing the precious life she and Trevor had made—Becky felt as if she’d been reborn.
She glanced up to discover tears trickling down Trevor’s face. Softly, Becky touched a fingertip to one.
He caught her by the wrist and brought her hand to his lips, tenderly kissing the moisture away. Even as he stared at the baby, he gave a small shake of his head and spoke with his heart in his voice. “I love you so much, Rodeo. That was one hell of a thing. Seeing you bring our baby into the world—damn. I always believed you were