Chapter 44 – Emmett
Chapter Forty-Four
EMMETT
“W e’re going to have a baby,”
I hear the words again, and my eyes spring open. The room fills with the soft sunlight that is coming up. My body is cocooned around her, and my hand is on her stomach as she sleeps in my arms. For the first time since she left, I finally slept that night. The minute I lay down in the bed next to her, my body felt like it could relax, and relax it did.
I take a deep inhale of her before I slowly slip away from her so as not to wake her. l place the covers back on her, wanting to get back in bed with her. Instead, I turn and tiptoe out of the room, closing the door behind me.
I start the coffee before I walk over to Lucy’s room and push open the door, sticking my head inside. “Rise and shine,” I say, and she grumbles from under her covers. “Bacon or sausage?”
“Sausage.” She stretches, then looks at me. “Is Lilah still here?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “She’s sleeping in my bed.”
“Can I go see her?”
“After breakfast,” I say. “Let her sleep a bit.”
“Okay.” She tosses the covers over herself, and I return to the kitchen, grabbing a mug to make coffee before starting breakfast.
I’m putting bread in the toaster when I hear the door open and see Lilah coming out into the kitchen. She’s wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. One hand rubs the sleep out of her eyes while she smiles at me. “Why didn’t you wake me?” she mumbles as I put the mug down and open my arms for her to come and give me a hug. She comes without question, and when my arms wrap around her, I literally sigh, bending to kiss the top of her head.
“You need sleep, baby,” I reply softly.
“I need to get to work.” She disengages herself from me, and I look down at her and shake my head.
“You’re not going to work,” I state, turning and walking over to the pan when the sausage starts to sizzle. “You are going to stay in bed.”
“I most certainly am not.” She puts her hands on her hips. “I’m going to work.”
“Really?” I raise my eyebrows. “Okay, you leave me no choice.” I walk over to the counter where my phone is and pick it up, calling Charlie and putting it on speakerphone.
“What?” he answers after two rings.
“Lilah says she’s coming in to work,” I tell Charlie, who laughs.
“She’s off for the next month,” he says as Lilah gasps.
“I am not!” she shrieks, walking over to me to grab the phone out of my hand. “A month is crazy.”
“Fine,” he gives in, “you can come back in two weeks.” She glares at me. “Or not at all.”
“Are you firing me?” she asks Charlie.
“See you later when I come and visit you,” he says. “We’ll talk then.” He hangs up the phone before she says anything more.
“Glad that is settled.” I bend and kiss her lips before smiling and kissing her lips again at the same time that Lucy comes out of her bedroom.
“Lilah,” she says, rushing to her and hugging her around her waist, “you’re up.”
“I am,” she confirms softly before bending to kiss her head. “I smelled food.”
“Are you going to drive me to school?” Lucy asks as she walks toward the fridge to grab the orange juice.
“No,” I answer her at the same time Lilah says, “Yes.”
Lucy laughs as she walks over to the stool and sits down. “Is Lilah moving in?” she asks, and I look at Lilah, who is staring at me with big eyes. When we picked Lucy up last night, we didn’t talk about whether Lilah was staying. Lucy was just happy Lilah was with us, and everything else went out the window.
“Um,” Lilah says.
“I want her to.” I finally turn off the stove and then turn back to Lucy. “I want her to live here with us.”
“Me too,” Lucy agrees with me, while looking at Lilah with a smile. “Do you want to live here with us?”
“Um.” Her nerves make her hands shake. “I want to be wherever you guys are,” she finally says, making me smile. I can’t help but go to her and take her in my arms, rubbing my hand up and down her back.
“So then it’s settled, you’re moving in.” I look down at her as she wraps her arms around my waist. “I’ll ask Autumn to go and pack your things.”
“You will do no such thing,” she gasps, making Lucy giggle. “I can pack my own stuff, thank you very much.”
“Are you guys going to be boyfriend and girlfriend?” The question makes Lilah stop talking.
“Yes.” I don’t even skip a beat. “For now anyway. I love her, always have.”
Lucy smirks. “I knew it.
“Are you two getting married?” Lucy looks at each of us.
“I want to marry her,” I admit to Lucy. “Want to be her husband more than anything.”
“Do you want to marry my dad?” She looks at Lilah, who has tears now in her eyes.
“Very much,” she whispers to her, trying not to cry but then giving in to the tears. “I very much want to marry him.”
“Then you should get married,” she says as if it’s not a big deal.
“There is more to it than that,” Lilah replies, and I tilt my head.
“You love Dad,” Lucy states to Lilah. “You love Lilah.” She looks at me, and I nod. “So now you can get married.”
Lilah laughs. “I guess it is as easy as that.” She looks up at me. “Are you okay with all this?” She turns back to Lucy, who looks at her like she’s confused. “You know, me staying here.”
“You stayed here before.” She shrugs as I walk over to make her a breakfast sandwich. “You just sleep with Dad now.”
“Yes,” Lilah says, turning and walking to the island in front of Lucy, “but it was you two, and then I just came in.”
I watch Lucy. “You know I love you, right?” I tell Lucy, who whips her head toward me. I can see she doesn’t know what to do with that information. “You know you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, right?” Her bottom lip quivers. “You’ll never doubt how much I love you, Lucy, never.”
“I know,” she says softly, using the back of her hand to wipe her tears away as the phone alarm rings, meaning we have to leave to get her to school.
I move my hand to shut it off. “Do you know that I love you?” She looks at me, my chest feeling like my heart is about to literally push through and come out.
“I had hoped,” I answer her honestly, “I really freaking hoped.”
She laughs at me. “Now, either you go get your things, and you eat in the truck, or you’ll be late.”
“I can’t be late.” She pushes away from the counter. “Can we eat in the truck?” She jumps off her stool. “I’m going to get my bags.”
I wait for her to be out of the room. “Well, that is one way to tell her we’re getting married.” I look over at Lilah, who starts rushing around the kitchen, getting Lucy her breakfast. “I have to get dressed.” I look down at my shorts, walking to her. “Kiss me.” She looks up, trying to hide the smile before her lips fall on mine. “I love you,” I whisper, “more than life.”
“I love you,” she declares. “Now go and get ready.”
Ten minutes later, we rush out of the house, getting into the truck and waving goodbye to Lilah.
“We should be on time.” I look over at Lucy, who is in the back eating her breakfast.
She looks out the window, and two minutes later, she finally talks, “Did you love my mom?”
I close my eyes at the question. “I enjoyed spending time with her. I didn’t really know her that well. But I love her for taking care of you the way she did. I love her for raising you to be the best kid I know. I love her for giving me you.” I look in the rearview mirror to see what she thinks. Her eyes are still on the road. “She was the best mom.”
“She was,” she admits.
“She loved you so much.” She nods.
“I still miss her”—she takes a deep inhale—“but it’s not as much as before.”
“It’s okay to talk about her.” I look over at her. “Whenever you want to talk about her, it’s okay for you to do it.”
“You won’t be mad?” She looks down at the half-eaten sandwich in her hand.
“No,” I say breathlessly. “I want to know everything about you. I want to know all about the time I missed with you. I want to know it all.” I pull the truck up to the school. “This weekend, how about we look through some pictures and put some around the house?”
Her eyes light up. “You can pick whichever ones you want, and we can put them up. You can even put a couple in your room.”
“I want to do that,” she says, and I look over to the schoolyard, seeing that people are going inside.
“Do you want to finish that, or do you want to head into school?” I motion with my chin toward the sandwich.
“I’m good.” She hands me the sandwich, and I put it on the passenger seat, then get out of the truck and meet her on the other side.
I hold out my hand for her, and she slides it into mine. “Okay.” I squat down. “You have the best day.” I smile and kiss her cheek. “I’ll be here to pick you up.”
“Can we all go riding tonight?” she asks. “It’s been forever.”
“Um, let’s see how Lilah feels,” I say, knowing full well that Lilah can’t ride a horse yet. “We can go, me and you.”
“Okay,” she agrees, turning and walking away.
“Love you, Lucy,” I say, and she turns and smiles big.
“Love you too,” she returns before turning and running toward the door when the teacher calls her name. She stops and waves over her shoulder before running inside the school.
When I return to my house, Lilah is outside in the chair she was sitting in yesterday when she got out of the hospital. “Are you okay?” I ask, worry in my question as she nods. I sit in the chair beside her before reaching out and pulling her chair close to mine.
The sound of her laughing now fills the quiet morning. “Did she get to school on time?” I nod, looking out at the forest.
“We had a conversation about her mom,” I relay to her, and she immediately puts her hand on her chest while I tell her how the conversation went.
“We can put pictures in every single room if she wants,” she offers softly.
“Not every room.” My eyebrows pinch together. “Our room is ours.” She laughs.
“She wants to go riding after school.” I look over at Lilah, whose lips part.
“We’re going to have to tell her about the baby,” she says softly, and I nod.
“How do you think she’ll take it?” She closes her eyes and puts her hand on her stomach. “It might be too much too fast.”
“Baby.” I lean forward, putting my hands on my knees. “Before Lucy, there was very little I was proud of,” I admit. “But then I found out about her. I was instantly scared out of my ass, but I was fucking proud. She was so tough to go through all of that and still be the amazing kid she is. Now I’m going to be a father again, and I couldn’t be more fucking proud that this baby was created in love. This baby is going to know how special they are every single second of his or her life. I’m so fucking proud you love me, and we are going to have a baby, and one day in the very near future, you are going to marry me.”
She sniffles. “You can stop being all perfect right now.”
“If I can, then get your ass over here and kiss me.” I lean back as she gets up and comes to me, sitting on my lap.
She places one hand on my cheek. “Thank you, Emmett, for showing me the dreams stolen from me a long time ago were finally found.” She kisses my lips. “You.” She puts her head on mine. “You are my dream.”
“No.” I shake my head and smile. “Loving you, it’s my dream come fucking true.”
Two Weeks Later
“Happy birthday, Sierra,” Lilah’s answers her phone putting it on speaker with a cheerful voice.
“Lilah.” Her voice breaks. “Lilah,” she sobs.
“Sierra,” Lilah says her name in almost a whisper, “what’s wrong?”
I move to stand by Lilah, “It’s a lie,” she blurts between sobs, trying to catch her breath. “It’s all a lie.”
“What is?”
“My life.” The words in a whisper, “I just found my adoption papers.”
Lilac gasps out, looking at me, “I’m on my way,” she states, disconnecting.
Forgotten Dreams