Woven Hearts (Mended Hearts #3)

Prologue

First Christmas Together

Beck

W hen I open my eyes, the sun has barely risen, but my fiancé is nowhere to be found, which is very unlike him.

He’s not the lightest of sleepers on the best of days, and he’s usually suctioned to my side.

So, I’m not exactly sure how he managed to not only wake up before me—never happens—but also make it out of bed without waking me up.

When I pat his pillow, it’s cold to the touch, so clearly he’s been out of bed for a while. Well, no reason for me to be here if he’s not.

My eyes linger on Holden’s door as I head down the hall. The house feels empty without Holden, but he’ll be coming by with Julian and the kids later. For the best, really, since Roman and I—okay, I —went way overboard on Christmas presents for the kids.

As I tiptoe quietly into the living room, I’m stopped by the sight of Roman kneeling on the floor by our Christmas tree. I’m a little confused about what he’s doing, but instead of interrupting him, I lean against the wall and watch him for a second.

There’s some rustling, a muttered curse, and things being moved around.

I chuckle, unable to help myself, and Roman damn near jumps out of his skin, turning to me with wide eyes and a hand placed over his bare chest. He’s not covering his tattoo, though, which I’m thankful for.

I love seeing it. I love seeing the proof of our life and love on his body.

“Jesus, Beck. You scared the shit out of me.”

I grin. “Yeah, I can see that, beautiful. What are you doing?”

A pink flush spreads up his cheeks and my heart flutters in my throat at the sight. God, that never gets old. I doubt it ever will. “Putting your present under the tree.”

I step into the living room and sit beside him on the floor. “My present, huh?”

He glares at me, but it’s weak. His eyes are too soft, his lips tilted up too much. “Yes. Your present. I’ve been coordinating this for weeks. I wasn’t sure if it would get here in time.”

Now he’s got my curiosity piqued. “Oh?”

He looks down and picks up a flat gift-wrapped box, flipping it back and forth in his hands a few times before giving it to me. “It’s not much, and technically, it’s from Riley.”

Now I’m even more curious. “From Riley?”

He nods, his cheeks practically flaming. “She found it in a tote of her old stuff, and said she wanted to get it back to us, but then I had this stupid Christmas gift idea and… ugh. It’s dumb.”

For some reason, my heart is pounding and my palms are sweaty. “I’m sure that’s not true at all. If it was important enough for you all to coordinate some special Christmas plan, then it must be pretty special.”

He sighs. “You can open it.”

I stare down at the box for a second before grinning at him. I give it a little shake, but it barely has any weight to it, and it doesn’t make a sound at all. “Did you give me an empty box, beautiful?”

He nibbles his bottom lip, looking entirely too adorable for so early in the morning, then shakes his head. “Please just open it and put me out of my misery.”

I chuckle, my gaze falling to the box again. I peel the bow and paper off, tossing it to the side. I’m surprised to find nothing but a single piece of paper. “What is this?” I ask, slightly confused.

Roman groans, burying his face in his hands. “Oh my God, this is stressing me out. Just open it.”

My hands are shaking when I set the box down and pick up the folded piece of paper within. I wish I could say the tremors go away, but instead they get worse when I slowly unfold the paper.

When I realize what it is, my heart jumps into my throat. “Roman,” I whisper, rubbing my fingers reverently down the page.

“You hate it, don’t you? It’s stupid.”

“Riley had this?” I choke out, my throat closing up with emotion.

“Yeah, she said she stole it. And when she found it, she wanted to make sure we got it back.”

A droplet lands on the paper, and I sniffle as I realize it was a tear.

I’m crying.

I’m crying, and I’m staring at the picture I drew of Roman and I kissing on the Ferris wheel.

We look so achingly young and his cheeks are flushed and our hair is windblown and there’s no scar above his eye.

Riley had this. This whole time she had this photo.

This image I created of our first date.This image I thought was gone forever.

Destroyed along with all the other tangible memories of that time, except for one stuffed rabbit and Roman’s tattoo.

I try for a laugh, but it comes out as more of a sob. But not a sad sob. A strange, happy one. One that feels like relief and joy and all the good things in the world. I let the paper fall to the floor as I turn to Roman and pull him into my arms.

Roman

Beck sniffles again, tucking his face into my neck as I wrap my arms around him. His weight melts into me as he lets out a small laugh. “Fuck, beautiful. This might be the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten.”

I shouldn’t be surprised by the fluttering in my stomach, but I am.

I can’t believe he still makes me feel this way.

The sketch hardly counts as a present, but I’m so, so glad he likes it.

I’d never even seen this drawing, and I was sure I had seen them all.

“I’m glad, baby. Although, I feel like it hardly counts as a present. ”

His lips brush along my throat, his tears dampening my skin.

“Not true. It’s another piece. Another piece of my heart slotting back into place, another piece of our past coming full circle.

It’s everything .” He laughs again. “I can’t believe Riley stole this.

” Before I can respond, he’s letting out another small hiccuping sob.

“Oh my God, I’m a mess. I’m so fucking happy Riley stole this.

”He pulls back from me, and his wet, gorgeous eyes meet mine. “I love you.”

Leaning in, I drop a kiss to his lips. “I love you too, baby.”

He grins, but it’s a little wobbly and there’s no doubt that I’m going to have an emotional Beck on my hands today.

To be fair, I had the emotional rounds three weeks ago when Riley called me and told me about the picture.

And then again when she sent me a photo that I had to promptly delete so Beck wouldn’t find it.

And yet again, when I opened the mailbox three days ago, and I held it in my hands for the first time.

“I have a present for you too,” Beck says, a bit of a shy smile on his face. “Hold and Julian are bringing it over later.”

“Really?” What in the hell could he have gotten me that requires Holden and Julian to bring it over?

He nods. “Well, obviously we have other stuff under the tree, but this one was too big to fit and I couldn’t hide it anywhere without you seeing it.”

That really gives me more questions than it does answers, but unlike Beck, I’m patient. Sometimes. I may have to text Hold and tell him to hurry it the fuck up, though. “Do you want to go back to bed for a while?” I ask.

I’m not used to waking up this early at all. And it’s a miracle that I did, considering how low I had to set my alarm to keep Beck from hearing it and waking up too. Clearly it didn’t matter, since I hadn’t even been up for fifteen minutes when he scared the shit out of me.

“Sounds perfect, beautiful. Christmas cuddles? Always. Yes.”

He picks the drawing up from the floor and stands, offering me his hand.

I take it, using it to help me stand, and then I follow him back to our room.

The first thing he does is head straight for the corkboard on the wall with my notes to him and his proposal notes to me, and sticks the drawing right under them with a thumbtack.

He steps back, admiring the newest addition with a pleased smile, before turning and leading me to bed.

The second we’re settled and he has the blankets pulled up around us, he rests his head on my chest and runs his fingers along the tattoo over my heart.

He lets out a little happy sound. I close my eyes, enjoying the soft brush of his fingers and the heavy weight of his head. In no time at all, I’m dead asleep.

When I wake up, it’s to the sound of Wren screaming our names, and the pounding of her feet as she runs toward our room.

“Fuck,” Beck says, jumping up and getting dressed quickly, tripping over his sweats as he tries to wrangle them up his legs.

“Wren, wait,” Julian calls, then Wren stomps back down the hall.

I sit up, glancing around. Damn, I don’t know how long we slept, but it must have been a while. I climb out of bed, at a much slower pace than Beck, and get dressed before grinning at him. “Ready to go spoil the kids?”

He nods, his smile blinding. Fuck, I love seeing him with the kids. So much. He loves doting on them and spoiling them. I do too, of course, but he’s just… something else with them.

We take off toward the living room hand-in-hand, but I stop short when I catch sight of Holden sitting on the couch. He’s holding…

“Unka Beck got you a puppy!” Wren shouts, gesturing toward the little ball of fluff with a pink bow on its head. It looks like a Golden Retriever, but I can’t be one hundred percent sure.

Hold stands and pushes it into my hands. “Love you, Ro, but this peeing machine is your problem now. Kids are one thing, dogs are another.”

I turn to Beck, completely shocked. “You got me a puppy?”

He nods. “Are you mad?”

The puppy wiggles, placing its paws on my chest, and licks at my face.

I laugh. “No. I’m not mad at all.” I step toward him and adjust the puppy in my arms until I can grab Beck’s shirt in my fist and tug him to me for a kiss.

When I pull back, we have matching dopey smiles. “Thank you so much, Beck. I love you.”

His eyes are glowing with happiness as he reaches out and scratches the puppy’s ears. “I love you too. She doesn’t have a name yet. I figured I’d let you do the honors.”

I pull him in for another kiss as the pup squirms in my arms. “We can come up with something together later, yeah?”

He smiles, his cheeks a little pink. “Sounds perfect to me, beautiful.”