Chapter 8
SCOTT & HARLOW
SCOTT
This scene takes place just after Gunnar & Chelsea’s book.
“Don’t worry about things here,” Griff says over the phone, “I’ve got everything handled. Stay with Harlow as long as she needs you.”
I exhale a breath. “Appreciate it, brother.”
We end the call and I look at Harlow asleep in our bed.
She gave birth to our son, Keaton, five days ago and has been struggling with exhaustion.
She wasn’t well the week before she gave birth and never recovered her strength.
I’ve stayed home with her and the kids while Griff keeps the club running.
Thank fuck we don’t have much going on right now.
Keaton starts crying in his cradle next to our bed, waking Harlow. He needs a change of nappy, so I take care of that before bringing him to her. She’s sitting in bed waiting for us, her face lined with exhaustion.
Reaching her arms out to me to take Keaton, she says, “You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long.”
“You need to sleep, sweetheart.” I sit next to her on the bed as she brings our son to her breast.
“I know, but you’re just as tired as me. I want you to get some rest now.”
“We can both sleep for a while once he’s down. Aurora’s asleep.” It’s just after 9:00 p.m.
Harlow nods. “I’d like that. I miss you next to me.”
I’ve been up and down for the last two days while Aurora’s been fussing. I fucking miss being next to her too.
“Thank fuck he’s got that figured out,” I say as I watch her breastfeed. Aurora struggled with this, so I wasn’t sure how Keaton would go, but he hasn’t had any issues.
Harlow smiles before glancing down at her son. “He’s just like his daddy.”
I cross my feet and rest my head against the bedhead. “Griff’s got shit handled at the club. I don’t need to go in until you’re back on your feet.”
“I should be good tomorrow. I slept a lot today.”
“I’m not going back tomorrow. I want you to have a few days of rest to really recover.”
“Scott,” she starts, but I cut her off.
“I’m not getting into a discussion about this, Harlow. We’ve got a one year old and a newborn. You need to gather enough strength for them both.”
“Madison offered to come and help.”
“Yeah, and she can when I go back.”
“My God, you are so freaking stubborn.”
I look at her, my brows arched. “And you’re not?”
Her smile reaches deep into my veins. I could survive off those smiles alone. “I do love you, Scott Cole, but seriously, your bossiness is reaching new levels.”
I lean across and brush a kiss over her lips. “And it’s only gonna get worse if you don’t listen to me. I want you better, so stop arguing with me.”
She watches me silently for a few moments before saying, “What do you think he’ll be when he grows up?”
Harlow loves to talk about our kids’ futures. Not in the kind of way a controlling mother would, but rather in a curious way. She likes to imagine the possibilities for them.
“He’ll join the club.”
She nods. “Yes, that’s what I think too.” She smiles again. “And he’ll have your crinkles.”
She fucking loves my eye crinkles.
“I fuckin’ hope so for his sake. They keep the women around.”
“The women?” She teases. “I thought I was your only one.”
“Baby, I couldn’t fuckin’ handle more than one woman. Trust me when I say I’m at my limit.”
“I’ll be sure to keep you on your toes so you stay at that limit.”
“I think these kids will help with that.”
Worry fills her features. “Do you think we were dumb to have two so close together?”
I frown. “No. Are you concerned?”
“I’d be lying if I told you I think we’ll be fine. I think it’s going to be hard. Like, really hard some days.”
“I’m not gonna let us fail, Harlow.”
She reaches out and takes my hand. “I know you won’t, Scott, but sometimes there’s only so much we can do.
Sometimes it’ll all still fall to shit even when we do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t.
Sometimes it’ll take a whole heap of faith on top of everything else just to get by. I need you to be prepared for that.”
She’s right, and this is why I fucking love her.
I’ve always forced my way through life to make shit happen.
Harlow’s taught me that isn’t always enough to get what we want.
She’s taught me that it’s okay for it to not be enough, so long as we stick together.
Love keeps a couple together when giving our all isn’t enough.
It might be fucking hard, and it might be nights of silence in the dark, but we just have to fucking stick it out with love.
I squeeze her hand. “I’m prepared.”
Her eyes meet mine. “I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone but you.”
“I wouldn’t fuckin’ let you do it with anyone but me.”
We fall into an easy silence while Keaton finishes feeding and once he’s done, I take him from her and burp him before rocking him to sleep and placing him in his cradle.
Stripping out of my jeans and shirt, I slide into bed next to Harlow and pull her into my arms. She rests her head on my chest and hooks a leg over mine. It’s not going to take either of us long to fall asleep tonight.
She surprises me, though, when she says, “Do you remember how we were back having sex four weeks after Aurora was born?”
I tighten my hold on her. “Yeah.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be that quick this time.”
The way she says this makes me chuckle. She sounds pained about it. “What’s running through that mind of yours?”
She lifts her head and looks at me. “Honestly, don’t you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck and it’s going to take a year to recover?”
“I didn’t just give birth to a baby.”
“No, but you’ve been doing all the hard yards for days while I’ve been sleeping. I mean, I’ve had a lot of sleep and I still feel like I could have another straight year of it.”
“And you want me to go back to work tomorrow.”
She pulls a face. “Right. Totally shot myself in the foot there, didn’t I?”
I press a kiss to her forehead. “Go to sleep.”
She doesn’t put her head back down. Instead, she reaches out and traces the lines around my eye. “I love you so much that sometimes it feels overwhelming. Thank you for loving me like you do.”
I move so I can kiss her. When I’m finished with her lips, I say, “Fuck, I’ve missed that.”
She presses her hand to my face. “Me too. Promise me you’ll do that every day, more than once. Even if I take a year to have sex with you because I’m sleeping.”
“You worry too fuckin’ much about this shit. If you take a year to have sex, you take a fuckin’ year. I’ll be here waiting.”
“And that is why I love you so much. I’m actually not worried, though. You’ve told me this enough, so now I believe you. I just need you to know you might be in for a dry spell.”
“I can handle a dry spell.” I kiss her again. “Now stop fuckin’ talking and go to sleep. We’re running out of time here.”
She finally puts her head down on my shoulder and snuggles in close. The last thing I think about before sleep claims me is how much I love her. I’d stick out a long fucking dry spell for her, so long as she kept loving me through it, because Harlow’s love is all I need in life to get me through.