Chapter 66
SAGE
I’m dizzy and nauseous and excited as the doctor finishes talking to me and leaves the room. Pregnant. I’m pregnant.
I’ve always thought about having kids one day in the future, the distant future, definitely not while I’m still in college. But I guess the universe had it all planned out for me anyway.
Kaiden walks toward me, eyes searching mine. “Are you okay?”
“Twelve weeks,” I muse, putting my hand back on my stomach.
“Halloween.” Kaiden smirks, and Beckham appears at my other side.
“Our very own Hallows Baby.” Threading his fingers between mine, he smiles.
I squeeze his hand, then I lift my head and look across the room, where Vinny’s still seated on the couch, his arms resting on his knees as he looks at me.
“Vinny, come here,” I say, lifting an eyebrow.
He stands, walks toward me, then puts a hand on my jaw to tip my gaze to his. “Yes, princess?”
“A baby,” I say, looking up at him, a tear trailing down my cheek that he catches with his thumb. “We’re having a baby.”
He nods, his green eyes overcome with anxiety that I want to ease.
“What do you think about that?” I ask, putting my hand atop his on my jaw. As Beckham places a hand on his shoulder, I realize it’s something they’ve probably talked about before.
“I think…” Vinny starts, giving me a small smile. “I don’t want to be anything like my dad.”
Lifting myself up, I put my mouth on his—my tough, damaged, kind boy—and I kiss him softly for a moment before I pull back. “You are nothing like your father, and you are going to be an amazing dad to our baby.”
“I love you,” he says, his eyes filling with moisture before he kisses me again, and then he pulls away, his hands going around my face. “I’m glad you aren’t dead, princess. I can't live without you."
“Me, too,” I whisper, my chest warming.
As Vinny sits, Kaiden and Beckham move in, and all three of them surround me, giving me the opportunity to admire each of them together.
All of them so different, but so similar—the three loves of my life who I never saw coming but am now tied to forever, through blood and love and trauma and possession.
Kaiden gives me a smug smile, and I return the look with a curious one of my own. “What?”
“You know that baby is mine, right?” he says, arrogant as ever.
Before any of the other boys can say anything, I grab him by the jaw. “It’s ours. All of ours. Don’t forget it.”
His eyes flare. “If you weren’t sitting in a hospital bed right now, Little Rabbit, I’d turn your skin red from neck to ass for talking to me like that.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” I say, smiling. “Not when I have our baby inside me.”
There’s a knock at the door, and I notice that Kaiden has to adjust his erection as I call out for whoever it is to come in. A small smirk is touching my lips as an unfamiliar man steps into the room, and Beckham stands and puts his back to me like he’s going on guard.
“Sage Blackmore?” the man asks, his eyes turning up in greeting.
“Yes?” I say, and Vinny joins Beckham where he’s standing at my bedside.
“My name is Harvey Williams. I’m the lawyer in charge of executing your grandmother’s will. Is now a good time?”
I sit up straighter, making a point to pat Beckham’s back to get him and Vinny to stand down. “Sure, come on in.”
The lawyer clears his throat, putting a leather folder down on the little rolling table that’s sitting vacant at the side of the room, and he moves toward me. “First off, I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother’s passing. She was a lovely woman.”
He smiles at me, and I nod. “Thank you.”
Pulling some papers out of the folder, he clears his throat again. “I really just need to get a couple of signatures from you today, Sage. Your grandmother left everything to you, and it’s all very simplified. She did, however, leave a letter that she asked me to give to you after she passed.”
He flips through his papers, takes out a white envelope, and hands it to me. Without a word, I take it and rip it open, pulling out a single sheet of paper to unfold, then I start reading the letter to myself.
Sage, if you’re reading this, I’ve passed on. I hope you’ll accept the house in Blackmore, and I hope you’ll consider staying in it. I know you were hoping to get back to California, but maybe you’ll consider staying in our little town if you have your own house.
I’ve left instructions for Harvey to take care of everything else. My accounts and retirement and all of that will go to you, I just wanted the chance to give you some last words that I’ve never said to you.
I pray you can forgive your parents one day.
I know you’ll never get the chance to hear their side of the story, but just know that they loved you, Sage.
They always wanted to protect you, and they did what they thought was best by leaving Blackmore.
I don’t hate them for that. The only resentment I have is that I didn’t get to know you sooner.
You changed my life, Sage Grace, you really did.
I know that if you hadn’t come back to Blackmore and disrupted my life, I never would have passed on with the happiness and joy I have inside of myself right now.
You were the best thing to happen to me in a long time, and I’ll always be thankful that I got to know you.
Promise me that you’ll live your life with pure intentions and always chase your dreams. You deserve to. Find what makes your soul burn with unfiltered happiness and hold on to it.
I love you, Sage. I always have, and I always will.
Gran
I’m sobbing when I get to the end of the letter, so I fold it back up and put it back into the envelope before I set it in my lap. Beckham’s hand slides into mine, and he gives me a soft smile.
“Thank you,” I say to Harvey, and he nods minutely before he flips through his papers again and gets a pen out of his pocket.
“I just need you to sign the deed for the house and a few more forms to put her bank accounts in your name. Insurance money will go directly to you as well.”
I read over the papers he wants me to sign, and once I’m confident I understand them, I sign my name at the bottom of each.
Harvey gets them all back into his folder, then he folds it up and looks at me. “Again, Miss Blackmore, I’m so sorry for your loss. I’ll have copies of these mailed over to you in a few weeks.”
“Thank you,” I say, feeling sad and overwhelmed as he leaves.
Beckham squeezes my hand. “Are you okay, Savage?”
Nodding, I take a moment to look at each of them before I answer. “Can someone see where that nurse is with my dinner?”
I get to go home the next day, a referral to an OB-GYN and a little baggie of prenatal vitamin samples from the nurses in tow, and walk outside to find that Kaiden has gone to get my car from my house.
Beckham and Vinny settle me into the passenger seat, then slide into the back before Kai drives us to my house.
“What now?” I ask, and Kai looks at me out of the corner of his eye.
“What do you mean?”
I put my feet up on the dash and try to get comfortable. “I’ve been dead for weeks, so there’s no way I’m going to catch up in time to graduate.”
All three of them laugh, and Beckham answers me. “I’m sure they’ll understand. You had a good excuse.”
“And what about you?” I look at Beckham. “Aren’t you still facing charges for burning down the crypts?”
Kai snorts, turning onto Main Street.
“The charges were dropped,” Beckham says, and I give him a confused look. “Apparently, the Blackmore family is still in ownership of the cemetery, and since all of you were dead, there was no one to press charges.”
I laugh. “I’ll have to speak to the police now that I’m alive, then.”
Beckham rolls his eyes at me. “You love me too much to do that.”
Kaiden pulls the car into my driveway then, and I turn to look up at the house. This will be my first time here as the owner, and part of it doesn’t feel right to me. This house doesn’t feel right without my gran.
My car door opens, making me jump, and Vinny reaches over me to undo my seatbelt before he kisses my cheek. “You okay, princess?”
Nodding, I look into his emerald eyes and find the strength to get out of the car and face my new reality.
Kaiden leads the way, Vinny holding my hand and Beckham following behind us, carrying my bag. As Kai slips the key into the door, he turns back to look at me, a smile spreading across his face. “Welcome home, baby.”
The lock clicks, he turns the doorknob, then he pushes into the house.
I follow him, finding the entryway and living room decorated with an unnecessary amount of birthday decorations.
There are balloons all over the staircase, streamers hanging from the ceiling, banners on every wall and confetti all over the floor.
I laugh, looking at Kai as he turns around to look at me. “Happy birthday.”
“My birthday was almost two weeks ago.” I laugh, admiring the decorations for a moment before I look at Kaiden.
He runs his hand over his jaw. “You were dead for your birthday, and we didn’t have a chance to celebrate.”
Vinny’s hands go around my waist, his face falling into my neck from behind. “We wanted you to still have a birthday party.”
Beckham laughs. “Yeah, to make up for the fact we actually went to your funeral on your real birthday, while you were locked in a bedroom by your deranged uncle.”
I snort, looking at Beckham, who’s still laughing. “Super dark.”
He shrugs, and then Kai grabs my face to turn my attention back to the decorations. “Do you like it, baby?”
I stare up at him, his dark eyes so happy I could cry. “I love it, Kaiden, thank you.”
He grabs me from Vinny’s arms, pulling me into him so he can kiss me softly. When he pulls back, he smiles against my skin. “I’m so glad you’re home, and alive.”
Vinny grabs my waist again, yanking me from Kai’s hold. “Share her. We all missed her.”
I laugh, shaking from everyone’s hands. “Alright, I’m going to take a shower. You guys can argue over me while I’m gone so I don’t have to listen to it.”