Chapter 49
NATE
Afew weeks after that visit from Colin, I was still wondering if Kate had been right and he’d been serious, but life had been so busy that I hadn’t had a chance to ask him yet.
I stood in front of the windows in our apartment, looking out at the glittering city lights, and desperately missed my wife.
She and I had settled into my apartment for now, but honestly, I was looking for something bigger.
Possibly lower to the ground. A place for the two of us that we could make our own.
I glanced back at my laptop sitting on the bed, the screen glowing in the dark room with the real estate listings I’d been going through before I’d gotten up to refill my whiskey.
So far, I hadn’t seen anything that seemed right. It was frustrating as hell. I’d hoped to have a few places lined up for us to look at by the time she got back, but I was striking out spectacularly.
Releasing a deep sigh, I ran my fingers through my hair and took a sip of my drink. At least I’d finally bought her a car. That was one more step in the right direction—toward getting her settled in Chicago for good.
If she ever wanted to move back to New York, I was going with her. I just had no idea how that could work logistically, given my role at W&S, but for now, she seemed happy here and I was intent on keeping it that way.
I just worried it was becoming a losing battle. That was why I was still nursing my whiskey, unable to sleep as I mulled it over.
Kate was one of those people who had to be insanely busy, and with Alex back at work now that Jane was up and moving, Kate had been working from home.
Mostly for her dad’s firm. She had an office at W&S, but apparently, she didn’t want to work there when she was dealing with Vanderhaul and Marksmith business.
Her old clients were happy to have her back, at least, but she was also starting to get restless.
I had a feeling that these last couple months, she’d gotten used to whole a new level of busy.
Since she would be taking over the Hinds Global account when the time came, her dad hadn’t assigned her any new clients and those that had been reassigned when she’d come here were still gone too.
The sale was coming through, thank God, but it was happening at a snail’s pace. Like they normally did. In the meantime, all the fine-tuning was taking place for a smooth transition, but Kate had been left with only three hedge fund clients for Pete and nothing else to do.
Although she hadn’t said anything, I could tell it’d been bothering her. The restlessness. The waiting. The vast amounts of nothing she sometimes had to fill her time with after running at full speed for so many months.
The cat had helped a little. Asshole.
She’d been sad to say goodbye to her orange tabby friend when we’d discovered he belonged to the couple a floor below us.
They were in their fifties and not only in the process of moving out, but they’d also received some complaints about him being allowed to roam freely, so they’d let her say goodbye to Tim Tam—named after the cookie—but he wasn’t visiting anymore.
They did send her pictures of him and updates on occasion, but that wasn’t enough. I knew it, which was another reason why I’d been hoping to line up some places for us to look at.
Going back to bed, I climbed in and settled with my back against the headboard, whiskey in one hand and raking the laptop closer with the other. Right now, Kate’s was visiting her parents in New York.
With things finally settled here, she’d also gone to pack up her apartment and put it on the market. I’d gone with her, helping her box up the stuff she’d wanted to send here and donate the rest, but I’d had to come back early for work.
It’d been three days since I’d left her there, and while I knew she was obviously safe with Pete and Courtney, I’d genuinely hated coming back without her. It’s crazy how fast you can get used to having someone with you all the time.
After so many years alone, basically single my entire life, I would have thought this would feel normal, but it didn’t. I glanced at her side of the bed, her pillows perfectly fluffed instead of dented and the room depressingly quiet.
I sighed and tossed back the rest of my whiskey in one big gulp. Fuck, this sucks.
Trying to distract myself by going back to the real estate listings, I scrolled for a few more minutes, but no perfect place had magically been dropped into the lineup on the website.
Eventually, I gave up and reached for the TV remote, switching it on and pressing play on a baseball game I’d recorded weeks ago.
My laptop was still open next to me and I smiled a little when it chimed with an incoming email. It was instinctive. Muscle memory after all the years I’d spent talking to Emma at this time of night.
Obviously, it wasn’t her now. Kate was probably asleep, and even if she had wanted to talk to me, she would have just called.
My thought process cut off when I glanced at the screen and saw Emma’s name on the notification. What the hell?
Chuckling, I picked up the laptop and slid it back to my legs. I clicked on the email, kind of hoping this was something naughty. My dick roused at the thought. Now that might actually be able to distract me.
She and I had kept things strictly platonic for years, but after that night when she’d told me she was in love with me, we’d ventured into murkier territory from time to time. More and more often as our relationship had grown stronger in the months leading up to her being sent to Chicago.
It had been a damn long time since we’d done anything like that, though. My heart rate was already kicking up, but as the message appeared, I suddenly had a feeling this wasn’t that.
Emma: CB, we need to talk.
Still hopeful she might be going somewhere fun with this but happy to just have her back on the other side of the phone, I arched an eyebrow and quickly typed out a response.
CB: We do? What’s up?
Emma: I’m sorry, but… I’m seeing someone else. He’s the love of my life. I met him and I just knew I couldn’t let him go.
CB: Oh, really?
Emma: Yeah. He’s really into baseball, though. That’s his only flaw.
CB: How is that a flaw?
Emma: He’s a CUBS fan!
She put a little throwing-up emoji after the words and I laughed, shaking my head. Even from several states away, it seemed Kate hadn’t lost her ability to find a way to harass me. I was still trying to figure out how to respond to that when another message from her popped up.
Emma: Also, I’m having his baby.
I jerked to attention, so startled that I nearly fell off the bed, but then I relaxed. Of course. She’s joking. Stringing me along just to get a rise out of me.
CB: Okay. How do I get rid of this guy so we can be together? I’ll be a good stepdad, I swear.
A grin curved on my lips, but then the bedroom door burst open and the woman in question stepped inside. I blinked hard, staring at her silhouette for a second as my mind raced to catch up to what my eyes were seeing.
“Kate?”
“Hi, love,” she said softly, but for some reason, she also sounded nervous. “Surprised?”
“You’re not supposed to be back until tomorrow.” For a long minute, I just stared at her, wondering if she was a mirage, but then my chest filled with a weirdly bubbling kind of joy and immediately I set the laptop aside. “Come here, baby. God, I missed you.”
I pulled back the covers and climbed out of bed, going over to her in just a few long strides. I couldn’t wait to touch her again. To have her here with me. In this room that had felt so wrong and empty without her in it.
As I reached her, however, I stopped short of pulling her into my arms, picking her up, and carrying her straight to our bed as I’d been intending. Now that I was close enough to see it, the look on her face wasn’t something I’d ever seen before.
“Kate?” I asked carefully, my heart suddenly hammering against my ribs. “What’s going on?”
“Was that a stupid way to tell you? I thought it would be cute,” she said, but she was all choked up and I frowned.
It took me a second to realize what she was saying. My brain glitched and I lost control of my eyelids, but then warmth spread through me, starting in my chest and rapidly shooting out from there. “Wait. Are you really pregnant?”
She nodded tearfully, disbelief creeping across her features as she held my gaze. “Is that okay?”
I scooped her into my arms with a whoop of joy. The next thing I knew, my mouth was descending to hers. I kissed her hard, holding her tight as my thoughts spun out and rearranged themselves into an order that felt impossible.
Kate was back early and she was pregnant. With my baby. She and I were starting a family together.
Finally, that was what made me realize I hadn’t answered her question yet. A laugh shot out of me as I lifted her clean off her feet, spinning her in a slow, slightly incredulous circle. “Are you kidding me? It’s not just okay. I’m thrilled, Katie. This is…”
I trailed off, unable to find the right words to say, so I just laughed and kissed her again, hoping my lips could convey the feelings my words couldn’t.
All my life, I’d been waiting for my happily ever after. To build the life I’d always dreamed of with the woman I loved by my side, raising our kids together and giving them all the love and joy that we had to offer, and right here, right now, I finally—fucking finally—had it all.
And it was all because of Jane Austen, a Discord, and a seriously messed-up family tradition that involved arranged marriages and no choice. In the end, it hadn’t really been so messed up at all, though.
Not for me, or Alex, or Charlotte. It kind of made me wonder what my brothers were in for, but for now, I carried my wife to our bed and laid her down, kissing her as I tried to come to terms with the fact that our life together was going to be everything I’d ever wanted—and so, so much more.