CHAPTER 52
Bailey
Palmer’s eyes go wide as if she’s seeing a ghost, then her face crumples, and her knees give out.
I lurch forward, my instinct to protect her, but Mom is there to catch her.
It’s as though her body had only been kept upright by the fear racing through her spine, and the relief coursing through her veins is an instant paralytic.
Her sobs are audible, and her shoulders shake.
Mom guides Palmer over to the side of my bed, and she collapses against my chest. I wrap my arms around her and bury my face into her hair, ignoring the aching in my bruised ribs.
The pain reminds me of where we are and why we’re here, but it pales in comparison to the feeling of her in my arms. I close my eyes, soaking in the peace flooding through my body.
I’m home.
“I’m… sorry,” she wails, her cries punctuating every word. “I’m so sorry.”
Mom rustles in something across the room then makes her way to my other side, sliding something small beneath my hip. “I’m going to give you guys some privacy,” she says, her voice low.
I nod in acknowledgement as my own tears stream down my cheeks. Palmer doesn’t notice her slipping from the room, and frankly, I probably wouldn’t have either had she not said anything.
The wound in my chest throbs, but I pull Palmer closer, making the mental notes to ask about it later. But right now? Right now, nothing else matters.
Because she’s here.
I murmur into her hair, “It’s okay, baby. I’m right here.”
The words make her cry even harder, and she shakes her head. She lifts her head to stare into my eyes. Her face is red and swollen, slicked by her tears, and the whites of her icy gray eyes are bloodshot.
She’s never looked more beautiful.
“I love you, too.” Palmer hiccups, her words all running together. “I love you so fucking much, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I’m so sorry.” She ends on a sob, hanging her head.
I place my hands on either side of her face and bring her face to me. I kiss her cheeks softly, wiping her tears away as I do.
“You can’t leave me, Bailey,” she continues, the tears flowing freely. “I can’t live without you. I love you so much, and I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it.”
I kiss her lips gently, savoring the feel and taste of her.
Pulling back far enough to stare into her eyes, I tell her, “I wouldn’t dream of it.
If that’s what you want, you’re stuck with me.
” I take her hand in mine. “I’ve spent so long without you, and I don’t want to spend another day without you by my side.
I always thought that home was a place I was working to get to, but I was wrong.
Marry me, baby. Because I can’t live without you either. Where you are, there I’m home.”
Palmer’s jaw drops, her eyes shiny as she stares into mine. “Right now?”
I laugh. “Now. Tomorrow. In five years. I don’t care. Whatever you want, baby. Just be my wife. I would get down on one knee, but—” I gesture toward my legs. “I’m a little lacking in that department at the moment.”
She has the good sense to at least look horrified before giggling behind her hand.
“Palmer Jade.” I take her hand in mine then run my lips across the knuckles. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she interrupts, her voice sure, without a hint of doubt. “Yes. Yes. A million times, yes!” Palmer kisses me firmly.
I reach under my hip and pull out my dog tags and the set of nail clippers that my mom put there.
“I don’t have a ring,” I say. Measuring the chain around Palmer’s ring finger, I use the clippers to trim it then slide the end into the clasp.
It clips into place, and I slide the makeshift ring onto her hand.
“So, this will have to do for now. I promise you can pick out the ring you want when we get out of here.”
Palmer’s eyes are wide as she stares at the ring as if it’s the most precious gem in the world. “It’s perfect,” she whispers. She shifts her gaze back to me, and a blush rises in her cheeks, a shy smile on her face. “I have something for you, too.”
And when Mom comes back in the room five minutes later, we’re both crying and laughing for a very different reason, a positive pregnancy test on the sheets between us.