Chapter One Hundred Forty-Seven
Xavier
I don’t know how long we stood there. Could’ve been thirty seconds. Could’ve been ten minutes. I honestly couldn’t tell you.
All I know is she’s in my arms. And this time…. Neither of us is pulling away.
My forehead rests against hers. Neither of us says anything. We don’t have to. For weeks it felt like every conversation ended with one of us hurting the other. Now the silence doesn’t hurt. It heals.
Ruby lets out a soft laugh. “Four minutes,” she says, smiling against my shoulder.
I groan. “You’re really going to keep bringing that up?”
“You made it here in four minutes.”
“You sounded like something was wrong.”
She smacks my back where her arms are looped around me. “I said hello.”
“You hesitated.”
She laughs again. It’s a sound that I’ll never get enough of, and I’m making it my mission to hear it multiple times a day. “So you planned to break every speed limit in Brookhaven?”
“I allegedly broke the speed limit.” I bite my bottom lip to keep from grinning as I pull her flush against me.
“You sped.”
I kiss her temple. “You’ll never prove it.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “We’re going to be terrible.”
“At what?”
“Parenting.”
My heart skips a beat. She doesn’t think we’ll be bad parents, does she? That I’ll let her down. I pull back, looking down at her. “Excuse me?”
“You’re going to panic every time the baby hiccups.”
Thank God. For a second, I thought she was serious. “That’s called being attentive.”
“You’re going to buy three thermometers.”
“Four.” I rub my hand along her lower back. “It’s important to be prepared.” This time, I’m the one who laughs. “Because clearly, we aren’t very good at prevention, or we wouldn’t have had a failed condom moment.”
She laughs harder. “See? I’m having a baby with a lunatic.”
“Our baby.” I place my hand over her belly. It’s still surreal. With my track record, I never expected this moment to happen, but I’m beyond blessed that it did.
Ruby stills. Not because she doesn’t like hearing it. Because she does; I feel it. She smiles. “Our baby.”
Neither of us says anything for another moment. Her stomach remains flat. You’d never know. Except everything is different now. I lower myself to my knees in front of her.
“What’re you doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not a reassuring answer.”
“I’ve never done this before.” I rest my palm against her stomach.
Ruby covers my hand with hers. Warm. Steady. “It’s early. I don’t think our baby can hear you yet.”
“I know.” I swallow. “I just... God. How do you explain something you barely understand yourself? “I wanted to say hi.”
A tear slips down her cheek. “For a guy who doesn’t believe in relationships, you’re surprisingly good at it.”
I look up at her from my kneeling position. “I can’t promise that I won’t screw things up, but I can promise that I’ll always try. I’ll give everything I have to make you and our baby happy.”
Another tear streaks down her cheek. “Our baby's going to hear some terrible jokes.”
“Oh, absolutely.” After I rub my hand over her stomach, I kiss where my hand rested and rise to stand in front of her again. “I’m going to teach them sarcasm.”
“They’ll get that naturally.”
“They’re getting your stubbornness.”
Her nose wrinkles as she swats my chest. “I’m not stubborn, but they’re definitely getting your stubbornness.”
“Impossible.”
She arches an eyebrow.
I grin. “Okay.... Maybe a little.”
She slides her fingers between mine. “I’m glad it’s you. You’ll be an amazing father.”
The words hit me harder than anything else today. More than I love you. More than I trust you. Because they’re about the future. Not the past. Our future.
I lift our joined hands and kiss her knuckles. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you’re still glad.”
“I know.”