“Yes,” I said. “Go do what you need to. Call me when you need it. I’m going to see my loved ones.”
Hannah
Two Days Later
“It’s time for Mom and baby to go home!”
The nurse smiled and handed me Charles, who fit just so snugly and so perfectly in my arms. Garrett had taken my keys, gotten my car, and driven it to the front of the hospital. He had made a joke about giving Little Chuckie his first motorcycle ride, but that was never going to happen.
Nevertheless, as I got into the car—imploring Garrett multiple times that he could not speed out of the lot, no matter how badly he wanted to—I knew that I could trust Garrett to keep us safe. If he had to drive ten miles under the speed limit; if he had to weave through traffic; if he just had to remain poised, I could count on it.
Though neither of us had said it in the hospital, I knew how we both felt. We acted on it accordingly; I told him to move in with me, and he told me that he was going to start building furniture for Charles back at the house. We just hadn’t said it out loud, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel it.
The drive back to the house, actually, was pretty peaceful and quiet. It was relatively late at night, shortly after nine, and much of Santa Maria had gone to bed. Though they did not ride with us, the rest of the Black Reapers had made sure that the road home would be clear. Mason, even, had discharged himself and made sure there would be nothing waiting for us as we left the hospital. We waved to him as we exited the lot, and he did something I had seldom seen him do.
He smiled.
There was a hint of sadness to it; I think he understood he wouldn’t be as involved in my life as before, just because I’d have to focus more on Charles and because Garrett was now the man who would help watch over me the most. But there was also a lot of joy to the smile.
I could only hope Mason would use that joy for good to help him improve his own life.
“Can you believe it?” Garrett said, his tone providing the answer before I could give it. “You and me. Mom and Dad of the year. That’s worth taking shots…of water to celebrate with me!”
I laughed as much as I could, pleasantly exhausted by everything. It was funny how being a Mom had made me only want for a few small things. Right now, at the top of the list was the chance to cuddle with Garrett and Charles in my bed.
“No champagne?”
“Definitely not liquor, but champagne, perhaps, when the time comes,” he said. “But Daddy Garrett has to be a sober father to be good at his job. He can’t be getting blitzed anymore.”
Garrett, you are something else.
We pulled up to my apartment complex, and I noticed the last of the Black Reapers—it looked like Brock from afar—standing at the gate, giving a short nod to Garrett as we entered. When he parked the car and turned it off, there was just something so…so surreal about it.
I’d last been here pregnant, yes, but still relatively single and definitely still childless. Now, I was somewhat taken and a mom.
Which reminded me, Garrett had said many sweet things at the hospital, but we hadn’t really established what we were, if anything.
“Ready to go inside, Mom?” Garrett said.
“I suppose,” I said. “I might fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed.”
“Oh, don’t go that quick!” he said. “I wouldn’t fall asleep at eight p.m. on any night.”
“You know the baby’s going to make us stay up all night.”
“And?”
I could only chuckle at Garrett’s good-natured humor. I got out of the car, held Charles to my body, and came to my apartment. Garret opened the door and led me inside to my bedroom. I had a strange feeling that someone had been here before—it looked a little cleaner than I could recall—but it didn’t look damaged. Nothing, as best as I could tell, had been stolen or taken away. If anyone had broken in, it was a burglar of kindness.
“You want to put him to bed?” Garrett said. “I think I do actually have champagne. And…shots?”
“Of course you do,” I said. “But sure.”
“OK, I’ll see you in a second,” he said, planting a kiss on my lips.
Even though he’d said he would be by my side the whole time, the kiss went a long way to making me feel more awake and yet also more relaxed. I walked into my room and saw a crib there.
A crib.
