“Renew the vows?”
It seemed a bit soon for that, but I also knew Nash and I needed a redo. Maybe in a year, when we were sure this wasn’t going to fall apart. We’d skipped all the usual parts of dating, and moving in together, and…I don’t know, adopting a pet.
But I had never felt like I was built for anything usual, and I didn’t think Nash was either.
“For what it’s worth,” Creek said softly, reaching for my hand. My fingers were starting to calm, but they still shook a bit against his palm. “I think you two are going to make it.”
I squeezed him back as best as I could, which wasn’t impressive, but I was learning not to care. It was my best, and that would have to be enough. “That’s worth everything.”
He smiled at me this time, a real, honest smile. It was soothing in ways I hadn’t realized I needed. It was a reminder that although my life had fallen into pieces I didn’t recognize, and I made some mistakes, I hadn’t lost one of the most important people to me.
“Alright, now, let me pick up where you left off.” He slapped his hands on his thighs and stood.
“You don’t need to?—”
“I know,” he said, looking me in the eye. “But right now, I can, and you can’t. So let me help.”
Maybe this was a genuine offer. Maybe it was a test to see how far I was willing to compromise. Maybe it was both. Or neither. What mattered was that I was willing to accept my current limits and not hate myself for them.
“I want to move Nash’s stuff down to my room.”
He eyed me. “To switch rooms?”
I took a breath, then shook my head. “To be together. Like we should have been this whole time.”
Creek nodded, then suddenly pulled his phone out of his pocket and smiled. “We can have that done in an hour.”
“We?” I pressed.
He laughed. “If you thought I was going to be here alone, you have a lot to learn about us.”
I flopped back on the couch with a groan, but in reality, I loved it. I loved this. It was the family Creek and I had always dreamed about growing up. The family I thought we’d never have. And it was a gift I would do my absolute fucking best to never, ever, ever take for granted.
I didn’t know what I thought would happen after Nash got home, but avoiding the conversation about how we were married and in love and had skipped a bunch of steps wasn’t supposed to be part of it.
I wasn’t going to push him to talk about it right away though. He looked relieved when Tameron walked him into the downstairs bedroom and he saw that his bed was back down there, and that all of our things had been carefully combined.
He was still loopy on pain meds, but when I tried to sneak off and let him rest, he clung to me, keeping me trapped against his chest as he dozed off. It was not the worst place to be.
But the pattern continued over the next couple of weeks. We didn’t really talk. We kissed, we cuddled, he held me like he was afraid I’d turn into mist and float away if he let go. He followed me from room to room like an imprinted duckling and fussed when the stress of the events took such a large toll on my body that I lost my ability to speak and had six seizures in the span of twenty-four hours.
Then two more weeks passed, and I felt better, and so did he.
He was on crutches with a leg brace to keep him mobile without putting too much pressure on his injured and healingbones. There was always someone at the house, though, cooking and tidying, and making sure we had what we needed.
For a while, I thought we would never get any real peace, but four weeks into Nash’s recovery, I noticed that the house was silent as I went into the kitchen to make tea. Like, properly silent.
I was feeling good, Nash had been off the bulk of his pain meds for the last few days, and things felt…
Nice.
Something close to normal.
“Forest?”
“Getting tea,” I called.
I finished squeezing the bag with the spoon, then threw it into the trash and carried the mug in both hands as I made my way into the living room. The rugs Nash originally bought in an effort to keep me from slipping had been thrown out after we realized they were tripping hazards, and the floors were being prepped for full carpet.
