I nodded, chuckling at her. “I did. I bought a crib.” I ran my hands through her hair. “I wanted to surprise you overdinner. And tell you just how much I want you in my life, Nora. I can’t imagine life without you. I don’t want to.”
I saw tears form in her eyes. “You do?”
I nodded. “I do. I was hoping to do all of this over a nice meal, not in a hospital, but I’m not letting you slip away.” I reached into my pocket, pulling out the ring. I didn’t even have a box because I was planning on slipping it into her dessert. “Nora, I love you. I don’t want anyone but you. Will you marry me? Live in the same house as me? Be my wife and the mother of our child?”
Nora started to cry, nodding her head. “Yes.”
I slid the ring onto her finger, her hands shaking. “I thought about you. I just knew you wouldn’t let him get away. You would have stopped him, so he couldn’t get to me, and I wanted to do the same.”
I cupped her face. “You killed him. He’s gone.”
She nodded her head, her eyes filled with relief. “I was scared. But I knew I had to do something. If he got through me, he would come after everyone else. He could have come for you. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
I tightened my hands around hers.
“The fire was an accident. I aimed for him, but he fell over. I was trying to unlock the dog’s kennels, but I felt so weak. I was awake one moment, and then suddenly everything was black the next.”
I leaned forward, pressing her forehead against mine. “You’re safe. You protected all of us.”
“What happened to the animals?”
“We got them all out. They are all alive. Brandon and Mike got them safe somewhere.”
She started crying with relief, and I held her close. She shook against me, and I patted her hair. I held her close, knowing I would do anything to keep her safe.
“I love you,” I whisper. “More than you even know.”
“I love you too,” she whispered back.
Epilogue - Nora
“Attach the left bracket to the left part of the bottom of part H,” I said, handing Kaleb the bracket.
Kaleb sat next to me, staring at the pieces. “I don’t see part H.”
I looked at the instructions and then back at him. “Why didn’t you just buy the display rocking chair?”
“Because it was an extra fifty dollars. We can put this together.”
I scowled. “We’ve been working on this for forty minutes, as so far the only part we got together was the back of it.”
“Let me see those,” he said, reaching for the instructions. I handed them to him, taking a look around the nursery. I couldn’t help but smile, growing excited. We had the crib in the corner with a mobile hanging above it. We went with the theme of Starry Night. We had stars painted on the ceiling, and the room was dripping with hues of blue and gold. We had a little rocket ship painted on the wall above the crib. A star-shaped rug on the hardwood floor and toys all over.
The rocking chair was the last piece of furniture we needed to put together, a purchase I explained I wanted for late nights when the baby wouldn’t fall asleep.
“I’m going to get this,” he mumbled as he scanned the instructions again.
“While you do that, I need to pee again,” I tried to get up, fumbling as I couldn’t roll over. Kaleb noticed and pulled himself up, giving me a hand to get off the ground.
“You know what I miss, the days I didn’t grunt having to get up.”
Kaleb laughed as he kissed my forehead. “I don’t. I like helping you.”
I chuckled as I made my way out of the room toward the bathroom. I paused as I glanced at myself in the mirror. My belly stuck out; the shirt I was wearing was a size too small on me now. I was six months along, feeling like a hippo.
But my hair looked amazing, and my skin looked clear. I had that pregnancy glow that everyone talked about.
I moved to go to the toilet. I sighed as I sat down. I looked down, hardly able to see my feet, but I could see my toes. “Kaleb, my toes look like sausages.”
