Air flows into my lungs, clean and fresh.
Then the room comes into focus.
The papers on the desk in Duncan’s office—ouroffice now—are no longer smudged. Black ink is clear. Details of the sale are familiar. They’re the ones we’ve been negotiating for weeks now.
All I have to do is sign or initial each page marked with a yellow tab.
Just a few signatures, and the dog shelter I’ve been dreaming of for years will finally be underway.
I really should get on with it, but my God, my heart is about to explode.
Happiness, warmth, and excitement swirl inside me, and I can’t help it. Instead of signing, I look at him.
My soulmate is waiting there, sitting in a blue suit, with a broad smile on his face.
But Duncan isn’t just handsome. He’s glowing.
Has been for a while now. Ever since that positive first pregnancy test five years ago.
Turns out, my instincts were right. I’d been pregnant when my brother kidnapped me, carrying Dylan in my womb.
Before he was born, though, we had a scare. Not with the baby.
With Jayden’s and Victor’s families.
They started search parties, hired detectives and PIs, kept at it for months. Of course they did. Two grown, influential men don’t just disappear without raising questions.
Questions that went unanswered. My brother had been careful. Too careful.
When he kidnapped me, he made sure to change cars. Used a burner. Took me to a warehouse that had apparently been ours—and hidden from me—for years.
The last nail in their proverbial coffin was that his friends had left their phones at home. It was something we only realized when none were found in the warehouse. The news confirmed it later.
Barclay must’ve instructed them to do that too.
A parting gift to his sister and her chosen one, I suppose.
Anyway. No one’s figured out what happened to them, let alone pinned it on us.
Other than that, everything’s been smooth sailing.
A day after we went to the OB-GYN’s clinic to confirm my pregnancy, Duncan transferred his joyous energy into a mission.
He made a few calls, and within hours, we were married.
Less than nine months later, we had a new, smaller, cozier home on top of the same hill. We tore down the old house, trading the three floors for one that spans our property, and added a six-bedroom guest house for Mary and Herbert to live comfortably next to us.
Once Dylan was born, we moved in.
And no, our little family didn’t staylittlefor long. My husband and I were both eager for more kids, which we’ve been having practically one after another.
I love being a mommy to my three precious kids.
I love that Duncan doesn’t take on as many commissions, too, being a doting father right next to me. Thanks to the smart investments he made over the years, we want for nothing.
Financially.
While I’ve been popping out babies, other dreams have started brewing inside of me.
