“I’m a mistake, though. And he’s a complication.” Her hand fluttered to her stomach in a move that made Eli melt.
That she thought she was a mistake and their kid was a complication? That was on him. The fact that she believed such a lie? He’d spend the rest of his life proving it wasn’t true.
“That may be how we started. That may be how he came to us. But I refuse to let that define who we are as a family. I refuse to let that define him. That’s not our story.” He glanced at Sadie, pretty sure she was going to tell him to shut up.
“Go on,” she mouthed and nodded toward Marlee.
“That’s not our great love story, Mar.” He braved on. “Our great love story is you bringing coffee to these guys every Monday morning while I watch our baby. It’s me opening up to you when I screw shit up. Especially when I screw shit up. It’s both of us sticking around, no matter how hard it gets.”
“What happens if the spark fizzles?” Marlee asked. The question she’d clearly been thinking about.
Their spark burned so bright he knew it’d never fizzle. But if it did?
“Then we’ll relight it. And if it goes out again? We’ll relight it again. As many times as we have to.” Eli reached for her hand. He squeezed it. “When you find something like what we have, you don’t let it burn out. You do everything in your power to make sure it shines bright.”
“Which is the post-nup and the one that says I get half of his stuff?” Marlee asked, still holding his hand, her question directed toward Sadie.
Sadie slid the documents in question across the metal table to Marlee’s outstretched fingers.
Marlee dropped Eli’s hand, took the papers, arranged them so they were carefully stacked, and then ripped them in half.
He stilled. “Marlee.”
This was literally all he had to offer her.
“New terms.” Marlee dropped the ripped pages on the table so they fluttered here and there.
“We’re listening,” Sadie replied for him. Which was good, seeing as how he couldn’t find any words right about then.
“You promise we’ll be together for always.” Marlee took his hand again. “And we stop the divorce. And we face each day as it comes to us, but we face it together.”
“Marlee Medford?” He relaxed for the first time in days. “I accept your terms.”
Her eyes were watery. Fuck, his eyes were watery. He didn’t check Sadie’s, but he could guess hers were, too. Even his badass kid sister had a soft heart when push came to shove.
“Are we done here?” he asked, standing.
“All done.” Sadie collected the ripped papers into a pile. “I’ll handle the changes to the divorce.”
He kicked his chair back with the ball of his foot. Then he went to Marlee, held her hand like she was made of porcelain, and helped her stand.
“Sadie?” he asked.
“That’s me,” Sadie chirped.
“Go away,” he said.
Then he tilted Marlee’s face to his. “We good?”
Her lips parted.
“Yes,” she said on a breath.
“And you’ll marry me?”
“We already are, silly.” Her eyes misted further.
His gut clenched. “Feels like I should ask the question. We’ll go pick you a ring, if you want one.”
