I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’m keepin’ him.”
“Savannah sent me the pictures she took at that fancy ball. You looked so handsome, both of you.”
I tapped my head to hers and sighed. “I was glad you could be there, even if we didn’t talk. Luke was so dashin’ and swept me off my feet, so I swept him off his.”
She slapped my shoulder. “I don’t need all the details, only the one that says you’re happy.”
“I am, Momma.” I nodded at Luke. “I’m gonna marry him.”
She laughed. “Tell me why.”
“Can anyone say why? He makes me happy. He lets me be happy. He doesn’t judge, and he’s thoughtful. He makes my heart race, and when I can feel his racin’ too, we do something about it.”
“Wooo, Lord a’mercy. Those are good reasons. Are you both goin’ the same place? Do you want to get there together?”
“I think so?” I laughed. “He’s driven, Momma. You should’ve seen how strong he was in front of his parents. They took from him, like the monsters they are, and he was all Braveheart about it. ‘You won’t take my freedom.’” I tried for the right impression, then laughed. “He has plans and dreams, and he’ll make them come true.”
“Will he help you with your dreams?” Momma asked.
I nodded. “No doubt in my mind, he will.”
She hugged me then and sniffled. “I dunno how I did such a good job, but I’m so proud of the man you’ve become.”
Those words caught me in the feels. I teared up and smiled. “Love you, Momma.” I kissed her cheek, then joined Luke and Elias on the floor with the LEGOs.
We stayed up late, and I made plans to sell Stacia my car for dirt cheap. Momma and Ben wouldn’t let me give it to her. I understood why, but felt like a hypocrite since I’d been given a brand-new Bronco.
“If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll make you work for it,” Luke said with a wink.
Our visit was too short, but we were able to spend a day with Jamie and Michael before we left. Then we returned home. His home, but ours, really.
The last of my spring break was spent twisted in the sheets, kissing long into the night, as if sleep could wait until vacation was over. And end it did. The home life we’d created before the break resumed, neither of us asking so many questions of each other; we just knew this was a done deal.
One night in late April, I was a few days from the end of the semester and nervous cooking. Momma called it that. She’d said when her hands were busy, her mind followed, and I needed a break from final exams. I’d cooked for an army. With five younger siblings and two busy parents, I didn’t know how tonotmake big meals.
“Do you want kids?” Luke asked.
I sat down the wooden spoon I’d been slowly stirring the marinara with and faced him.
“Um,” was all I could think to say. Did I? Yes, but for some reason, I’d thought maybe he didn’t. His home had been so different from my own. Cold, unfeeling, more prison-like thanany house should be. What if he never wanted to have kids, thinking he’d be a bad parent because he’d never had great examples to learn from?
“Tell me truly,” he said.
“Yeah.” I nodded and dropped my chin. “I want them.” And I did. I didn’t know any other way and didn’t want to learn. Family meant love and laughter to me. And like Momma said, I had plenty in me to give.
His feet shuffled into view, and then his fingertips lifted my head, eyes darting between mine. “Why did that sound so sad?”
Luke loved dancing. He’d never known that about himself since he’d never given over to his desires until me. Since our debut at the Sweetheart Rose Ball, he grabbed me and swayed to the tune inside his head practically daily. I loved it. I loved the reminder of that night, but I also loved to feel his body against mine, moving in any direction.
He did that now.
I circled his neck, and he kept his hands kneading into my lower back as he danced me across the kitchen floor. No matter what I’d been feeling, these moments made me smile.
“I don’t want you to think it’s a deal breaker. I want kids, but if you don’t …” I trailed off. The things we disagreed on were few and far between. Momma had always said if the sex was good and the money was good, everything else would work itself out. How true that was? We never had any major issues, but sometimes we made big deals out of nothing as foreplay for some epic makeup sex.
This topic wasn’t like those, though. This wasn’t about the proper way to fold a bathroom towel so it fit better on the shelf or which way the toilet paper should hang. This might actually be a true big deal.
“I want kids, Asher,” Luke whispered on my lips. “I thought maybe you didn’t, being from a big family.”
