We stood there in the gallery for a long time, just holding onto each other.
“Are we really doing this?” Brady whispered.
“Yeah. This time we’re doing this properly,” I answered in a low tone. “Brady, will you be my boyfriend? Completely exclusive, just me and you?”
Brady pulled away slightly and nodded. “Yes. Just us. I think we needed the time apart to start fresh.”
I untangled from him and threaded our fingers together. “Now, shall we continue to explore? This is technically our first date after all,” I teased with a wink.
His grin was wide, effortless, as he squeezed my hand. “I’d like that. Is there anywhere we can eat nearby? I barely touched breakfast. I felt so queasy.”
“There’s a cafe in the conservatory at the end of this hall, if I remember correctly. Why don’t we go there first?”
The walk to the cafe was done at a leisurely pace. Honestly, my mind was still reeling. I had done it! After weeks of being apart, I had won Brady over. No, I had won a fresh start with the man I loved.
We ordered at the counter and took a seat in a corner where we could have some privacy. I watched Brady sip his drink while we waited for our food, content to be with him with no need to speak.
“Are you happy? You said at my birthday dinner that this was going to happen. I wish I’d had your faith.” Brady’s fingers picked at the label of his bottle.
“Never been happier, though I must admit there were times I worried this wouldn’t happen.”
“If it hadn’t?”
“I would have stepped away. Taken some time.” I shrugged. “Not sure. As long as you were happy, then that’s all that would’ve mattered to me.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?” He shook his head. “No, I know you do.” He glanced at me before returning his gaze to his bottle. “There are still things we need to work out.”
“Like Gio.” My ex haunted our relationship. It was time to exorcise that ghost for good. Brady looked at me with pain in his eyes. “I spoke to him. Went to his place the night after you told me what he’s been saying to you. I’ve never been so angry with someone like I was with him. He’s wrong, y’know? Even if we never have children, it doesn’t make you worthless—”
“Xavi—”
“No, sweetheart. Your worth comes from your heart, from how well you love the people in your life, not from having babies. Yes, I love kids, but we can be a family of two. Just you and me. That’s all I need to be the happiest man alive.” I reached for his hand, relieved when he took it. “We’ve got kids in our lives if it doesn’thappen for us. We’ve got an honorary niece with Sora, and you have Leo.”
“The twins are gonna be dads.” We were circling back to that later. My focus had to be on soothing Brady’s worries.
“See, all the little ones for us to love. They don’t have to come from us for us to love them.”
Brady gave a chuckle. “Pretty sure I’ve had this talk before. Mom was furious when I told him I thought I couldn’t have kids.” His headshake and the tiny smile were fond. “He gave me this lecture about fertility and how there are easier ways to boost our chances—”
“Is that what you want?” I interrupted. “You said before you didn’t want to go through all the things Malik did.”
“Yeah, I want to see if it’s as simple as Mom says it can be. He said that Malik might have had health problems, which made it harder.”
Thinking back to all Malik had endured to get and stay pregnant reminded me of how little Brady knew about my friend. He’d come to a conclusion without all the information. “Yeah, he’s got an autoimmune disorder he gets regular treatment for. Can’t say too much since that’s his business and all.”
“Okay. So, I know it’s a huge jump ahead when we’ve literally only started dating today, but should we talk to a doctor before my heat?”
“I’d love to, unless it puts pressure on you. I don’t want that.”
We stopped talking when the server approached with our food. Like Brady, I’d been too nervous to eat. His message the night before had been so ominous that I’d slept fitfully, terrified that he was ending things between us for good.
Now we had worked this out, I was pretty sure I was giddy from how happy he’d made me.
“There’s no pressure,” Brady said, spearing food with his fork. “It’s more like I want to check out our options. See how easy or hard the road might be for us.”
“Then I’ll text Malik and ask him about his doctor, if you don’t mind, that is?”
“Yeah, you should. I owe Jae and my parents a long phone call, but right now I want to enjoy this moment with you.”
