I reached across and caught her hand in mine as I brought it straight to her belly.
“My boys,” she said, looking down, so quietly it nearly broke me.She’d waited her whole life for this and by some miracle, I got to be the one who gave it to her.
Her boys. Me and him. She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like she finally had everything she’d ever wanted. God, I loved the sound of it.
“Your boys,” I repeated, leaning in to kiss her soft, smiling mouth, “are going to make sure you know how much we love you, every second of every day.”
She exhaled, resting her head against the head rest again.
“God. I can’t believe we made him.”
“Really?” I turned with a raised an eyebrow. “Kate, we fucked like we were trying to set a world record for two months straight. I’m surprised we didn’t make more.”
She burst out laughing, and I swear it might be my favourite sound in the world. Her head fell against my shoulder, giggling into my hoodie. Both of us dissolved into familiar laughter.
“I think it happened early on in Canada,” she said shyly.
I grinned. “I told you that black dress was dangerous.” I smiled.
“I think it had more to do with the fact that I was late with my birth control a few too many times,” she admitted with a laugh.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly make it easy for you to stay organised, did I? Plus, every time you walked into a room, I was on you like a madman. Not sorry about it, either.”
She nudged me, still smiling. “Clearly.”
I kissed her hair, letting the grin soften. “Best surprise we could have ever gotten.”
She stayed contently silent for a moment. Her head rested against me, both of us just holding onto the weight of it. Then she tilted up, teasing, her eyes glinting. “I thought you were going to cry in there, Taylor.”
“I bloody was,” I muttered, letting out a shaky breath. “I think I knew,” I said, warmly. “That he was going to be a boy.”
“Really?” she asked, her eyes shining. “You’d thought about that?”
“Are you kidding?” I asked, grinning now. “I’ve been picturing it since the minute you told me you were pregnant, maybe even beforethat. Him, you, me in the big-ass house I’m going to buy us. Him running around in tiny trainers, holding a tennis racket.”
That got a proper laugh out of her. “What if he wants to play rugby?”
“He can do that, too. He can do anything he wants.”
Her smile lingered softly. “What else have you thought about?”
I stilled for a second. Looked at her properly.
“You,” I said quietly. “How beautiful you’re going to look when you’re eight months pregnant. How I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off you.”
Her lips parted slightly, breath catching, but I wasn’t even trying to be cheeky. It was honest. But then my chest tightened, the next words catching on something rough and raw in my throat.
“But I’ve also thought about how I wasn’t there when you found out. That I wasn’t the one who went to buy the test. That I wasn’t the one holding your hand when youtookthe test. That I didn’t get to catch you when you were scared. And it still fucking kills me, Katie. That I gave you a reason to walk away.”
I wasn’t looking at her by the time I finished. I couldn’t. My jaw was locked and my throat was thick with guilt. She reached for my face, her fingertips gentle as she turned me back toward her.
“You’re here now,” she said. “You’re here when it matters. For all the important stuff.”
It was the first time we’d spoken about Cincinnati. That night. What we’d done to each other. What I’d started.
“We were both wrong,” she continued, her voice steady. “You shouldn’t have said it. And I shouldn’t have run. But something pulled us out of it, Jordan. Because we were meant to make it. I believe that.”
“Me too, Katie,” I said, and fuck, I did. More than anything.
