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“There’s somewhere I need to go.”

She scowls at me in confusion for a second before a full, beaming smile stretches across her face. She claps her hands and tries to bounce but her belly is getting a little too big for that.

“Woman,” Nix yells, coming back into the room, “no bouncing.”

He wraps his arms around her and kisses her cheek. She scoffs, brushing off his concern as she fights back a smile. “Whatever. They are just fine,” she proclaims, patting her belly.

“So, can we go now?” I ask, really anxious to get out of here. Emma’s face lights up again, and she nods.

“Oh, yeah. We gotta go.”

“What’s the rush?” Nix asks as he offers his arm to me. I feel a whole lot better than I did a week ago but I’m still really sore, and my whole body aches when I walk. Emma practically skips down the hallway with Nix telling her to slow down as we hobble along behind her.

When we finally step out of the front doors, Tucker and Daisy are waiting outside with Daisy and Emma’s cars. The girls kiss their guys good-bye and help me get into the backseat of Emma’s car before we pull out of the parking lot.

“So, why did we split up?” Daisy asks once we’re driving, and even from the backseat, I see Emma’s grin.

“We gotta go to the bar.”

“Uh, why?”

Emma peeks back at me, and I smile at her as butterflies flap around in my stomach. “Because Addy’s gonna go get her man.”

“Who…” Daisy begins but then her voice trails off, and she meets my eyes in the rearview mirror, smiling just as wide as Emma. “Oh.”

As we get closer to the bar, my nerves start to kick in, and I just hope that I can force the words out this time. No, I will force the words out this time. I’m taking the leap, and I’ll tell him everything. I just hope after he knows that he’ll want to jump with me.

After a few minutes, we pull into the parking lot and Daisy helps me out of the car. We walk in and a few people turn to look at us but it isn’t long before a hush falls over the crowd as the girls help me walk toward the bar. I’m sure we’re quite a sight. My body is still covered in angry looking bruises, and I can only imagine what they’re thinking.

We get a few feet from the bar and I scan the length of it, not seeing Trey anywhere. “He’s working today, right?” I whisper to Emma, and she nods.

“I think so.”

Just as she whispers the words, Trey walks out of the back, looking down at a piece of paper in his hand. I take a moment to just drink him in and even though he looks like he’s spent the last week in hell, my heart pounds at the sight of him. The girls release me and take a step back. It’s eerily quiet in the bar now, everyone watching intently but Trey still hasn’t looked up.

“Trey,” I call, and his head whips up. He just stares at me for a moment, his eyes intense as they look me up and down and then he smiles. It’s not a regular smile. In fact, it might be the brightest, most mesmerizing smile I’ve ever seen in my life. He tosses the paper in his hand down on the bar and leaps over it with ease, closing the distance between us quickly. He wraps his arms around me gently, but it still hurts a little and I suck in a breath. Frowning, he tries to pull away but I shake my head.

“No. Don’t let me go.”

He shakes his head. “Never.”

“I love you, Trey Andrew Harrington, and I always will,” I whisper. His smile is triumphant as he cradles my face in one hand and leans in, kissing me as the bar bursts into applause all around us.

* * * *

“You ready to go, baby?” Trey asks. I look up at him from the couch and smile before setting my mom’s letters down and standing. He pulls me into his arms and kisses my neck gently. “You feelin’ okay?”

I sigh. “Trey, you took a whole ten days off work to nurse me back to health for some bruises. I promise you that I’m fine.”

“Ad, you heard what the doctor said. Those bone bruises can take months to heal and don’t think I didn’t see you wincing earlier.”

I make a sympathetic face and pat his cheek. “Oh, you poor man. Is your eyesight going already?”

He tries to frown at me as he fights back a smirk but gives up after a couple seconds and just shakes his head. “You’re lucky that you’re still sore or I’d make you pay for that.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” I tease. “You love me too much to be mean to me.”

He flashes a smile before leaning down and claiming my lips in a kiss so full of his love that it steals my breath, pulling away too soon. “You’re right. I do love you too much to be mean to you but I could think of some ways to torture you that I would enjoy a whole lot.”