Grace is coming around. Finally. The uncertainty about their future seems to be waning. He’s moving past the crushing disappointment of her refusal. But he’s not giving up.
Once they are in a better place, and Grace is well into her second or third trimester, he will try again. Maybe he will get the boys to help set the stage for another proposal. One way or another, he is spending his life with this woman, with these boys. He thinks about the baby and smiles. They’ve decided not to find out the sex. Though he loves Mason and Luca, he is praying for a little girl. He has always wanted a daughter.
He’s going to Grace’s next doctor’s appointment—his first, her third—and cannot wait to see the image on the screen. To hear the heartbeat. To see the shape of the baby. It will all start to feel real.
Despite all of the challenges they’ve had to endure, he is thankful. It’s what has made them stronger. It’s what will make them indestructible.
He pulls up to Grace’s a little early and stalls in the driveway. He doesn’t want to disrupt her morning routine, but he thought it would be nice to make her a pot of decaf and some breakfast. He grabs the grocery bag full of fresh whole bean coffee and bagels and finds her key on his ring.
He’s finally started therapy—something he’s always resisted—to move past the trauma of Wyatt’s suicide. Wyatt was his own person, who made his own decisions. Losing him was the biggest tragedy of Noah’s life, but it was not his fault. He knows that now.
He has his own life and his own well-being to worry about. He’s talked about the party, going over it in such detail, his therapist is now as familiar with that night as he is.
He still can’t work out the mystery of Lee and Shirley, and how all of that fits together, but he can’t worry about things out of his control. He has to stay in his lane. Grace has custody of Mason, and that’s what matters. He can’t imagine Mason having a more wonderful mother than her.
He unlocks the door and finds her busy slathering toast for both boys in the kitchen.
“Hi.” Her eyes are bright, and she wears that pregnant glow everyone talks about, even though she isn’t showing yet.
He lifts the bag. “I was going to make you coffee and breakfast, but I see you beat me to it.”
She waves her knife in the air. “Busy day, but that’s a sweet thought. Thank you.” She spreads some butter on the toast. “Are you still okay to pick up Luca from school?”
“Of course.”
She checks her watch and licks the knife. “I might need you to feed them too. I have a meeting that might run a bit long.”
“I’ve got it handled.” He sets the bag on the counter and shoves his hands in his jeans to keep from hugging her.
“Great.” She lowers the knife, washes her hands, and takes a few steps toward him. She hesitates and then finally speaks. “I just want you to know I’m really trying. With us, I mean. That’s the best I can do for now, okay? I just need a bit more time.”
He nods as utter relief floods his adrenals. She’s skirted around saying as much but hasn’t directly told him anything concrete. That she wants him as much as he wants her. He resists the urge to pull her against his chest. “That’s more than enough.” He kisses her cheek. His lips linger. The smell of her hair is intoxicating. His entire body springs to life, but he maintains his space. He will not push her. He will let her come to him.
“I’ll see you later then?” She moves back and smiles up at him. A smile he wants to look at for the rest of his life.
“We’ll be here,” he says.
She nods and calls to Luca, then disappears down the hall to go about her day. He finds Mason reading a book.
“Hey, buddy.”
“Hey, yourself. Guess what I’m reading?” Mason cranes the textbook toward Noah.
He gets lost in Mason’s curiosity and scribbles something else in the lesson plan for today. Grace and Luca wave as they leave, and when she goes, his heart goes with her.
She belongs to him—he feels it.
He cannot wait to see her tonight.