Page 261 of This Woman Forever

I’ve never really known her as a woman, only a little girl. And that’s really fucking tragic. I can tell she’s going to bust my balls often.

Fucking hell, what have I let myself in for?

Mum and Dad ease away gently, and Dad lowers to the chair next to my bed, close, both of his hands taking one of mine. Mum perches on the bed. Amalie comes round the side and punches me in my bicep, grinning.

I look between them, wondering where the fuck we start. “So the wedding,” Amalie, chirps, sitting too. “Now Dad’s getting better, and Jesse’s pulled his head out his arse, I was thinking the next few months.”

“Wonderful,” Mum says, starting to faff with my sheets, flattening them.

“Wonderful,” Dad murmurs, not taking his eyes off me. It’s as if he can’t believe he’s touching me. Looking at me.

“All right?” I ask softly.

“I’m perfect, son,” he whispers, his lip quivering again. “Perfect.”

Perfect.

I didn’t think the word truly existed until I met Ava. Not that she’s perfect, she’s far from it. I laugh on the inside. Really far from it. But us together?

It’s pretty fucking close.

And despite everything that’s happened, the only reason my mum and dad are sitting here now is because of her.

Because she made me brave.

She brought me to life.

She made a man worthy of love.

She made this man.

50

It’s the next day. If anyone tries to stop me getting out of this bed, they’ll be faced with force. I’m getting bedsores. My arse is dead. I want to go home.

“Your blood pressure is a little on the low side,” Nurse says, making a note of it.

I can feel Ava’s high brows aimed at me. “Makes a change,” she muses. “It’s usually high enough to blow his head off his shoulders.”

Casting an unimpressed look her way, I snarl quietly. Her lips twitch.

“A bit hotheaded, are you, Jesse?” Nurse chuckles, and Ava laughs.

Yes. Hilarious. “I’m going for a walk,” I grumble, pushing my fist into the mattress to get up.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Nurse warns, coming to the bed. Like she could stop me. “Mr. Emerson would like to see you first.”

I slump back down, exasperated, slamming my head on the pillow. Ava’s face appears, those eyebrows looking annoyingly high still. She’s finally showered. Finally eaten a stable meal. I made sure of it. After I apologized for being short with her. She looks so much better. I smile, reaching for her face and stroking her smooth, makeup-free cheek. “How’s my wife and babies this morning?”

“Perfect,” she muses, dropping a pacifying kiss on my lips. Good. I need it. “Here.” She produces a ChapStick and smothers my lips, puckering her own as she does. “Better. I got you something.”

“What?” I ask as she produces a jar on Sun-Pat. “Oh, thank God.” I don’t know what the shit was she brought yesterday, but it tasted like sand. “Load up, baby.”

She laughs, dunking her finger, and bringing it to my lips. I don’t take it. “What’s up?” she asks.

I nod to her chest, and she snorts. “I told you,” I say. “I won’t eat it any other way.”

She rolls her eyes and pulls away, forcing me to reach and grab her wrist on a chuckle, taking the blob off her finger. I hum and settle, as Nurse grimaces and Mr. Emerson strolls in, smiling.

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