Page 130 of Roses and Skulls

He’s the first to pull away. He takes the sucker from my hand and pushes it into my mouth. “We’re not done yet.” Quickly, he pulls a key out of his pocket and opens the door. He holds it open for me. When I slide by him, he smacks me on the butt lightly. A familiar pull low in my belly makes me groan out loud.

Of course, he notices. He laughs. “Sounds like you’ve missed me,” he teases. Walking ahead of me, he spreads his arms wide. “Welcome to our casa.”

My eyes roam over the beautiful wood and warm colors. “You let Lily work her magic, didn’t you?”

“Yep. Wait till you see the bedroom,” he wags his eyebrows.

I walk around the open living room and kitchen, running my fingers over everything. A mixture of old meets new. Elijah watches me with a smile on his face. “You really know how to treat a girl,” I joke with a stupid grin on my face. One that I hope is reaching my eyes, because this is all too much.

There is a chance I have another man’s baby in my womb. How can he give me all this? My eyes flit up the stairs. I don’t deserve any of this. I ruined everything, all because I let my guard down.

“Come,” he says seriously. A frown on his face.

Shit, I’ve never been very good at hiding my feelings.

We walk into our bedroom, and it’s amazing. A long dresser sits at the end of the room, painted a rustic black with bright red roses covering it. It matches the headboard on the giant, king-sized bed in the center of the room. Elijah points to an attached bathroom and when I peek inside, it’s just as cool as the rest of the house.

Then he swings open a door that I believe is a closet but when I step inside, I see I’m wrong. It’s not a closet at all. It’s… it’s a nursery, painted in neutral colors. On the wall, across from the most beautiful crib I’ve ever seen, is a sunset. Painted with vibrant colors. Similar to the one I’ve looked at for nineteen years.

“Like I said, everyone pitched in,” he says, leaning against the doorjamb.

My fingers dance along the edge of the crib. How did they know?

“None of us knew that you were pregnant if that’s what you are thinking. This was all for the future. It’s just coming faster than I anticipated but I knew we would have a family one day.”

So, they didn’t know. He didn’t know.

But I think someone did. I stare at the mural painted on the wall, my chest filling with a warmth I’ve never felt before.

“But, what if one of us couldn’t have had children?” I ask quietly, turning to stare down at the pale, yellow blanket covering the small mattress.

“Then we would have adopted, Rosie. You carried a baby doll around for the first five years of your life. You were destined to be a mother and I love that. This, Rosie, this is my proof that I want this with you. I want this baby.”

I take a step back, everything suddenly hitting me fast and hard.

Breathe, count to ten. Everything is fine. Just breathe.

“Baby?” Elijah takes a step towards me, confusion pulling at his brows.

Holding a hand up to him, I spin around the room. This is too perfect. Something is going to go wrong. Someone is going to take all of this away from me. Elijah deserves better than me. I’m scarred and broken.

“I’m sorry.” I glance back at the crib. “I’m so sorry. He… I should have never… how can you look at me the same?”

“Look at your ring. Right now,” he demands, remaining at arm’s length from me.

My gaze falls on my ring. The gold glints in the light, holding two halves of the sapphire together.

“Stronger and more beautiful,” he says, his voice cracking. “Yes, the baby is coming because he messed with your birth control and yes, there is a small chance it might be his, but it will never be his here.” He pats his chest with two fingers over his heart. “He or she will always be mine.”

I fall to the ground, and he kneels down with me. “Don’t you see, Rosie? The baby is the gold to our broken bits. We are going to be stronger and more beautiful because of them.”

Our eyes meet and I see nothing but sincerity in his gaze.

As I release tears that I’ve been holding on to for far too long, he rocks us back and forth on the floor of our baby’s room.

And then I hear them, whispers from Heaven.

Elijah smiles first. “You see, even Bill approves, Rosie. Don’t worry about the future, just enjoy right now. You, me, our baby, a new home. We deserve this.”

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