Page 59 of Uxpectedly Ever After

"Promise." I stand on my tiptoes to press a gentle kiss to his lips. "Now get me to bed before I fall asleep standing up. Today has been... a lot."

He laughs and reaches behind me to turn off the water. "Has it really only been one day? Feels like a lifetime since I showed you the house."

"A good lifetime or a bad one?" I ask, suddenly uncertain.

Banks wraps a towel around me, his movements careful and tender. "The best, Freckles. Absolutely the best."

Later—much later—we lie together in my bed, his hand resting over my belly. He looks wrecked with purple smudges under his eyes that I can see even in the darkness.

"Sleep," I tell him, brushing my fingers through his hair. "You've had a long day."

"Don't want to close my eyes," he murmurs, already half-gone. "Might wake up and find out this was all a dream."

"It’s not a dream," I whisper, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I'll be right here when you wake up. Promise."

His arm tightens around me. "Love you."

"Love you too."

And as Banks's breathing evens out into sleep, his hand still protectively settled over the place where our baby grows, I realize something important. For the first time in my life, I'm not counting down the days until something ends. Not viewing this as temporary or conditional or something that will inevitably be taken from me.

For the first time, I'm letting myself believe in forever.

And it feels like coming home.

The last two months have flown by since the fire that nearly destroyed my best friend's brewery. I’m still having nightmares about finding Clover alone in our house, clutching her stomach while she tells me I didn't make it back. But one look at her now—her black hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, wearing a dress that shows off her six-month belly, laughing at something Navy said—is enough to make my heart settle back into its normal rhythm.

Christ, I love her.

Kasen really went all out for Timber's grand reopening. The place looks better than before the fire—new tables, new taps, but he managed to salvage the original bar top that his grandfather installed way back when. The whole place is packed with locals, regulars, and firefighters from my station celebrating both the brewery's resurrection and the fact Kasen didn’t murder me once he found out I knocked up his sister.

I watch Clover weave through the crowd—stopping to talk to the firefighters from my station, laughing with Theo, checking on the buffet table like she isn't six months pregnant and supposed to take it easy. Thank fuck her hyperemesis finally eased up, because now she’s rocking the pregnancy glow everyone raves about. Or maybe that's just how she looks to me now that she's carrying my kid and wearing my ring.

Yeah, we’ve had a busy couple of months.

"You're staring again," Reed says, appearing beside me with a beer in his hand. It's still weird sometimes to think of him as Reed instead of Dr. Walker, but it’s hard to stay formal with a guy who’s as big of a die-hard Blazers fan as you are. The dude knows more obscure basketball stats than anyone I’ve ever met. "Though I'd probably stare too if it were my kid in there."

Amazing how the same doc I wanted to deck for touching Clover ended up a close friend. Sports, man.

“Can’t help it,” I admit, taking a swig of my own beer. “I still can’t believe she said yes.”

“To which part?” Reed grins. “The baby, the house, or the ring?”

"All of the above." I shake my head. "I keep waiting for her to realize she could do better."

He snorts. “Highly doubtful. You two are so in love it’s uncomfortable to witness.” Then he hits me with that smug doctor look that makes me want to launch a bar stool at him. “Still dying to know what I’ve known for a week? Your begging’s hit peak embarrassment levels.”

“Come on, man.” I lower my voice, leaning in. “Just tell me. Doctor-patient confidentiality doesn’t count with the father.”

“Yeah, it does,” he counters, smirk widening. “And Clover would literally murder me if I ruin Kasen’s moment.”

“I won’t breathe a word,” I insist. “Not even to her.”

Reed taps his watch. “Nice try. Kasen’ll be making the announcement any minute. You can wait like everyone else.”

After last week’s sonogram, Clover decided her brother should be the one to announce the baby’s sex—partly because she thinks it's hilarious to make him wait, and partly to make up for the fact that Navy knew about the pregnancy weeks before he did. I’ve been bugging Reed nonstop, but the bastard’s a steel trap.

“Fine,” I mutter, scanning the room for my future brother-in-law. “He’s been guarding that envelope like it’s got the nuclear launch codes inside.”

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