Page 87 of Almost Paradise

The closet is a disaster of clothes and shoes when I get there. It takes me a few seconds to realize she’s putting her things into the closet. I stand still, unsure if I have it right, but when she pulls a blazer out of a suitcase and hangs it up, I’m certain that I do.

“I’ll finish this later.” She walks around me and closes the closet door, but not all the way. She takes both my hands in hers. “I’ll get right to the point,” she says before taking a deep breath. “I’ve thought about what you said this morning. That’s all I’ve been doing all day, and then I talked to Ray.” Everything she says is encouraging. I’m glad she talked to Ray and not her father or Audrey. “I want us to be a family too. To be honest, that’s all I’ve wanted since I found out I was pregnant. Despite being so hurt by you, I had hoped.” She bites her bottom lip, and I can see she needs a moment to get control of herself. “This weekend brought back so many memories with you, and they were all good.” She shakes her head and says, “Great memories. We were so stupid not to tell each other how we felt back then, so I’m not going to repeat the same mistake twice.” She squeezes my hands, and I squeeze hers back. My heart is beating so fast, I’m afraid it will fly out of my chest. I hold my breath while I wait to hear what she says next. “I loved you then too. I loved you so much, and I’m sorry for not telling you, but I was so scared you didn’t feel the same way. I guess that made your father’s deception easy for me to believe because of my own insecurity, but I don’t want to talk about your father.” She shakes her head as if she’s chasing any memories of Donald Paradise away. “What I want to tell you is that I love you now. I never stopped loving you. I’ll never stop.” A lone tear rolls down her cheek. She drops one of my hands long enough to swipe it away. “And I believe you. I believe you didn’t know, and I believe if you did, we would have been a family from the very beginning.”

Stunned speechless, I can do nothing but pull her into my arms and wrap her in them. She rests her head in the middle of my chest just like she used to.

“I would have chosen you, Nia. I would have chosen you and our child. Tell me you believe that.”

Her eyes brimming with tears, she nods. “I do,” she says, her voice hoarse with emotion.

“Do I really have my baby girl back?” I can barely get the words out with the lump in my throat.

She doesn’t answer. At least not with words. She pulls away, holds up her hand, and lifts her pinky. I quickly wrap mine around it. That’s when I notice she’s wearing her wedding ring again.

“You have me back,” she whispers. She jumps on me and wraps her legs around me. If Carter wasn’t on the other side of that door, I’d take her in this closet. “I’ve missed you so much. Please know that you have my heart.” She presses her body into mine and kisses my forehead.

“I know it, and you have mine too. I’m so sorry.” She slides down my body and looks up. I cup her cheeks. “I’m so sorry for what my father did, and I’m so sorry for letting my pride get in the way. I was just so hurt. I’m sorry about Scarlett. I’m sorry for everything. I know you did everything in your power to tell me you were pregnant. I’m so sorry you went through that without me.”

“Let’s promise we’ll never let pride get in our way again.”

“Never. And here.” I let her go and pull out a new iPhone from my jacket pocket. “I got you a new phone. I have one too, and they are only to be used between us. And if it’s anything important, we call each other. We have to hear it from each other before we believe it.” I call her with my new phone so she has my number.

“Let’s take it one step further and make a secret password that only we’ll know.” She giggles and her whole face transforms. More tears fall, and I wipe them this time. I cup her cheeks again, tilt her face up and kiss her lips. “Mariah Carey,” she says.

“What about her? Please don’t start singing now.”

“That’s our secret code,” she whispers as if we’re not the only two in the closet.

“Oh. Done. As long as you don’t sing.” She huffs as if she’s offended, but she giggles.

The closet door bursts open, and our son runs in. I let his mother go long enough to lift him up.

“I’m hungry,” he says.

I run my hand through his curly hair.

“Let’s go eat.” I throw an arm across Nia’s shoulders. With my son in my arms and my wife at my side, we go downstairs and have dinner together as a family.

Chapter 48

Nia

While Drake reads to Carter, I run my fingers through my husband’s hair. Things have changed quickly between us. We couldn’t stop touching each other during dinner. Whether it was as simple as me resting my hand on his lap or giving each other a chaste peck between bites.

“I’m going to wait for you in the bedroom,” I whisper in his ear. “I love you,” I whisper again. “I’m going to say that so much you’ll get sick of hearing it.” I nip his earlobe. He manages to swat my ass as I walk out. I know he won’t be long. Carter had already closed his eyes when I left his room.

I run into the bathroom and change. I look down at my legs, thankful that I never need to shave above the knee. Drake never minded anyway. After running a brush through my hair, I add lipstick.

He comes in holding two glasses of champagne and I see the appreciative gleam in his eyes as he looks at my short red lace nightie. It has a slit on each side, making it even sexier. I spin around, intent on giving him a show.

I take the champagne flute from him and sip.

“You like?” I ask, spinning around again.

“I love,” he whispers, but something changes in his expression. It darkens. “Where did you get that?”

“The store,” I say, doing my best to be coy.

He puts his champagne flute down, grabs the hem of my nightie, and starts to pull. He manages to rip half of it off before I move away.

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