Page 67 of Seeking Happily Ever After

But he needed to do something first.

“You go,” Nick said to Charlotte’s family. He didn’t miss the way Jeremy clenched his hands into fists, and he didn’t blame the man for being defensive of his sister. But he’d prove to him, to them all, that he was worthy of her. “I have something I need to do. I’ll be back.”

The pain was excruciating and she was so tired. But she was alive.

The last thing Charlotte remembered before passing out was holding Amelia. The baby was safe. That’s all that mattered.

It was the first thing she’d asked her mother when she opened her eyes.

“Yes,” Darlene said through tears. “The baby is fine. And you’re fine, too. You’re going to be okay, honey.”

Charlotte tried to nod, but it was too much. She closed her eyes and fell back into sleep.

The next time she opened her eyes, the pain was lessened. It was more of a dull ache. Her mother was still at her side, and her dad, too. “Dad?”

“Char.” He took her hand. “You gave us quite a scare, kiddo. But you’re going to be okay.”

They kept saying that.

“I’ll kill him, Char.”

Jeremy?

Her brother appeared behind her parents. “Who?” she said. “You’ll kill who?”

“Billy.” Jeremy spoke through gritted teeth. “If he ever gets out of jail. I’ll kill him for what he did to—”

“He’s alive?”

Jeremy exchanged a glance with her parents and nodded. “He is.”

“I didn’t…”

“No.” Jeremy chuckled. “You didn’t kill him. But according to the police, you knocked him pretty good. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

She managed a smile. “I’m pretty tough, you know?”

“We know, Char.”

Was it her imagination, or was that a tear in her brother’s eye?

“I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“We all are.”

Nick.

She couldn’t move quickly. Everything hurt too much, but slowly, she turned her head to the other side of the bed, and Nick.

“We’ll be out in the hall, Char. We won’t go far.”

She didn’t turn as her family made their exit. She was one hundred percent focused on the man in front of her.

He looked exhausted. His hair was rumpled on the top of his head. Behind his glasses, his eyes were rimmed in red. The scruff of a beard on his chin. If she wasn’t so weak, she would have reached up and grabbed it.

As it was, it was all she could do to lift her hand and drop it back down on the bed again. “Hi.”

“Hi yourself.” He took her left hand in his and threaded his fingers through hers.

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