Page 66 of Labor of Love

“I was kicked out of the realm, not stripped of my inheritance.” Bracken sniffed at the pillow’s fabric, then tugged at its tassels. “And a good thing too. We’ll need a larger place eventually. If we choose to have more.”

Children. Bracken was talking about having more children. With Tanner.

“You didn’t… Why didn’t you say?”

“I didn’t ask for your money, if you recall,” Bracken told him, a touch of acid on his tongue. “I asked you to take responsibility.” He whirled, brandishing the pillow. “Does this child not deserve a father? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“No, of course not.”

So Bracken hadn’t come to find Tanner because he had nothing to his name. He’d come because…

He’d come because he’d wanted Tanner at his side.

He’d come because he wanted Tanner.

Bracken pointed an accusing finger at Tanner’s face. “Don’t. Look. Smug.”

Tanner grabbed the pillow, tossing it to the side. He tugged his fae into his arms and kissed him soundly. “You’re going to have to put up with it this time, sweetheart. I don’t think I can look any other way.”

EPILOGUE

Bracken turned another page of the book he wasn’t really reading, shifting back on his cushions to get more comfortable.

Tanner was putting Fern down for her afternoon nap. Six months in and she was already napping regularly and napping well. She had been almost from the very beginning, once she’d gotten that voracious appetite of hers under control.

Tanner had said the baby would be a good sleeper, and now she was. Of course. As if him believing it had been enough to make it so.

He’d been very smug about the whole thing.

Parenting was still hard work in other ways. The constant feedings in the beginning had been hard on Bracken. And though Fern was a very happy little baby, she still had her bouts of fussiness, the periods where she was inconsolable and it was anyone’s guess whether it was gas or her teeth coming in or anything in between.

But Tanner was tireless and unflappable. He never lost his cool or his temper, not even a little bit. And even though Fern was the sweetest and cutest and most beautiful baby thathad ever existed (Tanner’s mother agreed with Bracken there), Bracken would have been a wreck without him.

It pissed him off, actually.

He was contemplating this very ire when Tanner returned to their bedroom. Bracken tossed his book on the bed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tell me— What would I have done if you hadn’t taken me in? I couldn’t do it by myself. I just couldn’t.”

Not at all fazed by the direction of Bracken’s thoughts, Tanner climbed onto the bed next to him, lying on his side and propping his head on his hand. “You could, actually.”

“I couldn’t,” Bracken argued. “It would be sohard.”

“Of course it would be hard. No one’s meant to do it on their own. People only manage because they’re resilient.”

“But if you hadn’t taken me in, Iwouldhave been alone. It would have been terrible.” Bracken glared at Tanner, thinking of exactly how terrible it would have been, especially in those early days, when Fern had needed feeding sometimes hourly and sleep had been so scarce.

Tanner’s lips curled in amusement. “Are you pissed at me right now because of a hypothetical version of me turning you away?”

“Yes.”

“Of course you are.” Tanner laughed, sitting up against the headboard and wrapping an arm around Bracken’s shoulders. “I’m sorry for what the other me did. It was very wrong of him.”

“It was,” Bracken grumbled, leaning into Tanner’s steady warmth.

“How should we punish him, this hypothetical version of me?”

“He’d be alone for the rest of his life,” Bracken answered immediately. “No sex with anyone else.”

“Of course,” Tanner agreed. “Involuntary celibacy, check.”

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