Page 153 of Paper Hearts

Ender’s eyes soften. “She was going to put it up for sale and I couldn’t have someone else buying it.”

Pulling away from Arya, I wrap my arms around my husband’s shoulders. “Thank you.”

His lips press the spot below my ear. “Anything for you, Hads.”

57

WHEN HE MADE LOVE TO ME

Ihave no idea what to expect on our wedding night. Other than storms seem to follow us anywhere we go. Because guess what? There’s a tropical storm blowing through the Florida Keys as Ender and I arrive on our honeymoon.

I watch a bolt of lightning streak across the sky. “I’m beginning to think we have a thing for storms.”

Ender smiles beside me as we lay on the bed outside the small cabana we’re staying it. He lifts his hand and traces the length of my spine with his fingertips. The sheets hanging on the sides blow wildly in the wind, a sea of white cotton pillows and blankets surrounding his tan body. His dark hair falls into his eyes when he turns to look at me. “I think it’s a sign of good luck.”

I smile, staring out at the angry ocean below us. The bed we’re on is suspended in the air above the water, waves crashing beneath us. “I know it is if it rains on your wedding, but what about your honeymoon?”

“It’s a good sign, baby. Believe me.”

And I do, because it’s Ender.

The wind takes my hair and whips it around in my face. I push it from my eyes and stare at Ender, completely relaxed beside me. Gone is the furrowed brow and worried lines from earlier today. It’s like he doesn’t have a care in the world now.

“I’ve never seen you so relaxed.”

“I’m relieved.” Turning toward me, he touches my cheek with his hand, brushing my hair away, and kisses his way up my neck. The gray sky above us rumbles as he moves closer, trailing his hand from my face to my hip. Hitching over his thigh, he swallows and captures my lips in a kiss. It’s a heated one and though we’re both naked already, his touch, his kisses, they’re slower this time. He’s taking his time with me.

The rain picks up, hitting the covered canopy above us with a steady pattern. Between the roar of the ocean and the rain, I struggle to hear his words, but I know when he whispers, “I never thought you’d finally be my wife.”

I smile, tears burning my eyes. “I never thought I’d be your wife… especially to the boy who begged me to say dick because it made his hard,” I tease, laughing now.

He silences me with his kiss once again, but smirks. “It still makes my dick hard,” he mumbles. His left hand slides behind my head where he takes a handful of my hair. He moves between my legs, giving me his weight. He’s careful, given the baby bump between us, but it’s exactly what I need. And he’s still everything I know him to be, aggressive, knows what drives me crazy, makes me flush.

With him between my legs now, his eyes glow against the darkness of the canopy above us. He breathes in, slowly as he enters me, and it reminds me of our first time, but yet it’s completely different. I watch him moving above me, wind blowing around us, rain coming down harder, but I only see him. Everything else fades away.

This guy above me, he’s no longer the troubled boy with sad eyes. His past no longer holds him hostage. Time made us stronger, brought us closer together, and I can’t wait for our future together.

I loved him before I knew how. It was simple, yet, devastating. And somewhere through the story of Paper Hearts, and the chapters of our lives, I’d become a memory between the pages, and he was the one lost in the words. He knew my heart was paper thin when he came back into my life, but he walked in like he belonged there. He was the beginning, and end of everything else.

Ender James, he’s a man, a father, and now my husband.

58

WHEN HE GOT TO HOLD US

Five Months Later

“Theo hit Myles once.”

I snap my eyes to Ender who’s standing near the hospital window, staring down at a man who’s been trying to jump a wheelchair for over an hour, or so Ender tells me. I’m stuck in a bed, getting ready to give birth. But this stubborn kid inside me is hell-bent on telling us I’ll come out when I’m good and ready, and not a minute sooner.

My water broke seventeen hours ago, and if you’ve ever spent seventeen hours in a hospital bed waiting for your baby to be born, you get me. You know I’m ready to do anything to get this kid out of me. Also, it’s Thanksgiving, and I’m really upset that we’re not eating turkey and pumpkin pie right now.

Ender, however, is more worried than I thought he’d be. He’s barely said anything since I went into labor.

I think about his words. Theo hit Myles. I’m more shocked by the fact that Ender hasn’t mentioned his dad in a year. I breathe slowly through another contraction. This one hits harder than the last. “When?”

“Myles was three. He doesn’t remember it, but I do. He said something to him, and Theo hit him right in the mouth. Made him bleed. I was nine years old at the time and saw the whole thing.” Ender’s jaw tightens, a deep scowl on his face as he turns from the window and faces me. There’s a coldness in his eyes, detachment. “From then on, I knew I had to be the one. So I did everything I could to piss him off.”

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