Page 57 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

“It’s been so much.”

I tug on his hands and tilt my chin up. To my relief, he gets the cue and leans in for the kiss, his lips as warm and soft as I remember. Better, even. Thousands of tons of weight have lifted off me in an instant and have flown away like doves. Jason really loves me.

And then I remember what the nurse said, and I push him away again.

I want this baby. That much I know with complete clarity, but I have to give him the chance to back out. This wasn’t how I wanted to have a family, not even close to it. But this is what’s happening. If he wants to be a father, he can be. If he wants me, he can have me, but if a baby is too much for him, I’m not going to force him into anything.

If I have to raise this child alone, I will. I don’t want to, but I will.

“Jason,” I say, taking hold of both of his hands and squeezing. “We have to talk about the baby. I mean, I know it’s sudden, but?—”

“Let me marry you again,” he blurts out.

“What?”

“Not now, not even soon, if you don’t want to, but let me marry you again properly. Let’s renew our vows and mean it.”

“The baby…” I say weakly, my head spinning from the whiplash change in subject.

“If you think I’m not going to help you raise our child, then your opinion of me must be incredibly low. I couldn’t be more excited to have a baby with you, Eliza.”

“Really?”

“Of course! You mean the world to me, Eliza. The whole world. I don’t want anything except our family.”

I burst into tears again at that, and he leans in to kiss me, salty and sweet all at the same time.

All these weeks, I’ve been missing him, longing for him, and he’s been feeling the same. I can hardly believe it.

I can hardly believe how much time we’ve wasted pretending that we don’t love each other. Thinking about it now, how could anything else be true? All those times he was kind to me; all those times he treated me so gently and caved to my stupid wants.

Every time he looked at me, I should have seen that those were eyes filled with love.

I pull him in for a hug, wrapping my arms tight around him. He squeezes me back, and nothing else matters anymore.

“I love you, Jason,” I whisper in his ear. I’m never going to get tired of saying it.

“I love you too. Promise we will never keep secrets from each other ever again, even if it’s something hard to say?”

“I promise we’ll find a way,” I whisper, and I mean it.

After all of this, I don’t think there’s anything either of us could do that I wouldn’t forgive. I don’t think there’s any challenge we can’t face, not as long as we’re together.

Not as long as we have our family and our future ahead of us. What started out as fake has turned into the best reality ever.

CHAPTER 31

JASON

When the nurse returns, we’re still embracing. I’m holding Eliza to my chest like I’m scared she’s going to float away. Like if I let go, I’m never going to get her back. That’s how it’s felt ever since I walked into this room, like I’m floating. With her, I’m walking on clouds.

The nurse smiles sweetly at us. “I’m glad to see that everyone’s made up,” she says in a way that really should be patronizing, but I can’t quite find it in myself to be angry right now. Not when I’m so happy to have Eliza with me. Not when we just found each other again. “Now, I just want to check your blood pressure, and if that looks good, then I’m going to give you the all-clear to go home.”

“Thank you,” says Eliza, sniffling and wiping her eyes, trying to pull herself together to look like she has some composure. She doesn’t really succeed. Her eyes are puffy and red, her nose running, her lips cracked. Her makeup has run down her face, and the hospital gown is really doing her no favors, and yet she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

I don’t think there’s anything that would ever stop me from melting into those blue eyes. They’re too hypnotizing.

I hold her hand while the nurse does her final tests, and when she nods to give us the all-clear, we both sigh with relief. “Excuse me a second,” I say, finally releasing her hand. “I’m going to go call Oskar.”

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