Page 95 of Soaring Free
“Oh yeah? What did I forget?”
“How incredibly talented I am at this.” I pause before slowly pulling my hips back and then slamming home. Her groan of pleasure is the best damn sound in the world. I slowly pull back out and repeat the move. “And this…” I lean down and gently kiss a trail from below her ear and along her jaw. “And how good it is when I do this,” I murmur against her lips before I kiss her, deepening the kiss when she opens for me. I thought the third round for her would be fast and hard, but instead, I make love to my fiancée slowly, deliberately, and judging by the delightful moans of passion she is making, pretty damn well. Like a well-choreographed dance, we tip over the edge together, and I pull her into my arms, rolling her on top of me while we both catch our breaths. It was not only physically challenging to hold back, but the atmosphere in the room is charged with big emotions—as though we just made a vow to each other with our bodies, our hearts, and our souls.
“Thank you,” I say, and she leans up and kisses the underside of my jaw before laying her head back down on my chest. I run my hand up and down her bare spine, relishing how soft and warm she always feels.
“What for?” she murmurs.
“For being you. For loving me. And for saying yes.”
She holds her left hand up and even in the darkened room, her ring is still brilliant. “Well, you did propose with an incredible ring.” She’s teasing, but I can’t help and return the favor by sneaking my hand from her spine to her side and tickling her a little. She squeaks in laughter and surprise.
“Oh? So, you only said yes because of the ring, huh?”
She stills and looks back at me as her smile fades. “You could have proposed with a ring from a vending machine, and I would have said yes. From the moment you came for me at that cabin, I knew I didn’t want to be away from you ever again.”
I pull her closer so I can hold her as a deep sigh escapes me. “I may have been coming for you, but you were the one that held on. You were the strong one in all of that, Kitten.”
“I don’t know that I felt strong. I was trying to figure out a way to get away from him, but it’s not like I broke free from that prison on my own.”
“You had some help physically getting out of there, but you didn’t let him break you. You stayed strong and mentally stayed in control of things as best you could. He may have taken you, but he didn’t break you.”
She hums in consideration. “Yeah, I suppose not. But when you carried me out of there, I knew that wherever we were going, so long as I was with you, everything was going to be okay.”
I lean down and kiss her forehead. I don’t like to dwell on that day too much because of the murderous rage that I feel about what Kyle did to her, but I can separate that anger from the appreciation of what she’s saying. There isn’t anything I can say that will magically fix the damage from her horrible experience, so I will take whatever piece of it she wants to unpack and hand to me as she continues on what will be a complex and ongoing healing journey, but one that she will never walk alone.
Savannah will never have to walk through anything alone so long as I have breath in my lungs. I will spend the rest of my life exactly where I am meant to be—right by her side.
Two Years Later
“I think they look good, man. I’ll go grab the hot dogs from Savannah.” Shane claps my shoulder and I nod in agreement.
I never would have imagined that things would work out the way they have, but I also don’t think there is a better possible outcome than the reality of what our family looks like these days. Savannah and Shane were able to come to a better understanding and co-parenting relationship quite quickly after Kyle Clark was no longer involved in the process. We discovered that he had been manipulating Shane for years to turn him against his wife and encouraging him to behave as difficult as possible. Without his games in the mix, Shane and Savannah were able to focus on their mutual goal of keeping their daughters first. Someone asked if I was worried about Shane trying to woo Savannah back after Kyle’s manipulation was discovered, but the thought never even crossed my mind. Maybe that could have been possible if it had been a few years before the divorce was filed, but bells were rung that could never be silenced. It has not been a field of daisies, and it took work and therapy on both of their parts, but they are able to co-parent well. I would even go as far as saying they’re friends at this point, which is definitely better for the girls’ sake than them being enemies.
My relationship with Shane took some time, but within the first year of our marriage, Shane and I had some straightforward conversations that allowed us to finally settle thebullshit of our past, including clearing up some serious misinformation that was the foundation of his beef with me. The summer after our second year of law school, we were both up for an international law internship, and he was livid when I was chosen for it over him and many other applicants. A few weeks after my acceptance was announced, we were at a fundraiser with our families and Shane overheard his father say something to Bill, the person who made the final decision about who received the internship, that he should pick me over Shane. His father said something along the lines of, “Shane is great, he is going to be a great attorney and a tiger in the courtroom. But he’s no Theo Smith-Harrington.”
Overhearing his father say that became a driving force for Shane to be better than me in anything and everything, but his hatred was built on misinformation. I received the international law internship because my GPA was three tenths higher than Shane’s and they wanted a candidate that was fluent in multiple languages. Shane is fluent in English and Spanish, but I am fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. Growing up, our parents regularly would hire international tutors in those languages to help Pippa, Van, and me learn directly from native speakers. My getting selected for the international law internship had nothing to do whatsoever with Shane’s dad telling anyone who they should pick, but Shane didn’t know that, and unfortunately his father passed away two years after that incident, so in Shane’s eyes he was never able to prove his father wrong. It finally made sense why we went from friendly competition to arch nemesis in such a short time frame.
And honestly, it’s too bad he held on to such a misinformed grudge for so many years.
But what matters now is that we agree on the common goal of taking care of their daughters and loving Savannah well. Was it awkward the first time he came over for family dinner? Absolutely. But we had to push through that so their girls could see that we are a united front when it comes to being the best parents we can be—together. It’s probably good we had the reallyawkward ones out of the way before Shane brought someone with him.
He first brought Lena to a dinner last summer. She’s an attorney with the District Attorney in Nashville, specializing in domestic violence cases so she works just as much as Shane, if not more some days. Lena is a divorced mother of a ten-year-old boy, George, who joins us for family dinners if it’s Lena’s week to have him. George is a quiet boy but loves to read, so he and Olivia get along great—without talking and just reading next to each other most of the time.
Shane and Lena make a great couple, and the girls seem to like her. Savannah appreciates there is a mutual respect between her and Lena, so as long as my girls are all happy, I’m good with all of it. They recently bought a house in a historic district in Nashville—and yes, this time there are enough bedrooms for all of the children. Shane hinted at a proposal soon, and I’m happy for them. My phone vibrates and I slide on my glasses before pulling out my phone to check it.
Pippa
Please tell Gigi that I’m stealing her tomorrow night. My kids miss her!
Me
On it. Gigi will be thrilled and may not want to come home.
Pippa
Trust me, one night with toddlers will change her mind!
After years of infertility and multiple failed rounds of IVF, Pippa and her husband were going to pursue adoption, but then fate had an interesting turn of events. The way everything came together was kismet, but what matters is that they are now a family of four.
