Page 251 of Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout)
“Suit yourself,” he said.
I lasted all of ten seconds. “Okay. Gimmie.”
He sat up and snapped on the bedside lamp. He was grinning, and it made my heart turn to liquid gold.
“First, tomorrow you gotta help me pack.”
“Pack?”
“I’m moving in here officially and I don’t know what shit your parents will want and what they won’t.”
“My parents?”
“Liza J gave us the house. I’m giving your parents the cabin.”
I sat up and pulled the sheet up to my chest. “You’re giving my parents the cabin,” I repeated.
He gave me a wolfish look. “Your ears still ringin’, Daze?”
“Maybe. Or maybe it’s all the orgasms you keep giving me that are slowing down my auditory processing.”
He hooked me behind the neck and tugged me closer. “Your mom just got a job at Waylay’s school. Part-time counselor. She starts in January.”
I brought the heels of my hands to my eyes. “My parents are…”
“Movin’ to Knockemout.”
“How did you do this? How did you… Waylay gets to grow up with her grandparents right next door!” Every damn dream I’d ever had was coming true, and he was making it happen.
“One thing you gotta understand, Naomi. If there’s anything in this world you want, I’m gonna get it for you. No questions asked. You want it, it’s yours. So here.” He thrust a stack of papers at me.
Blindly, I held them up. They looked like some kind of legal contract. “What are these?”
“Flip to the signature page,” he instructed.
I followed the handy yellow tab and found my sister’s signature scrawled across the line.
The words “guardianship” and “parental rights” popped off the page.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
“She signed over parental rights to you. It’s official. No more hearings or home visits. Way is ours.”
I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. I could only cry silently.
“Damn it, baby. I hate when you do this,” Knox grumbled, gathering me up and dropping me in his lap.
I nodded, still crying as I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight.
“Now, it’s time for something I want.”
The man could have anything as far as I was concerned. Both my kidneys. My favorite purse. Anything at all.
“If you’re trying to have sex with me for the fourth time today, I’m gonna need some Advil, an icepack, and a gallon of water first,” I teased through sobs and sniffles.
His laugh was a rumble in his chest as he threaded his fingers through my hair and stroked.
“I want the wedding sooner rather than later. I’m not wasting another minute without making you my wife. You can have anything you want. A big church wedding. A backyard barbecue. A five-figure wedding dress. But I have one demand.”
