Page 162 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

But he couldn’t imagine ever being the kind of man who could love another person. Who could be loved.

But she was here.

Here of all places.

He looked around at the wooden frame that he had built with his hands.

Yes. This was the same land. That cabin that she slept in was the same cabin. The very same one, where so much of his trauma had taken place.

But she was there now, so it was different. And it was as if a key had turned in the lock inside of his chest. A dawning realization moving over him.

It was the same house. But it was different because of her. Because the same house could become a home as long as Shayna was inside of it. And his heart, the one that his father had tried to twist with violence, insults, his poison, could be like it had never been damaged as long as it loved her.

They had gotten off the path that they were set on. And the important thing was that now they move forward. Onto a path of their own making, and where they went, they would decide.

Because this place... This place didn’t have to be sold. He didn’t have to run from it. It wasn’t defined by what his father had made it. Not any more than he was. He wanted her. And as he stood there, he could see her standing beside him in his mind’s eye, round with his child. And the very idea just about took him out at the knees.

That he could have a wife?

A baby.

No. Those were things he never thought he could have. He thought he had taken it from himself. He thought his father had taken it from them by violence from the time he was a child. He had not thought that he could be repaired. He had not thought that he could be whole. That this place, this place, could be the site of his redemption was the most beautiful thing that he had ever conceived of.

And there was an echo of some song in the back of his mind. He makes all things beautiful in his time.

And he didn’t know what he thought about that. If he believed it, but he knew that Shayna did. She had made this beautiful, that he was certain of. And she was everything that he needed.

She loved him. She loved him.

Rough and dirty and broken. While she was sweet and soft and whole. But she wanted what he had. He needed who she was.

He took off running, back toward the house. As fast as his legs could carry him, and he threw the door open, just as Shayna came walking out of the bedroom, naked.

“Shayna,” he said.

“What?”

And then he crossed the space between them and pulled her into his arms, twirling her around in a circle. “I love you too.”

She grabbed hold of his face, her eyes wide with shock. “What?”

“I love you too. I needed a minute. To figure out what that meant. No one’s ever told me they love me before.”

“I love you,” she said again, as if it was a reflex. “I love you. I love you, Zane Fox. I love you.”

“Say it again,” he said.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. I want to have babies with you. I want to marry you. I want you to be my wife. My woman. My forever. Shayna. I fucking love you so much. I didn’t even know that these feelings could exist inside of me. I didn’t know that I could dream. Baby, because of you I dream. I was down at the house, and I saw it. You beside me and pregnant. I want that.”

“I want it too. I do. I... Zane. I love you so much. You are everything I have ever wanted. Everything. A fantasy that I didn’t know I could have. I just thought I had these... These thoughts late at night that turned me on and I didn’t think they had anything to do with love. But you are everything. You are my adventure, my fantasy. My heart. And who on earth is so lucky to have all of those things? Who? I love you.”

He held her close, and kissed her. And it was like the light had gone on inside of him for the very first time.

“I think... I think it’s time for you to meet my father.”

And that made him a little bit afraid. “All right. I’m ready.”

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