Imperfect Love (Heart of Hope 4)

I studied the financial report he handed me. Shocked, I looked up at him. “That’s nearly six figures. In six months.”

He nodded. “I’ve used it to pay off my student loans and car. I’m debt-free with a business set to hit nearly seven figures in the next year.”

“Brayden.” Pride swept through me. “You’re amazing.”

“There’s more.”

I laughed. “I don’t know if I can take more.”

“I want you to build it with me. You don’t have to. If you’re happy where you are, I’m okay with that. But I’ve seen you work and I know that together, we can kill it. We can make all our dreams come true. Together.”

I felt giddy with joy and the excitement of all the possibilities that life held in store for me with this man by my side.

“You don’t have to decide now,” he said. “Right now, I’ve got what I want and that is you saying yes to marrying me.”

We were in a public place, but I didn’t care. I launched myself into his lap and wrapped my arms around him as I kissed him for all he was worth.

“This is a good start on forever,” he murmured against my lips.

From that moment on, everything had gone as planned. I continued to work at my job until we married, three months later. Then I went in full time with Brayden, and we built a multimillion-dollar company within a few years. Our marriage was solid, steady, sexy. We had Lanie, and when my maternity leave was to come to an end, I couldn’t bear to leave her in day-care. Brayden supported my desire to be an at-home mom. Two years later, we had Noah. All was going perfectly, until it wasn’t. I couldn’t pinpoint where things got off track. It was a slow progression of that came from having two different lives, I guess.

But now, the bridge between us was stronger again. Was that why he brought us here today? As a reminder of when we started? Of how strong we were and all the hopes and dreams we had? We hadn’t planned on cancer, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t recapture all the other parts of our master plan.

We sat at the table, Brayden with a napkin working hard to keep the kids from getting drips all over the place, and laughing at the losing battle.

“Brayden?”

He turned to me, his eyes filled with happiness and amusement. “Hmm.”

I gripped his shirt and pulled him to me, planting a kiss on his lips. In the background, I heard Lanie, “Oh…no more kissing.”

When I pulled away, Brayden’s expression showed contentment. He was in the moment. Where I was too.

“You’ve given me everything you promised,” I said.

He cocked his head.

“I lost sight of that.”

He gave me a wan smile. “I did too. Not anymore though. We’re a team. Through thick and thin.”

“Sickness and health.”

His smile faltered, and I felt bad for reminding him of the cancer. But he nodded. “Through everything.”

“Daddy, Noah’s ice cream fell off.”

He laughed. “Duty calls.” He turned to Noah, who’d started crying. “No worries, son. We’ll get you a new one. How about in a cup this time?” He picked up the ice cream and plopped it back on the cone.

I watched as Brayden took Noah’s hand and walked him back inside the ice cream shop to get him a new serving, tossing the old cone and ice cream in the trash.

“I don’t need a cup,” Lanie said licking her cone.

I wiped up the drips of ice cream from her cone, as well as the puddle Noah’s dropped ice cream had made.

“You’re a big girl.”

“Why do you and daddy kiss all the time now?” she asked, looking at me with a furrowed brow. She was noticing the difference in her parents too.