“Like how you smile at me when I walk into a room. How when something perplexes you, you ask my opinion and really listen to my answer. How when my lips touch yours my entire body catches on fire.”
She liked all those same things about Blake. He’d always believed in her, always been confident in her abilities, and his confidence in her had given her strength.
“Your body catches on fire when we kiss?”
He studied her. “Yours doesn’t?”
She nodded. “Yes, my body catches on fire when you kiss me, but that doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“To convince you to let me be your partner in Alabama, Darby. With the baby, you’re going to need my help.”
With the baby.
Was that why he was saying all the right things? Because he’d resigned himself to a life with her because he’d gotten her pregnant? “I’ll get by.”
“You’d get by easier with a partner,” he pointed out. “I have references. I’m sure my last partner would be willing to put in a good word for me.”
“Ha-ha, too funny.”
“I’m being serious, Darby.” He lifted her hand to his lips, pressed a kiss to her fingertips. “I want to be a part of your life. I’ve never considered living in Alabama, but I do know I belong wherever you are.”
Darby’s heart filled with love, filled with the knowledge that Blake loved her. Not because she was pregnant, but because he hadn’t been pretending that weekend any more than she had. “How do you know?”
“Because home is where the heart is, and my heart is wherever you are.”
EPILOGUE
WHEN Darby and Blake had added the fully equipped birthing room, they hadn’t intentionally meant to be the first couple to make use of its facilities.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Blake asked at the end of her latest contraction. He moved from where he’d been between her legs, pressed a kiss to her temple.
She smiled at her worried husband. Playing the role of both expectant father and doctor perhaps hadn’t been their wisest choice. But Darby wouldn’t have chosen any other way. Together they’d made their precious baby, and together they would bring him into the world. Just the two of them.
Of course the moment her family realized they weren’t going to show for Sunday dinner, the entire crew would no doubt descend upon them.
“I’m fine.”
At the moment she really was. If he asked her after the next contraction started she’d likely tell him otherwise, though. Not that he didn’t know. Her last contraction had almost had her head spinning backwards and her cursing his manhood.
Which would be a real shame, since she’d developed quite an attachment to everything about her husband.
Each morning when she woke curled next to him, looked into his happy black eyes first thing, she wanted to pinch herself. Never had she imagined she could be so happy, so loved.
Blake loved her. With all his heart and soul.
When he’d slid the golden band on her ring finger last September, while standing on the dock with their family and friends on the bank, he’d said his vows to her. Love much brighter than the sunshine on the lake had shone in his eyes. Love real and wonderful and all-consuming.
The skin on her belly began pulling tight, warning the next contraction was starting. They were getting close. So very close to welcoming their baby into the world.
“Maybe we should have driven to Pea Ridge.”
Darby shook her head. For as long as she could remember she’d loved this house, had dreamed of someday owning it. Over the past few months she and Blake had made the house their home, taking pride in each room, taking pleasure in decorating the nursery j
ust off their bedroom. Giving birth to their son here would just ice the dream cake.
Or so she’d thought, since she’d wanted to deliver naturally anyway.
As the pressure low in her abdomen continued to build, she admitted she was now seeing the attraction of an epidural.