“So if I told you to stop this now, you would?”
Lukas’s hand tightens on mine. He glances at me, eyes intense. It’s like he’s trying to get the idea that we might not always be together into his head, and it doesn’t fit. He bites down as he turns back to Jamie.
“We’d be real sons of bitches if we didn’t.”
“That’s not an answer, dad. Would you end it?”
Lukas groans. “I don’t think I could. I’d know I have to. I’d know it was important. But I’d feel like there was a goddamn shotgun blast in my chest, something missing, for the rest of my life.”
“I’d feel the same,” I whisper. “But for you, Jamie, we would have to try.”
“Look at the two of you.” Jamie’s smile is broader now. “I’ve never seen either of you this happy. No, no way.”
“No way?” I ask.
Jamie walks around the couch and drops down. “I mean there’s no way I’m going to stop you two from being together. It’s going to take me some time to get used to this. But I’d be a real monster if I stood in the way of this.”
“You mean it?” A sob finally escapes me, distorting my words. “You don’t want us to stop?”
“No,” Jamie says firmly. “My only concern would be that you’d break up and it would be insanely awkward—”
“Never,” Lukas and I say at the same time, and then laugh.
Jamie chuckles. “It seems you’re on the same page where that’s concerned.”
“We’re on the same page about everything,” Lukas says.
Jamie leans back, relaxing into the chair, as though he can finally let go of all his frantic energy. “I walked in here terrified you were both going to see me differently or get angry at me for the years of lying. You came in here terrified I was going to disown you both. But look at us, look at us… We’re all okay. We’re all happy. We’re all ready to start the adventure of our lives. I can’t be angry. Honestly, I can’t be anything other than excited for the future.”
His words flow through me, pushing away all the negative feelings until there’s a big orb of warmth and contentment inside of me.
“I love you both,” Jamie says.
“I love you, Jamie.”
“I love you, son.”
All these I love yous get me thinking about what Lukas almost said. I want to tell him I love him, but there’s no way I’m going to say it first. Anyway, right now, this is enough.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lukas
“Is this really necessary?”
My woman giggles from the passenger seat. I grin over at her as I come to a stop at an intersection.
She’s got a blindfold wrapped around her head, her hands resting in her lap. The day is unseasonably warm and sunny, as though giving us the best possible scenario to make this connection. She’s wearing a light dress, the fabric resting temptingly against her bare thighs, making it difficult to keep my hands on the steering wheel instead of her leg.
“We’re almost there.”
“I don’t even know where there is.”
“That’s because I don’t want to spoil the surprise,” I tell her.
I pull out of the intersection and guide us through the suburbs, past three and four-bedroom houses. I head for the six-bedroom at the end of the row, sitting behind a wall with a big gate out front.
Stopping in front of the gate, I reach through and swipe my thumb across the access pad, causing it to open with a mechanical whirring noise.
“Um, what’s that?” Lorena laughs.
“Be patient, Lori. It’s almost time.”
I can almost hear her asking, Time for what?
But she remains silent as I drive the car up the gravel driveway, to the wide porch. My heart rate quickens as I imagine all the good times we’re going to have on that porch, my woman curled up in her chair with a book, our children running around and causing beautiful mayhem.
Stepping from the car, I walk around to her side and reach down, taking her hands and guiding her from the car. She squeezes onto me tightly, as though she never wants to let me go, the same way I can’t imagine a world where I’m not with her.
I lead her to the middle of the driveway so that she’ll be able to take in most of the house with one glance. Then I hug her from behind, leaning down to speak in her ear.
“I love you, Lori.”
She gasps and squeezes onto my forearm with both of her hands, digging her fingernails in.
“I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you, at your parents when Jamie’s car broke down. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t, because something magical is happening here. I love you more than I can even understand. I love you so much it hurts, the thought of ever being separated from you. I love you and…”