Every Saturday Night (Firsts and Forever 6)

He grinned, too. “We’re figuring it out, in our own awkward, slow-motion way. Well, unless you’re about to dump me for keeping things from you.”

“No, I’m definitely not dumping you. I need to know though, is there more you’re not telling me? For example, is Ana-Sophia’s daughter your secret love child?”

He burst out laughing and exclaimed, “No! Why would you say that?”

“Because you’ve never wanted me to meet your best friend, and that’s kind of weird.”

“I bought Ana her diner and I’m paying for her daughter’s education—not because she’s mine, but because they both mean a lot to me. So, they obviously know I have money, and there was no way either of them would have kept quiet about it if you’d met them. In fact, they were furious when they found out I hadn’t told you the whole truth about me.”

“They’re smart women, and I like them already.”

“Well, now that everything’s out in the open, I’d be happy to introduce you.”

I remembered something just then and exclaimed, “Damn it, Lucky! You sent yourself a text!”

“What are you talking about?”

“The day of the wedding, after the power went out. You offered my friends your house for the wedding ceremony, and then you sat down in my foyer and pretended to message your landlord.”

“I felt ridiculous, but I didn’t know what else to do. You insisted it’d be bad manners to just invade this fictitious guy’s home without asking permission, and it really wasn’t the time to drop this bombshell on you. The focus needed to be on the brides and their wedding.”

I asked, “So, who’d you text?”

“Nobody. I just checked the power company’s website to see if there was any news about the outage.”

“And who was the friend you messaged right before that to find out if the power was on in your neighborhood?”

“That would be Nina, my housekeeper.” When I sighed, he grinned and said, “It was probably a good thing your friends turned down my offer. Nina’s honest to a fault and really wouldn’t have been thrilled about the charade of pretending it wasn’t my house.”

“I like her already, too.”

The front door opened just then, and Kel called, “Who’s hungry? We just intercepted the delivery guy on the front porch, and it looks like someone went nuts with the pizza order.” He came into the living room flanked by Noah and Hudson, who were carrying three large pizza boxes each. Then he exclaimed, “Lucky, what a surprise! I almost didn’t recognize you in that sharp suit. What are you doing here?”

“Saving Owen and me,” I said, as I took my boyfriend’s hand.

A moment later, Yolanda stepped through the front door and announced, “Things were crazy at the hospital, but I’m finally home. I need to get a quick shower, so go ahead and start dinner without me.” She circled around Kel’s huge men and smiled as she said, “Hi there, Lucky. I’m glad the family’s all together, so we can figure out how to help our boys.”

He squeezed my hand as he said, “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

“Come on,” I told him. “Let’s go say hi to Owen and eat some dinner.”

As soon as we set foot on the patio, my son shrieked with delight and ran to Lucky, who scooped him up and swung him around as he exclaimed, “Hi, buddy! Good to see you!”

He exchanged greetings with the rest of the family as he carefully put Owen in his high chair, and then he asked me what he could give the toddler for dinner. After I signed off on a few things, Lucky took off his suit jacket and rolled back his sleeves, and then he went to work meticulously cutting the food into bite-size pieces.

Meanwhile, I took a seat and watched him. He’d been right when he said he was the same man I’d always known. In fact, I knew exactly who Lucky was—a wonderful person who truly cared about me, and about my son. He showed it in a million ways, through tiny acts of kindness and huge grand gestures.

It obviously mattered that he’d been keeping a secret from me, and it was going to take some time to fully move past it. But I understood why he’d done it. If he’d told me early on that he was wealthy, he was right that I probably would have made assumptions. I might have assumed we were way too different to ever make this work—and I would have been wrong about that. I also understood that the longer he went without saying anything, the weirder and more awkward it became to try to bring it up.

But this was just a bump in the road. Nothing more. We were way too strong and solid for anything to derail us.

* * *

After dinner and some playtime with Owen, I put the baby to bed and we all gathered for a strategy meeting. I was still worried and nervous, and that really wasn’t going to change until this was resolved once and for all.

But I had such amazing, unwavering support in my corner that it wasn’t nearly as scary as it could have been. It wasn’t just me versus the Wilsons, not by a long shot. Lucky and my family had my back, and that made all the difference.

Later that night, after everyone was asleep, my boyfriend and I nestled together in bed. He was pressed to my back with an arm around me, and it felt so good. “I know I’ve said this a bunch tonight,” I whispered, “but I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me, too.” After a pause, he asked, “Are we okay, Logan?”

I didn’t have to think about it. I took his hand in mine and held it to my chest as I whispered, “Absolutely.”