Letting Go (Thatch 1)

He stepped out as I got closer, and rounded the hood to pull me into his arms. “How’d it go?”

“Good, I think. I gave her a lot to think about.”

“You think she’ll be okay?”

“I do.” Pressing my mouth to his, I leaned back and tightened my arms around him. “And she’ll let us know when she is.”

“All right.” He glanced up at the house and took a deep breath; then he nodded and repeated, “All right. Let’s go home.”

Epilogue

Grey

December 24, 2015

MY FOREHEAD PINCHED together and I looked back into the bathroom I’d just walked out of before glancing at the empty bed again. I’d only been in there for a max of twenty minutes as I took a shower and got ready for bed; and when I’d gone in, I’d left a sleeping Jagger.

Making sure to make my steps as silent as possible on the stairs, I walked down to the first floor and rounded the walls of the room we’d added on to the warehouse about six months ago. I loved this room. It was large and broke up the space of the warehouse perfectly, all while hiding the stairs leading up to our loft.

I opened the door to the room and rested my body against the door frame as my chest warmed and a smile crossed my face. This was the best part of the room. It held our three-month-old daughter, Aly, and currently a sleeping husband on the chair with our sleeping daughter on his chest.

Stepping into the room, I brushed my hand against Jagger’s shoulder and carefully took Aly from him. Breathing her scent, I held her close for a few minutes before putting her back in her crib. I turned around to my half-awake husband and held my hand out to help him get out of the chair.

“She started crying,” he mumbled as he pulled the door until it was barely cracked open and followed me toward the stairs.

“I figured, since when I left you, you were out.”

“Liar.”

I looked over my shoulder at him and lifted one eyebrow. “You sure about that? You fell asleep midconversation.”

“No, I—” His barely open eyes glared up at me, then he nodded and put his hands on my waist to push me up the stairs. “Maybe.”

“Yeah,” I whispered on a laugh. “Maybe.”

Putting my hands over his, I gripped them tightly when we reached the loft and he released my waist, and led him to the bed. He crawled in after me and automatically wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. Sliding one of his legs between mine, he tightened his arms and kissed the back of my neck before murmuring something about crying babies and needing to make bottles of milk for all of them because there was a breast-milk shortage in the world.

I bit back a laugh and sighed as I got comfortable in his arms, wondering how much of everything he’d done over the last twenty-five minutes had been done while he was actually conscious. Hazards that came from having a toddler and infant in the house.

Jagger and I had found out I was pregnant a month after Charlie told us everything about her and Ben’s short time together, and the reactions from everyone had been mixed, to say the least. After getting over the initial shock, Jagger and I were beyond excited. We hadn’t been using protection anyway, so it was something we both knew could happen; and just like with everything else that had happened in our lives since we finally got together, it didn’t seem rushed. It was perfect—nothing else could describe the pace at which our lives were going.

Charlie had taken it hard at first because she had still been at a point where she was starting to openly grieve what had happened to Ben, and because she had never been able to be excited about having Keith. But ultimately she’d been happy for us, and after a few months had wanted to be involved with everything even when she was away at school.

Graham had glared at Jagger every time he saw him for a solid three months until we’d gotten married, and then refused to acknowledge that the baby I was carrying was mine and Jagger’s for a few more months—chalking it up to my somehow managing to get pregnant all by myself. Whatever. He didn’t attempt to kill Jagger, so whatever ridiculousness he came up with had been fine by me.

My mom continued to ask if we were using protection even after she found out that she was going to be a grandma, and still gets a little flustered whenever she sees Jagger. It’s weird and somewhat disturbing, but Jagger and I have just learned to roll our eyes and ignore her. Dad on the other hand was a little bit harder to get through to. After already having tried to prevent my moving in with Jagger, he was livid that we’d gotten pregnant before we were married. He was still my loving dad, and was as nice to Jagger as he’d always been, but it wasn’t until Aly was born that he finally broke down and was excited about her.

We hadn’t seen Jagger’s mom in a year—actually, no one had seen her in almost a year—so she didn’t even know about Aly. Charlie and Keith had moved in with us once Charlie realized her mom wasn’t coming back, and had started going to a school only a couple hours away this past fall. Now that it was winter break, she was with us and staying in the back room with Keith. A few months after Charlie and Keith moved in, we found the rest of their belongings in front of the warehouse door. Jagger’s mom had cleared out the house and moved away with her latest husband, Robby. No one knew if they were actually still married or not, but we all doubted she would return to Thatch even if they divorced, since she knew she wasn’t well liked around here.

Since she’d more or less abandoned Keith, and Jagger and Charlie could prove that she wasn’t a fit mother, Jagger and I began the process of getting legal custody of Keith. It was easier for us since we were older than Charlie, had money coming in, and had been about to get married—and the agreement stated we would raise him until Charlie was done with school and financially capable of taking him. It was crazy becoming parents to a toddler and infant all within a year, but we’d learned quickly what we needed to know, and now things were better than ever.

Things were great here. Our lives weren’t perfect. We had our moments, but it was as close to perfect as anyone could get. I was married to my best friend, my protector, and the love of my life . . . and I couldn’t be happier. I had just started back at The Brew after taking time off for Aly, and Jagger was still selling his drawings to his guy in Seattle—which gave us an excuse to see Janie every few months. Keith was a riot and had quickly captured both our hearts, and Aly was the most precious baby. Even when she was screaming her head off, it was impossible not to be completely enraptured by our little girl. And we still visited Ben’s grave every now and then just to give him an update on everyone—including Charlie.

Like I said: not perfect, but as close to perfect as we could be.

Hands tightened against me for a second, then Jagger mumbled against the back of my neck, “Grey?”

“Yeah?”