“Oh, sweetheart, of course, I will.” Her eyes fluttered up to mine as my heart skipped. “I love you, Cameron. I don’t know when it happened, and I don’t know why it happened, but I love you. And I want to raise this child with you. I don’t want to leave your side, and I don’t want to leave your daughter. I want to stay. I want to be with you.”
I leaned over and captured her lips as her hand came up to cup my cheek. Those words. I had wanted to hear them the second she told me she was pregnant in that sub shop. I leaned into her, feeling her pouty lip swell at the contact. My heart soared. My life felt complete. The threat was gone, my daughter and I could live a normal life, and Heather and our child wouldn’t have to live out their lives in fear.
I pulled back and looked into her eyes as Audrey snuggled underneath my arm.
“Come here, you,” I said.
I pulled Audrey into my chest and tickled her, relishing the sounds of her giggle. Heather threw her head back and laughed as her legs parted to accommodate my thrashing child. She got in on the action, tickling her neck while I tickled Audrey’s stomach.
When Audrey was gasping for breath and begging us to stop, she lay there with her head on Heather’s stomach.
“I can hear him,” she said.
“She thinks it’s a boy,” I said.
Heather rolled her eyes as a smile crossed her cheeks.
“And if it is a boy, I’d like to put my bid in for a name,” I said.
“Oh, we’re already starting with that?” Heather asked.
“We’re safe. Everything’s fine, which means, yes. We can enjoy this pregnancy,” I said.
Her eyes sparkled with the morning sun as it poured through the window of her hospital room.
“Okay,” she said. “Then what’s your bid for a boy’s name?”
“Luke,” I said.
“Luke?”
“My brother’s name.”
I watched her brow furrow as her hand raised to cup my cheek.
“Would you be all right with that?” I cupped my hand over hers.
&n
bsp; “I think it’s a beautiful idea.”
“What if it’s a girl?” Audrey asked.
“Don’t jinx it,” I said with a wink.
“I don’t know,” Heather said. “I’m kind of partial to Mackenzie.”
“Mackenzie Leigh,” I said.
Heather’s smile grew on her face as I brought her palm to my lips to kiss.
“Luke Alden if it’s a boy, and Mackenzie Leigh if it’s a girl,” Heather said.
“I like it,” Audrey said.
“Me too,” I said as I gazed into the eyes of the woman I loved. “Me too.”
CHAPTER 34