“No, I don’t. I’m going to go now. You didn’t support me with Daniel, and I know you won’t support me with him.”
Leanne’s words echoed through her mind as she put the phone down.
That felt good.
Her parents had hurt her one too many times. Their power over her was gone. She wasn’t going to allow them to treat her like that, not now, not ever.
Evelyn didn’t need a family that didn’t care, or love, or support her.
Wolf captured her face and slammed his lips down on hers. She wrapped her arms around him, not holding back, wanting him, craving him, desperate and hungry for him.
“Did you mean it?” he asked, breaking the kiss.
“Yes.” Her lips were slightly swollen. She laughed. “I’m in love with you, Wolf. It terrifies me, but I love you so much. I know you don’t love me.”
“You don’t know nothing,” he said, growling.
He kissed her hard and fast. “I fucking love you. I crave you. I’ve been trying to find so many reasons to keep you.” He put his hand to her stomach. “I’ve been trying to make you pregnant for weeks to keep you.”
Rain put a hand to his cheek. “All you had to do was tell me that you loved me,” she said.
“I know Evelyn wants me to be her father, Rain, and I will be the best dad for her, but I know you’d want her to know Daniel, the good in him, and I’ll make sure that happens. You have my word.”
Rain held him tightly to her, pressing her head against his. Tears spilled from her cheeks, and they were full of joy and happiness. This was better than anything she could have hoped for.
Wolf kissed her hard as the door to his office was knocked. He groaned, breaking the kiss to demand whoever it was to come in.
It was Evelyn. She’d snuck off away from Leanne to find them.
Running into the room, she threw her arms around Wolf’s neck, and he picked her up.
Rain felt complete.
She didn’t know if Daniel still wished for her to find happiness, but it didn’t matter now, because she’d found it.
It was wrapped in one scary package, not perfect in any way, but so right for her.
Epilogue
Five years later
Wolf pointed his fingers at Evelyn, then at his eyes, before returning them to her.
“I get it. No jumping out of trees. You’re so boring, Dad,” Evelyn said.
“Your mother nearly pitched a fit.”
“It was the guys at school. They said no girl could climb a tree and jump out of it. I proved them wrong.”
“Yeah, and you’ve got a broken leg to prove it. The best thing you could have done was kick them in the balls,” Wolf said.
Evelyn burst out laughing.
“Night,” he said.
“Night, Dad. Love you.”
He never got tired of hearing her say that. It was the sweetest magic to his ears. So loving and tender, and it made him smile.
Turning off the light, he saw Daniel’s smiling face beside his daughter’s bed. It had taken him a little time to convince a five-year-old Evelyn, to give her dad a chance. He had kept to his word. He tried to be the best damn father to her while keeping Daniel’s memory alive.
It was the best he could do.
Moving down the hall, he looked in on his twins, Marcus and Emily. They were three years old, and the tiniest little terrors he’d ever known. Of course, the staff adored them. He fucking loved them, even if for a short time he’d hated them for the pain they caused their mother.
Rain told him that her feelings would change the moment she had them on her chest in the delivery room. She’d been right. From screaming in agony to soothing sounds of love. He’d felt it as well.
After closing the door, he made his way to his bedroom, where his very pregnant wife, paced the room. She was four months along, and this time, they only had one baby in there. The twins had been a bit of a nightmare.
“You’re going to wear out the carpet doing that.”
“What was she thinking?” Rain asked. “I do not get that girl. She is a menace.”
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. “I seem to recall you telling me that you were a tomboy, in all the trees, doing everything you could to prove that you were just as good as any boy.”
“That … doesn’t count.”
He chuckled, pressing his face against her neck. “It counts, baby, and you know it.” He put his hands on her stomach. “You should be resting.”
Rain leaned against him. “I feel fine.”
“Have I told you today that I love you?” he asked.
“Yes, but I don’t mind hearing it again, and again.”
He groaned. “I love you more than life itself.” Hearing Rain tell her parents that she loved him had been a fucking dream. He would never forget her saying those words, and when she finally opened her eyes, he’d known they were true.