by Aly Martinez
I stand on my tiptoes again to give him another kiss. “Good. Then lead the way home.”
“Lace, you are my home. You have been since that first morning in the barn.” He leans forward, placing a gentle but heated kiss to my mouth. Finally, I have the answer I’ve always questioned. It’s good to know that Mason felt the connection too.
THE NEXT MORNING, MASON went to talk to Hunter, but all he found was a half-empty apartment. Apparently Hunter took our ‘breakup’ harder than any of us expected. Two days later, he sent Mason a heartbreaking text.
I love you both, but I can’t be there right now. I’m staying with a friend in Savannah for a while. I just need some distance, but you’ll always be my family.
Mason responded, but we didn’t hear another word from Hunter. Mason broke down and tried to call him only to find that his number had been changed. It almost destroyed him not having Hunter around, but we leaned on each other as we made the transition from three to two.
Mason took a full-time job at the university as the head trainer for the equestrian team. And a week after he got that text from Hunter, he moved out of the barn. We spent a lot of time at Mason’s new apartment, which later became our apartment. While he never asked me to move in with him, one day I came home to find all of my belongings in his closet. I wanted to be annoyed, but the shrug and smirk he gave me erased it all.
Not everything has changed since our days back at the barn. My sister is still a bitch, and while my parents do speak to me now, it’s just not the same. Every night, Midnight Mason makes an appearance as we lie in bed together. The only difference is that he’s also there when we wake up in the morning. Actually, he’s there all the time now.
Mason and I never used a condom again after that night outside the bar, and we made it three whole years before we had an ‘accident.’ The night I told Mason I was pregnant, I fully expected him to freak out. He stood staring at me for a few minutes before he busted out laughing. He walked into the bedroom and came back carrying a tiny black velvet box. Two months later, I married Mason in a small outside wedding with Hunter standing at his side.
Sophie Ann Wynn might not have been planned, but she definitely wasn’t an accident. She is easily the best thing that ever happened to us. There was no doubt that Mason would be a good father, but surprisingly enough, I think I make a pretty good mom too.
If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that things rarely happen the way you expect them to. But that doesn’t mean they don’t happen the way they are supposed to. I always thought I needed two guys to make me happy, but the truth is that I just needed one exceptional man to truly savor me.
Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Aly Martinez is a stay-at-home mom to four crazy kids under the age of five, including a set of twins. Currently living in Chicago, she passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a glass of wine at her side.
After some encouragement from her friends, Aly decided to add “Author” to her ever-growing list of job titles. So grab a glass of Chardonnay, or a bottle if you’re hanging out with Aly, and join her aboard the crazy train she calls life.
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