by K. L. Jessop
Naturally, he still gets hit with depression, but we work through it together. The times he needs the space, I find my escape by going to see Tessa, who is still in the psychiatric unit but who is doing so well that they are in talks about her coming home soon. Our friendship has grown in leap and bounds, and I love having her to talk to. She has come so far in her recovery and has turned into a beautiful young woman.
“Emmet are you staying for food?” I question.
“No, I’m heading off now. I just called in to say to Dex that Tessa was not in the best of moods today.”
I turn to look at him. “Oh no. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, fine. She was just having an off day. Her therapist pushed her a little too hard in her session.”
“I see,” I say on a yawn. “It’s understandable.”
“Right, I’m out of here.” He goes over to Dexter and hugs him, whispering something to him and causing Dexter to look over at me.
Stepping away, Emmet comes over and wraps his arms around me. His embrace is comforting, and I hold him for a moment.
“Thank you for my flowers. They are gorgeous.”
“You’re welcome.” He kisses me on the head and says his final goodbye. As he reaches the door, he shouts back, “Dex, go make love to your girl.”
I laugh just as Dexter’s arms snake around my waist.
“My darling, Blue. It appears I’ve been ignoring you,” he says sarcastically.
I turn in his hold. The warmth of him soothing the anxiety that I’ve carried all day. “Kiss me and everything will be grand.”
And he does. He kisses me with a delicate kiss that has me pulling him closer towards me.
Brushing the hair away from my face with his fingers, he studies me for a second. “You do look tired. I’m sorry I’ve been working you too hard.”
“I’ll be fine. I just need a bath and my slippers.”
“I can run you a bath,” he kisses my neck. “And I can get you your slippers.” He presses his lips against mine before he pulls back. “But first, I need you to come down to the gallery.”
I let out a little moan of frustration, but he grabs my hand instead and pulls me towards the door. “Now? Dexter, I just want to lay on the sofa with you.”
“I want to show you something first. Trust me, it’ll be worth it,” he says as we head down the stairs to the gallery.
Switching on the lights, I gasp as hundreds of fairy lights light up the entire room. Wrapped around the pillars, lines on the floors and nets hanging across the ceiling beams, pretty warm lights fill the space around us along with red and blue helium balloons.
What the…
I’m speechless.
“Dexter… what is this?”
He turns to me, a smile on his face. “Well, with us both working more hours to try and fit around Tess, I wanted to do something that took you away from being my assistant for a while and let you just be my Pepper. So, I thought, we could have time together in our own space with no interruptions.”
I can’t stop smiling. This man never fails to amaze me. “I love it. You did all this for me?”
“I did. And over here, we have macaroons and a little champagne. We just need to finish it off with some music.”
With that, he presses the button to the stereo and the soft voice of Ellie Goulding filters around the gallery. “This is amazing. But you should have said. I would have got changed.”
“You don’t need to change; you are beautiful as you are. Now, let’s drink.”
Taking the champagne bottle, he pops the cork and pours the fizz as I dive into the box of macaroons, looking around the place, still in awe of how romantic he’s made it.
“This really is beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as the woman in front of me. Cheers.”
He hands me a glass.
“What are we toasting to?”
“Love, happiness, family and a good working relationship.”
“I’ll drink to that.” The bubbles tickle my nose as I take just a sip, and place my glass down on the table, I step out into the open space of the gallery and look back at Dexter. “Will you dance with me, Mr Wilson?”
He grins. “Hell yes.”
He takes my hand and twirls me around before bringing me back into his hold, kissing me on the corner of my mouth and gazing at me as we sway to the music. “I love you,” he whispers. “Thank you for making me a happy man.”
“Thank you for being an amazing lover and making me a happy woman.”
“I can’t wait until we are all together again. I’m waiting on Tessa’s discharge date like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Any more details about Clyro’s trial date yet?”
“Emmet reckons in a few weeks. I’ll just be glad when it’s over so we can all finally settle. But for tonight”—he rubs his nose against mine—“we don’t bring that man into our time. We do no family talk. No work talks. Just you and me. Got it?”
No family talk.
From nowhere, the nerves I’ve been trying to contain since I’ve got home race to the surface as I fight to hold back my emotions, but with my hormones having been so up in the air, I can’t help the tears that glaze my eyes.
“Pepper?” Dexter’s voice is laced with concern and I dislike the fact that I’m about to drop a bomb in this night he’s worked hard to prepare for. “Baby, what’s wrong? I thought you wanted time together.”
“I do. It’s not that.”
“Then what? I knew something was off when you came home.”
“Dexter…” I close my eyes and blow out a shaky breath. It’s now or never. “I’m pregnant.”
When I got the news from the doctor earlier that I was expecting, the only concern I’d had was how it would effect Dexter. We, as a couple have been through so much, but our relationship is still so new. We are still learning about each other, and I fear that this will be too much for him.
“Shit…” he whispers. When he steps away, dread covers me. It’s too soon.
He leans against the edge of the desk and cuts the music, the silence telling me he needs to think. I let him have this moment because I’ve had most of the day to try and get my head around it but at the same time, I need to know of his thoughts. The idea of being a parent is both exciting yet daunting and I don’t want to do this alone. But I know of the responsibility it will have for Dexter.
“Say something,” I whisper. “Anything.”
“I was not expecting that.”
“I found out at the doctors today. That’s why I’ve been feeling so tired.”
He rubs his hand over his face before reverting to silence. I look around the room at all the work he’s put in today for us to have this special time and wonder if my news should have waited. Closing my eyes, I brush my tear away. “I’m sorry this is not what you had in mind for us tonight.”
I sense his body close to mine and when his fingers brush over my cheek, my breath catches. His voice soft. “Look at me, Blue.”
When I look at him, his eyes are glassed, and my heart pounds in my chest.
“Are your tears because this is not the news you wanted or in anticipation of my reaction?”
I shake my head, placing my hands on his chest. “I just don’t want it to jeopardise what we have. You’ve come so far.”
“But you want the baby?”
“Yes.” I nod.
“Then how could it jeopardise what we have when you’ve just made what is already amazing even more incredible?” A tear slips down his cheek, joy dancing in his eyes.
“You don’t think it’s too soon?”
“I mean, it’s a shock. A big one. A good one even,” he pauses. “And it’s not going to be easy at times but… we’re strong, right?”
“Of course, we are”
He pulls me closer towards him. “And you’re sure that you’re happy.”
“I mean, I was a little freaked out because we’ve not even talked about being parents. But
after thinking about it, I’m happy. This is what I want and more importantly, I want it with you.”
The exhilaration in his eyes speaks volumes and my lungs fill with so much love.
“I’m going to be a father,” he beams, lifting me up in his arms and spinning me around. “A tiny person is going to be padding around the gallery.”
A low chuckle leaves me and my own excitement that I’ve been hiding along with my concern for the best part of the day covers my body. “With a chance of there being a plus one.”
“What?”
I smile as he places me back down. He’s clearly not done the math here. “You do remember I’m one of a twin, Dexter. A twin. Two babies.”
He studies me for a second and the moment the penny drops, his eyes widen before he throws his head back laughing, shouting yes to the ceiling. It makes my heart burst to hear it, and I giggle along with him.
He kisses my lips before he bends down on one knee to kiss my stomach, murmuring against me. “Hey, babies. This is your daddy. I’m a little grumpy at times but I promise I’m going to try really hard to make everything right. I’m so lucky to have your mummy in my life, and when you meet her you will understand why.”
And that’s all it takes. Tears stream as I look down at him.
“She is strong, beautiful and everything I wasn’t looking for but so glad I’ve found. And I love her very much. But she sure likes to pick her moment because this was not how I expected tonight to go when I planned it. I wanted to knock her off her feet, but she’s done the opposite and knocked me off mine.”
I laugh. “How did you expect tonight to go?”
He looks up at me, reaching into the pocket of his jeans. “Where it ended with a fiancée.”
My breath catches, and before I have a chance to do or say anything an engagement ring that sparkles against the fairy lights comes into view.
“Dexter…” I whisper, holding my hand at my chest completely in shock.
“Pepper Livewell, I love you more than life itself and appreciate you more than you know. You’ve stood by me at my lowest, held me close at my saddest and you love me like no one ever has before. You are my light, my life, my person and my guide that I can’t live without. So, will you do me the honour of becoming my beautiful wife?”
He has no idea that every word he’s just said to me, mirrors exactly how I feel about him. He’s been my rock; he is my best friend and I can’t see a future without him in it.
“I love you more than words can even describe, Dexter Wilson. Of course, I’ll marry you.”
Placing the ring on my finger, he stands and crashes his mouth to mine, lifting me up in his arms as he holds me.
Here in this gallery is where our journey started: our ups and downs, our fights and fallouts. It all happened under this roof at a time where I was searching for something because I’d lost my way in life. Our journey has been an emotional roller coaster, but what I hadn’t expected through all of this was that, after losing a massive part of me in Persie, my heart would gain so much more in return, and it’s all down to Dexter.
He is my purpose.
My reason.
My everything.
The End.
Acknowledgments
My crazy family: There are too many of you to go through, so I’ll just say this. I love you all millions.
Eleanor Lloyd-Jones: I don’t think there goes a day now where we don’t chat to each other. I appreciate and adore both your friendship and professionalism more than you know. Thank you for making me believe in myself (yes, I finally said it) because there have been to many times where I’ve doubted everything even when I know I shouldn’t have. I love you hard!
Brooke O’Brien: Thank you for always putting up with me. MWAH!
Paula Ramsden: Over the past year or so you have become one of my greatest friends. Your love for my stories along with this very book never fails to make me smile. Thank you for being the person I can talk random with and the one that listens to me rant. I can’t wait until we can meet again and have even more fun than we already do.
Louise Roach: I know we have said this once already, but we REALLY need to make time to catch up with drinks, snacks, and conversations about books (naturally). It’s been too long and to many books published since we last had that LOL.
My amazing Beta Readers: Thank you to each one of you for reading and loving my work even when it’s at its rawest.
Najla Qamber: With this story being a little different to what I’d normally write, I knew I’d need to step out of my comforts zone with the cover. Once again I had no doubt that your talent would produce something incredible and make my characters come alive. Everything about the cover just screams Dexter and Pepper so for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Lindee Robinson and the cover models Evan and Katlin: Thank you for this beautiful cover image. As soon as I received the file of the photoshoot I knew that I’d walk away with the perfect image for my characters.
Enticing Journey Book Promotions: Thank you for all your hard work.
To my readers: Your love and continuous support gives me the encouragement I need to keep writing beautiful stories. Without you this wouldn’t be possible. I hope you enjoyed the whirlwind of Dexter and Pepper.
Other books Available
The Promised Series:
The Promise Of December #1
The Promise Of Forever #2
The Spring Rose Bay Series
Found By You #1
Unworthy Of You #2
Saved By You #3
My Kind Of Perfect
Breaking Everly
About the Author
About the Author.
About the Author.Growing up as a child, writing was never my course of direction as I disliked everything about it due to being dyslexic. However, over time I got back into reading/writing and fell in love with adult romances.
I live England just outside the city of Plymouth and on the edge of Dartmoor where the moorland goes on for days. It's beautiful, breath-taking and occasionally rather wet.
I have a love/hate relationship with chocolate and my mum makes the best cupcakes EVER! I’m a sucker for a heart fluttering romance and can't help but go weak at the knees for a guy with a five o'clock shadow. ;-)
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