“You saw me do all of that?”
“Babe, I might have almost failed out of college, but I was fucking observant when it came to you.”
“Just me?” I ask curiously.
“Just you.”
I lean up on my toes and wrap my arms around his neck before I let him continue.
“Go on.”
“Are you sure that you’re okay with this?”
“I’m fine. Are you?”
“All good. All right, so, when we were finally alone later that evening, I asked her what the hell just happened, and she told me that she was told that you died right after birth.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I was fucking fuming, so I left Chloe and went and sought her out . . . your mother. I quite literally forced her to take a seat and tell me exactly what was going on.”
“And that’s when you heard the story? The one that my grandmother made into a nursery rhyme when I was a little girl?”
“Yeah.”
Both of us still for a moment as I try to recall the opening lines of it.
“It was something like ‘Souls alike yet plucked away, two children not meant together to stay. A girl with a smile, one with a frown. A world upright, and one upside down,’ but I’m not sure if I can remember the rest of it.”
He chuckles and kisses the top of my wet head. “That’s kind of fucked up. Did you ever find out what happened?”
“Yes. My grandmother had left a letter with her lawyers for when she passed.”
“And?”
I blow out a weighted breath because I’ve not shared this with anyone before. “And she told me everything that was kept from me. Both of our mothers were complete fuck-ups, Liam.”
“Tell me what it said, doll.”
“Well, what it comes down to is simple, really. She chose to follow a man instead of taking care of her children. He told her that it was him or the girls, and she somehow managed to bribe him into allowing her to take one of us with her. She took Chloe, obviously, because I was sick at the time and the doctors said that I wouldn’t make it. So she left me with my grandmother and went on with her life. She disappeared and never looked back. It also said that Chloe had passed away days after our separation, but it’s because of you that I know it’s not the truth.”
“That’s beyond fucked up.”
“Tell me about it,” I say with an eye roll and bite his jaw. “Enough with the heavy, though, okay?”
“All right, but answer me one more question.”
“Shoot.”
“If life was different, and you were able to meet your twin sister, would you have still married me if, for example, I dated but didn’t become engaged to her?”
“Without a doubt, Jensen. Who knows? You could have turned out to be her in-the-moment man, but you’re my happily ever after. That little college crush held more steam behind it than either of us knew.”
“Apparently so. Thank you,” he says as he kisses my wet collarbone before looking back up into my eyes. “Let me finish up in here, and we’ll head to our place.”
“All right.”
I slip out of his wet grip and leave the confines of the shower to get ready to quite literally see my future.
We pull up to the house in Liam’s Maserati, and I have to remind myself that this is ours. This is our life now. Fuck pixie dust and fairy tales. This castle deserves a princess, but I’m the best that it’ll get.
“What do you think?” he asks as he shuts off the engine that seems to make me weak in the knees.
“It’s gorgeous. Holy shit, I can’t believe that this is it. I mean, all of this was your design, right?”
“A large majority of it was, yeah. I wanted to keep it as close to the house in Sydney as possible. I’ve missed the ocean views and all of the natural light, so I had to make sure that we would be able to see the lake as much as possible.”
“Won’t it get cold in the winter with all of those windows?”
“No, they’re all custom-made thermals.”
“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”
“Barely. Come on, I want to show you inside, and I need you to pick out some furniture as well. We can bring your stuff over, of course, but we need to fill a few more rooms.”
“You just want my bed, you fiend.”
“I do. It’s the most comfortable shit that I’ve ever slept on.”
I giggle and lay a soft kiss on his cheek before getting out of the vehicle and meeting him in front of it. He laces his fingers with mine and hands me one of the three house keys that he’s holding before leading me up the stairs to the front door of our home.
“Open her up.”
I insert the key into the hole and turn it; feeling the lock disengage, I push the door open and gasp at what’s in front of me.
He leans down and whispers in my ear, “Welcome home, Mrs. Jensen.”
Before I understand what’s going on, he lifts me up effortlessly and steps over the threshold and into our place.
I look around as he carries me through the open floor plan. There are large canvas paintings hanging from the wall at the far end of the living room, and God, it’s immaculate. The dark floors beneath us add a kind of depth to the room that I’m suddenly in love with.
I cannot believe that we’re going to live here. Together. I cup his strong jaw and wait for him to look down at me. When he does, he lowers my body and sets me down on my feet without saying a word.
“It’s stunning, Liam.”
“You think so?”
“Without a doubt.”
I turn around in a slow circle, taking in as much of it as I can. He’s taken our new home, the one that he helped design, and turned it into much more than just a space to live. He’s left his mark on every wall, corner, and surface. The house doesn’t just express who he is as a person: it embodies him. He’s captured me as well, and it’s dauntingly beautiful. He’s stayed with my color scheme of white, gray, and black with splashes of shades of red throughout.
Perhaps I had to live through all of that shit to be able to come back here and truly appreciate what I have in life. To see the beauty in everyday wonders rather than searching for it in places that won’t ever transform into more. Instead of waiting for my happily ever after, I’ve been actively seeking it out.
Through all of the years, I realize that each road I took led me to Liam, and the moment I finally followed it instead of taking a detour, I started living.
We walk through the entirety of the house together. I’ve counted a total of six bedrooms and eight bathrooms throughout. My favorite room though is the only vacant one in the house.
He leads me into the vast, empty nursery before letting go of my hand and taking a step back from me as he looks around the large open space.
“I can see you in here. Seated over there by the window,” he says softly, gesturing to the corner with an incredible view of the lake. “I can see you holding her in your arms.” His eyes close as if he imagines it. “She’ll look just like you, and I’ll be able to come home to you and her every day of my life.”
“Liam.”
“Isla,” he says my name in a whisper, and it’s like he’s calling for me.
I run into his muscular arms because I hate the couple of feet that distances us from one another. He catches me and lifts me up so that I’m able to lock myself around him completely.
“You’re everything,” I confess.
“You think so?”
“Definitely.”
It is demented how time stretches and contracts depending on what’s happening in life. The two weeks that it took me to find Isla and get her away from the sick fuck who took her felt like the slowest and fastest grouping of days ever.
The weeks that have passed since finding her have flown by and have been filled with an addictive amount of sex. If this little vixen wasn’t already pregnant, then I’m sure she would have been after the number of times I’ve been consumed b
y that pussy.
As I finish up on my current project, I hear her arrive home as I run the wet paintbrush against the drywall once more to cover up the stark white color. I glance up from my position on the nursery room floor when she walks in holding two handfuls of shopping bags and looking guilty as hell. I throw a questioning glance at her, and she bites at the corner of her lip before speaking.
“In my defense, I was left unsupervised.”
I set the paintbrush down and close the can of cream-colored paint before I wipe off my hands and get to my feet.
“Yeah? What did you get?” I cross the empty room to get to her and wind my arms around her midsection, holding her against my shirtless torso.
“I . . . uhm.”
“You . . . ?”
She swallows hard as I move my lips to her neck and nip at her earlobe.
“I wanted to be prepared once we came back from the sixteen-week appointment today.”
“And what happens at this appointment?”
“You . . . uhm,” I can feel the muscles in her neck work to swallow as I lay my lips against her skin. “You . . . Oh God. Liam.”
“Isla,” I breathe out against her as she drops the bags of baby stuff onto the floor to wrap her arms around my neck. I lean into her and brush my lips against hers in a tease of demanding passion.
“Please?”
“Right here?”
She runs her hands down the column of my neck, over my shoulders and to my chest as I prolong the moment before kissing her.
“Anywhere.”
“Are you sure?”
“Definitely.”
“Then allow me to take you on your honeymoon.”
My statement seems to catch her off guard because she pulls back and scowls at me. “I’ve told you that I don’t feel comfortable with traveling yet, Liam.”
Here we go again.
“What if I take you somewhere that you’ve already been?”
She stares up at me as I lean my forehead against hers.
“I mean, I suppose that wouldn’t hurt.”
She’s compromising?
“It won’t. I know that you’re scared to leave again. I understand why and all of your reasoning behind it, but don’t overanalyze this, doll. Let it be, and let’s go have some sex on the beach before I change my mind on taking you where I plan on taking you.”
“Where are we going, Jensen?”
“Hmm, would you really like to know?”
She smacks my chest, and I lean toward her to steal a kiss from her harlot-red lips.
“All right. I was thinking about heading down to Sydney. We can spend as long as you’d like back at the house down under.”
“You’d want to do that?”
“I would. Plus, I forgot my guitar there. I need to grab it if I plan on playing for that little squirt inside you.”
“Yes,” she squeals and hugs me harder.
“Good. Now, get your shit together, or we’re going to be late to another doctor’s appointment.”
That earns me a smack to my chest again. “Liam, it’s not my fault that I needed to have you make me come in the parking lot before we went in.”
“Of course not, doll.” I wink and pinch her ass before moving my hands around to her stomach. She started showing around thirteen weeks. We just woke up one day and instead of her flat stomach, her midsection grew with our child. She places her hands over mine and beams down at me.
“Are you ready to find out what we’re having?” she asks eagerly.
“I have already told you that it’s going to be a girl.”
“You’re absurd. Are you ready to go?”
“I am.” I let go of her to grab my shirt off of the side of the ladder that I was using earlier and watch as she walks in front of me.
Fuck, I’ve loved watching her unfold and become the woman she was before she was pulled into the depths of slavery. She’s thriving lately and unquestionably glowing despite her vulnerability. I cannot control what I feel for her when she smiles at me as she is right now from over her shoulder.
She lights something up inside of me that I’d like to think has always been present, but I chose not to acknowledge it. Now, though, it’s all I can fucking think about. There’s no controlling these damn emotions around her.
Once we’re shown back into an examination room, she strips down in front of me, and I have to say my grandmother’s name on repeat again, so I don’t get a damn woody before her doctor walks in.
It’s highly unsuccessful.
She hops up onto the table but halts her movements when she sees my cock struggling against my jeans.
“If you bring that joystick over here, we’ll definitely get kicked out today.”
I take a step back and give her my most innocent grin. “We don’t have time for that if you want to find out what we’re having and make it to the Cubs game on time.”
She grumbles to herself as she lies down and pulls the paper blanket over her lower half just as there’s a knock on the door. It swings open, and her doctor and a nurse walk in to greet us.
“Welcome back, Mrs. Jensen. Are we ready to find out what the gender is?”
“More than ever. I’ll even bet Liam over there that it’s a boy.”
“Oh yeah?” I say. “What are you wagering?”
“If it’s a boy then we get to stay home for our honeymoon. If it’s a girl, then we’ll travel to Sydney for as long as you want and do whatever you want.”
I chuckle and step closer to her to take her hand as the doctor moves the sheet out of the way and applies a good amount of gel to her raised stomach.
“Deal?” she asks.
“You’re going to lose this one, but deal.”
We each watch the monitor as the picture comes to life on the screen. The three-dimensional image is sepia in tone, and I’m almost brought to my knees at the small human being in front of me.
Isla squeezes my hand as the doctor moves the wand around to get a better angle.
“Well?” Isla asks impatiently.
The doctor looks up and smiles at us before speaking. “Mr. and Mrs. Jensen, I’m delighted to tell you that you’ll both be traveling to Sydney for your honeymoon. You’re having a little girl.”
“What?” Isla squeals and almost jumps up from the bed as the tears brim around her eyes. “A girl? We’re having a girl? Liam . . . she’s . . . are you sure? It’s a girl?”
I chuckle and lean in to kiss her slowly. “I hate to say that I told you so, but I told you so, baby doll.”
“I don’t even care,” she cries and reaches up to wrap her arms around my neck. “We’re having a girl,” she exhales.
“We are. You and me, babe.”
“Always,” she counters.
The remainder of the appointment passes effortlessly as we listen to her heart beat and I try to convince Isla that our little girl won’t leave my sight until she’s fucking forty.
The shadows that once tied me down in a captive fog have died out. With the help of Liam and a therapist, I’ve managed to stay off the depression and anxiety medication. Sure, I still have way too much emotion to handle at times and being pregnant doesn’t help that for a second, but I’m pulling through.
I’m merely glad that the poison that once filled my veins with venom is no longer in sight. My body is no longer just a heart beating warm blood through my veins. It’s filled with so much more logical hope and tangible love. Liam has helped me through the impenetrable darkness since day one, and he’s finally brought me up and into the beams of light.
I’m not a defective person. I’m not the darkness that lived inside of me. I’m not the nagging, clawing, mind-numbing disease. I’m simply myself. I run my fingers over the pink Chicago Cubs onesie that Liam and I bought before the game yesterday and smile to myself.
This little girl is going to become the definition of spoiled. I haven’t even met her yet, but she makes me feel complete. I might have been terrified of he
r when I first found out about the pregnancy, but I believe that she was the final piece in my armor to shut out the murky darkness. For her, I’ll do more than survive. I’ll live.
I’m currently seated in one of the wingbacks in Blended when Eden walks up to me. “Hey, I thought that Liam was coming by?”
I check my watch and shrug. “I’m sure that he’ll be here soon. He was insisting on meeting here before we head out to lunch, though. Maybe he just wants some whiskey before we leave.”
“I’m sure that he’ll be here soon. Do you need anything?”
“Just a glass of water will be great, thanks.”
“Sure thing, then you better show me that new ultrasound that you got yesterday. I cannot wait to see her little face.”
“How did you know the gender?”
She pauses as she’s about to step away from me. “Uhh. Lucky guess?”
“Liam?” I ask, and she regretfully nods her head. “The bastard.”
She laughs before walking away, shaking her head.
By the time Liam walks into Blended, Wade is here as well, and we’re deep in conversation about when to have the next member’s social.
“Hey doll,” Liam says as he rounds my seat and kisses me on the cheek. “How’s it going, Brass?”
“It’s going well. Your wife here was just telling me how much of a fucking ass you are.”
“Was not,” I counter and reach out to take Liam’s hand. “What took you so long?”
“Do you really want to know?
“Of course I do.”
Wade excuses himself with a smile on his pretty mug before he walks over to where Hadley is seated reading a paperback with her legs drawn up to her chest. She beams up at him when he approaches her and makes room for him on the couch that she’s occupying before leaning into him and taking his whiskey tumbler.
I look away then because it just seems too personal to watch.
“Doll?”
“Hmm? Sorry, I got distracted.”
“I noticed.” He pulls something out of the small bag that he was carrying and hands it to me. “This is why I was late.”
Intertwined (Redemption #2) Page 31