Down the Aisle

by Christine Bell

  She slid away, and he led her back through the grotto pool and onto the lanai where he wrapped her in a fluffy white towel.

  “Wait here.”

  She sat on one of the cushioned chairs, soaking in the warmth of the sun and the scent of the hibiscus flowers.

  She was so relieved that, even after her flip out, they were okay. Maybe it was better to just leave it at that, skip all the horrible ups and downs, and just get off the roller coaster for a while. Every day the phone didn’t ring, she felt a little more hopeless. Maybe it was time to just focus on her and Galen, and some day, if they were meant to be parents, it would happen on its own.

  Galen came out onto the lanai with a box in his hand. His half-naked body rendered her speechless for a second. Thick-cut muscles covered long, loose limbs, and he looked like a frigging statue. No matter how many times she’d seen him, no matter how many times she’d touched, kissed, bit, or licked him, she’d never get used to it.

  She flopped back against the chair and sighed.

  “I want to talk to you about something.” He pulled a chair up close to hers.

  His tone was so solemn she instantly stiffened. “It sounds serious.”

  “It is,” he said with a nod. His jaw was tense, and she wondered if maybe he’d been thinking the same thing she had. Taking some time away from starting a family? The thought made her inexplicably sad.

  “I did something. Without talking to you. If it was a mistake, I apologize, but I want you to know I had you on my mind the whole time.”

  Lacey drew back like she’d been slapped, and a chunk of ice wedged its way into her chest. Why did that sound like a betrayal? “Y-you didn’t cheat on me, did you?” she whispered, shock and denial warring for center stage.

  His eyes widened, and he shook his head furiously. “Jesus, no. I would never do that, Lace. No.” He ran an exasperated hand through his hair. “I keep screwing things up and saying things wrong lately. It’s not that, though. Never that.” He slid on the shorts and sat on the floor next to her.

  The ice started to dissolve, but her whole body was still tense, on high alert.

  “What, then?”

  He held out the wrapped box. The happy peach- and green-striped paper didn’t seem like it carried bad news, and she stared at it. “What’s that?” she asked slowly, confusion clouding her already overloaded brain. They needed to have a serious talk, and he was giving her a present?

  “I want you to open it first.”

  She wrapped the towel more tightly around her body and took the rectangular package from his hands. It was heavier than she expected, and she resisted the urge to shake it. Usually, when he gave her a gift, she weighed it, turned it this way and that, and tried to guess the contents. It drove him nuts. But not this time. His heart was all over his face, and she knew whatever it was, it was no time for teasing.

  She tore the paper away and crumpled it into a ball before looking down at a plain brown box.

  “Go ahead,” he urged.

  Why did she get the feeling that, once she lifted the lid, everything was going to change? She hesitated, and felt his body stiffen. Like a Band-Aid, she counseled herself silently, and yanked the top off the box.

  A photo album sat inside, a picture of the two of them behind a plastic sleeve right on the leather cover. Okay, so that wasn’t so bad. It was actually really sweet and—

  “Take it out and open it.”

  She pulled the album out and set it on her lap. The first few pages were loaded with pictures of them as kids. Cat was in some of them; some were of them in school plays or on Thomas family vacations. The later ones were of her and Galen. Their first day as a live-in couple, pictures from their last visit to Puerto Rico. It was a history of them. She was already welling up when she turned to the last page, blown away by the thoughtfulness of his gift. There, a photo of a baby stared back at her. She squinted hard, trying to determine who that was. Not her. She’d never had black hair like that. And her cheeks had never been so round and perfect. Not him either. At about three months old, the face was already too feminine to be a boy. Who then?

  “I don’t—”

  “That’s Melina,” he said softly. “Katya’s baby.”

  Emotions swamped her, and she reached a shaking finger out to trace her face. She’d wondered—for the past few months, she’d so wanted to know what the baby that had almost been theirs looked like. And here she was. So beautiful, so perfect, it was like the wound was torn open all over again. Tears clogged her throat, and she shook her head furiously. “I know you thought this would be nice, so we could at least see her, but I can’t—”

  “She’s ours, Lace.”

  The words battered at her broken heart, but she couldn’t process them. “She’s not. Katya changed her mind and—”

  “They called a new agency three weeks ago to start the process again and asked for us by name. Apparently her boyfriend is back in jail, and Katya wants to move back to Budapest to marry her high school sweetheart. She doesn’t want to take the baby with her. I didn’t want to tell you until it was a sure thing. I couldn’t put you through that. But I got the call this morning. It’s a done deal. If we still want her, she’s ours. We can get her on Friday.” His strong throat worked, and he paused. “Tell me you still want her, babe. Because that face is fucking killing me.” He stared down at Melina’s picture and traced the shape of her chubby little lips. “I feel like she’s already mine.”

  The feelings inside her couldn’t be contained. Tears streamed down her face unchecked. She set the book carefully to the side and launched herself at her husband.

  “Yes, I still want her!” She was elated, excited, and terrified all at the same time, and her mind was moving so fast, she couldn’t keep up. What if something fell through? What if it was all snatched away again?

  Galen squeezed her tight, and her fears fell away, leaving nothing but pure hope and happiness behind. She wasn’t alone, and whatever happened from here on out, they’d face it together. He was so strong, and now, so was she. But together?

  They were unstoppable.

  Wrapping her arms tightly around her husband, she held him close. She would love this man forever, through thick and thin, and couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life showing him how much.

  Acknowledgments

  As always, thanks my editor Kerri-Leigh Grady for being an all around ninja bad-ass. I shudder to think of what my books would look like without you. XOXO

  And to Allison Gatta, for all of your hard work on this book as well as the much-needed estrogen you bring to the sausagefest that is our house.