by Alison Ryan
“I am,” Charlotte whispered, pressing herself against his chest. “Declan, I love you so much.”
He tipped her chin up with his hand, looking into her eyes. “I love you more. What’s going on?”
“I just found out,” she said. “Declan, I’m pregnant.”
His eyes widened and he stepped back for a moment.
“You just found out?” he asked. “How?”
Charlotte smiled. “My sister reminded me that nausea can sometimes mean you’re knocked up. Silly me, I didn’t even consider it. Some doctor I am. We ran to the drugstore and grabbed a test. I just took it. I’m going to have a baby. And by the way, it’s yours.”
Declan laughed and pulled her into him, tears in his eyes. “We made a baby. Charlotte… How is it possible for a man to have this many dreams come true?”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte said, wrapping her arms around him. “But let’s find out together. If it’s a boy, we will name him Henry.”
“And if it’s a girl, we’ll name her after your momma,” Declan said.
Charlotte kissed him then, a kiss full of longing, hope, and the belief that her mother was a part of this happiness. She’d never felt her presence as much as she felt it in that moment.
It was true, what her father told her once, when she was especially upset about her mother dying. It had been right after she’d come back from Charleston. She’d missed her mother terribly, so badly wishing she had her there to help her heal from the broken heart of Declan leaving her.
“One day,” her father had said to her. “She’ll come back to you. In a way you won’t even expect. For me, she’s here through you and your sister. And one day, you will have your own children. And you’ll realize that the people we lose come back through the love we make. They are in a piece of everything you do. And your children are God’s way of bringing them back. I promise, Charlotte. I can’t promise you much, but I can promise that.”
Charlotte held onto Declan tight, tears falling down her cheeks. Her father was right. Her mother was there. She’d come back through her love for Declan, and now through the child they’d made together.
Life moves forward through the people we are brave enough to love again, Charlotte thought.
If there was anything to learn, that would always be the most important lesson of all.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading REVEL. Ready for another second chance romance? Download COVET, a full-length second chance romance with a guaranteed HEA.
About the Author
Alison Ryan is a romance author who lives with her husband and sons in a southern kind of heaven. She loves books about love, watching too much Bravo, and good bourbon. Not always in that order.
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Also by Alison Ryan
Covet
ATLAS
His to Win
The Mentor
The Mogul (Coming Summer 2016)
ODIN (Coming Summer 2016)