I sat down, my heart rate higher than I’d ever felt it before.
“You’re married? We didn’t even know you were seeing anyone. Where did you meet?”
“A bar,” Gage admitted as he looked over at me with a wide smile on his face.
“You need to go to church, young lady,” my mother warned.
“Why’s that, Mother?”
“You met him in a bar.”
“And? Lisa met Simon through a friend. Andy met Carla at a jobsite. What’s the difference? You meet people anywhere you go.”
“How long have you been married?” my dad finally chimed in and asked.
“Two months,” Gage and I answered together.
“Two months. Why weren’t we included?” Andy asked.
“It was a spur of the moment decision,” Gage replied.
“Does he know?” Lisa asked. I knew she’d do this to me.
“Do I know what?” Gage asked for clarification.
“That my sister can’t have children. Are you willing to never have children?”
“There are other ways to have a child. And yes, she told me everything. I do believe her chances are low, not impossible. Plus, she already has a child. I have a three-year-old daughter who she adores.”
Was it wrong of me to get great pleasure out of seeing the looks on their faces?
Not at all.
“But your child isn’t her child,” Lisa said, smugly looking over at me and rubbing her stomach. She was four months pregnant with their third child. She was the good daughter who stayed at home, while Simon worked saving people’s lives at the hospital every day.
She loved rubbing in my face how she enjoyed feeling the baby move and hiccup and just being pregnant in general.
I hated her for it.
Sisters weren’t supposed to treat each other the way she treated me. They were supposed to support each other. Uplift each other. Not belittle one another the way she’d been to me since I moved out and went to college.
“My child is her child. Children don’t have to be biologically yours to love them and consider them your own,” Gage responded. I could tell he was about to lose it.
“You really want someone who is barren? Someone who can’t give you what a woman is supposed to be able to give any man,” Carla chimed in. I couldn’t stand her. It was like my mother brainwashed her when she married my brother. She was nice before then. She and my brother had one child of their won. She too stayed at home. My brother was an engineer and loved supporting her and their child.
I loved how Gage respected me and the job that loved.
He was interested in what I did for a living.
And I loved how passionate he was about protecting people all over the world. The way he hired retired military members and took the time to get to know them made me love him even more.
“The state of Avery’s uterus isn’t why I’m with her. I’m with her because she’s intelligent, loving, caring, loyal, but most of all, because she loves my little girl. That means more to me than having another child that could risk the lives of both of them. Even if I wasn’t a father, I’d be with Avery regardless of if we could have children. There are other options. The question you should be asking yourself is why you’re so concerned with whether Avery can conceive. I believe that’s our business, not yours. How would you feel if the situation was reversed and you couldn’t give your husband children? Would you like it if someone treated you the way you treat Avery?”
“We didn’t come here for you to treat us like this. We hadn’t even began eating before you started in on us. Just know, I’m happy. Blissfully fucking happy with my husband. Like it or don’t. I don’t care,” I said as I stood and grabbed Gage’s hand, ready to get out of here.
“Don’t you dare come into my home and use that language, young lady,” my mother warned.
I loved my mother. I really did. But there was only so much a person could take. And I’d had enough of the way they’d treated me since they found out about my endometriosis. They treated me like I had the plague. Instead of supporting me the way they should’ve done all along.
“You don’t have to worry with that. I won’t be coming here again. You had your chance to welcome us into your home. You had the chance to treat me differently than you had all these years. Instead, you chose to but your nose into my marriage and question whether Gage could love someone like me. Goodbye, everyone,” I said, holding back the tears. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing any emotion from me.
I walked out of my parents’ home with my head held high feeling freer than I ever had after a visit with them.
Gage pulled out his phone and messaged someone before we got to the car. I was in too much shock that I’d stood up to them to ask what it was all about.
I stared out the window the entire drive home. Ready to go inside and hug Cheyanne tight. My sister and brother would never love a child who wasn’t their own. They would never be able to accept Cheyanne into our family and neither would my parents. Well, screw them all. Blood may be thicker than water, but I loved that little girl more than anything in the world and it didn’t matter to me whether I conceived her or not. That thought alone gave me the strength to cut the bindings of all the harsh words they’d ever spoken to me and free my heart of all the pain those words caused over the years.
I had all the people in my life that mattered to me. Lizzie and Grant, Madeline, and now Cheyanne and Gage. They were my family. Blood couldn’t make me love them any less.
We arrived at the penthouse, only it was empty.
“Where’s Cheyanne and your mom?” I asked as Gage tossed his keys into the bowl by the door.
“Cheyanne’s staying at my parents’ house.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted you all to myself tonight. Go change and get comfortable,” Gage instructed as he walked into the kitchen.
On autopilot, I walked into our room and changed out of my clothes into a pair of gray cotton shorts and pale pink top.
I came back out of the bedroom to find Gage had lit candles throughout the living room and kitchen island. The electric fireplace was also turned on. A blanket had been spread out in front, and he’d made us a picnic.
I shook my head and smiled, my eyes filled with tears at the romantic gesture. Any man in their right mind would’ve ran tonight after dealing with my family, but he stood up for me and left with me, instead of running away.
“Thank you. This is beautiful,” I said as I choked back the tears.
“You deserve this and so much more. Come sit with me and enjoy our sandwiches and wine.”
He followed behind me and waited until I sat down on the blanket to join me. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his feet were now bare as he stretched out on the other side of the blanket.
He made both of our subs and handed me one before biting into his.
“I’m sorry for dragging you there. I knew this would happen once they found out we were married.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. How long?”
“How long what?” I asked before taking a bite of the sub.
“How long have they treated you that way?”
“Ever since I was diagnosed.”
Admitting that out loud was hard. Hearing their hateful words these past few years made me feel less than a woman. And my parents allowed it, even partook in it. They all but said that if I adopted a child, they wouldn’t accept him or her into their family. I’d never understand why. All children deserved to be loved. Not just ones you biologically created.
“Shame on all of them. I’m the one who’s sorry. I can see now why you stayed hesitant for that brief period of time and why you took so long to tell them. They don’t deserve someone as amazing as you in their life.”
“They have a point. Most people want a child of their own.”
“That’s your family talking. Not you. You love Cheyanne regardless of whose blood flows through her
veins. I don’t believe for one second when you say those words to her that you only say them because she wants to hear them. You mean them.”
“Yes, I do.”
I took one more bite of my sub and sat it down. My stomach no longer hungry.
Gage mimicked my actions and moved the tray of meats, cheeses, and fruits out of the way.
“Come here,” he commanded. He held his hand out to help me cross the short distance and crawl into his lap.
He rested his hands just above my ass and looked up at me.
“You’re so beautiful. Inside and out,” he confessed. His hand came up and caressed my cheek before he gripped the back of my head, and his lips landed on mine.
One minute I was sitting in his lap enjoying his mouth on mine.
The next he had me laying on the blanket, his body resting on top of mine.
He pulled back and looked down at me and said nothing at first.
“I love you, Avery,” he whispered before he slowly brought his lips down to mine.
His kisses moved from my mouth down my neck and I shut my eyes, soaking up the way his mouth set my body on fire.
My mind hung to the words he’d just spoke while my body tried to anticipate where his lips would land next.
He pulled back only to remove my shirt and bra before his weight settled over top of me again.
I gripped the blanket beneath me as his mouth descended my chest and his lips wrapped around the nipple of my right breast.
“I love every single inch of you,” he whispered against my skin as his mouth left my breast and continued down my stomach.
“Every single inch,” he repeated, kissing each scar that I had on my stomach before he looked up at me.
“You are everything I’ve ever dreamed of having, and I’ll never let a day go by that I don’t remind you how lucky I am to have you in my life,” he confessed.
Those words set the waterworks off, and I finally let the tears fall.
He pulled off my shorts and sat back on his knees. Ever so slowly, he pulled apart the buttons on his shirt. He tossed it to the side once he pulled it off and quickly removed the rest of his clothes before he settled between my thighs.
With his arms on either side of my head, his gaze bore down on me. Love and lust filled the depths of his gorgeous blue eyes. The yellow hue around his pupil more prominent than I’d ever seen it before.
“I meant every word I’ve said to you, Avery. Every single one. Especially the three I just spoke to you tonight. I don’t care if you can or can’t carry my child. What I do care about is making sure you stay in my life and allow me to continue to love you for the rest of mine. Tonight showed me just how much I’ll fight to protect you. How much I’ll fight to ensure you never doubt my love for you. I know we’ve had a crazy first two months, but I love our brand of crazy. It’s what makes us, us. I want you in every way I can have you. And tonight, I want you bare. I want to feel your warmth surround me as I push my way inside of you. I want to empty myself inside of you without a care in the world. If we happen to make a baby in the process, I’ll be happy. If we don’t, I’ll be happy too. Because either way, I’ll have you.”
Damn.
Just fucking damn.
If I didn’t already love him, I would after what he just admitted.
I felt his hardness against my core, and I wanted him more than I ever had before.
Lifting my hands, I brought each one to the sides of his head and pulled him down until his lips hovered right over my mouth.
Just before he came in for the kiss, I whispered the words I’d been dying to say to him.
“I love you too, Gage,” I breathed into his mouth just as our lips met. He fully settled his weight into me and moaned into my mouth when the tip of his hardness met my awaiting core.
He stilled, hesitating for a moment, before he started to slowly push inside.
I didn’t stop him. I didn’t think about what could happen. I just relished in the moment of how warm and hard he felt as he slipped further and further inside of me. Our kisses grew more frantic and demanding the deeper he slid inside.
When he was all the way in, he stilled once more and groaned.
Pulling back, he looked down at me and said, “You feel so much better than I ever imagined. So, hot. So, tight. So damn wet. So, fucking perfect,” he groaned before his hands gripped my shoulders and he started to move.
I lost myself in the feel of him and how much more I could feel of him without the latex barrier. No wonder people hated those things. I never wanted him to wear one again. Skin on skin was so much better.
I moved my hips up with each thrust, getting myself closer to my release with every move.
My body was on fire. Every nerve ending tingled with every move he made.
And then it hit me with why it felt so much better than it had before.
This wasn't just sex.
We were making love. Our passion and lust had turned to showing the love we shared for one another. I gripped the muscles in his shoulders before I raked my fingernails down his back.
He groaned louder the harder I dug them into his sweaty flesh.
The more he groaned, the more I clawed at him.
The more I clawed, the more frantic his moves became.
He moved his lips off mine and demanded, “Look up at me, Avery.”
Immediately my eyes opened.
“Decide right now.”
I’d already decided, but I loved that he wanted to make sure.
“Fill me, Gage,” I whispered.
Those three words sent my body into a frenzy, and I detonated around him.
My release triggered his and he stilled. His cock throbbed inside of me as he filled me to the brim. There was no going back now. Whatever the future held, I was ready for it because he’d be by my side and with me every step of the way.
“I love you, Gage,” I told him one last time before he pulled out of me and laid beside me.
“And I love you, Mrs. Rivers.”
Epilogue
Eighteen months later
Gage and I had moved into our new home, fully equipped with a white picket fence and all. The five bedroom, three bathroom two-story home was only ten-years-old and perfect for our growing family.
We tried and tried for the first six months, but failed to get pregnant.
Gage finally convinced me to go to the doctor and get checked out. Only he went with me to make sure I told Dr. Roberts every one of my symptoms and that I didn’t downplay my pain levels. The doctor immediately scheduled me for another laparoscopy. A surgery that should’ve take two hours at most, ended up taking over twelve. The amount of endometriosis that was found had tripled since my last surgery.
We received devastating news that my fallopian tubes were scarred from the number of lesions that were found. We had less than a five percent chance of ever conceiving on our own. The months that followed were hard. Gage could tell my happiness wasn’t as it was before and that I’d let the guilt eat at me day in and day out.
One morning he woke up, yanked the covers off me and had a come to Jesus meeting with me. He told me to snap out of the funk I was in and he made me listen to all the ways he loved me and accepted me. Then when he was done, he brought his laptop over and sat it in front of me. An adoption agency website was already on the screen. Another screen held the site for how to adopt a foster child. He told me the choice was mine. We could go through the adoption agency and adopt a baby or we could go through the foster system and adopt that way. Either way, he left it up to me. He knew how badly I’d taken the news and as I mulled over the pros and cons of each situation, ultimately, I decided to go the route of adopting a foster child.
I’d read so many stories over the years, and even though I’d love to have a newborn in the house, foster children needed love too. And my gut told me that this was the best way to go. That a child out there needed me.
Gage and I started the process almost immediatel
y and completed the application and mandatory training so we could obtain the licenses required. Within six months, we’d completed every hour of training and the entire process of meeting the needs required by the state. The day we’d received our approval and license we celebrated with a dinner out and a bottle of wine once we got home. That was the day we also drove by the house that we now owned. Everything seemed to click into place that day and had moved in rapid succession ever since.
Two months passed before we got the call about a child that we could adopt. The back story of the child wasn’t pretty, and my heart broke for everything that she had to endure in her short life before she was taken from her parents.
We waited to tell Cheyanne until we knew for certain that she’d be coming home with us. One visit was all it took for Gage and me to fall in love with her. She hesitated around Gage, but she came up to me almost instantly and raised her arms for me to hold her. The second she was in our arms, I knew she was meant to be ours.
She had the biggest chocolate colored eyes and deep brown hair. She had just turned two, but we were told she had some developmental delays due to the way she was raised. Her name was as unique as she was. Berlin. I loved that we’d have two beautiful girls named after beautiful parts of the world. Another sign that it was meant to be.
It took another two months, but we were finally able to bring Berlin home. Cheyanne took to her right away, always including her in everything and making sure she stayed happy and smiling.
We were in the backyard watching the girls chase each other around. Hearing their laughter made my heart full.
“Your mom called you again this morning,” Gage told me as we sat on the steps of the deck and watched over the girls.
“I’m still not talking to her. Nothing she has to say will make me forgive her.”
I’d stood firm on my stance to rid the negativity in my life. I had all the people around me that I needed.
My dad was the only one I still saw frequently in my family. And that’s only because he begged and pleaded at the door of the penthouse until I let him in. He told me my mother had gone too far. That he didn’t believe in any of her beliefs. That he wanted me to be happy and was glad I’d found someone like Gage who would stand up to her. He even admitted that my mother had created monster with my brother and sister and that he was proud I wasn’t like them.
The Right Mistake Page 15