by Emma Renshaw
“Okay,” I repeat, pulling James’s head down. Full lips mold to mine. I swipe my tongue along the seam of my lips. James opens, plunging his tongue into my mouth, making me moan.
“I could kiss you out here for hours,” I say.
“I could kiss you out here forever,” James murmurs against my lips.
Epilogue
Tatum
Nine years later
The sound of a cell phone breaks the silence in our room. My head is on James’s chest. I don’t open my eyes, but I feel him stretch for his ringing phone. My eyes slowly blink open. It’s still dark outside.
I glance at the clock on the nightstand. Who could be calling at 2:30 in the morning? I groan, pushing my face deeper into James’s chest.
“’Lo?” He greets. His voice is muffled and tired, but when his entire body turns to stone, I wake up.
“Yes,” he says, voice serious. I sit up, reaching over him to turn on the lamp. He sits up, too, locking eyes with me and grabbing my hand.
“Boy,” he says. “Eight years old. Mother signed away parental rights tonight when she was incarcerated”
Oh my god. He’s on the phone with Sabrina, our social worker, about a foster child. I know he’s repeating everything she’s saying. We haven’t had a placement since we adopted our now six-year-old daughter, Delilah, two years ago.
“Do we accept placement?” James asks, squeezing my hand.
“Yes, yes, yes,” I rush out. “Of course, we accept.”
I place a quick kiss on James’s lips and jump out of bed. I grab the yoga pants James tugged off me earlier in the night and drag them up my legs. Half-way up, I freeze. “Oh my god,” I say.
“What?” James asks, standing from the bed. He just hung up with the phone with Sabrina.
“I can’t meet our foster son going commando,” I quietly screech, ripping the pants off legs while running to our dresser. I trip, crashing into the edge.
I stop breathing and listen carefully to see if I woke up either of our kids. “Okay, good,” I say opening the drawer, taking out the first pair of panties my fingers touch. “I didn’t wake the kids.”
“Tatum,” James says laying his hands on my shoulder. I whip around, still naked, holding the panties in hands.
“Wait,” I say. “Should we wake them?”
“Sunshine,” James says patiently. “No, we shouldn’t wake our six-year-old and our four-year-old. They need to sleep. Stay calm. He’ll be here in an hour.”
“What’s his name?” I ask, my nose burning. Fostering isn’t easy. We’ve had nine kids over the past seven years. I broke each time one of them left, but prayed for the best. Our oldest daughter, Delilah, was one of our foster children. She became eligible for adoption about eight months after she came to us.
We jumped on the opportunity to keep her with us. Delilah bonded with our youngest, Emery, from the very first day. Emery was only a toddler, but Delilah loved to help me care for her. Emery has James’s eyes and my red hair. She’s my mini-me, except for the eyes.
Delilah’s raven hair and dark eyes come from her birth mother and her creamy white skin comes from her birth father. She looks like Snow White with her light skin and dark hair.
James plasters my front to his. My body starts tingling from feeling his skin against mine. “His name is Connor,” James chokes out, unable to hide the emotion in his voice.
My voice trembles when I answer him. “Oh my gosh.”
“I know,” he says. After a long moment of silence, taking in the craziness that we’re bringing in a foster child with James’s birth name, James breaks the silence. “We need to get ready, sunshine.”
We dress silently and exit our room, heading into one of the rooms we added on to our house. I take off the floral sheets while James grabs a navy set from the closet.
“Oh my god,” I whisper as I drop the fitted sheet on the mattress and my hand comes up to cover my mouth. “No. No. No.”
I speed walk out of the room, walking as lightly as possible past the girl’s rooms and into the kitchen, opening the pantry.
“Tatum,” James says. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
I spin around facing him. “This morning Emery knocked over my bag of flour. We’re out of flour. I can’t make pancakes in the morning. Oh my gosh. We have nothing here to make for him for the morning.”
“Sunshine,” James whispers pulling me into a hug and kissing the top of my head. “I love you. I love you so much, but you need to calm down.”
“I can’t be calm. Connor will be here soon. He’s our first placement in two years. Do you think the girls are ready? I wanted to make him pancakes in the morning.”
James leans back, placing a kiss on my lips. “I’ll go to the store early in the morning. The girls are just like you. They’re ready for anything.”
James’s words soothe my soul. “Thank you,” I whisper, I kiss the center of his chest. “I love you to the depths of my soul.”
“Sunshine,” James murmurs.
After we break apart, we finish getting the room ready and wait in the living room for Connor to arrive.
“Remember,” I say. “It’s not always easy. They don’t always like us.”
“Tatum,” James says with a smile in his voice. “I know the drill. I was a foster kid. We’ll find a way to handle this situation and give him the best possible life while he’s here.”
“Will he be available for adoption?” I whisper.
“I don’t know, sunshine, but remember even if he is, we may not be the best placement for him. We’ll try to be everything he needs, but it doesn’t always work that way.”
“I know,” I say, feeling my heartbreak already.
Headlights shine through the window as a car approaches the house. James unarms the alarm and we step out onto the porch and wait for our son.
Sabrina gets out of the passenger side and opens the backdoor of the minivan. James clutches my hip tightly as Connor steps out of the car. My hand is fisted in the back of James’s shirt. I want to run to him and hug him, but I know he needs to lead this first meeting.
Connor keeps his eyes on his shoes as he approaches us next to Sabrina. His hair is as dark as Delilah’s and is sticking up in all directions. It looks like he was woken up suddenly. Sabrina holds a bag with a few of his belongings.
“Connor,” Sabrina says. “This is James and Tatum.”
Connor finally looks up from his shoes. Light hazel eyes meet mine. And a piece of my heart clicks into place as we stare at each other. It’s the same click I felt when we met Delilah for the first time.
I know James feels it too when his fingers press into my hip. James and I sink into a crouch.
“Hi, Connor,” I whisper, sticking out my hand. “Do you like pancakes?”
A small smile tugs at the edges of his lips.
JAMES
One year later
Pride fills me as we leave Tatum’s parent’s house and pass their mailbox. Her mom painted it just for this occasion. Connor grinned when we arrived this morning for brunch before the courthouse and he’s grinning now as we pass it.
Welcome to the family, Connor. He’s been part of our family since day one. Everyone in our lives immediately fell in love with him. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, but with therapy, unwavering love, and persistence, he accepted his spot in the family. Today makes it legal.
We’re officially adopting Connor today.
When we arrive at the courthouse, everyone is already there. All of our best friends and Tatum’s family. We pile into the courtroom waiting for the judge. Connor sits between Tatum and I in his gray suit and navy blue tie that matches mine. The girls, in their blue dresses, are sitting on the other side of Tatum. She’s also wearing a blue dress that matches her eyes perfectly.
Our eyes lock over our son’s head. Her eyes fill with unshed tears.
“I love you,” she mouths.
“To the depths of my soul,” I reply.
/> THE END
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Bonus Scene
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Vow of Devotion
Want to continue the Vow Series?
Hudson’s book, Vow of Devotion, is coming soon!
Vow of Devotion Blurb
One look.
Just like that.
That’s all it takes for me to know I wanted Ava for more than one night. She takes a single look at me and only sees a player.
The young, single mom doesn’t give her trust easily. Convincing her I want more than a one night stand is the best thing I’ve ever done until it all crashes down around me.
As I’m framed for crimes I didn’t commit, I fight to prove my innocence and battle to convince Ava and her daughter to stay.
When the stakes rise, will I be able to prove my vow of devotion?
Apple Books exclusive pre-order: here
Be notified when Vow of Devotion is up for pre-order on other retailers: here
Also by Emma Renshaw
Vow of Retribution
Vow of Atonement
Vow of Honor
Acknowledgments
Creating a book from the spark of an idea to the finished product in your hands truly takes a village. I couldn’t live this dream of mine without the help of so many around me. Please accept an apology to anyone I may have left out, it wasn’t by intention—my sincerest apologies and my deepest gratitude.
My darling husband, I’ll spend the rest of my years thanking you for everything you do for me. Your love for me astounds me every day. Thank you for the encouragement, support, and love. I’m grateful for the days when you push me to expand my boundaries and continue in the pursuit of my dreams, for forcing me out of my bed when I want to sleep a little bit longer. You’re my shoulder to lean on when I need it and my kick in the ass when I need that, too. Thank you for listening to me talk for hours on end about my books, characters, and the book world. I’m the luckiest girl. Te amo.
Mom, thank you for your unfailing honesty and for traveling to help me through the process of releasing a book. Our two-hour phone calls keep me sane on the hardest days. I love you for all you do and for passing down your creativity to me.
Dad, I’ll never be able to tell you how much it meant to me that the first book you read in years was mine. You’ve spent your life giving everything to mom, my sister, and me. I’m always thankful for that. Your love and support doesn’t go unnoticed. I love you!
Sestra, thank you for providing me with a lifetime of material to use for my books. I love you!
My family, Del Pueblo family, and friends, thank you all for every ounce of love and support y’all give me. I feel it so deeply and am truly humbled by everything y’all have done for me. Each of you holds a very special place in my life, I don’t know where I would be without y’all in it.
Catherine Cowles, there will never be enough time in the day to thank you for everything. I’m so thankful I met you and have you by side during this journey. Thank you for our chats, listening when I cry, and laughing along with me.
Grahame Claire, thank you so much for your insight and words of encouragement. I love having you in my corner and sharing our triumphs and failures. I’m so glad we’re on this crazy ride together!
Traci, you’ve made me a stronger writer. I love your honest feedback and hilarious comments. You make editing more enjoyable! You’re the best!
Bloggers, thank you so much for all the love and support. I’ve loved connecting with so many of you and hope to meet more of you in the future. Whether I’ve chatted with you or never spoken to you, I’m incredibly grateful for the hard work and dedication you give to the book community. Thank you so much! I wish I could hug all of you.
Michelle, Jennifer, Amber, Caterina, thank you SO much for helping me find teasers. All of you went above and beyond! It helped me so much and I’m so grateful for each of you.
The ladies of Emma Renshaw’s Books and Addicted to Love Stories, y’all are freaking wonderful! Thank you so much for the love and support!
A huge Thank You goes to: Kristen, Hang, Stacey, Becca, Give Me Books girls, and every other person that contributed to this book. It all means so much and each of you deserve so much more than a thank you.
Lastly, thank YOU! I wish I could thank every reader in person, give them a big hug, and a slice of cake! Every time a reader like you picks up my book, my dreams come true. You’re magnificent! THANK YOU!
About Emma Renshaw
Emma loves to write, just don't ask her to write about herself. If she isn't writing, you can find her lost in a book or trying to get her doggo to take a selfie with her. He usually refuses. At the end of the day, you can find Emma at the closest Mexican restaurant eating queso and sipping on a margarita. She lives in Texas with her husband and dog.
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