Chapter 25

TWENTY-FIVE

My stomach was in knots.

I'd called my brother—who was on duty—to bring my ass home at the speed of light.

For once, he didn't ask questions, just saw my face and nodded curtly. He did the speed limit because he was Christian, but he put the lights on.

And because he was my stoic brother, he didn't try to talk it out with me.

I didn't think it would be at my freaking brother's house, but I'd had a feeling and climbed the hill to see her SUV in Travis's driveway.

Because I knew it would be this.

Rita trying to handle it on her own.

At least she'd had Brig in her corner, even if it should have been me the whole way.

I stepped into the bathroom.

She stood in front of the double sinks in my brother's spa-like bathroom, her arms wrapped around her middle. "You don't have to be here. I got this."

"You got this?" I fisted my hands at my sides. I just wanted to grab her and hold her.

She didn't have to do this alone.

We needed to be in this together.

But then I shut my eyes and tipped my head back, forcing my muscles to relax. She'd never had anyone in her corner before.

Remembering that, I lowered my chin to look at her again. "Duchess, you aren't alone anymore."

Her green eyes went shiny, but because she was Rita, there weren't any tears falling.

Just brimming there as she held herself so tightly.

"I'm scared too," I said hoarsely. I swallowed hard. "But not about loving you."

She sucked in a startled breath.

I glanced at the pile of tissue behind her wrapped as tightly as she was around herself. "That answer right there doesn't change that. I promise you that."

"Penn…"

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter because it just accelerates our schedule. I didn't think I would ever find anyone that made me think about a future beyond the next publishing release. But I have been."

I took a single step closer to her.

"I've been imagining mornings wrapped around you. About how many weird flamingos I can find for you. About this ridiculous bougie coffee pour-over thing I found that actually looks like a mad scientist's lab because I knew it would make you laugh."

I took another step.

"About moving back to Crescent Cove permanently and building us a house where you can find limitless corners to put yourself in weird positions to write."

She lifted a hand to cover her mouth as those tears got bigger, but they still didn't quite brim over.

"Because making you happy is even bigger than worrying about Duality Press. It's bigger than me making myself crazy with the next Knights of Chaos . It's bigger than anything I ever imagined. And that girl today that mentioned changing up my story wasn't just talking about Moksha. She could have been talking about me."

I stood in front of her and placed my hand on her middle. I wanted to crush her to me, but I needed her to come to me. In this moment, it needed to be us coming together equally.

She glanced over at the wrapped pregnancy tests, then to me.

"Help me write that happily ever after this time, Duchess. Please."

She dropped her hand and stepped into me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders until we were so fucking close.

Until there was nothing but her heartbeat between us.

And maybe a little heartbeat on its way to becoming both of us.

"I love you, Penn," she said against my neck.

"Thank God."

The sob that came out of her rocked me, but I held on. Much like the first time she was vulnerable with me about her past, I let her cry through the hope of something new.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be sorry." I pulled her back to let her see my own wet eyes. "Loving someone for people like us is too big to keep inside. I didn't have to be alone like you did, but I always felt a little apart from my family. Living in my head was easier than living out there in the world like they did. Loving so easily like they all seem to."

She lifted a shaky hand to cup my face and brushed away the tears clinging to my lashes. "I'm not sure it's easy for anyone. I know it isn't for me. Everyone leaves."

"Not everyone. You have me." I sniffed and pressed her against me. "You already have my family. You have Colette and Bridget. You have all those people that love your words. You'll never have to be alone again, Rita Savage."

She pressed her lips together as those tears ran unchecked.

Then I moved back just enough to cup her stomach. "And maybe this right here. Maybe a little bit of both of us."

She nodded. "Maybe." She laughed and it came out with a little hiccup. "Probably."

"Then let's check." I lowered my hand from her belly to her hand. "Together."

She dabbed at her cheeks and eyes with the back of her other hand, and then she straightened her shoulders. "You do it."

I curled her into me with an arm around her, and then I let her hand go and peeled back the stretch of paper towel to where the trio of tests were lined up. "You really wrapped them up tight."

She laughed. "I was afraid to cross-contaminate."

I didn't want to think about the part that would give us the results. But if I was a dad, I was going to have to get used to all kinds of things.

I peeled back the second layer and a big ol' plus sign was the first thing I saw.

She hid her face in my chest. "Just tell me quick."

"Open your eyes, Duchess."

She leaned forward and that hand was back on her mouth. This time, there was a laugh. "Well, wow."

"Wow is about it." I tipped my head against hers. "You know, I'm beginning to think the Cove curse is more like one big prophecy."

She shot me a look. "What?"

"When two people meet in this town, there's a baby created between a lot of them. But maybe it's just a version of cementing a new life."

"Isn't that what babies are—you know, beyond the whole propagating the species."

He snorted. "I like mine better. Because there was always a part of me who wished for you. For someone who understood me inside and out."

"Me too," she whispered. "You let me be me without any judgment. I've never had that."

"Except that first minute." I winced.

"You can't be perfect, Penn. I wouldn't believe you were mine if you were."

I hauled her into me. "I am yours, Duchess. Just like you're mine."