Chapter 37

Tommy

I woketo a warm body cuddled into my side, but when I ran a hand down expecting to find silky skin and feminine curves, I was instead greeted with a pudgy little belly and a small hand wrapping around my fingers.

I didn’t know when River had crawled into bed with us, but I was naked and, as of when we’d fallen asleep, so was Harley.

My eyes popped open and I came face-to-face with caramel-colored eyes so like his father’s. He also had an impish grin, as if he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Mommy doesn’t have clothes on,” he whispered.

As if I didn’t know.

“Well, you know, Mommy’s tired sometimes at night,” I said, adjusting the sheet so I was well covered.

“If you don’t make a big deal it won’t be a big deal,” Harley murmured sleepily, burrowing into her pillow.

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” River stage whispered.

“Can you go see if Aunt Wynter is here?” she asked him.

“Okay!” Without warning, he bounded out of bed and ran out the door.

I grabbed my boxers and Harley tugged a T-shirt over her head before nestling against my chest.

“How long before he figures out she’s not here?” I asked her.

“Eh, we’ve got maybe five minutes.”

“Good to know.” I pressed a kiss on her forehead. “You need panties.”

She sighed. “Gimme a minute. I don’t know where they disappeared to.”

“Okay, but in the meantime, good morning.”

She smiled. “Good morning.”

I took a minute to kiss her.

“Does he sneak into bed often?” I asked when I’d gotten a taste of her.

“No, but I was gone for almost a month. He missed me so this might be the norm for a few days until he settles back into our routine.”

“Does this mean we’re going to have to start sleeping with clothes on?

“Probably. I don’t want to lock the door in case he has a bad dream or doesn’t feel well.”

“That makes sense.”

“I know it’s different for us.”

“It’s okay.” I stroked my hand down her back. “Lots of things are changing. In fact, I had some thoughts about some other things we might change and wanted to ask you about them.”

“Sure.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about you and River and the upcoming tour and all that.”

“Okay.”

“If you’re going to come with me, I want us to be official.” I’d been thinking about this for two days but now that I was vocalizing it, I was a little nervous. This was a very unromantic way of proposing, and I was totally jumping the gun, but it seemed ridiculous to wait given how much we loved each other and how much time we’d already wasted.

“Official how?” She lifted her head, gazing up at me curiously.

“We don’t get to Paris until next summer,” I said. “And I don’t want to wait that long to get married.”

Her brows rose. “Are you?—”

“Come to Vegas with me and let’s elope,” I blurted out. “The band and their significant others will be there, along with Sasha, and you can invite Wynter. They’re the most important people and we can make it legal. That way you’ll be my wife, and not only can I put you on my health insurance and stuff, but it’ll also make it easier for me to adopt River.”

“What?” She gaped at me.

“Unless…you don’t want me to?” I faltered for a second. It hadn’t occurred to me she might be opposed to the idea. “I mean, we don’t have to do it right away, but I figured now that he’s so little we should?—”

“Wait wait wait.” She held up a hand, staring at me as she sat up. “Give me a second to digest all of this. You want to elope in Vegas and then adopt River? In the next week?”

“Where else are we going with this? Obviously, I can’t adopt River in the next week, but that’s my point. It’ll take time for that kind of paperwork, and we probably can’t even get the process started until we’re married. If we want to plan a big romantic event for everyone we know in Paris next summer, we can do that too. But I want you to be my wife again, Harley. I know I’m totally dropping the ball on the romance and proposal and all that but—” I stopped talking and grabbed my phone. “I put this on hold at Tiffany’s yesterday, but I didn’t want to buy it until I knew you liked it. And don’t say you want your old engagement ring. We were broke back then. Fuck that noise. I want to buy you the ring you deserve.”

She was staring at me like a deer in the headlights and I realized I was fumbling this badly.

Shit.

“I can’t drop to one knee,” I said. “But I love you and want to spend the next fifty or sixty years showing you. Do I need to shut up now and let you talk?”

“I…” She was staring at the ring in the picture on my phone, her hands shaking a little.

“Did I just freak you out?” I asked, sliding onto the bed next to her. I adjusted my leg so the knee wouldn’t be at a weird angle and then handed her the panties I’d found on the floor when I rolled over.

“Thanks.” She slipped them on without breaking eye contact. “Are you sure, Tommy?”

“I’m positive. What about you?”

“I…” She chewed her lip and then smiled. “Yes. Yes to everything. I fucking love you, Tommy Bane!”

“I fucking love you too!” I laughed, dipping my head to kiss her just as River came bouncing back into the room and onto the bed.

“Auntie Wynter isn’t here!” he yelled.

“Inside voice,” Harley said, smiling and holding out a hand to him. “Come here. I want to ask you something.”

“Okey-okey.” He wiggled onto her lap, waiting expectantly.

“Okey-okey?” I asked Harley under my breath.

“When he was little, he couldn’t say dokey, so it became okey-okey instead of okey-dokey, and it stuck.”

“Gotcha.”

“Mommy, what’s the question?” River asked impatiently.

“Well, I was wondering what you would think about Tommy moving into our house and living with us?” she asked.

“Yay!” River clapped his hands.

He was almost as excited as he’d been when I’d turned on the grill last night.

“We love each other and want to get married. Do you know what that means?”

River slowly shook his head from side to side.

“It means that maybe, if you think it’s a good idea, he might become your daddy.”

“Oh.” River looked as if he was truly taking it under consideration. Then he met my gaze with a seriousness that seemed far too intense for someone so young. “My daddy died.”

That choked me up a little, but I reached out to put my hand on his head. “I know, buddy. Your daddy was my friend and he asked me if I wanted to be your daddy, once he knew he wasn’t going to get better.” I hadn’t planned to tell him that, but it somehow seemed important. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but close enough.

Harley had told me that River thought Carter had been sick and the doctors hadn’t been able to make him better. I mean, what the hell else would you tell a two-year-old? He probably didn’t even understand that but at least it gave him a starting point when it came up. She planned to deal with the truth when he was a little older. He could find out the information he wanted with a simple search on the internet, so her plan was to give him the basics until he was ready.

“You knew my daddy?”

“He was my best friend,” I said solemnly.

River nodded. “Okey-okey. I need a daddy. I make Mommy tired sometimes.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I probably make her tired sometimes too, but we’ll try to be better together.”

“Can we have breakfast now?”

Well, that was simple enough.

“Sure, buddy.” I got to my feet. “Let’s go see what there is in the kitchen.” I held out my hand to him and he slid his small one into it.

“I’ll be right down,” Harley said, quickly getting up.

“Take your time,” I told her. “If you recall, I have a breakfast specialty.”

She smiled. “Banana pancakes.”

“And I saw bananas on your counter last night.”

“I love pancakes!” River said, bouncing up and down on his toes.

“And you’re going to love mine,” I told him.

“I’ll be down in five,” she said, padding toward the bathroom.

“I’ll have coffee going.”

“And then I guess we’re going to Tiffany’s,” she said with a chuckle.

I laughed. “Sounds like fun.”

“Who’s Tiffany?” River asked.

“It’s a store,” I told him. “I’m buying your mommy a ring.”

“Cause you’re getting married?”

“Yup.”

“Okey-okey.”