Chapter 47

The rideto the ranch is comfortable and quiet. Savage switches on the radio and listens to me croon to the music, smiling as we take the dirt road. It helps me not think too much about how strange things have gone.

I didn’t expect to ever get pregnant, let alone get pregnant with Carter’s baby, or when I was on the brink of taking a big step and leaving town.

The more I’m in Savage’s presence, the less stressed I feel. Before, I felt this weird tension with him, but now it’s good nerves and warmth.

And he loves me.

But I’m still afraid that this is too good to be true. Or more than I deserve.

Savage parks his SUV outside the ranch house, and I smile at the gorgeous log cabin. Pleasant memories from our time together fill my mind and heat floods my body.

“Stay right there,” he says, and gets out of the car.

“Why?” I call out.

Savage circles the vehicle, opens my door, and offers me his hand. “Because you shouldn’t have to open your own door.”

I laugh, but it dies in my throat as he lifts me out of the car and carries me toward the front door. “What are you?—?”

“I love you,” he says, and puts me down on the front porch. “I want you to know how important you are to me, Princess.”

I lose my breath.

The way he’s looking at me, how tender he’s being, it’s everything.

“I have something to show you,” he says. “Two things.” He unlocks the front door and stands back to let me inside. The hallway is covered in roses. Beautiful red roses, the edges of their petals so dark, they’re almost black, are arranged in crystal vases all the way down either side of the hall.

I’m speechless.

Savage places his hand in the small of my back and guides me inside.

The hall isn’t the only room filled with roses.

The living room is occupied by them too. We walk down the hall together, between the beautiful flowers, and Savage stops beside the closed door that leads into the library.

“So,” he says, “the first thing I wanted to show you was these flowers, Princess.”

“They’re beautiful,” I say, choking the words out.

“They’re for you.” He kisses my cheek. “I bred them for you, and named them after you.”

My jaw drops. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I feel like you need to know how much I care, Hannah. I’m not going to hide how I feel any more,” he says. “And the way you’ve been with me has given me an idea.” He takes my hands and kisses them. “There are a lot of women in this country, this state, who need support. Women who are alone or who have been abused or hurt. Single mothers. I want to start an initiative to deliver flowers to new mothers in hospitals. In honor of you, of Charlotte, of strong women everywhere.”

I burst into tears and throw my arms around him. “That is amazing, Carter. That is so amazing.”

“I love you,” he says.

And every time he says it, it’s like a balm for my soul. “I love you too,” I whisper into his chest, grasping his shirt. He’s so solid, and my love for him is implacable. I don’t know how much longer I can survive this. I am so scared of getting hurt, but I am so into him it makes me dizzy.

“And there’s more,” he says.

“More?”

“Yeah.” Carter pulls away and holds my upper arms, smiling down at me. “I want you to know how serious I am about you, Hannah.” He clears his throat. “You love books, you’re a librarian, so I don’t want you to take this the wrong way.”

“Uh oh, what?”

“Well, remember how I donated those books to the library?” he asks.

“Yeah?”

“There was a second reason I did that, Princess.” He opens the door to the library, and my heart turns over in my chest.

Inside is a crib. The bookcases are gone. Light streams through the gorgeous French windows and skates across the wooden floors. The room smells clean, of wood polish and the scent of flowers that surround us.

“Carter,” I say, unable to get my emotions out.

“You’re not ready to move in with me yet,” he says, “and that’s fine. I want you to be comfortable and take as much time as you need, but I need you to know that I am in this, Hannah. One hundred percent. The only reason I didn’t buy anything else for this room, and trust me, it’s killing me not to, is because I want us to decorate it together. I want you to have whatever you want for our baby. I want us to go all in.”

My heart feels like it”s going to burst. I can’t believe this.

“And don’t worry about the other books and bookcases, I put them in the master bedroom for now. When we’re ready, we’ll build on another room.”

“Carter, I can’t even process this,” I whisper. “This is amazing. You’re amazing.”

“I will do anything to make you happy, Hannah. What else can I do to show you how much I care?”

I wrap my arms around his middle and squeeze, resting my head against his muscular chest. “There’s nothing else you can do. You’ve done everything. You— You saved my life twice, you’ve given me hope again, and you just— you?—”

He takes my chin in his hand and tilts my head upward, looking me directly in the eyes. “You saved me, Hannah. Without even meaning to. Without even trying. Every laugh, every look, just the way you move through this world saved my life. When I was in my darkest times, your smiling face saved me, when you didn’t even know I cared. I tried so hard to avoid this moment because I was scared. But if I’ve learned anything about you and me, it’s that we’re inevitable,” he says. “We’re meant to happen. And I’m not going to fucking fight it any more, because I don’t want to. The only thing I’m going to fight for is you. And our child.”

He swipes the tears away from my face and kisses my cheeks, then my lips.

“When you’re ready, Hannah, please move in with me.”

“Yes,” I whisper. “Yes.”

“Yes, you’ll move in with me?”

“I will.”

His face lights up, and I love it. I love how beautiful his smile is, and that he saves it specifically for me. He kisses me, and I melt in his arms. This is it, this is what I’ve always wanted. I don’t know what the future will bring, but I know that I want it to be with him.