Chapter 7

"Ishould be home on time tonight." I tell my wife the next morning. She"s standing at the stove with Rachel on her hip, and they"re cooking breakfast for all of us, including me.

"I"m looking forward to it. We"re going to the library for story time this afternoon. While she"s in with the other kids, I"m going to try and get a few things done." She grabs the bacon out of the microwave, tests the heat, and puts it on my plate. "We should definitely be back by the time you"re home, though."

"Do you want me to bring home dinner tonight? Wings sound good to you?"

She does a double-take, a surprised look on her face. "Yeah? I"d love that, I"ve never cooked so much in my life."

I can"t believe I haven"t even thought of this. "Have you cooked since you moved in? I don"t know why it never occurred to me, but it didn"t. I never meant for you to cook every single meal. Jesus Christ, Court. I"m sorry."

"No need to apologize." She moves her head so that her hair is covering her face. "I honestly couldn"t really afford to buy food out, and I didn"t want to ask you for money. I did get paid from my day job though, and I can afford to do it now. I delivered a couple of freelance jobs yesterday, so that should be good too." Her voice is super bright, which, in my experience means she"s over compensating to keep from breaking down.

I get up and walk over to her. Reaching out, I put my hand on her shoulder. "I didn"t even think about adding you to my bank account and giving you a card. I"m so fucking sorry. This is probably the reason why I never thought I should get married; I don"t see the big picture when it comes to shit like this. Give me a criminal that I"m trying to read and I can tell you everything he"s lying about, but I can"t think ahead that you"re going to need money."

She reaches up, her hand covering mine. Such a simple gesture, but I feel it like a zap all the way through my body. Parts that have been dormant for years have awakened and things come back online that I"ve had to shut down since I had Rachel to take care of. The way her eyes light up, I think she feels it too.

"It"s okay. We"re both learning new things, and we"re both having to try and figure out what each other needs. We"ll get it together. We"re gonna be learning about each other for years, the rest of our lives if we"re lucky."

In the past, that thought would"ve scared me. Now, it gives me a slight sense of peace, that I won"t be searching my entire life for something I"m never going to find. "I like the sound of that."

"You sure?" she raises her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I think so. It"s still scary, don"t get me wrong. My outlook isn"t going to change over night, but I"m starting to see why others would enjoy it."

She snorts loudly, in a way that"s more cute than anything else. "Sorry." A blush works its way along her cheeks.

"No, please always be yourself with me."

"Oh, I will." Rachel hitches higher on her hip. "I don"t know any other way to be than myself."

She finishes cooking and serves a plate toward me. "Thank you again."

"No problem. I like knowing you"re going off into the day with a full stomach and enough energy."

Digging in, I watch as she sits across from me with a plate of her own. Rachel goes into her high chair, feet kicking. "She gets so excited being in that thing."

"I think it"s because she can see better." Courtney puts a hand in front of her mouth as she speaks. "It"s like she"s looking out over everything that"s her kingdom."

A chuckle works its way past my throat. "If that ain"t the truth. She rules this house.That"s the way it should be." I reach over and wipe at her mouth where drool is leaking out. "Are you going to drool the entire time you"re teething?" Her feet kick as my voice tilts up with a teasing tone.

"That"s what I"ve heard they do. We need a book or something." Courtney scoffs. "We"re like the blind leading the blind."

"Isn"t that what most parent"s do? There really isn"t a guidebook other than learning by making mistakes or asking other people."

"I guess you"re right." She pushes her plate away and sits back. "I typically don"t eat that much for breakfast. I"m stuffed."

Glancing at my cell phone, I notice the time, and take one more bite. "Yeah, I gotta get going. See you tonight?"

"Yup, can"t wait for wings." She wrinkles her nose in the cutest way.

The way she cuts her eyes over toward me in excitement causes my heart to kick up a notch. I haven"t really given much thought to how the two of us are going to get to know each other, and learn how to interact on a day to day basis. It"s been awkward, probably because we haven"t had much time together, but between last night and this morning, there"s a difference."Me neither." Walking over to where Rachel is sitting, I lean in and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Bye Princess. See you later."

"Be safe, Shane." Courtney says as she stands up.

Without thinking, I lean over to where she is, and drop a kiss on her cheek. "Y"all be safe, too." I pull back, swallowing hard because my throat has tightened. "Sorry, it was a habit. It didn"t have to mean anything if you don"t want it to."

Her tongue sneaks out from between her lips, dark eyes travel down to mouth. "It"s okay, we"re married, right?"

That we are, but we haven"t shared a kiss since our wedding. "We are." I agree, dropping another kiss on her cheek, because the first one felt good. "See y"all tonight."

"See you, Deputy."

As I leave, it hurts a little more than normal. Today I"m thinking more about Courtney than I have since she came to live with us. Oh, not that I haven"t thought about her. She"s another human in my home, she"s wearing the ring I bought, changed her last name to mine. Today I"ll run by the bank, I"ll add her to my bank account, and I"ll show her how serious I am about sharing my life with her.

It"s true I never thought I"d be the person with a wife, with a kid, with expectations other than what the next day would bring. All of that changed when Rachel showed up at my doorstep, and I emailed Miss May. For better or worse, this is my life, although it"s much different than I imagined it would be, I have to admit I"m also happier than I"ve been in a very long time.