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And then I promptly burst into tears

Chapter Twenty-seven

Caden

The confir irl tell , though This isn’t a sad moment This is one of joy, one to be celebrated So to have a baby together We’re going to be a fahtly worried voice knocks hts "Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, baby I heard you" I catch one of her tears with my thumb, then lean in and catch another one with oing to havekicks back into gear and I pull her into ainst her forehead and telling her again and again how much I love her My shirt is soaked with her tears but I don’t care She’s in ot her back

She’sslowly fell into place I didn’t rush into trying to find Rose I made sure I knehat I wanted to tell her before I went to Cash and told him I was ready I didn’t want to blow it If I canant, she’d think I wanted to be with her only because of the baby, not because I’m madly in love with her

And I am madly in love with her--the baby is just a bonus Yeah, it’s scary I can’t lie and I bet she’s scared too, but together we can handle this We’re going to be a family and I refuse to walk out on my family like ot each other’s backs We’ll be strong together We belong together

She knows it And I know it too

Cash spoke with Lily, who came up with the idea to have Rose over for a dinner party at which we’d be the only attendees There wouldn’t be any dinner, either, though now that I consider it, she’s probably hungry She needs to eat since she’s doing it for two

"Rose" I whisper her naainst her forehead and she shudders into eat"

Laughing, she tilts her head back to stare up at ry," she ad sickness, Caden You wouldn’t believe how bad it’s been"

"Yeah?" I s she’s been suffering and I haven’t been with her to take care of her "Are you okay? You’re healthy? The, uh, baby is okay too?" I hesitate overshe’s going to have et married, have a baby, have a family, have a real, normal life I didn’t think it was in the cards for me My parents were fucked and I learned all I knew about relationships and life froured I would be alone I would belong nowhere and to no one, and I believed that was the way I preferred it