His father clears his throat. “Ever, I’m leaving you the company. Effective immediately, you’re in charge. I’ll call the board and my lawyers when you’re through and we’ll have it all wrapped up.”
My heart leaps in my chest. Ever doesn’t smile, but he slowly nods, like he expected this, and now the weight of it is just catching up with him.
“I won’t let you down.”
“I’m sure you will, but it’s your company now. I’ve done all I could.” His father sighs. “Now get out of here. I have calls to make.”
Ever nods and stands. I stand with him, still holding his hand.
“Thank you,” I say to the frail old man in his bed, the man that terrorized Ever for so long.
He just nods at me.
We turn and leave. Out in the hall, Ever turns to me, a huge grin on his face.
“It’s done,” he says.
“It’s done,” I echo.
He pulls me against him and hugs me tight. I laugh and hug him back, and before I know it, we’re kissing, long and slow.
We break apart and he holds me tight. “What do you think?” he asks softly. “Should we tell my mom the truth?”
“What truth?” I ask him.
“That we’re in love and you’re pregnant.”
I laugh gently. “Maye just the pregnant part.”
“Good point. Since, you know. We’re staying married.”
I nod, pushing back the tears. “Yeah. We are.”
“Good. I love you, kid.”
“I love you too, Ever.”
We kiss again and this time, I don’t have to worry, I don’t have to be afraid. The lie isn’t a lie anymore, and we can bury that behind us.
Ever is going to take care of me, forever and always.
16
Amy
Two Years Later
Patrick goes teetering down the hall ahead of me. “Not too fast,” I say, hurrying to keep up with my insanely energetic toddler.
He mumbles something and keeps going, hands outstretched. He squeals and laughs as he runs into a door and pushes it. “Push, push,” he mumbles.
“There’s my baby!”
Patrick runs into his daddy’s office and Everest comes out from behind his desk, scooping the laughing baby into his arms. Ever hugs him tight and kisses his cheek before putting him back down.
Patrick starts exploring as I kiss my husband. “How’s your day?” I ask him.
“Better now.” He grins at me. “This is a nice surprise.”
“Figured you’d want to see him since you’re coming home late.”
“You know me so well.” He follows Patrick around the office, laughing as the baby tries to open every single drawer and pull out every single file. Ever lets him do it, always the doting, patient father.
I sit down in one of the chairs, happy to be off my feet. I’ve been staying at home with Patrick since he was born and the kid is getting to be a handful. He’s a big boy, walking and saying some words already, just a couple of months past his first birthday. He’s got sandy brown hair and big blue eyes and looks just like Ever, but shrunk down and softer.
“How’s the expansion going?” I ask him.
“Oh, you know.” He catches Patrick just before he can bump his head and steers him into a safer corner of the office. “The usual. Whit’s dragging his feet. Mom’s complaining about Whit dragging his feet. So nothing’s new.”
I laugh a little and sigh. Ever’s been pushing to get the Bloom company to expand into new markets, most notably going after first-time campers. He put Whit in charge of that, which is keeping his brother happy, and his mom basically all but forced herself into the company after their father died.
It happened a week after Patrick was born. Scott Bloom took a turn for the worse and just never recovered, but I’m glad he got to meet his grandson, even if it was only briefly. The man may have been a bastard, but he’s still the love of my life’s father.
When he passed, though, Ever’s mother went nuts. I mean, not with grief, although it was grief in its own way. But she wanted to work, and pretty much forced Ever to give her a job. He put her under Whit’s command and she’s basically been keeping him under control the whole time.
Things are shockingly good. Patrick’s healthy and happy, Whit and Ever aren’t fighting anymore, and Ever’s thriving in his new position. No more traveling, no more drinking, no more drugs, no more partying. He’s basically a new man.
Patrick plops down on the floor with a bunch of papers and begins tossing them around. Ever comes over to me and kisses me softly.
“Thanks for this,” he says. “Sometimes it feels good to crawl around and be a little kid for a while.”
“I know,” I kiss him back. “Although your back won’t be happy about it.”
Ever grunts and laughs. “I’d happily sacrifice a little back pain for some quality time.”
We sit side by side and watch our son crinkle the paper and laugh. It’s good and comfortable and I get a chance to reflect on how my life has turned out.
I never expected Ever to be such a good dad. Hell, I never expected to be married to him, to be happy with him, to have a home and a life with him. We still live in our cabin, although he’s building a new place on the property, an enormous house that’s absurdly big, but he says we’ll fill it with more kids.
Sounds good to me. That just means we get to make the babies, every single night, for the rest of my life.
He takes my hand and smiles at me. “Mom’s coming for dinner tonight,” he says.
I sigh. “Is she cooking?”
“Of course.”
“Then she’s more than welcome.”
He laughs. “You’re good to her, you know?”
“I try. She loves Patrick.”
“Yeah, she really does. Hard not to love this kid.”
“It really is.” I squeeze his hand. “You ever think we’d end up here like this?”
“Nope,” he admits. “Never. But I’m glad we did.”
“Yeah.” I lean my head against his shoulder. “I’m glad too.”
We sit there watching our baby play on the floor, and I feel so content that I don’t care if we spend the whole day right here. I don’t need anything else, so long as I have my husband and my son with me.
Ever takes care of us, takes care of me. He’s the kind of man I always knew he could be, if only he let himself get there. And I couldn’t be happier that we’ve finally made it, past all that anger and confusion, into happiness.
This is my life, full and free and better than I ever pictured.
THE END
* * *
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