Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
By the time we were in the middle of dinner, Gracie had sent no fewer than six texts to ease my nerves about being away.
By dessert, the reassurance, good food, and company had me relaxing into my seat.
Nave had been right when he’d suggested the date. We needed this. I needed it.
I loved being a mom. I adored being home with just our little family.
That said, there was no denying that the sleep deprivation, the crushing anxiety about needing to do every little caretaking task perfectly, and my own recovering body had me walking around with my shoulders up by my ears, had my fight-or-flight on edge.
“You seem more relaxed,” Nave said, his hand at my lower back as we left Famiglia to walk down the dock.
The air was warming up again.
Summer was just around the corner.
Which meant we were closing in on the one-year anniversary of me coming to Navesink Bank.
I’d come here thinking this would be a stepping stone to my future, having no idea how it would become my whole life. How I would not only find the safety I was seeking, but roots and wings, friends, family, love.
“I don’t think I realized how tense I was,” I admitted.
“Been in the trenches, babe,” he said, shrugging it off.
Nave had been an amazing partner. By the time I heard the baby crying, he was almost always already in the nursery trying to soothe her or change her.
At the end of the day, feedings were almost always on me. Sure, I’d made sure there was milk in the fridge and freezer in case the baby needed to eat when I was showering or something, but she preferred to nurse, so I was the one who needed to be there for her every two hours or so. No matter how tired or sore I was.
“How do you think—” I started, unable to help myself. The baby would be due for a feeding right about then.
Right on cue, though, my phone buzzed.
I reached for it, finding Gracie’s name on the screen. In the text, I found two images: an empty bottle and a baby in a milk coma.
“Seriously, she is insane,” I said, showing Nave the pictures.
“I know.”
“She’s going to be an amazing mom one day.”
“And until then, we will be taking advantage of her skills to get some more alone time,” I decided, sliding my hands up his stomach, chest, then wrapping them around the back of his neck, pressing our bodies close.
“I like that idea,” Nave said, arms wrapping me up. “I love us three. But I still love us two, too.”
“Me too,” I agreed, ready to go up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
But he was pulling away.
Then lowering down to one knee.
My heart squeezed hard in my chest as I looked at the little blue box in his hand. He flipped the top and there it was.
Not just a beautiful three-stone emerald-cut diamond ring. But all of the meaning behind it. The promises. The hopes.
“I’ve fought for a lot of things in my life, but none of it has mattered like you. Like our baby. This isn’t just a promise to you. It’s a promise to her as well. You’re my family now—have been since you walked through the clubhouse door last year. I want to make it official. Will you marry me?”
It was the easiest “yes” of my life.
Because no matter how many times Nave lent a hand, offered a suggestion, made a decision, he never did it in a way that even hinted at wanting to change me or control me. He wanted to help. He wanted to lighten my load. He wanted to help me make choices that would make me the happiest. He never once tried to hold me back or keep me all to himself. If anything, he wanted to show the world to me; he wanted to offer me everything he had and encourage me to keep seeking more.
This was the man I could lean on, could come to with my problems, could trust to be a partner, not just a spouse, that I knew would be a steady, calm, stalwart, encouraging, and loving father to my baby, to any future babies.
I’d only been bone-deep sure of two things in my life.
That I needed to get away from Ben to protect my baby.
And that I wanted to marry Nave.
“So,” I said after Nave slipped on the ring and I found myself held tightly in his arms, “do you think Gracie has it in her to plan another party?”
Nave - 2 years
That’s how long it took.
Two years.
For anyone to even realize Ben Dalton was gone.
No one had missed him.
No one noticed he was gone.
Not even the employees working at the company that he did still, technically, own. It seemed like that was such a well-oiled machine that no one even remembered that he existed.