I turn my head to look at Kade, the man who’s changed my life in so many ways. A man who’s not perfect but isn’t afraid to say so and admit when he’s wrong. And I know down to my soul he’ll protect me, whether I need it or not, lift me up and help me reach for the stars while cheering me on to achieve whatever goal I set for myself.
He turns his head like he feels me staring at him and smiles when he catches my eyes. Without thinking, I lean over to kiss him. I lean back slightly after a quick peck and whisper, “I love you, Kade. Thank you for chasing after me.”
“Always, Princess.”
Epilogue
Six years later…
“You bastard,” I shriek, pain running through my body. “This is all your fault. Why would you do this to me? What did I ever do to you?” Tears are running down my face intermingled with sweat. I probably look like a mess, something else that’s the bastard’s fault. “I hate you.”
I flop back against the hospital bed, exhaustion spreading through my body as I pant, trying to catch my breath. Kade leans over me, kissing my forehead, and I want to pull him close while simultaneously beating the shit out of him for doing this to me.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” he says soothingly, not that it helps as a new wave of pain rips through my lower body. “But you wanted a baby as much as me.”
I turn my head fast enough I’m sure the demon from The Exorcist is possessing me. “Don’t you blame this on me, mister.” I know I’m being unreasonable, but between the pain and the medicine they gave me I don’t even know what I’m saying half the time.
“You’re right. This is all me. Thank you for your sacrifice.”
I sniff haughtily. “You’re welcome.”
I barely hear his laugh when another contraction runs through me, and I double over, pushing with everything I have. “Get him out. Get him out. Get him out,” I shout and grab on to one of those disposable hospital gowns they gave him.
He leans back down, pushing the hair sticking to my skin out of my face. “You’re doing great, Princess. He’s nearly here.”
“It hurts. You’ll be the one to have the next one.” I ignore the snickers of the doctor and couple of nurses in the room.
“Okay.”
I open my mouth, probably to yell at him for something, when a contraction has me instead yell out in pain, pulling Kade with me when I lean forward to push.
“You’re doing great, Mon,” the lovely nurse next to me assures me. “He’s just about ready to come into this world.”
“Can you hurry him up? Bribe him with chocolate? That always works on his dad.” I don’t know what I’m saying, but if her laugh is anything to go by it must have been funny.
“You know,” Kade says, drawing my attention to him. “We should get married.”
I’m caught off guard by the comment when my doctor suddenly speaks up from between my legs, “He’s crowning, Mrs. Reed, a couple more pushes and you baby boy should be here.”
I ignore the doctor to yell at my husband of four years. “We’re already married, you moron. What the hell?”
“Push, Mon,” the nurse coaches me. And I do, I push with all I have, all the pain and irrational anger at Kade for not being the one who is going through this.
The rest is hazy, I remember the pushing, the pain, the yelling, and then it’s all over and I watch the doctor hand my baby to one of the nurses.
I watch my boy and listen to him scream his little lungs out. Love unlike anything I’ve felt before fills me when she hands him to me, and I stare at the most perfect little face I’ve ever seen.
“You did good,” Kade’s voice is filled with wonder as he too stares at our baby.
“We did good.” I smile. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.” I shift my eyes to his. I stare into them, more blue than gray, like they always look whenever he’s happy.
“It’s okay. I still love you.”
“You better after what I just went through give you that baby you wanted,” I joke, we’d been trying for over a year before both lines on the pregnancy test showed up.
“Do we have a name for the little boy?” the nurse asks.
I don’t move my eyes from Kade’s as I say, “Sawyer Wayne Reed.” I watch tears fill his eyes as he hears me say his father’s name. We’ve gone back and forth on the name, with Kade feeling bad for asking me to name him Sawyer after his dad, not believing me when I reassured him I like the name.
“I love you,” he whispers, emotions clogging his throat.
“I love you, too.” I trace his brow, memorizing that look, when I remember something. “Did you ask me to marry you?”
He chuckles at my confusion. “Yes, and before you call me a moron again”—I can feel a blush creep up my neck at the reminder—“I meant have an actual wedding, not just us going to the courthouse because we don’t have time to plan anything. But the one Dakota, Lizzie, and Lauren have been hounding us about for
