Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
I shake my head, not understanding. “But I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense. If this was true, Austin, then you wouldn’t have asked me to marry you. You wouldn’t have insisted we get married.”
His whole body shudders as he begins to talk. “I thought I was being a good friend by standing to the side while you dated other men. I wanted you to be happy, but fuck, Ally, knowing you were with another man, knowing that I could lose you forever, I couldn’t do it. I was selfish, and I know I should have told you all this before I practically forced you to marry me, but I didn’t.”
I’m quiet, trying to collect my thoughts, knowing that what I’m about to say could change any and everything between us.
Chapter 26
Austin
She’s going to end it. She’s going to walk away from me, and I’ll never survive it. I go to my knees on the floor in front of her. “Listen to me Ally. I love you, and I know you don’t feel the same. I know I went about this all wrong, but I want you to be happy. I figure you have two options.”
She juts her chin at me. “Oh yeah, two options, huh? Well, since you seem to have my whole life mapped out, please tell me what my two options are.”
She’s mad. I knew she would be. Ally and I have always been honest with each other, and I knew she wouldn’t take it well that I had lied to her all these years.
There’s a pain in my chest, and I know it’s from my heart breaking in two. “So no matter which option you choose, you have to know that you and Ally will be cared for. Gregory is out of the picture, and he won’t give you any problems.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. I want to pull her into my arms, but I resist. “Option one, you divorce me. You can live in a house down the street, and I’ll still be here for you and Kennedy.”
She snarls her nose up at me, and I continue. “Option two, you stay married to me. You let me prove to you for the rest of our lives how much I love you and how important your happiness is to me. You let me be Kennedy’s father for real. And when you want more children down the road, we can adopt or whatever you want to do.”
She leans forward. “So you’re giving me an option.”
I nod but then shake my head no. I wanted to be the bigger man. I want to put her choices before my own, but the fear of her leaving me is too much to handle. “Fuck, I want to, Ally. I want you to have what you want, but the truth is, I can’t let you and Kennedy go. You have one option and that option is me. If you need time, I can give you that, but I can’t let you go. Please don’t ask me to.”
She shoots to her feet and stands over me. I rise from my crouched position, and the fear that she’s about to walk away from me has me grabbing her arms to hold her still. The look she’s giving me makes it impossible to know what she’s thinking.
“Ally, talk to me, please.”
She raises her eyes and levels me with a look. “I want to be mad at you for lying to me, for thinking that you weren’t enough to make me happy. I want to be mad about all the time that we wasted, but I can’t.”
“You can’t?”
She shakes her head and points at the bassinet. “If things were different, we wouldn’t have Kennedy, and we both know that even though it took us down different paths, we made it to here. We have each other, we have our daughter. I can’t be mad at you because I have to believe that all of this happened for a reason.”
I reach for her, plucking the hem of her shirt and pulling her toward me. “And future babies? What about them? Are you going to resent me, Ally?”
She reaches for me, cupping my jaw in her hand. “You fool. I could never resent you. I love our little family, and if it’s meant for us to have more, it will happen. How doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is I have you now, and I don’t want to let you go.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Two. I would have chosen option two.”
She barely gets the words out before I pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her lush body. She burrows into me, and I kiss the top of her head. “Fuck, I love you, Ally. I always have and I always will.”