Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“That’s one hell of a closing argument,” Raina says with half a grin.
“Yeah, I wish he could have stayed longer to tell me himself, but I guess this is for the best.”
“What do you think is in the glove box?”
I shrug my shoulders and motion for her to come look with me. “Maybe he got Angel’s gun back.”
“I doubt Owen will leave that. You have enough guns, right?” She giggles.
“I do. I can take you to my favorite range or we can head up to the cabin?”
“A cozy cabin with you sounds like just the break we need from Colwood. We can shoot things and who knows?”
Her voice trails off as we head into the garage, and I open the car door. It doesn’t take long for me to see what Owen left for me. It leaves Raina speechless with tears welling in her eyes.
I pull out a small leather black ring box with flaps that open from the middle. Inside is a velvet ring holder with a stunning ring inside of it. The diamond is beautiful, egg-shaped on a platinum band. There’s a matching wedding band with it.
“It’s my mother’s rings,” Raina says quietly.
“I’ve loved you for a long time, Raina,” I tell her. “But with everything that we’ve gone through these past few days, it’s made things crystal clear to me. I’m in love with you and can’t see my life going back to the way it was before. I want to show up for you always. I want to take care of you always. I want you to be my wife always. Will you do me the greatest honor and let me prove how much I love you? Will you marry me, Raina?”
I drop to one knee right there in the middle of my garage and slip the newly gifted engagement ring onto her finger, hoping she never takes it off.
“Yes, Rex, I will. Of course, I will. I love you so much, Daddy.”
“I love you too, baby girl.”
EPILOGUE
RAINA
One Year Later
The sound of Rebecca Remington’s newborn wails piercing through the late-night hours has me on edge.
She’s only a few weeks old, the most beautiful thing in this world, and is in full control over me and my body for the foreseeable future.
Sleep isn’t ready to let me go check on our daughter who’s my steepest competition for her father’s attention. It brings a smile to my face to see how in love he is with her, with us. Even now, as I flip the blanket off me, the space beside me is empty.
I groan because I know that Rebecca wants Mommy to feed her. We’ve been trying to give her a bottle, with every attempt ending in failure. My feet drag across the carpet from our bedroom into the spare room that we’ve transformed into her nursery.
The closer I get, the quieter it seems. I can’t imagine she’s put herself back to sleep. It’s time for her morning feeding. When I poke my head inside the room, I see the sweetest sight.
Rex is sitting in the chair with Rebecca swaddled in his arms as he feeds her from a bottle.
“How did you do that?” I ask him, sure that sleep coats every inch of my voice.
“Come here, Momma,” he whispers with a wink, patting his thigh for me to sit with them.
I find myself in my husband’s lap as he cradles our daughter in one arm while I rest my head on his shoulder. Once I’m nuzzling against him, I see what he’s doing.
“I wrapped the bottle in your shirt. Until she gets the hang of me feeding her, we can do this so you can actually get some sleep,” he says with a soft kiss on my lips.
“Sleep is definitely necessary. I feel like a walking zombie. I haven’t even been able to take care of you how I like.”
“Don’t start that again, Raina. I love you, baby girl. I’m the luckiest man alive to have such a beautiful wife and daughter. You take care of me just fine by being an outstanding mother to our daughter.”
“Daddy–”
“What did I say?” he asks with such dominance it turns me on.
“That you’re the luckiest man in the world to be loved by me,” I tell him with a soft kiss on his lips.
“That’s right. Avery tells you all the time. You can’t give me 100% of you every day. I don’t expect you to either. I want you to be happy.”
“Happy wife, happy life. Right?” I say with a giggle.
“No, baby girl. I just want you to be happy. It has nothing to do with me. Well, wait. I do get the benefits of you being happy, but I love you. I just want you to take care of yourself before you take care of me. Rebecca is not going to be okay if her mom is not. Trust me when I tell you I will figure some things out with you.” He turns to look at our daughter, slumbering as she finishes her bottle. “And some things I can handle without you. Get your gorgeous ass back in bed. Daddy will be right there to tuck you in.”