Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 154728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
He winked.
I struggled to stand under the weight of everything he was saying, everything he was giving me.
“You’ll give up your career?” I clarified.
“Already done.”
I stared at him. He was serious. “But that’s your life. You’re Kane ‘The Devil Rhodes.’”
He chuckled, brushing hair from my face. It was probably crusty or sticky with spit up.
“No. You’re my life,” he corrected. “She’s my life.” His eyes roamed to the bassinet, where there were no tiny legs flailing or hands scrambling for escape, no cries of ‘pick me up.’ I had a rogue thought to go check her breathing before Kane turned my attention back to him.
“My identity was never in the bullshit I did to keep the demons quiet,” he said. “It was how I thought I made myself a man after everything I went through. I’ve come to realize that how I make myself a man, the best man I can be, is by being a husband and father.”
The next day, we got a marriage license.
The day after that, we got married.
Then construction started on Tides, my restaurant.
It should’ve been the end.
Or more appropriately, it should’ve been the beginning of a whole new life. One that I finally felt I was getting the hang of. I was making my peace with the chaos that came with being a mother.
On one of Maisie’s many visits—she brought the kids and her husband who was goofy and doted on both her and the children—I’d been cooking while she and the kids entertained Mabel.
Mabel, who was now entertained, who giggled—giggled! Who cried still, since it was the only form of communication she had, but cried to communicate her needs rather than to scream at us like we were doing something wrong or the world was too loud or she was in discomfort or for whatever reason babies with colic cried.
The press left us alone for the most part. There was the odd reporter on Main Street when we went for walks or to get pastries, but Rowan scared any and all away from the bakery when they tried to enter.
And no one in the town had given an interview, shared any information, so they eventually scattered off for the next story.
Not that there weren’t stories. People had been transfixed by Kane when he was flying through the air on a motorcycle, winning Olympic medals, dating supermodels and generally being mischievous. But now that he’d ‘settled down,’ and had a baby girl, people seemed even more enchanted. By his love story, his happily ever after.
Yes, I was a little enchanted too. We were finally sleeping more. Not through the night, no, of course not. But we were getting three to four hours … in a row—that counted as eight hours in my book—which meant I was slightly saner.
Mabel napped in her crib, sometimes for a full hour. She still enjoyed most days slumbering, cuddled up to her father.
The house was filled with her laughter, her smiles. I had slightly more time to do things for myself. Especially with the never ending visits from the Jupiter ‘posse’. Nora, Fiona, Tina, Tiffany and Calliope.
Kane had his bromances with Kip and Rowan going strong, the three of them taking the kids out and about so we could sit in Nora’s garden drinking or eating or just doing things that weren’t wiping faces, cleaning diapers or feeding children.
Nora welcomed a second baby girl without fuss or disarray. She seemed content, well rested and not at all on the edge of a mental breakdown like I’d been those first weeks. It baffled me that she’d done it again by choice.
Fiona seemed to feel the same as me. We were both content with one child whereas Nora wanted many.
These new friendships meant that Mabel would never feel lonely, though. Not with all of the children she’d be surrounded by, not to mention her cousins, who adored her and had just left with a tearful goodbye and promises to return soon. My mother was scheduled to arrive the next day.
Kane had already contracted Kip and Rowan to start work on a ‘guest house’ for family on our property. He wanted them to feel welcome. He’d spoken about adding on to our petite cottage, but I’d refused. I liked it exactly how it was. Small, compact, perfect for two adults, one child and one dog.
He had told his mother about Mabel, and she’d visited. She’d been timid, hesitant and when she did speak, she spoke a lot about herself. She’d held Mabel, but she’d seemed uneasy, uncomfortable, Kane’s jaw hard while watching them together.
It wasn’t an altogether ‘nice’ visit. It hurt me that Kane didn’t have what I had with my mother. But he’d made his peace with it.
As much as anyone could.
We hadn’t seen Knox. I knew that bothered him more than his mother’s indifference.