“No.” He ran his hands up and down her back. “You have to believe me, Beth. If I’d known, for one second, that you were pregnant, I would have worked out a different way to handle all this.”
“I do believe you,” she said simply. “But I’m still so mad at you I could scream.”
“How could I ask you to put up with me, like that? You would have been my nursemaid, not my wife.”
“Jeez, Kirk. It’s not like I thought you’d go to Afghanistan with a guarantee of a safe return. The risks were always pretty damn high. I thought you were dead!”
“I know.” He shook his head. “In some ways this felt worse than death.”
“Don’t,” she snapped, pushing his shoulder. “That dishonors you and every other soldier that comes back physically altered. What I love is in here,” she dipped her head and pressed a kiss against his chest, where his heart was beating thickly. “And in here.” She stood and kissed the top of his head.
“How can you love me after what I did?”
“The only thing you did was not have enough faith in my love for you, and the degree of our commitment. And that, I can forgive.”
“I left you with Wade. I hurt you. I know I did.”
“Damn right you did. Even when you came back and threatened to take our son away.”
“I never would have, Beth, I just needed to find a way to give you money. I felt so guilty. So guilty for not being there, for not being able to help you in the simplest of ways.”
She nodded. “I know. It was still despicable. But Kirk, not once did I ever think I stopped loving you. I never even looked at another guy. I’m just… yours, and always will be.”
He looked up at her beautiful, flawless face and shook his head. “But my back…”
“Is proof that you’re a living miracle,” she interrupted him. “Every time I look at your back, do you know what I’ll be thinking?”
“Hmm?” He prompted.
“That I’m the luckiest woman in the world. Those scars are a reminder of what could have been. They’re a sign of what you went through to come back to me.”
“I don’t… believe you.” Only, how could he not? Truth was written on every crease in her face.
She squeezed his shoulder insistently. “Baby, what would you have done if our positions had been reversed?”
He thought about it, pressing his head against her flat stomach. “I’d have been with you every step of the way.”
“And I would have been there for you. We can’t go back in time, but I swear to you, I am not letting you do this to us again. If you want to be with me, then this is it. We make the decision now, and live with whatever life throws at us together. Side by side, we face the future. So? What’s it to be?”
He looked at her, his heart bursting, his body tingling. “Is it even a choice? Annabeth Sparks, you are, without a doubt, the most amazing woman on the face of the earth. I was born to be with you. Please, will you let me slide that ring back on your finger.”
She nodded, tears falling freely now. But they were tears of happiness and relief. Finally, she could breathe.
He reached behind him to the bedside table, and pulled the solitaire out. It still fit like a glove, just as he did.
EPILOGUE
One year later, exactly.
“Come on, son, give your mama a break and spin me ‘round the dance floor,” Horace called across the crammed Harvest festival.
“Glad to, Pops,” Wade shouted back, sprinting through the crowds to stand on Horace’s steel tipped toes.
At five years old, he’d had a growth spurt. He was still one of the smallest guys in his class, but he looked near enough his age. And what he lacked in size, he made up for with personality and smarts. Annabeth watched, a smile on her face, as her father and her son danced goofily amongst the more serious festival goers.
A.J’s set was in full swing. He was belting out a mix of original material and classic covers, and the crowd was going wild. Since marrying Emma Whittaker, Clearview residents had overlooked the fact he was from Austin. They’d adopted him thoroughly as one of their own.
“Hello, Mrs Robinson,” Kirk said, wrapping his arms around his wife’s waist and pulling her back against his flat wall of abs.
She spun in the circle of his arms and looked up at him. Her eyes held the same glow they always did when she looked at him. Every day was a blessing, especially because she knew what life was like without him in it.
“Hi,” she smiled up at him. “I’m glad you finally made it.”
“Sorry to keep you. I had to go check things at the pier.”
“And? How’s it looking?” Kirk’s project was becoming an obsession for the whole town. The prospect of the restored structure was an exciting one.
“Well, we’ve just broken ground, so to speak, but I can tell you that it’s going to be pretty special.” He smiled down at her. “Almost as special as my wife.”
She rolled her eyes. “Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Robinson.”
He pulled her closer, so that she could feel the force of his erection. “What a shame. I might have to think of another way to get back in your good graces.”
She nodded wordlessly, her cheeks flushed, her breath hitched in her throat with pleasurable anticipation.
“Your dad still minding Wade for the night?”
“Yeah. He and Cass are going to head home after this.”
“Great. Let’s go. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
Her life with Kirk had been a never-ending string of surprises. He was constantly planning trips, buying gifts, bringing her breakfast in bed; a million ways that all added up to show her, every day, how much he loved her.
For once, though, Annabeth suspected she might have planned her own surprise, and she couldn’t wait to spring it on him.
He’d set up a picnic on the beach in front of their home. The house she’d been so angry at him for foisting on her was now their sanctuary. Kirk had converted the whole basement area into a combined rehab/office space for him. Somewhere he could do his exercises every day and keep up with the requirements of his job.
“I packed your favorites,” he said, straightening the blanket so that she could sit down.
Annabeth looked at him skeptically. “You did?”
“My assistant did,” he clarified with a mollifying smile.
“Almost the same thing,” she winked at him.
“Champagne?” He handed her a flute and she took it without tasting it.
“Are we celebrating?”
“We sure are,” he agreed with a smile. He leaned back, looking at the way the dusky sky was kissing the Gulf of Mexico.
“Oh?”
“One year of life with you, Mrs. Robinson. That deserves a toast, don’t you think?”
She nodded, following his gaze and looking out to sea.
“I arrived in Clearview thinking I had hardly any chance. That the prize I’d worked for all those years would surely be out of my reach. But here you were.”
“Waiting for you,” she said, a small smile on her lips.
“I just wish I hadn’t missed so much. So much of Wade’s life, especially.”
“But you’d never know it now, looking at the two of you together.”
“I don’t have any words to describe how lucky I am, Beth.” He fixed her with a serious gaze, one that set her soul on fire. “I don’t think life could get any more perfect.”
Beth nodded slowly, and the smile that spread across her face told him something was afoot.
“You look very mischievous,” he pondered, moving to her side.
“That’s because I have a surprise of my own, Kirk Robinson.”
“Do you now?”
“Yes.” A quick frown flickered across her face. “And I am almost certain you’re going to like it.”
“Only one way to find out,” he prompted, scanning her face questioningly.
“You, me and Wade are going to get a new little soul to love.”
His frown was one of confusion. “Am I … Did I get that right? Do you mean…?”
She laughed, and rubbed her still-flat stomach. “Yep. Dan reckons I’m about three months gone.”
“Oh, hell!” Kirk jumped up and whooped through the air, his whole body expressing his joy. He cried out again then came to kneel beside her. “Honey, I’m thrilled. I was wrong before. Now I think life couldn’t get any more perfect.”
He pulled her against his chest and kissed her on the lips. It was achingly sweet and desperately hungry. Slowly, he lowered her back to the sand, keeping his lips on hers. “And this time, I get to be by your side for all of it. Any nasty cravings or midnight snack requirements, I’m your guy. Foot rubs around the clock. Whatever you need.”
She grinned against his mouth. “I knew I married you for a reason.”
“You did. You married me because I’m hopelessly, completely in love with you, and you were kind enough to put me out of my misery.”
“To put us both out of our miseries,” she corrected, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight.
Life was full of twists and turns, unknown detours and unexpected rewards. In a million years, Annabeth Sparks never thought her road would rejoin Kirk’s. But now that it had, she knew they’d travel through life side by side, for all time. And there was nowhere else she’d rather be.