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“What?”
His gaze roamed my face when he said, “I love you.” His eyes paused on mine when he swore, “I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure you always believe loving me is your best decision. But I saw you holding Maverick. I watched you cuddling River’s boy and looking at him like you couldn’t wait to have one of your own.”
Well, damn, wasn’t he perceptive?
“How many kids do you want, princess?”
Uh-oh.
My gaze slid over his shoulder.
“Look at me, Atlee.”
I slid my gaze back.
“I’ve lost a lot in my life, princess. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Some of them big. One of those mistakes was pushing you away. Another was not immediately going after you to fix my screw-up. But from those mistakes I’ve learned.”
I was stuck back on all that Wilson had lost. I hated that for him and I didn’t want to add to his grief by trying for a child.
“A mistake isn’t a mistake if there’s a lesson to be learned,” I whispered something Gram had once told me.
“You were right to send me home. I hated every minute being away from you. I hated not waking up next to you, not being there when you got dressed in the morning for work, not being there to watch you double up on toothpaste.”
Holy Hannah, he really paid attention.
He continued. “I missed touching you, seeing you smile, kissing you, watching you move around a room. I just plain missed everything about you. But I didn’t squander my time. I wanted to be ready for you. I had plenty of work to do before I could be the man you deserved. I did the work, princess. I can’t say there are parts of what happened that would always hurt, but I’m not going to allow guilt, or the past, or any tragedy to stop me from loving you.”
Wilson’s eyes were on the move again. They glided over my face, dipped down to my throat, then stopped on his mark on my neck.
“Here’s a truth for you, princess. If I lost you I’d never recover. There would never be another woman. Not in my bed, not a one-night stand, not in my life in any way.” His eyes flicked back up to mine. “I want babies with you, Atlee. Not because I know you want them. I want them with you. I want to wake up next to you knowing our children are down the hall in their beds. I want to sit with you and watch our children play. I want to be by your side for all life’s ups and downs. I want to hold your hand when you’re sick. I want to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries with you. I want it all.”
I could barely make out Wilson’s face through my watery gaze.
When the first tear fell, he swiped it away.
“Are you going to give me everything, Atlee?”
There was only one answer I could give.
So I gave it.
“Yes.”
“I want to get married soon.”
Again there was only one answer.
“Okay.”
“I’m not young, princess. I want to start making a family soon.”
He said that like he was ancient.
“Men can become fathers in their sixties, Wilson,” I told him.
“Good to know but I’m not waiting ten years. I’d like to play ball with my boys before I need a walker.”
“Well, I have heard practice makes perfect. We could, you know, practice now,” I suggested.
