Page 67 of Full Strength

“Are you ready for a bath?” I picked Eli up and headed to the guest bathroom where the tub was ready with his whale tub. I started the water when my phone rang from the kitchen.

“Who’s that?” Eli smiled up at me as I danced with him into the kitchen. It wasn’t a number I recognized, but I answered it anyway.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Depree? This is Officer Abrams.”

I relaxed a bit and cleared my throat. “Good morning.”

“I wanted to give you an update as soon as possible.” I cringed. That meant that they’d already found something. “We searched Mr. Plank’s residence and found photographs and videos of you.”

I gasped. “From recently?”

“I’m afraid so. It looks like he’s been following you for the past several months. It’s enough to charge him for felony stalking since he used a weapon yesterday. That’s in conjunction with aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon since we’re charging him for attacking you and Mr. Fisher.”

“That means he’ll go to jail, right?”

“Yes Ms. Depree. He’ll be serving time.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you for letting me know.”

“Of course. I’ll be in touch with more information as we have it.”

I hung up and hugged Eli. “It’s going to be okay.”

For the first time in over a year I actually believed it.

“Let’s get ready. We’ve got some news to share.” Eli cooed and I hurried through the motions of giving him a bath. He was a bit disgruntled that I didn’t let him play in the bubbles for as long as he normally did.

“I promise we’ll play all day tomorrow, okay?”

I lathered him up with lotion and dressed him in a Fury onesie. It was Grant’s favorite and today felt like the perfect day to wear it.

“You be good for two minutes okay. Mommy needs to get clean.” I sat him in his bouncer, buckled him in, and made sure his toy was within reach. “I promise I’ll be fast.”

I’d mastered showering fast within a few weeks of Eli’s birth. I hated listening to him cry, even though it was usually just because he wanted attention. I peeked out and he was still smiling so I rushed to wash my hair, a rare luxury outside of the salon.

When I stepped out of the shower Eli was still content. I wanted to give him a high five. Sleeping through the night and entertaining himself for longer than two minutes? This mom was ready to throw a party.

I put on makeup and twisted my hair up into a bun on the top of my head before getting dressed.

“We did it, bud.” I picked him up out of his bouncer to his delight. He smiled and blubbered as I walked to the front door. “Let’s go surprised d-”

I cut myself off when I realized what I almost said. I almost called Grant dad. I froze and looked down at Eli. He was by far the closest thing Eli had to a father. But that didn’t mean....I couldn't assume...what if that’s not what Grant wanted?

That was quite the assumption on my part. We haven't even talked about our relationship, and I was already jumping forward a thousand steps?

There were crucial things I didn't know about Grant. I hadn’t met or spoken to his family. We’d lived in a bubble for the past few months. Yes, I’d been the one creating it, but now I was realizing how I’d set us up for failure.

“Mommy has a lot to think about.”

Eli blinked up at me, probably wondering why we were standing in front of the door. I let us out and locked it. I had a lot to figure out in the short walk across the street. But things that had seemed like roadblocks a few weeks ago, no longer seemed like such a big deal. Grant was completely accepting of me and my decisions. He was a support, a cheerleader for me. He took the time to learn how I did things and became a part of the process. He inserted himself so seamlessly into my life that I hadn’t even noticed what a huge part of it he’d become.

He protected me and Eli. He loved Eli more than I could have ever expected. I’d never thought about meeting anyone else after Ryan because I never really thought a man could accept and love me and my son the way we needed to.

I’d been so wrong.

Grant had done nothing since we met but prove me wrong in the most wonderful ways.