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“I don’t think that makes them legal,” Nelly said.
“Don’t go throwing around all those fancy college words,” Tag said. “I’m not as well-read as you.”
“I’m pretty sure that you understand that word.”
“Never assume, darling,” he said.
“My mother was your teacher,” Nelly pointed out. “I know she taught you better than that.”
Everyone was down there, including the whole Garrett family, who Elizabeth hadn’t gotten a chance to meet yet. She met Sawyer and his wife, Evelyn, Wolf and his wife, Violet. And their children. Cute babies that made her heart ache for a stage of parenthood that she had passed a long time ago.
She hadn’t even thought about having more kids since she and Carter had gotten divorced. It was something she had let go of completely. But there was something about this that made her ovaries ache, and she didn’t like it. She knew it had to do with the combination of the cute babies and Brody.
What a pain in the rear.
She did not need that. She did not need to go getting sentimental over all of this. Over him.
But his declaration about not having children from the other day still echoed inside of her. She understood that it hurt him, what he’d done. Even if she couldn’t fully understand why. It was more about how his brothers would feel, she did get that. But she sensed another worry beneath it, and she just couldn’t quite figure out where it came from.
That poor man.
He was tortured with it.
But then he’d taken her back home and he’d made love to her like it was the only thing he’d ever wanted to do, after kissing her like he had all the time in the world out there in that field.
But the problem was, she just... She loved him.
That was the problem. His pain was her pain. What he wanted, she wanted. This place... She cared about it. Because it was his. And it felt a little bit like hers, and part of her wanted to make it theirs.
He put her needs above his own, he prioritized her pleasure.
He was a strong and steady influence for Benny.
He was broken, yes.
Not shattered beyond all repair.
And she knew better than anyone there was nothing wrong with broken. When you were dropped right at the beginning of your life, it was impossible to come away without some damage. She knew that. She also knew that she still mattered, even with all of it. She also knew that she deserved to be happy. It had been the realization that she’d been having this whole time. And it wasn’t about trying to make a good thing last forever.
No. It wasn’t that. She had thought she was in love before. She hadn’t been. She could see clearly now the holes in that. All the ways that it had never been love. All the ways that it had never been, when she had so desperately wanted it to be.
But now there was this. Now there was him.
And she had never known that love could take this kind of shape, so she knew she hadn’t fashioned it out of thin air. It wasn’t a fantasy, it was something wondrous.
Beginning and end.
“Would you like a drink?” Evelyn Garrett offered her a choice between champagne and sparkling cider. Elizabeth opted for the champagne. She didn’t have anyone to be responsible for tonight, so there was no reason to be... Responsible. It was a couple of days without Benny. He’d had a great Christmas, and he’d taken joy in showing her all of his loot over a video call. She missed him. She was ready for their separation to end. A video call a day would never be enough.
But it meant she and Brody would end too. And that she wasn’t ready for at all.
It will end unless you do something about it.
Unless you stop coasting through life, and start asking for what you want.
“Champagne,” she said.
“Great,” Evelyn said, pouring her a generous glass. And then she poured herself some too. “I’m finally not pregnant or breastfeeding, so I will indulge myself.”
