Young Revelations (Young Series) (44 page)

The next several minutes are a blur as we catch our breath. Her head is resting on my shoulder and I’m still inside her, holding her to me. This all feels like some fantastical dream and if that’s what it is, I think I’d like to stay sleeping for a while longer.

Samantha speaks first, her words only adding to the dreamlike quality of the moment. “Let’s get married,” she whispers against my neck.

“What?” I ask, knowing I can’t have heard her right.

“You heard me,” she says, pushing herself up to look at me. “I’m tired of all this, Matt. I’m done. I want to come home with Tyler and be your wife again. I think I decided Thanksgiving night; I just didn’t know how to go about telling you.”

I grin. “Sam, are you proposing to me?” I ask her, my voice lilting with amusement.

“Maybe,” she replies, matching my grin. “Is that a problem for you?”

“Well, traditionally, it’s my job to propose, but I think we can make an exception,” I tease.

“Are you going to give me an answer?”

Chuckling, I slide my fingers into her hair, pulling her down for another kiss. “Nothing could possibly make me happier than to become your husband again,” I whisper against her lips.

“Good answer,” she whispers back. “Though I don’t actually have a ring for you…”

“That’s okay,” I say. “I’ve got one for you.” Before she can even fully furrow her brow in question, I’m reaching over to the bedside table, feeling around for the box I know is there, the one that has been there since the morning I came home after our breakup.

She smiles in realization and I open the box, pulling out the engagement ring. I slide it onto her finger and take a moment to admire the sight before I reach up and pull her down to me again for a desperate, bruising kiss that leaves us both panting for breath when we pull away. Even through the dark I can see her eyes glittering in a variety of emotions that my eyes are probably mirroring back exactly. Love. Happiness. Relief. Disbelief that we’re here again. “I love you,” she whispers, her nose touching mine. “More than anything, Matthew, I love you.”

“I know,” I whisper back to her. “And I love you too. Thank you for giving me another chance.”

“Just don’t mess this one up,” she grumbles partly playfully.

“Help me not mess it up,” I whisper to her. “I can’t do it on my own. I think we’ve realized that, haven’t we?”

She nods slightly, her expression grave. “Yeah, I guess we have,” she responds. “This is our new start—our
last
new start. No more secrets. No more hiding hurt feelings. No more keeping things from each other because we think it’s best that way. We can’t have any of that in our relationship anymore, Matt, or it’s going to destroy us.”

I slowly sit up, her still in my lap. Her legs wrap around my waist and I shudder at the incredible sensations that run through my body. For the time being I ignore all my baser instincts to roll her over and press her into the mattress again, knowing I have to get this part of things right. “New start,” I agree hoarsely, wrapping my arms around her waist. “The past is the past. I want our future; nothing else matters.”

She gives me a brilliant smile and I feel myself hardening again, still inside her. Her eyes flutter closed at the feeling and I know, at least for the time being, we’re done talking. Now I have to back up all my words with actions.

After an amazing night of little sleep, I find myself in the kitchen making breakfast. I’m still having a little trouble believing what happened last night was real and not a figment of my imagination. All I have to do to convince myself is to look down at my left hand where my engagement ring has been returned to its rightful place. Every time I do look at it, I grin like an idiot and have the urge to dance around happily.

Originally, my plan had been for us to have some intense conversations so I would know we were on the same page. Of course that plan was shot to hell with my discovery that Matthew has been apparently planning our wedding down to the smallest details. Right then I’d wanted to throw myself at him, beg him to forgive me for leaving him again, and tell him he’s the only one I’ll ever want for the rest of my life, so why put it off any longer? He threw me for yet another loop when he took me upstairs to our daughter’s nursery. He’s a man who puts his all into everything does, but doesn’t have a clue when it comes to interior design. That said, I couldn’t have created a more perfect room for our daughter if I tried. And seeing OLIVIA on the wall above the crib only made things more real for me. In four months, we’ll have a baby girl who inherited her grandmother’s name and this is where we will watch her grow up. It’s where Matthew and I will be stumbling around all bleary-eyed at three in the morning to tend to her needs.

It’s our home, where we belong, and there is no place else in this world I would rather be.

I jump slightly when a pair of strong arms slides around my waist and a hard, warm chest press into me from behind. Matthew chuckles softly into my ear. “Good morning, beautiful,” he whispers huskily. “How’d you sleep?”

I bite my lips against a grin, relaxing into him. “Every time I started drifting off, somebody kept bothering me,” I tell him teasingly. I feel his grin against my neck. “But aside from that, it was the best sleep I’ve had in weeks.”

“Mmm,” he murmurs. “Me too.”

With that, I go on making breakfast with Matthew attached to me, even when I have to walk across the room for something. Normally this behavior might annoy me, but I’m not complaining at the contact. It feels too good.

“When I woke up,” he whispers as I flip the bacon, “you were gone and I was convinced I’d imagined last night. Then I saw your dress on the floor and I couldn’t get down here quickly enough.”

“I’m sorry I panicked you,” I reply sincerely, since I know that’s what he’s admitting to. “You were sleeping so peacefully and I got hungry, so I thought I’d make us something to eat.”

He shakes his head slightly. “Don’t be sorry,” he whispers. “Don’t ever be sorry for being here with me.”

I don’t know how to respond to that, so I keep quiet. Eventually Matthew disengages himself from me and gathers plates and orange juice and glasses, setting the table for us. I fill our plates before sitting down across from him at the table and we begin to eat, sending each other shy looks and smiles and playing footsy. It’s all very cute behavior that I know if anyone were here to witness it, they’d be ill. I love it, though, seeing him so happy because of me. And I know the reverse is true as well—he knows I’m happy because of him. We complete each other in a way nobody else could truly ever break apart. As frightening as it is to not know what the future will bring for us and our family, I know as long as he’s at my side, nothing can hurt me. It’s taken nearly six years to get me back to that line of thinking and I’m in no hurry to lose it.

“I really hope you’re not over-thinking things already,” Matthew says softly from across the table. I look up to meet his gaze in surprise. “I know that expression, Sam. You’re worrying about everything, wondering if you made the right decision…” He briefly looks down at the table before looking back at me, his expression almost desperate. “Did you mean the things you said last night? If you didn’t, okay, but now is the time to say something rather than a few weeks down the road. I could possibly bounce back from it now by convincing myself it was an incredibly wonderful dream, but any longer and I’m not sure.”

Looking at him, I know he’s just waiting for me to tell him I didn’t mean any of it and it was just a cruel joke. I suppose I can see why he would believe that—it seems whenever we get to this point, something happens to throw us right back to the beginning. “I meant every word,” I tell him firmly, reaching my left hand across the table to take his right. “Every action and every word. I don’t regret anything that happened last night, Matthew. I told you I’d already made up my mind that I was ready to come home and I was just trying to figure out the best way to tell you. I meant that too. I’m finished letting other people determine how we live our lives. We might not ever get back to what we were during our first marriage, but maybe that’s a good thing. We’re stronger as individuals now and that can only make us a stronger couple, right? Yes, we still have some issues that need to be worked through, but we can do that together. I’ve been happier in the last three days spending time with you than I’ve been in weeks. What does that tell you?”

A shadow of a smile blooms on his face. “It tells me I am one lucky son of a bitch to have you in my life,” he responds. “And I agree with you completely. You and Tyler and Olivia… you three are all I need. The rest is just details. So fuck ‘em all. Your brother. My dad. My older sisters. Anyone else who thinks we’re better off apart. Fuck them.”

I nod my agreement. “Fuck them.”

He laughs as he stands up to clear our dishes. “I love it when you swear,” he sniggers on his way to the sink. “It’s adorable.”

“I never swore until I met you,” I complain. “I was a nice, innocent little farm girl until you showed up and corrupted me.”

He tilts his head from side to side, considering my words. “You’re probably right,” he says. “But I’ve loved every minute of corrupting you.”

“I bet you have,” I grumble, joining him at the counter. I glance down and find a pile of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. “You know, we never did get around to doing s’mores like you promised.”

Turning to me, he’s got a wicked grin on his face and moves to pin me in place, pressing himself against me until I groan. “I’d love to do
some more
with you,” he whispers teasingly, pressing his lips to my neck and nipping at my skin. I gasp, tangling my fingers in his hair to hold him in place. “We can do
some more
right now if you’d like.”

“Tempting,” I whisper. “But I should probably call and let Claire know where I am so she doesn’t worry.”

He snorts a laugh. “Talk about a mood killer,” he remarks. “Besides, you don’t think she knows exactly where you are and what you’ve been up to? My sister is a lot of things, Sam, but clueless isn’t one of them.”

I concede his point and we do the dishes from breakfast. Every other minute or so he flicks water at me as I dry a dish, which causes me to try hip checking him, not that he moves even a damn inch. Laughing at my failed attempt, and probably the pouty expression on my face, he presses a kiss to my temple and says something about heading up to take a shower and that if I decided to join him, he wouldn’t protest. For a brief moment, I consider actually making him shower alone as punishment for laughing at me, then realize I’d be punishing myself as well. And really, what kind of fool would I be to deprive myself of something so wonderful?

––––-o––––-

A couple hours later, after spending much more time than what was actually necessary in the shower, we’re arriving back at Claire’s. Matthew shuts off the car and turns to me, looking uncertain again.

“Just to be clear,” he says quietly, his brow furrowed and his eyes focused somewhere outside the car, “you and Tyler… You’re coming back home with me today?”

I nod, reaching for his hand. “We’re coming home,” I confirm in a whisper. “No more of this running away bullshit. For either of us, Matt, you and me. If we’re going to be in this together, then we need to be in it
together
. As partners, as a team.”

“Agreed,” he says in a strangled whisper, squeezing my fingers. “I love you, you know.”

Smiling, I bring his hand over to press my lips against his knuckles. “I know,” I respond. “Come on, let’s get our son and go home.”

“An excellent plan,” he says, grinning.

We walk hand-in-hand up the sidewalk to Claire’s front porch and Matthew doesn’t even bother knocking before we enter. All is suspiciously quiet and I have to glance back out to the driveway to confirm Claire’s and Danny’s cars are still here and they haven’t taken the kids anywhere. Matthew raises an eyebrow at me, clearly wondering exactly what I am about where everyone is.

Claire is in the kitchen, checking her phone messages and drinking her coffee. She looks up when we enter and her eyebrows rise in surprise when she notices our clasped hands. “Well, good morning,” she says, setting aside her phone. “You two look…” She glances between us, smirking. “Satisfied.”

I roll my eyes at Matthew; he chuckles. “What’d you do with the kids?” I ask.

“They got on my nerves,” she answers dismissively. “A couple of them are stuffed in a laundry hamper, the others scattered around upstairs… I’d appreciated it if you kept it to yourselves for a while; I’d like to enjoy the peace and quiet before going to prison.”

Matthew snorts a laugh. “We’ll do that,” he mutters, kissing his sister’s forehead and helping himself to coffee. “Where’d you really stash them?”

“Danny’s got them down in the basement watching a movie,” she answers. “So what’s all this?” She gestures between us with her coffee cup.

“I’ll let Sam tell you,” Matthew says. “I’ll get Tyler’s things ready.”

I nod, then smile when he stops to press a lingering kiss to my lips before leaving the kitchen. Turning back to Claire, I find her eyebrows have risen again. “What?”

She smirks, shaking her head. “Good date, then?” she asks, sipping her coffee.

“Fantastic date,” I confirm, sitting on a stool at the island counter. “From beginning to end.”

“And why is he getting Tyler’s things together?”

I smile. “Because Ty and I are going home,” I reply.

She doesn’t look the least bit surprised at the news. “About damn time,” she mutters. “I mean, I love you dearly and my door is always open to you whenever you need it, but your moping was starting to get to me.”

I grimace apologetically. “Sorry about that,” I say quietly.

“No worries,” she tells me. “So you and Matt have fixed things between you?”

Shrugging, I fiddle with my engagement ring. “Not completely,” I admit. “There’s still a lot we need to work on, but I can’t justify staying away and expecting everything to work out on its own. He and I are both miserable alone, and all I’m doing is making Tyler suffer while I go round and round about all the different options I could take when everyone knows the only thing I really want is to be with Matt. We’re in a better place than we were, I think. We’ve had some very in-depth conversations—”

She snorts a laugh into her coffee cup and mutters, “I bet you have.”

I glare at her, my lips twitching. “—and we’ve come to several agreements about where we want things to go and how we’ll get there.”

“And the wedding? Is that back on?” Her eyes dart to my engagement ring, which is probably enough of an answer, but I suppose she wants to hear it out loud.

“The wedding is back on,” I confirm. “Apparently Matt has been spending the last few weeks finalizing all the arrangements.” I watch her expression closely and when this news doesn’t seem to surprise her, I roll my eyes. “Of course you knew about that. You probably helped him.”

She smirks. “Only a little,” she admits. “He was completely clueless about the flower stuff, so I gave him some contact information. The rest he did on his own. Did he show you the nursery?”

My eyebrows rise now. “You’ve seen it?” I’m not sure if I’m annoyed by that or not.

“No,” she assures me. “But he told me he was working on it. I don’t know what it looks like.”

Relieved, we start talking about other, inconsequential things until we hear what sounds like a herd of elephants coming downstairs. Tyler sprints in, his face split in half with a huge grin. “Mommy, guess what!” he exclaims as he attaches himself to my legs.

“What?” I ask, laughing as Matthew walks in at a more subdued pace, chuckling at the sight of us.

“Daddy says we’re going home!”

I gasp in surprised delight. “Did he?” I ask with feigned surprise.

“Uh huh! We’re going now!”

“Well, you should probably get your coat and shoes on, then,” I tell him, ruffling his hair.

He happily rushes out of the kitchen to do as I asked and Matthew walks over to wrap his arms around my shoulders.

“We didn’t even hear you come up from the basement,” Claire says, her eyes narrowed on her brother.

Matthew shrugs slightly, resting his chin on my head. “We’re stealthy like that,” he says dismissively. He looks down at me. “Were you going to pack anything?”

I think for a moment, looking at Claire’s raised eyebrows. “I’m good actually,” I respond. “I can get my clothes later. Everything I need is at home.”

He beams at my response. “Well, as much fun as it is standing in Claire’s kitchen, I’d really like to get my family home,” he says. He pauses and looks to me as though seeking approval of his plan. Claire snorts a laugh and I have to fight my own amusement. Matthew frowns at us, realizing we’re inwardly making fun of him. “I’m glad you find my plans amusing. If you’re done laughing at me, I’ll meet you down at the car.”