Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Doing just that, I got to the living room right as Caden walked through the front door. I stood at the bottom of the steps and watched him shut and lock the door. He turned around, stopped…and smiled when he saw me. It instantly made my stomach flutter.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, as I stepped down the last step.
“Am I okay? Are you? I hope her coming here didn’t upset you.”
Softly smiling, I nodded. “I’m okay. A bit rattled, if I’m being honest.”
Caden walked up to me, took my hand, and guided us to the sofa. We sat down. “Tell me what you’re thinking, Lilibeth.”
I exhaled. “It’s stupid, and I know I’m just…”
“Tell me. We promised we’d always be honest with one another.”
Nodding, I said, “Truth be told, since finding out that was your ex, my mind has been racing with different thoughts. The thought of you…” I blew out a breath and tried to steady both my heart and breath. “The thought of you going back to Rachel makes my stomach feel sick. I know this thing between us is new, and yes, we’re having a baby together, but she was your first love. The woman you wanted to build a life with. Before, she was just a faceless person in my imagination. But seeing her tonight…here in your house…it just made all these fears I hadn’t realized were there come to the surface.”
He squeezed my hands, then brought them to his mouth and kissed each wrist. “First, this is our house, Lilibeth. Yours and mine. I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. I’m all in. One-hundred-percent, and it’s not because you’re pregnant. I’ve never been surer of anyone in my life than I am of you.”
Caden reached up and wiped a tear off my cheek. He smiled and went on. “When I was younger, before I even started to date Rachel, I used to go up in the barn and sit there, watching the sun go down over the mountains, and I used to pray to God that he’d bring me someone to love the way my father loved my mother. And I prayed that she’d love me back just as much.”
He glanced at our hands and smiled as he shook his head slightly before looking back up at me. “I’m far from a church-going kind of guy, but man…I used to pray so hard for you.”
Confused, I asked, “Me?”
“Yes, you, Lilibeth. I prayed for someone to love me like my mother loves my father. For someone whose smile steals my breath away. Eyes that look into my soul and know more about me than I do myself. I always knew deep inside my heart that Rachel wasn’t the person I prayed for. I lied to myself, though, because I thought I was in love. And I was…just not the right kind of love.
“I had this whole life planned out, and I tried so hard to force Rachel into the image of the person I saw by my side. Even after she left, I continued to lie to myself. Then I thought maybe I didn’t deserve the kind of love my mother and father had. I told myself that over and over. If I’d just loved her more, did more for her, maybe she would have loved me back just as I was.”
I shook my head, ready to tell him how wrong he was. “Oh, Caden.”
He held up a hand. “Let me finish. Then you walked into my life and turned it completely upside down, or I should say, right side up. That perfectly planned life had been thrown a plot twist, and it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”
He laced his fingers with mine. “I was waiting for this perfect moment to tell you that I love you, Lilibeth. I wanted it to be grand and beautiful, but someone I love very much told me I was an idiot, and that I needed to tell you now.
“You, Lilibeth Asher, are everything I prayed for, so long ago. I want to spend the rest of my life making sure you’re happy and loved, and the same with our children. I can’t promise that life will always be easy or perfect, but I can promise that I’ll never leave you. Because when I look into your eyes, all I see is forever.”
A sob escaped as I covered my mouth with my hand. “I love you too. More than you know.”
He stood and drew me up with him. Wrapping his arms around me, he held me. “I promise you, no one will come between us. Never.”
I buried my face in his chest and let the tears I’d been holding in fall freely. Caden ran his hands over my back, and it instantly calmed me.
When I drew back, our gazes met.