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“You shouldn’t have left,” he pointed out instantly. It was still a sore subject.

And that wasn’t an answer. I tried again. “You were kissing Jovie the first time I saw you again. Clearly you’d moved on.”

“She kissed me,” he shot back. “I was rather surprised, to be honest. It came out of nowhere.”

“You were kissing her back,” I pointed out.

“I was trying to move on,” he told me in a voice that ached. “I wasn’t successful, but I was trying. It was the first and only date I’d been on since you left. Don’t you understand? You broke my heart.”

My heart stopped. I was afraid to take that how I yearned to.

“I did?” I asked slowly.

“Of course you did. You left me. I’m madly in love with you, and you just left. I was depressed and going through a rough time and you disappeared. Don’t you think that hurt? You didn’t even talk to me first. And you told me not to so much as contact you. Yes, of course, you broke my heart.”

“You’re in love with me?” My voice broke on the question.

“Of course I am.”

“You never told me. Not once. I said it a lot, and you never said it back.”

“I didn’t want to trap you, but now you’re trapped with me forever, so I’m not holding anything back. Not ever again.”

“I love you too,” I told him, crying now.

He moved to me, his soft lips on my cheeks, kissing away the tears. “I know, pet. You have such a beautiful heart, and I’m so lucky it’s mine. I’ll take good care of it, I promise.”

Not even a week later, his large family descended on the house.

The entire family.

It was overwhelming. And nice.

I knew I was a surprise to all of them, the pregnancy even more so, but they took it with grace.

His parents were wonderful, warm, and welcoming, and everything I’d missed and more since my own passed. I’m not sure I was who they’d have chosen for their son, but since he’d chosen me they seemed determined to back him up with extra credit.

His mother, Caroline, was rubbing my belly while we sat side by side on the sofa one afternoon when she said, “This will be my fifth grandchild and my first grandson. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. Thank you for joining our family. We’ll make sure you never regret it. I’m sure you know this, but you won’t find a better man than Carter. I promise he’ll make you happy.”

“I know,” I said, and I was sobbing. In my whole life I’d never met anyone as instantly loving toward me as his mother, and I didn’t know if it was just her or the pregnancy or both, but her sweet little speeches made me cry every time.

No one said one word about the fact that we’d clearly gotten married after I was heavily pregnant, and I appreciated that.

There were a few awkward moments, mostly when anyone was reminded of my age or the fact that Carter and I had met because he was my high school teacher, which was particularly scandalous for his traditional-minded family, but the moments passed quickly.

I didn’t realize until a few days into the little family reunion that Carter was the youngest of the five kids. The oldest was his sister Constance and she had him by twelve years. The table went speechless during dinner when the math was done and everyone realized she was beyond old enough to be my mother, but even that was laughed away good-naturedly.

All of his siblings stayed a solid two weeks just to get to know me better, and his parents stayed another week.

By the time we had the house all to ourselves again, I felt thoroughly ensconced in his wonderful family. It was everything I’d ever wanted.

CARTER

We were at Dair’s house for a brainstorming session a few weeks later when we put all the pieces together.

I’d just finished updating the guys on all the details of my impromptu wedding and my impending fatherhood when Turner got the ball rolling.

“Wait,” Turner said slowly, like something was dawning on him. He was looking at Dair, but speaking to me. “Whose idea was the mall date?”