When I'm With You

His eyes flare and I suck in a breath. “I do not really see how that would be a problem.”

“Nate,” I breathe. “It’s way too soon for that kind of talk.”

When our eyes connect, I almost gasp when I see the seriousness in his. “Ember, I’m almost thirty years old. I want a house full of kids with you, and I really don’t want to have to wait to make that happen.”

“We just got engaged, Nate. Besides that, we’ve been together for only a few months.”

“If you need my last name before you let me put babies in here”—his big hands move from my hips to press lightly on my belly—“then that’s going to happen sooner than later.”

“You’re stuck on this?”

He nods.

“Let’s revisit this conversation in six months, okay?” I can tell that isn’t what he wants to hear, so I rush to finish. “Give me six months, Nate. We have time to get settled in our home and with each other. I want to have that time to show you how much I love you this time.”

His eyes flare. “Six months and not a day longer. You have that long to make my house our home and then I’m going to start doing my best to put babies in you.”

“We’ll see,” I hum, kissing his lips softly before bending to rest my head on his shoulder.

His arms curl around me, the strength of him soaking into my skin. We stay like that for a while, him just holding me tightly.

When he pulls one arm up and his hand gently grips the back of my head, I feel him take a deep breath. “How are you with what we found out before dinner?”

I think about what he’s asking and answer him honestly. “I’m okay, I think. A man lost his life, and as much as I hate to think it, let alone say it, he deserved the karma that he got. Would I have wished death on him for what he did? Probably not, but it happened and we both know he made his own path of destruction.”

“Hmm.” He doesn’t say more, and I lift up to look at him, his hand falling from my head to rest back at my hips.

“You heard what I told the police at the hospital. The things he had done even before setting the fire proved he wasn’t right in the head, but even if you and I hadn’t gotten together, I would never have gone back to Levi.” His expression turns hard when I bring up his name. “I know he knew that too. We weren’t together long, but I feel like, had he not died, he wouldn’t have given up, and I realize now that nothing I could have done differently would have changed things in his head.”

“I’m not sorry that he died. I just wish I would have been the one to end his life.”

I smile sadly. “Yeah, then he would have taken you away from me anyway.”

“Never,” he says heatedly.

“It could have been worse, Nate. I don’t want to downplay it, but I also don’t want to give what he did any more power by continuing to let it affect me—us. His death means we get instant closure, and as we start this new chapter in our lives, we do it without anyone being able to taint it.”

“God, you’re one strong woman.”

“Nate.” I smile with a sigh. “Don’t you see? When I’m with you, there isn’t anything I can’t overcome.”

His eyes close at my words. When he opens them again, I feel a lump of emotion form in my throat. There is so much love hitting me from just that look alone.

“Promise me, Ember, that if you start to feel the darkness of what happened ever touch you, you’ll tell me. I don’t care how big or small those shadows might be; I want you to know that I’m here to shield you and protect you from anything.”