“I have no idea why you tried so hard to save me,” I murmured into her hair. “But I’ll be forever grateful you did.”
Smiling at me, she just said, “It’s because you’re worth it.”
The cold October ground was mushy, and my feet felt as if they wanted to sink through the earth as I trudged across the cemetery, hand-in-hand with City. I’d never liked these places, but I’d wanted to pay my respects, and my woman was eager to show me Bentley’s resting place.
“I keep the grass around it weeded whenever I come, which is about twice a year, once on her birthday, once on her...death date.”
I nodded and squeezed my fingers around hers. “Thank you.”
“Well...she was my niece too.”
“Our niece,” I revised with a fond smile lingering around my lips as I remembered those few times I’d taken Bentley out to meet her in the woods.
When we stopped in front of a small, neat plot, I looked down and swallowed, mourning the child who’d helped bring City into my life. “I always pictured her whenever I dreamed of what a baby between us would look like, since she had both of our blood in her.”
“Yeah.” City rested her head on my shoulder. “So did I.”
I glanced down at our interlaced fingers and murmured, “Maybe one day, some baby still will.”
She glanced up at me, and happy tears glistened in her eyes. “Maybe. I hope so.”
We hadn’t discussed particulars, like our future, but it seemed obvious we were going to stay together. One day, I was sure we’d marry and start our family. We’d get our happily ever after.
But for now, I was content with what we had, living in our two-bedroom apartment and working at Forbidden while we filled the rest of our days with each other. And she seemed just as pleased.
It’d been a few weeks since Rock had attacked me at the club and been arrested, and one week since Reese’s mother’s lawyer had contacted me and coaxed me into suing Statesburg. Life was good, so of course I worried something bad had to happen next.
But City did a damn fine job of easing my worries. She made me see how we were making it, how we were thriving. So each morning that I woke with her in my arms, I worried a little less and lived a little more.
“Let’s go to the trouble tree,” I said as an idea hit me.