Page 60 of Speechless
“I don’t want to live here alone.”
She stepped back. “Mav, you know I love you. But we’ve only been back together, like, a minute. No way can I give up my place and move in here with you.”
She wasn’t being unreasonable. My head knew that, but my heart didn’t want to wait another minute to start our lives together, under this roof.
I nodded. “No problem, I understand.”
“Damn it, don’t do that!”
“What am I doing?”
“Acting like I disappointed you because I’m not on the same timeline you are.”
I didn’t want to argue with her about this, or anything else. Not when we were finally getting close. But there was no holding back where this girl was concerned.
I leaned back against the breakfast bar and folded my arms over my chest. “You want me to always be honest with you, right?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t feel like I deserve this house. But you sure as hell do.”
Her eyes softened. “Mav—”
“Just hear me out.” Admitting this was hard, but she couldn’t fully understand me unless she knew what was in my heart. “I want to spoil you, baby. I want to give you everything your hard-working mama always wanted to.”
“You’re amazing,” she said, clearing her throat, obviously trying to hold it together. “But I don’t need a fancy house or car or any of that stuff. I just need a man who’s gonna treat me right. Who’ll love me and be there for me when I need a strong shoulder to lean on. I need a man who’ll help me over my fear of being a momma—”
“You’re afraid to have kids?” If she told me she envisioned our future without little ones underfoot, I’d find a way to cope, but it would feel like a gut-punch.
“I saw what my mama went through. She thought she’d have someone to help her raise me and my sister.” She snapped her fingers. “And just like that, he up and decided to leave one day. She never got to have a life of her own while we were growing up because she had to be both parents to us, while working two jobs. And by the time we were old enough to take care of ourselves, her best years were behind her. I don’t want that to happen to me.”
“I want to be a parent because I had two lousy examples growing up. I want to learn from all the mistakes they made and prove I have it in me to be good to my kids. To be gentle and kind, tough but fair, to show them love, and raise them to be strong, confident people who believe in themselves.”
Codie opened her mouth, them snapped it shut. “God, I love that.”
I reached for her and without hesitation, she stepped into my arms. “So, we both have issues. Maybe I can help you be strong where you feel weak and you can do the same for me?”
“Yes,” she said, kissing me. “Yes, yes, yes.”
I couldn’t wait to hear her whisper that word when I asked the question that had been on the tip of my tongue since the day I admitted I was in love with her all those years ago.
“So, you think I should make an offer on this house?”
“If you want to, Mav. It has to be your call.”
I shook my head. “No, it has to be our call, ‘cause I told you I have no intention of living in this house alone forever. I won’t push you. Take all the time you need, but I do want to make you my wife. And I want this to be our house. So, could you see yourself living here, or what?”
She turned around, her back to my chest as I curled my arms around her waist. “It still seems surreal, doesn’t it? From our days sharing an order of fries because we couldn’t afford two… to this?”
I laughed at the memory of how broke I’d been. Kissing her neck, I whispered in her ear, “Codie, I want this. And you make me believe I might just deserve it. So, come on. Tell me you love it as much as I do. Tell me, someday, you’ll want to share it with me.”
Her smile spread as she tipped her head back to look at me. “What if I told you I damn near had a heart attack as soon as we pulled into the drive? I swear, it feels like this house was made just for us.”
I closed my eyes, feeling the perfection of those words wash over me. “Yeah, it does. And we’re gonna make it ours, before someone else beats us to it.”
* * *
We were sharing a pizza at our favorite pizza place a few hours after my offer on the house had been accepted, when Codie looked over my shoulder and groaned.
