Page 104 of Deserving Maisy
“Jason?” she asked, her brow furrowing.
“No!” Stone practically shouted. He took a breath and forced himself to relax. He hated even hearing her asshole brother’s name. He’d made her life hell, and he wanted nothing but good for her from here on out. “No,” he said a little more calmly. “But if I do hear anything else, I’ll be sure to tell you right away. It’s something else.”
Now that he was doing this, Stone suddenly felt unsure.
“Okay. Whatever it is, it’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out together.”
This woman. He loved her so damn much. It was obvious he was nervous and she was doing what she could to soothe him. He took her hand and pulled her over tothe table that separated the living room from the kitchen. He picked up a piece of paper and held it out to her.
“I got this from Ry. She took it upon herself to fix things.”
Maisy looked confused—and Stone couldn’t blame her. He wasn’t explaining this well at all. She took the paper he was holding out to her and lowered her head to read it.
Stone saw the second the words sank in. Her head flew up and her eyes met his. “This is our wedding certificate,” she whispered.
“Yeah. Since my real name wasn’t on our marriage license that means the money from your inheritance was obtained illegally, which could come back to haunt you. And it means technically we were never married. But…as I said, Ry fixed it.”
Maisy looked back down at the piece of paper in her hand and ran a finger over his signature. Instead of saying Jack Smith, as he’d signed it on that day months ago, it now said Jack Wickett. And hers said Maisy Feldman, instead of Smith, as she’d signed her own.
“What? How?” she asked incredulously.
“Ry’s got skills,” was all he said. Now wasn’t the time to go into details about how she’d hacked into the Washington state database and changed the original document that had been scanned in. How she’d taken his signature from one of the many forms he’d signed here at The Refuge and replaced the one he’d used to sign his marriage license.
“I know we’ve talked about getting married here in New Mexico, just to make sure our bases are covered…but we don’t have to now. Unless you still want to. I mean, if you want a party with our friends, I’m sure everyone would bethrilled. And you deserve the wedding of your dreams. The white dress, the aisle, the whole shindig. I just wanted to make sure you were all right with this. With us being married already. For real.”
He was babbling, but Stone couldn’t read what Maisy was thinking, and it was killing him.
In response, Maisy put the altered marriage license on the table…then turned and walked away from him.
Stone could only stare at her in dismay. His heart was in his throat, and he thought he was going to barf. This was more painful than anything he’d ever experienced. Including his time as a POW. If his Maisy rejected him now, he wasn’t sure he’d ever recover.
She entered their bedroom, but a moment later she was walking back. Her face was inscrutable. Stopping in front of him, she held something out in her hand.
Looking down, Stone’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately knew what he was looking at. His gaze flew back up to hers. And this time, she was smiling. Huge. The happiness and satisfaction in her expression was blinding.
“Once upon a time, you said I couldn’t leave because I might be pregnant. Well…it looks like you’re going to be stuck with me. Us.”
“You’re…we’re…ababy?” Stone choked out as he clenched the positive pregnancy test in his hand.
Maisy giggled. “Yeah. You can’t be that surprised, considering neither of us has been using any kind of protection. And since your favorite thing in the world seems to be coming deep inside me…” Her voice trailed off.
Stone dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her belly. He felt her handsin his hair as his eyes filled with tears. He hadn’t cried in years. Even when he was being tortured, he hadn’t cried. But thinking about this woman having his baby made him lose it completely.
Looking up, he said, “Please don’t ever leave me. I couldn’t handle it. I love you so much,Stellina. How we met was fucked up, but you’re literally the best thing to ever happen to me. I’m begging you, don’t ever leave me. If I piss you off, tell me what I did so I can make sure it doesn’t happen again. Anything you want, I’ll bend over backward to give to you. Please, Maisy, please.”
She shook her head as her own eyes filled with tears and she tried to pull him to his feet. But Stone didn’t budge. He couldn’t. There was no way his knees would be able to hold him up.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t beg. It isn’t you. Besides, it’s not necessary. I don’t want to go anywhere. The day I met you was the beginning of my new life, and I’ll fight like hell to keep it. And I don’t need another wedding. Maybe in twenty years, we can do the renewal of vows thing for real, but for now, I just want to enjoy being Mrs. Jack Wickett and starting a family with you.”
The hell with his plans. They’d talked about going for a hike out to Table Rock and he was going to get down on one knee and give her back the rings he’d bought for her in Seattle. But the thought of going anywhere other than to their bed was abhorrent. He needed to show his wife how much he loved her. How excited he was for their baby. She was right, he did love coming inside her. But since she didn’t seem to mind in the least, he didn’t either.
Finding the strength, Stone stood. Then he wrapped an arm around her waist and led her back down the hall theway she’d just come. He went to the little table next to their bed and pulled open the drawer. He pulled out the rings they’d worn before his memory returned and reverently took her hand in his. He slid the rings down her ring finger and as soon as they were seated, it felt as if everything in Stone’s life settled into place as well. He put his own ring on, then leaned down and kissed Maisy, long, slow, and deep.
Without a word, he stripped his wife in record time and joined her on the bed after taking his own clothes off. Instead of pulling her against him, Stone pressed her onto her back and crawled between her legs. He rested his forehead against her stomach, much as he’d done in the other room.
“Hi, baby,” he whispered as he stroked the soft skin of Maisy’s belly. “I’m your daddy. And I’m gonna be the best daddy in the world. We’ll go hiking, and fishing, and I’ll teach you to fly. You’ll not go one day without hearing the words ‘I love you.’ We’ll travel, laugh, and probably fight. But no matter what, you’re already loved.”
Hearing a sniff, Stone looked up and saw Maisy bawling her eyes out. But he wasn’t worried; he knew she was crying because she was happy. He inched his way up her body until they were touching from their toes to their chests. Reaching down, he settled his rock-hard cock between her legs, then slowly eased his way inside.
