Page 125 of Northern Twilight
“Which is why I love you.” He reached over to smooth a hand over my knee. “Eilidh will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”
At that, I relaxed. Because I knew Lewis meant it. We chatted about the party, the gifts, and what the guys had been up to at their version of a baby shower. Lewis got a bit evasive on that, and I pestered him for information.
“Will you stop?” He laughed as we pulled up to our house in the woods.
“You’re not telling me what you got up to with the guys and it’s weird,” I huffed as I got out of the car before he could help me. Lewis rounded the bonnet, anyway, and I waved him off. “Not an invalid, sweetheart.”
He grumbled under his breath but took my hand. “Fine. I’ll show you what we were up to.”
Instead of going upstairs, he led me to the downstairs bedroom we’d decided would be the nursery. We had grand plans to decorate it in the next few weeks.
My fiancé grinned over his shoulder at me before opening the nursery door.
I released his hand but only to cover my gasp of shock. Delighted surprise thrummed through me as I stepped into the now beautiful space.
Like the primary suite, this room had a floor-to-ceiling window so you could see the moat that surrounded the house. The low December sun gleamed on the water, bouncing its reflection off the opposite wall of the bedroom, a wall now papered in a mural that covered all four walls. Calm greens and teals painted a misty watercolor scene of a forest. Pops of purples and pinks drew my eye to the fairies and their little fairy wings dancing among the scenery. It was a fairy glen.
Against the main wall was the cot I’d told Lewis I liked best but thought was too expensive. On the other, a changing table, and in the corner, a beautiful rocking chair and stool, next to a matching chest of drawers and a wardrobe for all the baby clothes people had already gifted us. Lights shaped like stars had been strung along the top middle of two walls.
And a custom pink neon sign on the main wall above the cot spelled out the nameHarley.
“You did all this in a day?” I whispered in disbelief.
Lewis nodded, wrapping his arms around me from behind, his hands cradling my bump as his chin rested on my shoulder. “Dad, Walker, Harry, Fyfe, and Uncle Arran helped. Do you like it?”
Tears of happiness blurred my vision. “Harley Adair is already the luckiest girl in the world with a dad like you to spoil her.”
“And a badass mum like you to protect her.” He kissed my cheek.
I leaned back into him, savoring the feel of his hard strength at my back. “Sometimes I’m so afraid, because I’m so happy.”
“I understand.” Lewis’s voice was gruff as we both stared around the nursery. “You have so much to lose when you have everything.”
“We do have everything, don’t we?”
“Aye, we do.”
“But …” I turned my head to look up at him. “It hasn’t been an easy road, Lewis. For either of us. We both had a shitty start. And we lost each other for a while. But … maybe we’re each other’s reward.”
“And Harley is the bonus?”
I grinned, nodding, as I turned back to stare in awe at the space Lewis had created with our family. “This is everything I ever dreamed of having back when we were kids.”
“I know.” His hold on me tightened. “I’m sorry I took a bit too long to give it to you.”
I shook my head, still smiling. “I’m not. It means more now because of it.”
“Aye?”
“Aye.”
“Do you know how much I love you, Callie Ironside soon-to-be Adair?”
I smoothed my hands over his. “As much as I love you.”
“Always only ever you.” His voice was a gruff whisper in my ear before he brushed a kiss across my cheek.
I leaned into that kiss and whispered back a truth that had existed inside me since we met at ten years old. “Always only ever you.”
*****
