Page 85 of You Met Me There

Juliet aims right for Cam, tugging his dress shirt around his torso and fastening the buttons. I drift toward Nat as she stops in front of me. I can tell from her smile and the relaxed set of her shoulders that she’s not just happy, but excited.

“I’m going to scope out the lake while you all finish getting ready,” she says to Jules before tugging my hand. I let her lead me out the back door and down the steps to the yard.

Once we’re at the lake, I pull on her hand gently to stop her in her tracks. “Natalie.” She turns around, eyes glistening like the surface of the lake. “Are you okay?”

“Better than okay. Everything’s alright now. It’s fixed. You were right, Luke.”

“Right about what?”

“That I just needed to talk to her.” She looks down at her hands, biting her lip. “I really hurt her by leaving. And I didn’t know how badly until now. But I told her about everything—the nightmares and the anxiety. Everything. I didn’t want to hold anything back. She needed to know she can trust me.”

She looks toward the gentle ripples on the water, but I keep my eyes on my wife. The sun is shining on her blonde hair, now tied back in a half bun at the top of her head. Her mascara is slightly smudged, but there’s a joyful spark lighting up her face. I can’t say exactly what looks different about her, but she looks … brighter. Lighter somehow.

“And everything’s smoothed over now?” I ask, knowing it may take more than just one conversation for them to completely patch things up. But this was a great start, whatever the future looks like.

“Let’s just say, we’re getting over the bumps in the road. And she wants me to be here.”

I smile. “I knew she did. And how do you feel?”

“Great. Relieved, actually.” She chuckles nervously, her glossy lips tugging up at the corners of her mouth. “I was gone so long that she just couldn’t bring herself to trust this was all real. That I’d be staying in her life. But I told her I’m not leaving like that again. She knows I want to be a part of her life and a part of the boys’ life.”

“I’m proud of you. I knew you could do it.”

“Are you going to say I told you so?” Her eyebrow lifts a smidge.

“Would it do any good?” I say.

“No.” She shakes her head.

“Then no. I don’t need to say it.”

She steps toward me on the grass. Her gorgeous smile tempts me into pulling her close and kissing her. And as I press my lips to hers she exhales slowly through her nose, the air between us warm and uniquely ours. I wrap a hand around her waist and she lets me dip her back.

Her lips, tacky from gloss, smell like watermelon. I breathe her in, committing her smell, her taste, the feel of my hand on her back to memory.

When I straighten us and we pull apart, her eyes flit past me to the yard where Jules and Cam are walking across the grass, each wrangling a wriggly little boy. Juliet carries Nat’s leather camera bag over her shoulder.

“They’ve sure got their hands full with those two,” I muse quietly.

Nat’s eyes soften. “And look how amazing it is to have full hands. They’re an incredible family.”

I watch her as she watches them.

My heart races from our kiss, skipping hurtles and running up bleachers as I watch the joy sweep across her face. The warmth in her eyes spreads to rosy cheeks and into her full smile, now bare where my lips wiped away her watermelon lip gloss. It’s like I’m seeing Natalie for the first time as she watches her sister and her nephews cross the grass. I imagine Nat looking at our own kids like this—with undeniable adoration in her eyes.

Everything around me disappears, and there is only me and my beautiful bride standing by the water. She’s gorgeous. Glowing. And although I’ve already vowed to love and cherish her forever, for better or for worse, I silently vow to never let the worse part of my vows diminish her dreams ever again.

I’ve always made it my mission to give her everything she’s ever wanted, and now I finally want to fulfill that promise. I want her to be as happy as Juliet. I want Nat and I to have our babies, no matter what comes next.

Nat takes the family’s photos, and I stand back and watch with amusement the absolute chaos that ensues.

The boys are rambunctious, and Nat tells them a hundred times to look at the camera and stand still. Cam bribes them with the promise of an ice cream outing when they’re done, and things go much more smoothly after that.

By the time Natalie announces she’s gotten enough photos, everyone is sweaty in the summer heat. Nat and Jules converge over the camera to click through the photos, smiling at the images between them.

“I’m hot, Daddy,” Archie whines in his little voice. I wouldn’t usually say this, but the voice is pretty cute. I can see why dads might have a hard time telling their children no.

“Want to take a swim?” Cam asks the boys.