Page 140 of Without a Hitch
It doesn’t take long to fill the giant tub, but when I go in search of Tilly, I find her passed out in the hammock. The beach and a hammock are still her favorite places, but I go about putting cushions under her anyway. She’s only four months along, but I’m not taking the chance of her falling out of the floating bed of doom. Not even if I have grown fond of the damn things.
When I’m confident she’s safe, I pull a chair over. Sitting down next to her, I take in our surroundings and notice the piles of M&Ms on the small table to her left. After the bathtub incident, I haven’t been able to eat Skittles again. But, shortly after Tilly moved to New York, I found small bowls of M&Ms all over the house, all sorted by colors, and she’s done it everywhere we go ever since.
Every time I think I can’t love her any more than I do, she does something like this and rips my heart wide open so it can grow even more.
My life is so much different than how I envisioned it just a few short years ago. Remembering the hatred that was rotting me from the inside out is always hard. It’s also a reminder of Tilly’s giant heart.
She is the only one who could have pulled me from the dark. She’s truly the better part of me, the magical part. My hand rests on her ankle, and I rub her soft skin with the pad of my thumb.
“My sweet, sweet Tilly.” Her eyelids flutter but don’t open. “I love all your bloody fucket magical ways, my amazing angel.”
“I love you too,” she mumbles automatically. Even in sleep, she loves me, and happy contentment washes over my entire body.
It’s true that love changes a person. I will be forever grateful that Tilly Camden Blaine changed my DNA the day she entered my life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
