Love Survives (Love's Suicide #2)(120)

I kissed my little girl on the forehead and turned to Kat for some assistance at getting away. Ever since the first night I moved in she’d made it impossible to go anywhere without her.

Once I was in the car with my brother, I took a deep breath before pulling away from the parking spot. “I’m nervous.”

“What for? You’ve been married to Katy in your mind since we were kids.”

“What if she’s not ready?”

“It’s not like you’re asking her to marry you today, Brooks. I’d be more worried about the other part of the surprise. I mean, you really went all out.”

I smirked thinking about how hard my parents and the contractors I hired had worked to get the house next door ready for the big reveal. As soon as I saw that it was up for sale, I knew she was meant to have it. Luckily I managed to get a good deal on it, plus we’d have built in babysitters at our disposal one house over.

I think the biggest part of the surprise was going to be our daughter’s room, which happened to be Kat’s. I needed every detail to be perfect, but still wondered if I’d gone a little overboard. I mean, who buys a house to propose in?

“Don’t fret. I’m sure she’ll say yes. Apparently you’re the man of her dreams.”

I chuckled to myself after what he said. Branch and I had been getting along better in the past month or so. I think it helped that Melissa and Kat had buried the hatchet. They spoke almost daily. Little B really loved them, and I wasn’t the type of brother to keep my family away from my daughter. She deserved to be loved by all of them.

Nearly twenty minutes after we left the cemetery, we pulled back up in front of the house. I carried the cake in, praying to God that all this wasn’t going to blow up in face and be a disaster. The last thing I needed was to make Kat upset in any way though I was nervous how she would handle being back in that house again after so long.



“Katy, Katy, Katy. You’re about to shit your shorts.” Branch taunted Kat, purposely to get to me. I flipped him my middle finger.

My mom tossed a dish rag in his direction. “Cut it out. You aren’t kids anymore. Let your brother have his moment for once.”

When I walked up to Kat and extended my hand, it was obvious she knew something major was about to happen. “Come with me,” I requested.

“Where are we going?” She asked.

“Close your eyes.”

Just to make sure she didn’t peek, I tied a handkerchief over her eyes to prevent her from seeing anything. “Seriously, what are you doing? Why can’t you show me inside?”

I kept pulling her along, walking her out of the house. “I have some surprises for you. The first one is that I wanted to tell you that I got a job. It’s a good one, Kat. I won’t ever have to travel and I’ll be home for dinner every night.”

We came to a stop as we were facing the front of her childhood home. “The next surprise you may not like, but I want you to hear me out before you say anything. I’ve spent a lot of time and money on it, but if you don’t like it, for any reason, I won’t get angry. Branch said he’d take it off of our hands.”

“Is it a car? Did you buy me a new car?”

I kept walking her toward the house, spinning her a few times to confuse her. Once we were standing at the threshold, I loosened the fabric from her eyes.

It only took Kat a few seconds to realize where we were. We walked inside, noticing right away how empty it was.

I didn’t give her time to look around since I was already leading her up the stairs. “Where are we going? Did you ask the realtor if you could see this place? I don’t understand.”

“We’re almost there. Keep walking.”

When we reached her old bedroom, I put my body in front of her before opening the door. I’d had a painter come in and put butterflies on the walls and added Brooklyn’s name in wooden blocks. We’d purchased furniture and rugs, matching the décor on the walls. To make the room suitable for our little princess, I’d gone all out and bought her a royal bed.

While she was taking it all in, I placed my hands on her shoulders.

“Kat, my job is here and so is our family. You don’t have to run anymore, so I thought if it’s okay with you, our daughter could grow up in the house that your parents built to raise you in. We can take old memories and make new ones with our own children. I know I took a huge leap, but I know you and I-”

She shoved her mouth against mine, preventing me from finishing. After a few minutes, I backed away. “So, it’s okay that I already bought it?”

She nodded. “Yes, it’s very okay. It’s the most beautiful present, aside from B, of course.”

I agreed. “Of course.”

Kat walked up to the pink four-poster bed. “It’s beautiful.”

“This room was all Mom and Dad. They hired someone to come in and make it perfect. Do you think she’ll like it?”

“She won’t want to ever go home.”

I could tell it had finally sunk in that we were going to have to move. Her other house would go for sale. “We can talk about it later.”

“No. We’ll sell it. I don’t even care how much I get for it. There’s not another house in the world that could mean as much as this one does to me. I don’t even know what to say right now.” I followed behind Kat as she made her way into her parent’s old bedroom. For several minutes she stood there as if she were reminiscing about them. I finally wrapped my arms around her. “I think they’re happy we’re here, Kat. They’re watching us, you know. I think they always have been.” I spun her around to be facing me. “I never told anyone this, but there were so many times that I could have died, that I should have died. I swear someone was keeping me safe while I was out there. Now I know for sure, that it was them. I think they brought us back together.”