Choosing Us (Pierced Hearts Duet #1)(10)

Maybe her momma sent her to me too?

“Will you make me happy?”

“Uh… I can try.”

“Try really hard, okay?”

“Okay.”

Momma would want that, right?

Yeah, she would.

“I like the way Bailey Pierce sounds. What do you think?”

“I like the way Bailey Pierce sounds too, but aren’t we too young to get married?”

“No silly! I meant when we’re older.”

“Oh.” I thought about it for a second. “Like how much older?”

Now it was her turn to think about it for a second. “Like when we’re eighteen. That’s old enough.”

“Okay.”

“Aiden...” She giggled, twirling her hair in a big knot around her finger. “You have to ask me first.”

“Oh, I do?” I scratched my head. “When?”

“When we’re eighteen.”

“Okay.” I nodded, meaning it. “I’ll ask you when we’re eighteen.”

“Okay.” She nodded back. “I’ll try to act surprised too. Ask me in a good way, alright? So I cry.”

She was confusing, but in the best way possible. I’d say anything she wanted just to keep her by my side, so I’d always feel this way.

Safe.

I knew right then and there my momma had something to do with this. I didn’t know how, but she kept her promise to me. This had to be the girl, I felt it in my bones.

“Why would I want to make you cry?”

“Because they’re happy tears and crying with happy tears is like super romantic.”

“Oh… Okay then. I’ll ask you in a way that will make you cry happy tears.”

“Okay good, but don’t make me cry in any other way than happy tears. Ever. You promise?”

“I promise.”

She leaned her head on my shoulder, whispering, “I trust you.”

She did?

Good, because for a reason I didn’t understand, I trusted her too.

But it was the smell of her strawberry hair that was doing all sorts of things to my body. I hoped she didn’t notice, I didn’t want to scare her away. Not when I’d just found her.

Or did she find me?

“Oh, Aiden!” She threw her arms around my neck and jumped into my lap, sending the plate of food flying. I hesitated until she added, “I’m so happy I found you! You’re better than that stray cat I fed that keeps coming back! So much better! I don’t have to feed anymore strays because now, I have you! Finally! I found you! I found my family like my mom said I would!”

I hugged her back, holding her as close as I could to my body. Her heartbeat next to mine would now be my favorite feeling in the whole world.

Today had been the worst day of my life but meeting her has turned it into one of the best.

Thank you, Momma.

“I promise you, Bailey Button. We won’t ever be alone again.”

And I meant it with my whole heart and soul. Even though I didn’t know what that was, it still sounded like everything I ever wanted.



And that was good enough for me.





Chapter 4


<>Camila<>

Now



__________




“Your resumé states you have experience with children but doesn’t specify when or how many children were under your care,” the young woman interviewing me questioned as she skimmed through the papers in front of her. Fixating her bright blue eyes on me, she added, “Can you clarify?”

“Yes, of course.” I eagerly nodded, clearing my throat. “I have siblings. Lots of them. I can’t remember a time where our home wasn’t filled with kids. You’d think my parents didn’t own a television or something.” I nervously laughed at my own joke. “I swear my biological clock is ticking inside my mother’s body. She loves kids now as much as she did back then. All she wants is a team of grandbabies. My father is the same.”

The woman laughed, and her smile lit up her entire face. I had only just met her, but I swear I knew her from somewhere.

Where do I know you from?

“I take it you don’t have kids?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t, but I love kids. Especially babies. There is nothing better than holding a little babe in your arms, snuggling them close to your heart. Don’t get me started on their soft skin, cute feet, and baby smell.”

“That’s how they get you,” she chuckled. “Then they start walking and talking, and it all goes downhill from there.”

I scoffed out a giggle. “My siblings were definitely a handful. They still are.”

“I bet it’s nice to come from a big family, though. I was an only child, and I always wished I had the same luck as you. But now”—she leaned back into her chair, lovingly holding onto her growing belly through her white sundress— “I just keep getting knocked up with my own.”

We laughed, easing into a comfortable conversation with one another like old friends. I liked her. She seemed genuine, and that was hard to find amongst women these days. Particularly the one I could possibly be working for.

“My husband is adamant about knocking me up with triplets.”