Kiss the Stars (Falling Stars #1)(114)

I knew it was worry in her question. Compassion. This girl who got me on a level that no one else could.

The one who would hold me through the pain.

Understand my grief. Not count it as a detriment or disloyalty.

The doctor slipped out when the ultrasound tech came in, and I watched as she squirted gel on Mia’s belly, as she held a probe to it, as the tiny thing showed up on the screen.

As my world shifted and shook.

As my heart took on a new truth.

I’d once questioned fate.

Destiny.

The idea of living each day thinking every event, conversation, and person that passed through our lives had been set on that path long before we even knew what direction we were headed.

Carved in some proverbial stone eons before we were born.

All coming together for the greater good.

I’d scoffed.

Mocked it.

I looked down at Mia.

Recognized the girl.

My purpose.

My reason.

And I thought I saw Karma in my periphery smile before she turned and slipped out the door.

I squeezed Mia’s hand, dropped my forehead back to hers. “You got me, Mia. You fucking got me. And that is my honest.”

She smiled.

Smiled her hope.

Her joy.

This girl filling me up with her love.

She cupped my cheek. “And I’m never going to let you go.”





Epilogue





Leif





We lay under the deepest night. A big blanket spread out on the lawn below us.

Stars strewn on forever.

Penny shrieked, pointed her finger. “There’s one.”

A streaking light blazed through the sky.

Arching and bright before it burned out.

The meteor shower in full force.

“I see it, Penny-Pie!” Greyson shouted, bouncing on his knees in excitement and pointing to where it had burned out. “It was a big one! Did you see it, Daddy? Did you see it?”

My chest squeezed.

So tight.

Sometimes I wondered how it was possible that I could continue to breathe under the magnitude of it.

The greatness of what had been given into my life.

Healing breathed into my soul.

I ruffled my fingers through his hair where he sat close to my side. “I saw it, buddy. It was a good one, wasn’t it?”

Carson crawled over, planting his tiny hands on my chest, rocking on his knees. Slobber from his adorable smile dripping onto my shirt, the little guy getting his second tooth. “Hi, little buddy.”

“I’m the big buddy, and he’s the little buddy, right?” Greyson asked, poking his head in between us, his shoulders coming up to his ears as he peered at his baby brother.

“That’s right. My buddies.”

My boys.

My life.

My love.

Mia sat on the blanket with her knees hugged to her chest, that gorgeous face tipped toward the sky.

River of black hair cascading down her back.

She turned that tender gaze on us.

Sable eyes flashing with all her love.

Another meteorite went blazing through the sky.

Mia lifted her hand.

Cupped it beneath it.

Her eyes closed. “There. I caught it.”

The softest smile edged that seductive mouth when she looked back at me, my wife, my perfection.

My completion.

“Don’t ever let it go,” I murmured, not even caring that I was staring, that Penny was blushing the way she always did.

“You should sing Mom her song, Dad. The one you wrote when you fell in love with her.”

Yeah.

She called me Dad, too.

My little hopeless romantic who was growing up so fast.

She’d struggled with the loss of Nixon the most. Something I’d warred with, too. We’d kept the sordid details from her as best as we could, but she was old enough for the shadow of him to cloud her.

The wounds to scar and invade.

But we loved her with everything. Held her through her hurt. Filled her with our love and our belief.

I’d sat her down a couple months after and told her I was there for her, no matter what. She could think of me however she wanted to. As a friend or a protector or a parent. Told her she could call me anything she wanted. Well, except for Mr. Godwin, of course.

She’d asked if it was okay if she called me Dad. She said dads were just like moms. They were supposed to be our favorite people in the world. They were supposed to take care of you. And she said that was what I did.

And I was never going to stop—proving that devotion to her. To her mom. To her brothers.

“Aren’t you all tired of hearing me play yet?”

They’d been following Carolina George around as much as they could since Carson was old enough to travel, watching from backstage in the places they were allowed, waiting for me at whatever hotel we were staying at if they couldn’t.

At my side, the same as I would forever be for them.

Knew they couldn’t always do it.

But we made it work.

Just like Mia and I promised we would.

But had to admit, I loved it when I was home, out in our backyard in the outskirts of Savannah where we could gaze up at the stars.

Penny giggled. “Never.”