A Summer to Remember(74)

I stared into his crystal blue eyes before I smiled. “No, because it’s what I want too. It’s all I have ever wanted…and that hot sexy bod of yours.”

He looked at me with an intensity I would never get used to before he whispered in my ear, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I replied out loud though I kept my voice low.

We’d made it through the hurricane of awful rumors, vicious innuendos and a pregnant ex-girlfriend. I was pretty sure I could make a life with this man and he would be mine for the rest of our lives.





Epilogue



It was autumn and we were getting ready to attend the wedding of one of my best friends. Since she lived back east, we had to fly and our son, Paul Eric Peterson-Branson, did not appreciate the flight even if we’d been in first class. Paul had spent almost the whole flight walking little eight-week Eric, as we called him, up and down the halls of the plane.

Suffice to say, we were happy to have the new edition in our lives. I was officially seventeen weeks pregnant and out of the danger zone according to my doctor. Now that we had a son, Paul was secretly hoping for a little girl but I had a feeling our second child would be yet another boy. His ex-girlfriend, movie star Kendall Lawson, had also recently given birth to a little boy so he was zero for one in that department as far as a daughter was concerned.

Although Eric was not our biological son, we had fallen in love with him immediately. He’d been born to his Creole mother white as snow and even now at eight weeks, his skin was still pink. His hair was dark and silky and he possessed the most gorgeous gray eyes.

His birth mother had stayed on for a while until I could find a Milk Bank that sold pasteurized breast milk. He was the healthiest and happiest baby alive except when he was on a flight thirty thousand feet in the air.

Paul and I quickly settled in at the Waldorf Astoria though Jude was kind enough to offer us use of the loft. It was a good idea in theory but despite Paul and I still being engaged, we were our own little family unit and didn’t want to be disturbed.

I settled on the bed and quickly propped up my feet as soon as possible while Paul took care of Eric. After a warm soothing bath and a bottle of pasteurized breast milk, our little one was out like a light.

My thoughts drifted over the past few months and how they’d been absolutely sweet and amazing. I had found the perfect spot for my art gallery and it would be up and running before December of that year. Paul had found working with a bunch of rock stars much easier than any client at CDG Investments. Yes, he traveled often because there times he had to see them and they were still on the road touring. Sometimes Eric and I went with him and sometimes we didn’t.

I finally had met a group of friends through my Pilates class and though they would never take the place of my best friends, I was content and happy with my new life.

My story was far from over because what was once me has now become “we” and I no longer am that cynical young woman who doesn’t believe in love, miracles or fairy tales.

Paul walked into the room and lay down beside me as soon as he’d undressed and stripped down to his boxers. One of his favorite activities was spooning me and wrapping an arm around my growing stomach.

“Have I told you how much I love you lately?” he asked in a gentle voice filled with warmth and affection.

“Yes but I will take as much as I can get before I’m too big and too many,” I responded before we laughed together.

“I need to make an honest woman out of you and Mother is bothering me constantly. She wants us to meet her on Sunday with your parents and my father in tow. We are to talk about a summer wedding.”

I smiled at him with a wry look on my face. “Sounds perfect to me.”

“Yes, but this was our summer that we will always remember because I fell in love with you.”

I touched his face before I kissed him passionately on the mouth. As we separated, I said, “And next summer will be the one we will never forget because we will finally become husband and wife.”

Paul started to undress me as we kissed, fondled and caressed one another before a long evening session of lovemaking. There was only one thought in my head and it repeated in my head over and over again.

He’s the one for me because we both love each other and can accept one another for who we are with complete honesty, open hearts and undeniable trust.

It would not only be our theme at our wedding but our saying too. I’d finally found the one for me and not only was he simply amazing but we were in love with one another. We weren’t perfect but we didn’t have to be and that was the beauty of our emotions.