I stared at Emmy from across the bar. She looked just as amazing now as she had at twenty-one. The sight of her throwing her head back in laughter made my heart jump in my chest like it always did. Even though I hated all the time we were apart, it really had brought us closer together in the end. Emmy looked like her old self in her bright clothes with her larger than life, bubbly personality filling the room. Aubrey was standing on the other side of the bar, serving drinks and making jokes like always, teasing Emmy about something. It thrilled me that they had been hanging out almost every day since Emmy had moved back.

Emmy looked up and her gaze caught mine. I winked at her and took a drink of my beer. Stephen and his friend Gage sat next to me at one of the high top pub tables, but I wasn’t paying any attention to what they were saying, my wife had all my attention.

“Does that sound good, Mase?” Stephen asked.

“Huh?” I said, turning back to them when my name came up.

“Golf tomorrow afternoon, then we can show Gage around since he’s going to be here for a while.”

I grinned. “You really want to go play golf? You do remember what happened the last time we played, right?”

“What happened last time?” Gage asked, smiling. With Stephen’s temper he knew it would be good.

“Stephen scored a 142 on the course and threw his golf clubs in the lake,” I explained chuckling.

Stephen grimaced. “In my defense, we’d shared a whole bottle of Jack between us.”

Emmy came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I put my hands over hers and shifted to kiss her forehead. I couldn’t touch her enough and I sure as hell would never take it for granted again.

“Aren’t you two cute,” Taylor said, as she slipped into Stephen’s lap. “I’m so happy that you guys figured your shit out.”

Emmy grinned at me. “That’s like the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?”

I grinned back and kissed her. “Yeah, kind of.”

“I’m just glad you guys let us be a part of your wedding this time. No more running off and eloping like you did before,” Stephen said, taking a drink of his beer.

“We wanted to do it right this time,” I said, pulling Emmy onto my lap. God, did I want to do it right. Aubrey walked up and set new drinks on the table in front of us, resting the try on her hip.

“If you’d done it right the first time, maybe it would have stuck,” she said. Emmy reached out and pinched her. Aubrey glared at her. “Ouch. What the hell was that?”

“Don’t be a brat,” Emmy said, pretending to pout.

Aubrey rubbed her arm. “I was just kidding. Too soon?”

I pinned my sister with a look. She shrugged and turned to Gage. “So how long are you going to be in town for? These two obviously lost their sense of humor when they got remarried.”

Gage grinned at her. “The pilot was picked up last month, so I’ll be here for six months at least, maybe longer if it gets picked up for another season.”

“Vi said she was sorry that she couldn’t come show you the place herself, but she’s ready to pop with baby number two any day now,” Taylor said. “But I’m so excited that I have a reason to come visit Savannah now.”

Emmy tossed a napkin at her. “Thanks jerk. What are Mason and me?”

“You know what I mean,” Taylor said laughing. “We’ll be around more often.”

“Well, when everyone disappears, let me know and I can show you around town,” Aubrey said, turning back to Gage. “They all tend to be a little flaky.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean we all tend to be a little flaky?”

She pointed at each one of us individually. “Lawyer starting a new practice, opening a new business, flies around the country on a whim, and is busy filming a huge blockbuster film right now. Any of that sound familiar?”

Gage eyed Aubrey with interest. “I appreciate the offer and I might take you up on it.”

No. Hell no.

“I’ll be here—” I started.

Emmy put her hand on my arm and shook her head. It was like she knew me or something. I glanced at her and she smiled softly, silently telling me to let up on my little sister. Aubrey did need something to look forward after everything she had been through.

I turned back towards my wife.

My. Wife.

Those words sounded amazing. Last month we’d had a simple ceremony in our backyard to make it official. All of our friends came in from California and New York to celebrate with us. We were finally settled back in at the house and Emmy had started working on opening her record label as soon as we landed in Georgia. Sidney had accepted my partnership proposal and I’d started two weeks ago, once we’d ironed everything out. I was ready to move onto the next part of our life.

I kissed the back of Emmy’s head and turned back towards our friends. Nights like this were what I had missed most about being with her. We were around everyone that loved and supported us, even when we were being idiots. She leaned back into me. Every time she did that, it made me feel like beating my chest like a caveman. No amount of stupidity or misguided loyalty would ever make me lose Emerald Carter Davis ever again.

 

***

 

“So, can I ask you something?” I asked Emmy one night as we laid in bed after a very playful round of sex. Her head rested on my chest and I was running my hand up and down her arm. We were both relaxed and I couldn’t think of a better time to bring up what I wanted to ask.

“Shoot,” she answered through a yawn.

“Would you be open to looking into IVF?”

She was quiet for a long time and my heart pounded in my chest as I waited for her answer. I wanted kids with this amazing woman, and all the research I’d done said the longer we waited, the fewer the chances were that she would get pregnant. I knew it was soon after getting back together, but we both at one point said we wanted this. I shifted to see her face when I felt the first tear hit my chest.

“Baby, no, don’t cry. If you don’t want to do it, forget I even mentioned it.”

She sucked in a breath. “It’s not that Mase, I just never expected you to be the one to bring it up. I’ve thought about it a lot lately, I was just waiting because I didn’t know if you were ready.”

I shifted us so we were sitting up in the bed. I wanted to look into Emmy’s gorgeous eyes for this conversation.

“I told you months ago that the reason I wanted to get married was so we could have kids, right?” She nodded. “So, why would that have changed?”

“We’ve been through so much, how could it not have changed?”

“Emmy, we made it back to each other after everything we went through. If that’s not a sign, then I don’t know what is. I want babies with you, as many as you want to have.”

She fought back a smile. “This isn’t going to be easy. And it’s probably going to take a few times for it to work.”

I kissed her forehead. “Maybe, maybe not, but we won’t know until we try. Are you ready for that?”

She leaned up to kiss me, cupping my jaw in her soft hand. “I’ll face down the rest of the world with you Mason Davis.”

“It’ll be you and me against the world Emerald, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”