TALIA AWOKE TO the sound of Derek playing his guitar. She lay on her back listening to him singing in the other room and wondered if his father had woken up agitated or if Derek had had trouble sleeping. It had been a month since she’d told her family about Derek’s dancing. The next morning Derek had gone with her to tell her father, who had looked at Derek with such a serious expression, Talia had thought her father might give him hell. But he had shocked them both and said, My grandfather used to say that you could only know what a person was truly made of when they faced the worst kind of adversity. You not only put yourself out there for the sake of your father, but you’ve learned from a difficult situation, and you’re going to put that knowledge to good use by helping others in a big way. But, son, you’ve just told me that dancing is what you do, not who you are, and I beg to differ. Everything you do is part of who you are, and if I were you, I’d be damned proud of it. You’re accomplishing things not many people could and putting yourself on the line to do so.
She’d never been prouder to be her father’s daughter than she was right then.
She closed her eyes, listening to Derek singing “God, Your Mama, and Me” and thinking about their lives. Derek had gotten even closer to her family, and he’d also become good friends with Fletch. Sometimes she and Derek took Jonah to the park to meet Fletch and Molly. If Jonah was having a good day, they all walked Molly together, and if not, they made the best of the time outdoors. Her mind traveled to last night, when she’d been talking to Fletch on the phone and Derek had texted from work, telling her it was a slow night and he wished she were there. Fletch had teased her about being a swoony-in-love girl, which she happily admitted to. She’d gone to see Derek at the bar a few times since the night she’d run into Dina. Each time had taken a little less courage. Her palms no longer sweat and her pulse no longer raced at the idea of watching him dance. She and Derek had decided not to play into Dina’s hands and had ignored her threat. There was power in knowing who they were as a couple, and Talia reveled in the beauty of them each and every day. These days, when she went to see Derek at work, whether he was dancing or bartending, once she caught sight of him, her love for him obliterated everything other than the reason she was there—to support her man.
She rolled onto her side and found one of Derek’s leather journals on his pillow. A single red rose and a handwritten note were tucked beneath the leather strap that was wound around it. She glanced at the doorway, her insides tingling at his romantic gesture. She read his loopy script.
For you, sweet girl.
She sat up with the journal in her lap and sniffed the rose, wondering what he was up to. She opened to the first page, which was filled with hearts surrounding the words Loving Talia. The heart dotting the i in her name was pink, the only color on the page.
She turned the page, surprised to find another note.
Tallie girl,
I know you asked me to keep our sexy times out of the journals, but this one is just for us, not for public consumption. More specifically, it’s just for you, so you have something to look back on when our lives get crazy and caring for my father gets overwhelming. In those times, I hope you’ll turn these pages and remember we’re worth celebrating . . .
—Derek
A lump formed in Talia’s throat as she turned the page. That lump was pushed aside by a soft laugh at a drawing of their legs tangled together, the rest of their bodies cut off by the edge of the paper. The caption read, No matter what happens, at the end of the day we’ll always come together.
Her insides fluttered as she turned the page. “Oh my God,” she whispered to the empty room. The picture showed Derek lying above her on the bed, drawn from the waist up, pinning her hands to the mattress above her head, his long hair blocking their faces. The caption read, No matter how busy our lives get, we’ll always fit our workouts in.
Her pulse quickened as she looked over the next few drawings. The first showed only their intertwined hands coming down from the top of the page. His father’s bracelets puddled at his wrist, and his mother’s ring was sparkling yellow. The next drawing showed them making love in the hot tub, and on the next page there was a picture of Derek standing by the bed, drawn from the back, naked, with Talia kneeling before him, her face hidden by his body. The caption read We help each other through the hard times.
She flipped the page and felt her cheeks burning at a drawing of them making love against the wall at the ski resort with the caption, We’ll never tire of finding new comfort zones . . .
She pressed the journal to her chest and breathed deeply, as memories of that delicious night came rushing back, and love for her man swelled inside her. She lowered the journal and turned another page, revealing a picture of them sleeping, his body cocooning hers. Above the picture he’d written, I will always protect you.
A happy sigh slipped from her lips.
The next picture showed her sitting on the ceramic bench in the shower, water raining down over her. Derek knelt before her, hands on her thighs, a wicked grin on his face. The caption read, We’ll never go hungry and always eat organic . . .
Her sex twitched at the suggestion. “Holy cow,” she whispered.
She turned the page and found a picture of Derek pacing beside the bed while she slept, worry riddling his brow. She had on a pink tank top like the one she wore now. In a thought bubble above his head was a picture of a key. She quickly turned the page. In the next picture he was leaning against the doorframe with the same furrowed brow, wearing a pair of jeans and a dark T-shirt, his dazzling blue eyes beckoning her. In a thought bubble above his head was a picture of him and Talia carrying suitcases into his house.
Oh my God.
She felt his presence and glanced at the door. Her heart leapt at the sight of Derek leaning against the doorframe, wearing the same clothes as in the picture, the same furrowed expression. It was such a vulnerable, adorable look, it took a moment for her to reconcile it with the virile man before her.
“Hey, baby.” He pushed from the wall and strode toward her.
“Hi,” she said breathlessly as he crawled onto the bed.
He looked nervous, and her stomach tumbled. She wanted to say so much—I love the drawings. I love you. Why do you look nervous?—but she was afraid if she tried to speak she might choke.
“I’ve been up for a while.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, and she caught a whiff of his cologne. “I’ve been thinking . . .”
She held her breath.
“You stay here every night, and have been for weeks. I don’t want to have to call you to meet me after work, or worry about whether you have enough clothes here. I love you. My dad loves you. Maria loves you . . .” He took her hand in his and said, “Tallie, I want you with me every night without question, in the mornings, weekends, whenever we can be together. I don’t want to waste a minute of our lives waiting for signs or social acceptances. I want you to move in with me, with us.” He opened his hand, dropping a key into her palm, and curled her fingers around it. “I know it’s a strange thing to ask, moving in with me and my father, and I won’t blame you if you say no. You can think about it, but if nothing else, please take the key—”
Her tears sprang free, and she threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, and I love your dad. I want to be with you more than anything, and your father is part of your life, and he’s become part of mine. That’s a good thing, not a strange thing.”
“Even if he calls you Eva? Or says you don’t belong here?”
There had been a few times when Jonah thought she was a stranger and it had taken some time to calm him down, but they’d worked through it together. The three of them.
“Eva is a compliment, and . . .” She patted the journal. “When he says I don’t belong here, I’ll refer to this handy-dandy love guide. It’ll be just another hard time to work through.”
“God, I love you, baby. So, is that a yes?”
“That’s a yes. A definite yes.”
“Good, because if you said no, then I couldn’t do this.” He stepped from the bed and drew her up beside him. Then he dropped to one knee, stealing the breath from her lungs.
A wave of love swept through her so hard, she reached for his shoulder to stabilize herself.
He took her hand, gazing up at her like she was all he ever wanted, and said, “Tallie girl, you are my other half, my better half, my beloved, and I want to spend the rest of our lives exploring new comfort zones and sharing private dances.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wasn’t sure she was even breathing as he rose to his feet.
“I want to get tested to see if I have the gene mutation, because you make me want to live forever and have our biological babies and do everything together. And if I carry the gene, we’ll take another route. But for you, I want to find out. I want to make all your dreams come true, even the ones you don’t realize you have yet. Will you marry me, Talia? Let me love you for the rest of our lives?”
“Yes,” came out choked and teary as she threw herself into his arms. “Yes, yes, yes!”
“I will love you forever, baby,” he said as he lowered his lips to hers, sealing his promises with a tender kiss. He took her left hand in his and slipped his mother’s ring on her finger. “I’ll get you your own ring if you’d like. We can design it to be whatever you want.”
“You’re all I want. This ring is perfect. You’re perfect.”
“We’re perfect, baby,” he said just as his father called out, “Archie?”
He kissed her smiling lips and said, “I can’t wait to marry you.”
“Me too.”
“Archie? Where are you?” Jonah’s voice was coming closer to the bedroom.
“If I have to be Archie today,” Derek said playfully, “maybe you can be Betty or Veronica.” He waggled his brows.
She narrowed her eyes. “A word of caution. The day you call me someone else’s name in bed is the day you see my ass walk out that door and never come back. That’s a hard limit.”
“Archie?” his father called out.
“We’re up to hard limits now?” He stepped toward the door with a wolfish grin. “You really do want to push your boundaries. Good to know.”
She threw the pillow at him as he left the room, unable to calm her full, happy heart or suppress her own naughty grin. She looked down at the ring on her finger, feeling whole and happy and knowing that after the day-care facility was open, there would probably be more people calling them by many different names. There would be interruptions and frustrations, but she also knew that at the end of the day, those people would be loved and taken care of, and she and Derek would fall into each other’s arms, making it all worthwhile.