Kate wasn’t herself.

At first, it was normal. The fourth anniversary of losing Joel had been approaching. This time, I’d gone with her and Daz, as had Owen, Avery, and Avery and Daz’s infant son—Joel.

In the year since the last anniversary, we’d had many setbacks. Baby Joel’s name had been one. As much as Kate knew that it was a beautiful tribute and that Joel would have loved it, knowing she’d soon have another person with that name to love had been tough on her.

There were times like that that triggered her, made her go distant on me for a bit. Still, she always pulled herself out of it quickly enough.

I knew the anniversary would be different.

For a couple weeks before, she’d had a darkness around her that killed me. It was good to see her not retreat into herself the way she had been when I’d first met her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t struggling. She spent a lot of time with Mom then. I think Mom and Derek’s newlywed bliss put her at ease.

I’d let her have what space she needed, especially once we got to Colorado. That was okay. I’d give her anything she needed to deal with that.

I’d needed a bit of space myself there, which was why I’d gone for a drive late one night.

I walked through the lots one by one, wondering if it always felt like this. The crushing weight of the place was the same as where Dad was buried. Was that because of the connection to each? Or were cemeteries just like that?

I’d been with them all this morning, so I knew where I was headed. Kate had asked me to come with them so I could take Owen away once he’d had enough so that she would be able to stay longer. I retraced those steps, hoping no one else had left the hotel after I had and come back here.

When I reached the spot, I found I was thankfully alone.

I stared at the stone for a long time.

“Hi,” I started, not knowing what the hell I was going to say, just that I needed to. “This is probably ridiculous and weird, but I had to come here and say it. I know you loved her. It’d be impossible not to, but I know it because of how fiercely she still loves you. I know what you gave up for them both. I just want you to know that I know exactly how much they’re both worth. I’d make the same decision in a heartbeat for them. I want you to know that they have that from me, and they will until my last breath. I’ll take care of them the way I know you’d want them to be. I promise that.”

That was all I had. Just a vow I’d wanted to make for a long time to a man that loved his family. A family that I loved now with my whole heart.

What I’d had to share with Joel didn’t compare to the emotional toll what she had to that day, and it’d still worn on me for days. So, for a long while now, I’ve been patient.

Now, over a month later, I find myself back in the position of wondering when to push.

I got home from work late. Sketch let us largely set our own hours at Sailor’s Grave as long as we were taking on enough clients to make it worth keeping us on. The shop had long since stopped being the type of place that was open all that late. We didn’t cater to folks coming off a night of partying looking to do something stupid.

Fuck, we didn’t even cater to walk-ins for the most part.

This meant those of us with families of whatever shape and size to get home to had the luxury of doing just that.

Tonight, however, I’d made an exception for a long-standing client. He was in town only for a short while, and my schedule for those days had already been full when he called. When he’d told me the tatt he wanted was a tribute to the baby he and his wife had lost a couple months ago, there was no way in hell I was turning him away. I kept myself there later to ink the little pair of wings on his chest, and I did it gladly.

The whole drive home, though, my mind had been on Kate. My Kate who might have lost a baby of her own, though she’d never know for sure. My gypsy girl whose spirit wasn’t right behind her eyes like it had been for so often since she’d come back to me. I couldn’t take the distance anymore.

The farmhouse was quiet. We’d been talking about moving out for a while, but couldn’t commit to it. Having the others in the house didn’t bother me the way I thought it might. They were her family, even if she hadn’t always seen it. In no time at all, they’d become mine as well.

We always kept the option on the table, but I was happy just sharing a bed with my woman every night, no matter where that was.

I didn’t waste time looking around to see who might be home and still awake. Owen was long since in bed by now, and that usually meant Kate was in our room. I went straight there.

When I entered, I found her sitting up on my side of the bed—the one closer to the door. She was staring down at her lap, still in a way that stopped me in my tracks.

“Gypsy?” I called.

Her head came up, and there were tears in her eyes.

Fuck.

I rushed over. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought for a bit that it might be true, but I wasn’t ready. Not with the anniversary of losing him. I couldn’t do it.”

She was scaring the hell out of me.

“What are you talking about?”

“I just kept putting it off, but I knew I couldn’t. So I asked your mom and Avery to be here tonight so I could. They sat with me while I waited.”

When she didn’t go on from there, I pressed, “You have to explain what you’re saying here, baby. I’m lost.”

She sniffled, and then a smile spread across her lips. It was so pure, so achingly beautiful that I was stunned.

Her hands moved, and she brought up the item I hadn’t noticed was in her lap. A white stick.

“I’m pregnant.”

Everything stopped. There was nothing in my world except her brilliant smile and that stick. That little piece of plastic that gave me the best news in the entire world.

“I’m going to be a dad?”

She nodded, tears still rolling down her cheeks. For once, I didn’t hate them.

For once, I felt a few of my own match them.

I dropped my head into her lap, wrapping my arms around her hips to pull her close to me. Right there. My baby was growing right there inside the woman I loved.

Knowing there was no better time to do what I’d been thinking of for months, what I’d hesitated over again, and again, I lifted my head to look at my Kate.

“Marry me.”

She shocked the hell out of me yet again when she didn’t hesitate for a minute.

“Yes.”

Collapsing on my ass on the floor, I pulled her down onto me, kissing every inch of her face before I took her sweet lips.

Everything. I had absolutely everything right there in that house.

Kate. Owen. Our baby on the way.

There was nothing in the world I could want more.

“I love you.”

She kissed me.

When she pulled away, the thought occurred to me.

“My mom already knows?”

She laughed. “She’d been dying wanting to react since I took the test this afternoon. I’m surprised I got her to leave.”

“Well, she’s going to have to wait a little longer.”

“Why?”

“Because first, you and I need to celebrate.”

My gypsy smiled as I lifted her onto the bed and let me reveal the tattoo I’d given her over a year ago. I’d wanted to leave my mark then, but I knew better now. It hadn’t mattered what I’d done to her because I’d been the one that was marked by her since the beginning.

And I couldn’t have been fucking happier.