Chapter 25
Fiona
When I opened my eyes again, I blinked at the bright sun through the light curtains. Laird was on his side behind me, his one arm beneath my neck and the other around my waist. He held me, and I felt safe and loved. I wiggled my ass, shimmying closer to him, and he sighed, tightening his arms around me. I loved it. It felt great to be in his arms. It felt safe and right.
“Morning,” Laird mumbled, and I realized he was awake.
“Morning,” I said, turning my head. Laird kissed me on my cheek. I twisted in his arms so he could reach my mouth, and he kissed me deeply.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Sleepy from the medication. And my leg hurts. But I’m the happiest man alive.”
I smiled. Laird grinned, too. He rolled onto his back, and I shifted in bed until I lay on his chest. I traced his pectoral muscles with my fingertips, and his skin broke out in goosebumps wherever I touched him. I smiled. I loved that I had that reaction from him.
“What was it like?” I asked.
“What?”
“Not knowing what had happened. Not remembering.”
Laird blinked up at the ceiling. “It was like watching a movie but a piece in the middle is missing. You have an idea what the storyline is about, but there are important bits you know you missed out on.”
I nodded. “It must have been awful.”
“Not as awful as it must have been for you,” Laird said.
“It was pretty horrible,” I admitted. “To be in the hospital room and not knowing if you were going to wake up at all was worse, though. But when you did wake up, and you had no idea who I was, it was pretty tough.”
“You handled it so well. You didn’t try to make me remember or anything, you didn’t make it harder.”
I kissed his chest. “I didn’t want you to suffer more than you already were. You didn’t see what you looked like when you woke up, so scared and pale and out of it. I didn’t want to put you through more.”
I thought back to what Laird had looked like when they had just brought him in. There had been so much blood caked in his hair, pouring over his eye, getting stuck in his beard. I had been terrified that he would be stuck in a coma or worse.
The doctors had told me he was stable, that is heart was beating, but I still hadn’t been able to look past all that blood. And his leg had looked terrible. So swollen and caked with blood they’d had to cut his jeans off him.
I turned my head into Laird’s chest, trying to get rid of the memories. I wanted to focus on the good that had come after the accident ‒ the miracle that had happened to bring Laird back to me rather than how horrible it had been.
“At least you had people you did recognize,” I said, thinking about Jackson.
Laird nodded. “I was lucky I hadn’t lost more. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d woken up in a strange place with only strangers to guide me through.”
“Jackson is a good friend,” I said.
“He is.”
I hesitated. “I don’t mean to say something nasty about him, but in a way, it felt like he was trying to keep us apart. After you woke up, he seemed to try and keep me away from you.”
Laird thought about it.
“I might be wrong,” I added. “I was in a dark place, and I don’t know him at all.”
“No, you’re right,” Laird said. “I spoke to him about it when I remembered. I asked him why he hadn’t said anything about us, about the baby.”
“What did he say?” I asked. It seemed horrible that Laird’s best friend wouldn’t even tell him that he was going to be a father. It had been very soon after the accident, but it was something Laird had deserved to know from the beginning, in my opinion.
“He said he wanted me to remember you by myself. He was worried that we’re moving too fast.”
“I guess I can understand that. But the baby?”
Laird sighed. “Jackson has had a tough past with women. He’s been screwed over a lot of times, and because of it, he doesn’t date anymore. I think his past might have influenced his decisions and how he sees our relationship. I can’t blame the guy for trying to protect me, no matter how pissed off I am that he kept it from me.”
I nodded. I could understand it, in a way. But I didn’t agree with how Jackson had gone about it. I would have told my best friend right away if there was something serious he needed to know. Of course, no one could have been prepared for something like this. How could Jackson have known how to act? I didn’t even know how to act. A part of me had screamed that I should try to make him remember. But a part of me had wanted to protect him.
I could relate to what Jackson had done even though I hated the idea that he had thought we were moving too fast.
A thought dawned on me, and I sat up so I could look Laird in the eye.
“Do you think we’re moving too fast?”
Laird frowned. “What?”
“It’s been a month, and we’re talking about forever together. Your friends are worried. My friends are worried. What if we’re going too fast? I don’t want it to be the case, even if I’m pregnant.”
Laird shook his head and took my hands. “Calm down, sweetheart,” he said. “I like our pace just fine. If I thought we were moving too fast, I would have told you so. I don’t mess around.”
I nodded, satisfied. Laird was right, he would have told me. Or I would have seen it in another way. But we were doing well. We were on the same page.
“Let’s forget about the accident and all the reasons why everyone else thinks we won’t make it and talk about happier things,” Laird said.
“Like what?” I asked, settling down again in the crook of his arms.
“Like if we’re still thinking about moving in together. I know it’s only been a week, but a lot has happened. Are we still thinking about that?”
I nodded. “I am if you are. I want to stay here with you. I have to talk to Charlene about how soon I can work remotely. I’m not sure if she’ll be able to let me do it starting next week the way we had initially planned. But I want to come stay here with you.”
Laird smiled and planted a kiss on my lips. “I love that,” he said. “I want to expand to make a baby room.”
“I was thinking about that,” I said. “How would you do it?”
“We add on. Building with timber. I helped build this one, actually. It won’t be hard. I do need to get permission from the lodge owner first. I can’t see why it would be a problem, though.”
“That’s so hot,” I said.
Laird looked surprised and chuckled. “What’s hot?”
“A man building a house for his woman. There’s something about men being able to survive in the wild and do manual labor things that turns me on.”
Laird laughed. “I will take care of you. You’re my princess.”
I blushed, and the way he looked at me when I did only intensified it.
“I can’t wait to be together, as a family,” I said.
“This is what I want,” Laird said. “You and me, naked in the cabin.”
I laughed. “You forgot about the baby.”
Laird put his hand on my belly. “Never,” he said and kissed me. It was the first time he touched me like that, there. He touched me in a way that made me believe he really was okay with being a father. I hadn’t realized that I’d still been worried about it until he had shown me that he was perfectly happy.
I moved, pressing my body up against his and kissing him. This was what I wanted, too. We had the whole weekend together, and the extra clothes I had bought were pointless. We would spend the rest of the weekend together, naked. I wanted to spend the rest of the day in bed with Laird. And judging by the way he kissed me back, that was what he wanted, too.