I walked back into the waiting room, my hands laden with two coffee trays. Lola’s mom and her husband, Maury, had arrived while I was gone, and were standing with the Lockharts, Dominic, and Sophia. Deacon was still off to the side with Grayson, his hand resting on his brother’s back. Their heads were close, Grayson’s drooped in exhaustion and worry as Deacon spoke quietly to him.

I didn’t want to interrupt, so I moved over to Sophia when she broke away to join me. “Hey.” I handed out coffees to anyone who wanted them and set the rest aside. “Any word?” I asked, turning my attention back to Soph.

She shook her head. “No, but I hope we hear something soon. Grayson looks like he’s about to rip this place apart with his bare hands.”

Glancing back over in that direction, I mumbled, “Yeah.”

As if sensing my attention, Deacon looked back at me and offered a small grin before turning back to his brother.

“So…,” Sophia hedged. “Things good between you two? You know, after your little thing at Sapphire?”

It wasn’t the time or place, but I couldn’t stop from smiling. “Yeah, they're pretty terrific. I love him,” I admitted. Saying it out loud to someone other than Deacon made it feel even more real.

“I’m happy for you, honey. You deserve it.”

Daphne and Caleb blew into the room a few minutes later. Caleb moved to the guys while Daphne came to us girls. “Shit, sorry we took so long. We had to wait for Caleb’s mom to get to our place to watch Evie. Has there been any update?”

Sophia had just opened her mouth to reply when a man in a white coat stepped through the doorway and asked, “Are you the family of Lola Lockhart?”

Grayson immediately detached from Deacon and rushed to the doctor. “Yeah, I’m her husband. Is she okay? Is the baby all right?”

The rest of us gathered behind him and waited for the news. My heart had lodged itself in my throat when Deacon stepped beside me and took my hand. My fingers clenched his as the doctor started talking.

“They’re just fine.” A collective sigh swept through the room. “The baby is a stubborn little thing and wanted to come early, but Mom is just as stubborn about keeping the little one in there longer.”

“That’s the Abbatelli genetics running strong,” Dominic joked, making most everyone around us laugh.

“We managed to stop the contractions, but we’re going to keep her for a day or two to make sure they don’t start up again. Once she leaves here, I’m writing her a prescription for Terbutaline. It’ll keep her from going back into preterm labor. I’m also recommending bed rest until it looks like we’ve gotten things under control. She can get up and move around, but nothing strenuous, and not for more than an hour or two total each day. With the medication and rest, I’m confident we can keep the little one where it belongs for the next few months.”

“Can I see her?” Grayson asked.

“Yes. Since you’re the husband, you’ll be allowed to stay over with her, but visiting hours are over for tonight, so we’re asking everyone else to wait until tomorrow.”

Deacon’s fingers tightened for a few seconds before his grip loosened again. Grayson barely managed a wave over his shoulder as he hurried after the doctor, desperate to get to his wife. After a few minutes, everyone started out, but Deacon and I were stopped by his parents before we made it out of the waiting room.

Cybil stood on her tiptoes and kissed Deacon’s cheek before doing the same to me. “I’m so glad this night turned out okay.”

“We are too,” Deacon replied, swinging an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to his side.

The claiming gesture wasn’t lost on Cybil, and her lips stretched into a huge grin. “So, I take it this means it didn’t work out with the pediatric surgeon?”

I went stiff at her question. I’d completely forgotten about that particular lie until that very moment. When Deacon’s body started to shake, I glanced up and saw he was trying to hide his chuckle. We hadn’t talked about it since that night he brought it up in my office.

“Yep. You could take it that way,” he answered for me.

Jabbing my elbow in his side, I glared up at him when he looked down at me.

“Well, I just have to say this makes me so happy,” Cybil continued, unable to hide her elation. Her eyes flitted back to her son as she asked him, “Does this mean you’ll actually attend our Christmas Eve party next week?”

Deacon let out a groan and stared up at the ceiling, as though searching for divine intervention.

I attended the Lockharts’ annual Christmas Eve party every year I was able, and for the past few years Deacon had been visibly absent. Apparently Cybil wasn’t above using our relationship to get what she wanted from her son. And from what Nolan said next, it was clear that he wasn’t above it either.

“Of course he will, honey. Fiona attends every year, and now that they’re together, he’ll be her date.”

A giggle erupted from my throat at the frustrated look on Deacon’s face.

“Yeah, Mom. We’ll be there,” he finally relented, unable to deny his mother something she so badly wanted. Even though I didn’t really understand the distance between him and his father, he was still loyal to a fault. It was just one of the many reasons why I loved him.

Cybil clapped, her expression like she’d just been told that she won the lottery. “That’s just marvelous! Oh I can’t wait. This is so wonderful. Sweetheart, just wait until I call your mother.”

Ah hell. Sometimes my mom being best friends with Cybil Lockhart was a major pain in my ass.

“You can call Evelyn and gossip like a bunch of hens later, but right now I need to get Fee home. It’s the middle of the night, and she’s got work in only a few hours.”

He was back to being bossy Deacon, but instead of annoying the shit out of me, it made me feel nice and floaty because I knew that was just his way of trying to take care of me. And the truth was I was pretty freaking exhausted. It was already after three in the morning, and the past several hours had been insanely intense. I leaned into him, burrowing into the warm comfort of his body while thinking that there was no other place I’d rather be than by him side.

“Of course, of course,” Cybil chirped. “We won’t keep you two a second longer.”

I gave her another hug, then embraced Nolan. Deacon said his goodbyes and we were on our way out.

As soon as we climbed into his car, I let out a sleepy yawn and rested my head against the passenger window. “I can’t wait to get home. I’m beat.”

Feeling his eyes on me and noticing that he hadn’t started the car, I lifted my head and looked his way. He was watching me closely, his eyes shining with pleasure through the darkness in the cab. “What?”

“You said ‘home.’”

“Huh?”

“You just said you couldn’t wait to get home. Not that you couldn’t wait to get back to my house.”

My brow furrowed in confusion because that seemed to mean something to him, I just didn’t understand why. “Okay…?”

He turned his whole upper body my way. “Baby, I’m seeing that you don’t get why this is so important, so let me lay it out. You just called my place home. To me that means you’re not only comfortable there, but it’s a place you want to be. Can you see why that’d mean so fucking much to me?”

When he explained it like that, I totally got it, and I absolutely loved that. “I’m guessing you like that?”

Deacon leaned in, placing a hand behind my head to pull me closer. With his forehead against mine, he whispered meaningfully, “Yeah, baby. I like that a whole fucking lot.”

I smiled wide, staring him right in the eyes as I breathed, “Good.”

His hand in my hair clenched. “Christ,” he grunted. “I didn’t think it was possible to love you any goddamn more than I already do, but you just keep proving me wrong.”

My breath caught in my chest. “I really like that.”

One corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk as he replied, “Good.”

“And I love you too, honey.”

He finally pulled back and straightened in his seat, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Well thank God for that. At least I know I won’t have to compete with that fake doctor to win your affections.”

My face immediately fell into a severe frown. “Jerk. How did you even know?”

Deacon twisted the key in the ignition and started the car up as he answered. “You forget, I know you better than you know yourself. It was written all over your face when your girls made that whole thing up on the fly.”

Slumping back in the seat, I crossed my arms over my chest and faced the windshield to pout. “Sometimes you knowing me so well is a real pain in the ass, you know that?”

His deep, rich laughter filled the car as he put it in gear and started out of the parking lot. “Maybe for you. For me, it’s pretty damn handy.”

I rolled my eyes at the windshield and grumbled, “Will you shut up and take me home already?”

Deacon’s laugh shrank to a soft chuckle that was no less attractive than his full laugh. Then he proceeded to make me all melty by saying, “Anything for you, sweetheart.”