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“Because that’s how I feel for you, Jackson. I would do anything for you, absolutely anything, and hearing I ruined your life…” He shakes his head as tears begin to fall down his cheeks. “I need to make sure I’m worthy of you, Jackson, because you and your two kids…” He sucks in a ragged breath. Each word is pained when he speaks. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. A family. And I don’t know if I’m too broken to ever make this work.”
“You didn’t ruin my life, Hayden.” I curve my hands around his neck. “I need you to listen to me. We put the past in the past. I’m not hurting over that anymore, Hayden, because you know why?” I squat down between his legs until we’re at eye level. “You’ve shown up for me. You’ve shown up for my kids. You’ve shown me that you have a big fucking heart and that you care. You’ve shown me that you’re fucking strong because despite whatever lies your mind is telling you, you were strong, and you got the help you needed.”
“I love you, Hayden Issac Cassidy. I’ve always loved you, and I will continue to love you. I’ll love you so fucking hard you won’t ever question it.”
“If this is what you need to do, I will support you with whatever you need. But you’re not giving up on me, Hayden. You’re not giving up on us because it’s not just my love you have now. It’s Ryan and Isabela’s. They fucking adore you to the moon, and maybe I’m being a jackass by mentioning how fucking upset they’ll be if you don’t come back, but it’s the truth. You have a family here who love you, Hayden, and you have a home. Here. With us. And we’ll be waiting for you, whenever you’re ready to come home to us.”
“You’re not giving up on me, Cassidy. I won’t allow it,” I say quietly. “I fucking love you, and I won’t let whatever your head is telling you, get the better of us. Of what we’ve got.”
want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to you and falling asleep in your arms. I’d like to spend Christmas mornings with you, watching the kids open their gifts with so much excitement they don’t know what to open first. I’d like lazy Sundays with you, making pancakes and stealing kisses whenever the kids aren’t looking. I’d like to grow old with you—well, older, because fuck, Jax, that day we went to the market made me feel about one hundred and three.”
“I hope I’m not too late, Jax. I hope that you can forgive me for the pain I put you through, both tonight and all those years ago. I hope that you’ll let me make it up to you by loving you every day for the rest of my life. I love you, Jackson Wilde. I love you so fucking much,” I confess, my breath hitching on those last few words.
The love I have for this man is monumental. It exceeds the love I used to have for him. My heart is so fucking full of him it feels like it could burst from my chest. I’ll show him every day how much he is loved.
And I will prove to him every day that he is worthy and that he is enough.
Ryan lets out a relieved sigh, then turns to his sister. “We better clean up ’cause he’ll be home soon.”
Home.
There was a time when I never thought I’d hear those words again in association with Hayden. The home we had together back in Boston was tainted by the actions of our past selves, but we’re both in a different place now. Not just geographically. We’re older. Matured. We’ve both been through things that have shaped us in...
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“Hayden, I was nineteen when I first met you, and a part of me knew the moment I locked eyes on you that you were the one I was supposed to be with. We made so many memories during our time in Boston, and I like to think of that as part one of our journey. But this? This is part two.”
“Fourteen years later, you found me at a time I was struggling and thought I wasn’t quite enough. And your patience and your gentle love made me fall in love with you again. Only this time, I brought two extras.”
“The gut feeling I had when I was nineteen wasn’t wrong. You are the one I’m supposed to be with. You are the one I’m supposed to bring my kids up with. You are the one who I want to share lazy Sundays with and cook while listening to Frank Sinatra with.”
“Me and Isabela also have a question!” Ryan interrupts.
The corners of Hayden’s eyes crease with the smile that seems everlasting on his face, and I see the exact moment he sees the question at the bottom. His eyes widen, and his head snaps to me with questioning eyes.
“Is this real?” he asks, barely audible.
“It was the kids’ idea, but ...
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“Say yes!” Ryan bursts, his arms going in the air. “If you don’t like Papa, we can call you something else.”
Sometimes those gray eyes can appear to be stormy, like rough seas at night. But right now, they are filled with so much happiness and love they almost twinkle. Although that might be down to the Christmas tree lights.
“Papa and Mr. Wilde, two titles I never thought I’d have.”
“Welcome to the Wilde family, Hayden. We’re all glad to finally have you home.”
