This was what she had been waiting for—the day when Cal opened up about the things that had shaped him. The really important things.
Which meant she could finally trust him with her really important things, especially the heart she’d been afraid to risk on him again.
“Any chance you want to go to a baby store with me?” she asked suddenly. “I’m thinking we should start looking for a crib and bedding and a chest of drawers we both think will look good in the room we turn into the baby’s bedroom at your place.”
“My place?” He blinked at her as though she were giving him the moon, the sun, and the stars. “Does this mean you’ll move in with me?”
“Your place has quite a bit more room than mine,” she said with a smile as she threaded her fingers through his. “And I can’t imagine sleeping anywhere but in your arms. Or waking up without you beside me.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
This trip had started out as a challenge to make her fall in love with him so they could marry, and he could be a father to their baby. But it had become a burning need for her to fall in love with him because he couldn’t live without her.
Did wanting to sleep in his arms and wake up beside him mean she wanted forever? Did going to a baby store mean she was finally seeing him as a man she could depend on, a man she wanted as the father of her child?
A man she could love?
He kissed her long and deep, there in the front seat, until they were both breathless and aching for more. Until they could feel the stares of the people in the car parked beside them.
“I guess we’d better move on and find that baby store,” Lyssa said, her cheeks rosy with the heat of their kisses.
On the freeway, she directed him several exits down to another coastal town that had a baby boutique. He’d been in stores like this before to buy gifts for business associates who were expecting.
Today, he was here for his own child. It blew his mind.
The store was filled with baby clothes and lots of colorful, delicate things that made him realize just how small a baby was. He could hardly imagine what it would be like to hold his child in his arms.
“Cal, you’ve got to take a look at this.” Lyssa held up a green…thing.
“What is it?”
She was laughing as she said, “It’s an avocado suit. The baby’s head goes right here in this circle like it’s the avocado pit.”
He knew even before she said it. “You want one for our kid, don’t you?”
“Who wouldn’t?” she replied, a teasing glint in her eyes.
Still laughing, she stuck it back on the rack with the flower petals and dinosaurs and puppy outfits.
A sales clerk approached them. “Can I help you find something?”
Lyssa looped her arm through Cal’s. “We’re having a baby. It’s our first, and we wanted to stroll around your store to get a feel for everything we’re going to need.”
The woman’s blue eyes twinkled. “How exciting! Congratulations. I’m more than happy to let you wander without hanging over your shoulder.” She smiled. “If you have any questions about breast pumps or car seats or bassinets, just call me.” She returned to the register, busying herself with sorting receipts.
“Look at these darling dresses.” Lyssa fingered frilly things in a multitude of colors.
“Are you hoping for a girl?”
She gestured to the boys’ rack filled with sailor suits and cowboy outfits and rompers. “Either one would be perfect.” Then she turned her gaze to him. “What do you want?”
He was suddenly so choked up he couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. The sonogram and the heartbeat had made everything real. Yet, somehow, this was more.
Because Lyssa wanted him not only to be a part of the baby’s life, but part of her life too.
“Are you all right?” Her hand on his arm, she leaned up to look into his face.
He finally got his voice to work. “I’ll be deliriously happy either way.”
“Me too,” she said, giving him a quick hug before pulling him deeper into the store.
They found cribs and mobiles and bassinets, changing tables and tiny little bathtubs, car seats and diaper bags, baby bottles and changing kits for traveling. He couldn’t believe how much paraphernalia went into taking care of a baby.
“This is cute.” He pointed to a mobile of twirling dinosaurs. “But I like this one too.” It was a mobile of flowers and figures of baby animals.
He suddenly had such a clear vision of the baby’s room. A white crib, an old-fashioned rocker, walls painted with animals or clouds. “I want to paint the baby’s room. Whatever color you want.”
“I don’t want pink or blue.” Her eyes lit up as she decided. “How about seafoam green?”
“That sounds great.”
“And a border around the top,” she said, tapping her finger on her chin as she saw the vision too.
“I can paint animals. Or clouds.” There were stencils. And what could be hard about painting a cloud freehand? After all, Lyssa thought his street art was a masterpiece. “How about clouds on the ceiling, and the sun, moon, and stars on the border?”
“I love it!”
He wanted to haul her into his arms. He could see it all. Seafoam walls covered in suns and clouds, the stars and moon over the crib as the baby slept.
And Lyssa right beside him, in his home. In his bed. In his life.
Forever.
They were standing in the middle of a dozen different strollers when she said, “My parents’ housewarming party is this weekend. How would you feel about telling everyone about the baby—and us—during the party?”
He took her hands and drew her close. “I’d love that, Lyssa.”
He wouldn’t worry about the Mavericks. They’d freak out when they heard the news, but he and Lyssa were a team now, and he felt deep in his bones that they could weather whatever came their way.
There was no longer a reason to hide the truth about how she made him feel. “And I love you.”
* * *
“Let’s not go home yet,” Lyssa said as they climbed into his car. She was still on the high of hearing him say, I love you.
He raised her hand to his lips. “Just being with you wherever you want to be is enough for me.”
She hadn’t yet said those three little words back to him. The moment had to be right. The place had to be just right. “Let’s look for a place by the ocean.”
As if it had been waiting just for them, they found a darling waterfront cottage on a cove so small with cliffs so high that the beach was completely private. Normally, it was rented out by the week, but since it was unoccupied, the owner let them have it for the night.
They ate takeout Chinese, then Cal lit a fire in the metal ring on the beach, and they sat on a blanket to watch the sunset, his arm wrapped around her.
The clouds and sky were lit with streaks of pink and yellow as pelicans flew by in formation.
“This is perfection,” Lyssa said, feeling happier than she could ever remember feeling before.
“Yes, it is,” he agreed, his lips against her hair.
And the moment was exactly what she’d been waiting for to give him her heart. “I love you, Cal.”