I straighten my spine and look down at the body slumped in the restraints in the chair. The only blood is on my knuckles and on his face. I could have tortured him for hours, payback from what was done to us. The whole “an eye for an eye, carve my way through him with a knife” thing, and yet knowing Val is watching behind the mirror made me act differently. She didn’t need the reminder. It’s why I ended it fairly quickly and yet everything about it is satisfying.
Time to put it all behind us indefinitely.
A sink is tucked in the corner allowing me to quickly wash my hands. I’m drying off when the door swings open and Val bursts inside, heading straight for me. I let the towel drop to the floor just in time to catch my woman. I easily lift her up and stalk out of the room, the past long forgotten.
Chapter Twelve
Valentina
“Did you finally do it?” Maci’s voice flows through the air.
My phone is on speaker as I move through the kitchen to check on the lasagna I just put into the oven.
“Did you?” I shoot back defensively.
Maci chuckles. I’m so happy she wasn’t badly hurt a few weeks ago when she was ambushed by Pierre and another man in the alley behind the store. She’s such a fierce woman, fighting her attacker and preventing them from taking her.
“I did, now tell me if you chickened out or not,” she presses.
“Or not,” I mutter underneath my breath. “And? Are you pregnant?”
The day she was hurt she thought she had her period but it was just very little blood and it wasn’t more than that. Since her other pregnancy was a weird one, where she discovered it late, and the baby was ready to come into the world…I told her to take a pregnancy test anyway to make sure this time.
Not to mention the fact that all of the old ladies needed to take one but we all ignored and came up with excuses not to do a test. We all damn well know it’s wrong, so we made a pact and each of us bought a test this morning. We agreed to pee and throw our result in our group app. Funny thing? The group chat has been quiet for over an hour.
Maci’s voice is a mere whisper. “I am. You?”
I close my eyes and push out the words, “I am.”
“Yes! Oh, this is going to be insane. Hang on, I’m going to check with the others and rip the results from them.” Maci hangs up and I clean up the kitchen until my phone starts to ring.
I hit accept and put it on speaker as I stalk back to the sink to grab the cloth I was wiping the counter with. I hear the front door open and know Shaw can stroll into the kitchen any moment.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Maci screeches.
I turn to face the phone but notice Shaw standing near it. Our eyes connect at the same time Maci squeals, “We’re all gonna have babies!”
Shaw’s eyes widen and he puts a hand on the counter to brace himself.
I’m holding my breath while Maci just keeps going. “Say something, Val. Come on you can’t be that shocked. We all pretty much knew, right?”
“I had no fucking clue,” Shaw says with a little growl in his voice, but the smile on his face tells me it’s all show to scare Maci.
She gasps and mutters, “Oh, fuck.” She clears her throat. “Hi Beecher. Okay, well, I’m going to let you guys go and...hey, since I basically told your old man, any chance you could tell mine?”
“That’s all you, Maci,” Shaw chuckles. “Neither Val nor I are going to tell my president he’s going to be knee deep in changing diapers again for months on end.”
Maci is silent on the other end and I stalk over to smack Shaw on his shoulder. Thinking back to when I told Zerox how Maci went out to get the pregnancy test but that it wasn’t for herself since she just got her period. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be thrilled to know he’s going to be a daddy again.
“Tell your husband, Maci. He loves you and your little girl. You know very well he’s going to be ecstatic.”
She releases a deep sigh. “Yeah, he always says he wants a big family.”
“That’s why he’s the president,” Shaw chuckles. “And now all his brothers have pregnant old ladies.”
“I’m going to hang up now,” Maci says. “But you two better come over the clubhouse tonight.”
“Bye Maci,” Shaw says without agreeing, tapping his finger on my phone and disconnecting the call.
His eyes are locked with mine. “We’re pregnant?”
I can only nod in reply. My throat is clogged up with emotions and the love radiating from him is overwhelming. It’s surrealistic to be standing here, a new chapter in our lives about to take hold. Even if it feels like a wild and uncertain ride, I know we can face everything because we have each other.
“I made you something,” he croaks. “I was going to show you, surprise you, but I guess you kinda surprised me in a damn fucking good way first.”
“I believe Maci was the one who—” He cuts me off by stepping closer, shaking his head before he places a hard kiss on my lips.
He pulls back and connects our foreheads. “Our moment,” he chuckles. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I whisper huskily.
This man always seems to make my heart beat faster, pumping sweet tingles through my veins, setting my body on fire.
“Remember that word when you see it,” he mutters underneath his breath as he links our fingers and guides me into the living room.
There’s a bundle of metal standing on end here and there. I’m used to his art, have seen him create many magnificent shadow art pieces and I know all this needs is light to display its beauty.
My eyes sting because I realize in this moment his art can be compared to us. The whole jagged ugliness bundled up and not making any sense until that moment when the light hits and you see the beauty that lies within.
What we went through isn’t what you should focus on. Not the trauma, not the open wounds, not the healing, but the result. The finishing touch it holds at the end of it all. Our love holding strong, the promise of a future, the rest of our lives we get to enjoy the light and mesmerizing beauty of living.
Shaw clicks on the light and a gasp rips from me. My vision turns blurry but the image doesn’t lessen in beauty or meaning.
“Yes,” I whisper and turn to look at the man who is proposing to me through this handmade creation.
With his own hands and mind, he created a man on his knees, holding the hand of the woman he loves as tiny flowers—which I believe are lilies of the valley—surround them. His smile could light up his art a thousand times more as he crashes his lips against mine.
He pulls back and opens a tiny velvet box, showing a ring I know has been handmade. An S is tangled with a V surrounded with tiny flowers, tiny diamonds connecting a strand of lilies of the valley. It’s personal, showing our deep connection and how well this man knows me.
He takes the ring out and slides it on my finger. “I have loved you since the first time I saw you. And now I’m not only able to love you for the rest of our lives but we’re bringing another piece of us into this world to love. My heart is so fucking full right now.”
“As is mine,” I croak.
The next kiss he gives me is soft, gentle, warm and filled with the love we just openly voiced to one another. Shaw steps back and his hands reach for my blouse, popping the buttons one by one and pulling it from my skirt, leaving my belly bare.