I look up at him and nod, then I make my way over to Aurelia and stand next to my painting.
“Okay, everybody.” She presses her hands together in front of her. “I’m so excited to introduce you to this next artist. She’s one of the most talented contemporary realist artists I’ve ever had the pleasure to know, and lucky for us, she chose to unveil her latest piece, Stronger, here tonight.” She looks at me and smiles. “Lucy Bennett.”
I smile at the crowd, full of unfamiliar faces. Some are smiling back and others are staring at me blankly. “Um…” I glance up at my painting and then back at the people in front of me. “As Aurelia said, the painting is called Stronger.” I smile nervously, wishing Sam were here, and search for Sebastian. When I find him I keep my eyes on him as I say, “I, um, I’ve never done a self-portrait before, and I certainly never thought I’d do one like this. It wasn’t my best moment.” I laugh softly and so does the crowd. “But it was real.” I look at the painting again. “There are storms we have to weather in life.” I smile tentatively at the crowd, thinking of Sam and everything we’ve been through this year. “This was one of those times. But I had a dear friend help me through it,” I say, finding Sebastian again. “Sebastian Ford, you are the reason I painted this. And your friendship has made me stronger.” Everyone looks at Sebastian and he beams at me. Thank you, I mouth to him.
Everyone claps as Aurelia steps beside me again. “Thank you for sharing that, Lucy. I know everyone here feels the emotion you felt that day. It truly is a breathtaking piece.”
“Thank you, Aurelia.”
She gives me a warm smile and then disappears into the crowd, and I’m enveloped in Sebastian’s arms. “You did so good.”
I look up at him, relieved that it’s over. “I meant what I said.”
“I know, and I’m sucking up every ounce of emotion right now, so please don’t say anything else.” He kisses my forehead and releases me.
“Lamb.”
My breath catches in my throat and my heart races.
I look up and see Sam surrounded by several surprised faces, who whisper to each other as he passes them. But they might as well be invisible. All I see is him, dressed in a navy blue suit that’s tailor-made, staring at me with beautiful, sad eyes. His hair is impeccably styled and his flushed cheeks are freshly shaven.
I fight back tears that rush to my eyes. “Sam? What are you doing here?”
He pulls his eyebrows together and says quietly, “I know you didn’t want me to come tonight, but I had to. I’m sorry, I just—”
“Stop.” A worried look falls over his face, but it disappears when I reach for his hand. “I’m so happy you came.”
“You are?”
I nod and a tear rolls down my cheek. “I’m really happy.”
He pulls me into his arms and his words come out in a quiet rush. “I’m so sorry, Lamb, for everything. I was messed up after the Crawford fight. But that wasn’t me.”
The warmth of his strong embrace reaches places inside me that only he can get to. Places that have been cold since I left him in Las Vegas. “I know it wasn’t.”
“I want you to come home, Luc. Please. I was wrecked after Joe died, but without you…I don’t know what to do. You and the baby are my entire world, my whole future. I’m lost with you.”
I nod, but can’t say anything over the emotion I’m trying to contain.
“I promise I’ll never lash out at you like that again. I know you were only trying to help.”
I shake my head and say quietly, “I shouldn’t have underestimated how hard the loss was for you. I’m sorry. And I’m sorry that I left.” I press my lips together and shrug. “After being on my own, that flight-or-fight mode is really hard to overcome.”
He holds me tight and says, “I just want you to come home, Lucy. Please…I need you.”
“Okay.”
He gives me an uncertain smile. “Okay?”
“Yeah.” I smile softly. “I need you too, Sam.”
He exhales a relieved breath and reaches for my face. “I missed you so much,” he says, looking into my vulnerable eyes. Then he kisses me softly and rights all the wrongs in the world. He looks down at my round stomach and drops his hands to either side of it. “I missed my girls.”
“We missed you too.”
“How is she?”
“She’s good.” I laugh and wipe a stray tear from my eye.
“She’s gotten bigger.”
“It’s only been two weeks.”
“I know, but I can tell.”
I scrunch up my face and laugh. “Are you trying to say that I look bigger?”
He shakes his head and gives me a sexy smile. “No. You look…” He pulls his hand to his mouth and rubs it over his chin. “Sexy as hell.”
“Sam,” I say, glancing around at the people around us.
“Seriously.” He holds my hand up and drops his eyes over me. “You’re so beautiful,” he says softly, showing me a glimpse of his dimples.
I press my hands to his chest and whisper, “You’re not so bad yourself.”
He grins, putting his dimples on full display for everyone to see, and I could swear I hear a few hearts dropping. He reaches for my hand, holds it against his chest, and says, “Come dance with me.”
“Oh, I don’t think there’s dancing here, Sam,” I say, glancing around as he pulls me over to a dimly lit area of the room, wondering where Sebastian and Paul disappeared to.
“Says who?” He pulls me close and wraps his arm around my back. “I like this song.” He begins to rock me back and forth to the slow rhythm of Dua Lipa’s “Homesick,” and the lyrics settle over me like a warm blanket when Sam whispers them in my ear. “You give me a reason, something to believe in, I know, I know, I know…You give me a meaning, something I can breathe in, I know, I know, I know.”
I look up at him, and he’s the only other person in the room.
“Do you know how much I love you?” he asks.
“As much as I love you.”
“It’s not always going to be easy, Lamb. I won’t promise that. But I can promise it will be easier together. You and the baby are the most important thing to me. Even when I’m feeling sorry for myself and acting like a jerk. Okay?”
I inhale a shaky breath. “Okay.”
“The painting, your painting…why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“I didn’t know Sebastian volunteered it for the show tonight.”
He nods softly and asks again, “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Lucy, I want all of you. The good parts and the bad.”
“I know.”
“Tonight I listened to you tell a bunch of strangers about a storm you were weathering that I didn’t even know about. Was I the storm?”
“No, it wasn’t you. I mean, it was, but it wasn’t you. It was everything. It was you getting hurt, it was Tristan and Joe, it was the baby, even though I didn’t know about her yet. I was just caught up in it all and Sebastian happened to be there. I guess you could say he was my life raft that day.”