A December to Remember (83)
“You’re right,” Evette said, yanking her coat off and slinging it over the banister. “Talking can wait. Where’s the bedroom in this joint?”
* * *
Later, after they had reacquainted themselves, they lay spooning, Simone’s big spoon to Evette’s little, the duvet pulled tight around their bodies to keep out the chill.
“I told you it was a big bed,” she said sleepily. She felt Evette smile.
“We’d never fit a bed this size into our tiny flat. There wouldn’t be room for anything else. Only bed.”
“I think I could live with that.” She pulled Evette closer.
Evette laughed softly. “Not with your clothes-buying habit. Wardrobes are essential.”
“We could get a bed this size if we had a bigger place.”
“I think that’s above our pay grade.”
“Not if we moved out of the city.” She felt Evette shift away slightly and cold filled the gap.
“What are you suggesting?”
The words seemed to have come of their own accord, but now that they were out, she realized she meant them.
“Maybe we could move here. Star’s going to stay at Dad’s place for a while; Maggie too while she gets sorted.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I think that so long as you’re not using Rowan Thorp as a place to hide from the problems we’ve been facing, it’s worth considering. You know my home is wherever you are.”
“I can’t be hiding from things if you’re with me, can I? It’ll simply be a fresh environment for us. I feel more relaxed here. Believe me, that’s as much of a surprise to me as it is to you. You were right, I need my sisters. You’re always right.”
“Oh, no, don’t put that pressure on me.” Evette laughed softly. “It’s only that sometimes I can see what you’re too close to notice. You do the same for me.”
“Thank you.” She nestled her head into the pillow, reveling in having Evette so close.
“For what?”
“For coming here.”
“Thank Star for being a pushy mare. That woman is tenacious when she’s got a bee in her bonnet.”
“Remind you of anyone?”
“I don’t think any of those apples fell as far from the tree as you North sisters like to think.”
Simone smiled and snuggled in closer.
“You tired?” asked Evette.
“Why?”
“I was thinking we should take advantage of this awfully big bed again.”
* * *
For the first time in a long while Simone slept through the night without wakefulness or nightmares. She had missed Evette since she’d been in Rowan Thorp, but now that they were back in each other’s arms, she realized she had been missing her for a lot longer than that. Over the last year, they’d been living simultaneously together and miles apart. She wouldn’t let that happen again. Their path toward becoming parents might be unclear, but she would make sure they never lost sight of each other again.
* * *
A patter woke Star. A dripping tap? A branch against a window? A shower of little skitters against the glass. This better not be Stu again. “For fuck’s sake!” she shouted. She jumped out of bed, threw back the curtains, and wrenched open the window in one smooth movement, shouting, “What!” against the wall of cold air.
“I don’t care!” blurted a man’s voice.
Her world tilted. Not Stu. Duncan. She gulped in a lungful of frozen night.
“Duncan!” Hope oxygenated her blood and catapulted through her veins.
His face was so earnest it made her knees weak.
“What I mean to say is, I don’t care if you don’t want to have children in the future. And I don’t care that you want to be a surrogate for Simone. I only care about being with you. I will stand by you and your decisions. I’ll rub your feet when you’re too pregnant to reach them, I’ll hold your hand while you’re in labor with your sister’s baby, I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you. I just want us to be together, to see where this takes us.”
“Why?” She couldn’t help wondering what had caused this sudden assertion.
He smiled shyly. “Because I love the way you see the world, your positivity and endless hopefulness that people can be better than they are. You make me look with better eyes. I feel awake when I’m with you in a way I’ve never been before. I love that you look for magic in the mundane and how you shine when you find it. I want to search for magic with you. You are kind and principled and strong-willed to the point of ridiculous and you’d move the moon and stars for the people you love. I’d like to know you, Heavenly-Stargazer.” He looked up at her imploringly. “Is that enough? I can go on. I’ve got so much more!”
She was dumbfounded. She clapped her hands to her mouth to stifle a laugh of joy. Her heart was beating so fast, she could feel the pound of it through her skin.
“Am I too late?” Duncan asked. “Please tell me I’m not too late.”