Rekindled (41 page)

I swallow, feeling every nerve ending come alive with his touch. “I’m really sorry, Tate. For everything. I should have sorted things out with Zach sooner.”

“Maybe, but somehow I doubt he would have let you walk away earlier. And as much as I hate that he hurt you and Jonah, if he hadn’t abandoned you guys, you never would have come back here, and I wouldn’t have had the chance to fall in love with you all over again.” He reaches out and cups my face with his hands, letting his thumbs run along my jawline. “I love you, Callie. We’ve both made mistakes, but I think tonight is the perfect night for a fresh start. A chance to finally be happy. Together.” He pulls back and grabs the tray of Lunchables, holding it out to me. “So, what do you say?”

I reach in and grab a cracker and a piece of turkey and cheese, stacking it into a pile before shoving the whole thing in my mouth.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to eat it one bite,” he says with a grin.

I shrug and swallow the sandwich. “I like to do things my way. I’ve been told that’s what makes me inimitable.”

His arms tighten around me as if I’m his lifeline and he presses his lips to my collar bone. “No argument there.” His lips trail along the curve of my neck. “I’d tell you that you’re one in a million, but that’d be a lie.” He kisses along my jawline, awakening the butterflies in my stomach that always appear in his presence. “Saying you’re one in a million implies that there’s others like you once you search past that million people. And there’s not. You’re not one in a million. You’re not even one in a billion. You’re one in a lifetime, because I could meet every single person on this planet, past, present and future, and never meet another woman who is as incredible as you are.”

I’m pretty sure I can feel myself melting into a puddle right here in his arms. No one has ever said anything so amazing to me, and my heart hurts, not out of grief or loneliness now, but out of love. It feels like it’s bursting at the seams, and any second it could pop.

His lips find mine and in this moment, I can feel every crack and crevice that was ever etched into my heart, healing. I need this kiss more than I need oxygen, and a small moan escapes me when I feel him nibble on my bottom lip. He pulls back, letting out a long exhale.

“Sweetness, you keep making sounds like that and we won’t make it to the second half of the date.”

“There’s more?”

He chuckles and brings my knuckles to his lips, kissing them gently. “Haven’t you figured that out yet? With you, there’ll always be more. This is just the beginning to our story.”

1 year later

“You can go in now,” the doctor says, as she pushes open the door revealing a smiling Callie holding our newborn baby girl.

“You ready to meet your new baby sister?” I ask Jonah as I grab his hand and lead him into the room.

He nods, wide-eyed as we approach with my dad, Caleb, Mari and Matt following close behind. Even though I know Callie must be exhausted after hours of labor, she looks absolutely radiant. A little pink face pokes out from a pale yellow blanket my dad gave us after we found out Callie was pregnant. The fact that the blanket was the same one they wrapped Rylee in when she was born just makes it so much more special seeing my daughter cuddled in it.
My daughter.
The words still feel foreign on my tongue, even after nine months of saying it.

“Oh Callie, dear, she’s
beautiful
,” my dad coos, as he leans over to get a better look.

“Perfection,” Mari agrees. “Ten perfect little toes and ten perfect little fingers.”

Callie beams up at us as she cradles our little girl. “She is perfect, isn’t she?”

“What are you guys going to name her?” Matt asks, looking at me.

I frown and look at Callie. While we talked briefly about names, we agreed we wouldn’t choose one until she was born, but it’s been an hour already and we still haven’t had a chance to talk about it.

“We’re still thinking on it,” Callie answers.

“Let’s name her something cool!” Jonah shouts. “Like, Catwoman or Mystique.”

Everyone laughs and Callie rolls her eyes. “This is your fault,” she says, pointing a finger me. “I knew letting Jonah read your old comics would come back to bite me in the butt.”

“Thanks for the ideas, bud,” I say, placing a hand on Jonah’s shoulder. “We’ll think about it.

“Tate?” she says hesitantly looking between me and my dad. “What do you think about naming her Elizabeth Rylee?”

“Wasn’t that your sister’s name?” Jonah asks me. “I like it.”

My dad’s eyes begin to water and I swallow hard, trying to ignore the thick heat building at the back of my throat. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” I bend down and place a quick kiss on her lips, feeling a bittersweet contentment fill me. This is such a perfect moment, the only thing that would make it better is if Rylee were alive to see it.

“Hi Elizabeth,” Jonah says, as he holds one of her fingers. “I’m your big brother, Jonah, and I promise to always look out for you.”

“Do you want to hold her?” I ask.

Jonah nods and I help him up onto the bed next to Callie. She carefully places the baby in Jonah’s waiting arms, kissing his forehead as she does. “Make sure you support her head,” she says as she adjusts Jonah’s arms so that the baby’s head is resting on his bicep. “Tate, can you hand me the diaper bag? I need to grab my hair tie.”

“I’ll get it. Which pocket is it in?”

“One of the side ones, I forget which one, though.”

Kneeling down, I rummage through the bag until I find her hair tie, meanwhile doing my best to discreetly pull out a box from my jacket pocket. I’ve had the ring for about a month now and I had everything set up for her to go through a scavenger hunt made up of riddles that would eventually lead her to the park where I was planning on proposing, but when her water broke this morning, I knew this would be
so
much better. Surrounded by her close family and friends, this is the perfect time for me to ask her.

I hear her sigh and sit up in the bed. “Tate, just hand me the bag and I’ll find it. I have so much stuff in there, it’ll just be quicker than you looking for it.”

“Sweetness, you just spent seven hours pushing out another human being from your body, I’m pretty certain I can handle finding your hair tie.”

She laughs, and I turn around, holding out her hair band to her in one hand, holding the other one behind my back, hiding the ring box. She takes it and quickly sweeps her hair off her neck into a low ponytail. Her focus is on Jonah and our daughter, so she doesn’t notice me shift on the ground so that I’m keeling on one knee, with my hand outstretched, palm up, with the teal ring box in the center.

Matt and my dad are beaming as Mari lets out a loud gasp. Caleb gives me a nod of approval, even though he knew this was coming. Since Callie doesn’t have any contact with her parents still, I went to Caleb a couple weeks ago asking for his permission to ask Callie to marry me. I know it wasn’t necessary, but I want to do right by her. Caleb means the world to her, and I wanted him to understand how serious I am when I say that I will spend every second of the rest of my life loving her the way she deserves.

“Callie.” I gain her attention. The smile on her face morphs into confusion as she looks between me and everyone else in the room.

“Oh my god, is that what I think it is?” She points to the Tiffany box in my hand.

“Callie, when I was seven, I met this girl in a treehouse. She had the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen, and a slight lisp that didn’t get fixed until she had braces later on.” Everyone laughs and she blushes shyly. “She was loud, strange, and the most caring person I’ve ever met. She wore a pink princess dress and a plastic tiara, and changed my life in ways I never knew possible.” She swallows and wipes at her eyes with the backs of her hands. “She stole my heart that day, making me fall in love before I even knew what falling in love meant, and she’s had it ever since.”

“You’ve had mine since that day, too,” she says quietly, her voice breaking.

“Things haven’t always been easy with us, and the road here was a long and bumpy one, but the journey was worth it because in the end, it brought me you. You are my past and present, and I’m hoping you’ll say yes today and make me your future. Callie Winters, I love you with everything that I am, so here’s a riddle, meant only for you. What is yours, but you can’t see or hold?”

“Your heart.” She answers instantly and reaches out and pulls me up to her, bringing her hands to the side of my face and kissing me. “I love you, Tate. I always have.”

“I love you too.” I hold out the ring box to her. “So what do you say? Will you marry me?” I open the box, revealing the one-carat solitaire diamond on a platinum band.

“Yes.” She nods enthusiastically. “Oh my god, yes! I’m going to be Callie Corbin.”

I slip the ring on her finger and everyone breaks into smiles and congratulations. I know the path ahead of us will have plenty of obstacles, and it won’t all be smooth-sailing, but as I look into the eyes of the only woman to have my whole heart, I know without a shadow of a doubt that we can make it through anything. Life can throw whatever it wants at us, but I’m finally with the person I am meant to be with, and I’m never letting go.

THE END

First and foremost, I have to thank my husband and my family for supporting me throughout this crazy journey. Thank you for listening to me ramble and obsess over characters that you couldn’t see or talk to yourselves, and for letting me vent my frustrations throughout this process. I’m so lucky to have a supporting family like you who will always be there to help me reach for the stars, even if I stumble while getting there.

Thank you my editors, Chelsea, Judy and Ami. Without you this book would never have been completed or shaped into what it is now. You all put up with my constant questions and doubt, always reassuring me that this would be worth it in the end, and you were right!

Shannon, my PA who endlessly helped me put together teasers and figure out how to navigate Facebook and giveaways, you are simply the best there is. I am so blessed to have met you and am grateful for all that you have done for me.

Thank you to Author Allie Able for your endless patience with all my questions, and for offering guidance to a new author. There aren’t enough words to say thank you for your help and I am so happy to be able to call you my friend.

A huge thank you to Nazarea at InkSlinger PR for your amazing work with my cover reveal and blog tour! I would never have known how to do any of this on my own, and your kindness and talent for putting together events is unrivaled in greatness. I look forward to being able to work with you on future releases.