Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (53 page)

It was, perhaps, the most unromantic declaration of love in the history of mankind, with her, fresh out of surgery, and him, running on an hour of sleep, and them, in a fucking hospital of all things, but he couldn’t wait another minute without her knowing.

“And I know that I don’t deserve another chance.
 
I—I didn’t even deserve the second chance, but I won’t give up.
 
And you know how single minded and relentless I can be,” he warned.
 
His pulse accelerated in excitement when he saw a familiar twinkle enter her eyes.
 
“I’ll use our baby girl to make you take me back if I have to.”
 
Maddie snorted out a laugh and he’d never heard a sweeter sound.
 
“I’ll hold your love for me over your head too.”

“Oh?
 
You will?” she asked, quirking a brow.

He sobered.
 
“If I still have it, that is.”

The teasing smile on her face faded as well but the soft look in her eyes didn’t vanish.
 
She let go of his hand and brought her fingertips to his face, tracing his brow, the hard line of his nose, his lips that he knew she loved to kiss.

“You’ve had my love since you sat with me that day in the courtyard, Caleb.
 
My stubborn heart knows who it wants…and it’s always been you,” she confessed.
 
“It always will be.”

His
breath hitched that time.
 
Then he was leaning over the bed, his lips finding hers, and he felt, rather than saw, her smile.

“I want to make this work, Caleb,” she whispered, afterwards.

“We will, princess,” he told her.

FORTY-SEVEN

“Don’t open them yet,” Caleb murmured into her ear and Maddie couldn’t keep the grin off her face even if she tried.

“The suspense is killing me,” she informed him.

He chuckled.
 
“You’ll live.”

Keeping her eyes closed, she reached out her arms and touched the cool wood of the door, the door of the guest bedroom, she assumed.
 
Caleb said he had a surprise for her when she first moved back in over a week ago, once she was released from the hospital, but he refused to show her until her week of bed rest was up.
 
Caleb took the doctor’s orders very, very seriously, but he’d stayed with her during that time, even taking the week off work to be at her side.
 
Bed rest wasn’t so bad after all, especially when a girl had a gorgeous hunk playing nurse and keeping her happy with cuddling and generous foot rubs.

It was hard to be her sometimes.

Mostly, Maddie had the urge to pinch herself.
 
Mostly, she thought that being this happy couldn’t be possible.
 
She was waiting to wake up from a wonderful dream.

Every day that passed when she didn’t wake up, however, gave her more confidence.
 
She began to accept that yes, she
could
be this happy.
 
She accepted that she made
Caleb
happy and there was no greater feeling in the entire world.

Well, except for being loved by him, of course.
 
The knowledge that she loved him with everything she had and that love was returned, that Caleb embraced it, was indescribable.

That
she didn’t know if she’d ever get over.

“Can I open them now?” she asked when she heard Caleb push open the door.

Being mindful of her right side, where she’d had the surgery, he guided her into the room and then said, “Okay, open.”

Her eyes flew open.
 
And she gasped.

The guest bedroom was gone.
 
Caleb’s old bed, the dresser, the nightstand.
 
In its place was a nursery.
 
A
finished
nursery.

“Caleb!” she exclaimed, eyes wide as she took everything in.
 
“Did you…how did you…when—”

Behind her, he kissed the back of her neck.
 
“I had some help.”

In awe, she glanced around, her gaze darting from one thing to the next, afraid to miss even the smallest of details.
 
A pristine, white crib was placed against the right wall, an adorable spinning mobile over it, with stars and crescent moon cut outs.
 
A new changing table sat on top of a low dresser on the opposite side of the room and when she pulled open the drawers, it was already stocked with diapers, cleansing wipes, and powders.

A beautifully elegant cream colored rocking chair sat underneath the window, a side table and a bookshelf, filled with toys and frames and books, flanking it.

The walls had been painted a soothing soft dove grey color.
 
Pink accents dotted the room, from the towels on the changing table, to the shade of the floor lamp beside the crib, to the pink patterned rug, to the whimsical paintings of birds and bunnies and woodland creatures on the walls.

Everything was so…perfect.

Naturally, she started crying.
 
Caleb knew by now that it didn’t mean she was upset.
 
In fact, it was quite the opposite.

She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder, ignoring the way her skin pulled a little underneath her bandages.
 
Caleb let her cry all over him and get it out of her system and when she pulled away, wiping at her face, she asked, “How in the world did you do all this?”

“Like I said, I had some help,” he told her, looking around.
 
“Alex, Luke, and Adam helped me with the furniture, which Olivia, Kate, and Christie helped pick out.
 
And Kyra,” he said, “painted the walls and bought the paintings for you.”

“Kyra?” she asked.
 
“
My
Kyra?”

Caleb’s lips quirked.
 
“Yes.
 
Your brother gave me her number, despite his better judgment.
 
And she gave me quite the tongue lashing when she finally got a hold of me.”

“And she kept it from me?” Maddie asked in disbelief.
 
Kyra couldn’t keep a secret to save her life.
 
“When did you do all this?”

His chin lowered and he met her eyes.
 
“I started the day after I met you at the museum.”

“You’ve been doing this for the past two weeks?” she murmured, amazed.
 
“I thought…I thought that maybe you’d changed your mind.”

His brow furrowed in confusion.
 
“What are you talking about?”

“I just…I didn’t see you for almost two weeks.
 
I thought…” she trailed off, overwhelmed.

Caleb frowned and then realization dawned.
 
“I wanted to see you every goddamn second, Maddie.
 
I was just giving you space.
 
And I wanted everything to be perfect for when you came home.”

“
When
?” she asked, raising a brow, feeling a well of happiness bubble up when she realized that he hadn’t been avoiding her.
 
That he’d been doing this for her instead.
 
And she felt so lucky.
 
So incredibly lucky to have this man in her life.

Caleb shrugged.
 
“I wasn’t going to let you go, Maddie.
 
I would’ve worn you down eventually.
 
I am the most stubborn man alive, you know.”

She grinned.
 
“And I’m glad for it.”
 
She spun around, taking in the room, feeling tears well back up into her eyes.
 
She needed to have everyone over for dinner soon so she could thank everyone properly.
 
She had some terrific people in her life and she would be forever grateful.

“Do you like it?” he murmured in her ear.

“Oh!” she exclaimed when she realized she hadn’t even told him what she thought.
 
She turned in his arms and beamed, lifting on her toes so she could press kisses on his face and neck.
 
“It couldn’t be more perfect.
 
I love it.
 
I love
you
.
 
Thank you for doing this, Caleb.”

He looked down at her.
 
“I have one more gift for you.”

Then he crossed to the mirrored closet and slid open the door.
 
He plucked something off the top shelf and when he brought it over to her, cradled in his large palms, she couldn’t even speak.

It was a music box.
 
Pink and gold and heavy.
 
She took it and opened it.
 
Inside was a carousel that spun around and around as a beautiful lullaby played.

It was the music box she’d described to Caleb, when she’d watched over him at his old house that one night so long ago, the one that her father had given to her, the one that she’d listened to almost every night when she’d been younger.
 
It was almost an exact replica of what she remembered.

Her throat burned and she couldn’t look away from it.
 
It was one of the best gifts anyone could have ever given to her because it was like a piece of her father was there, present in their growing, expanding lives, and Caleb’s sentiment wasn’t lost on her.

“She can listen to it when she goes to sleep at night,” he said softly.

Maddie was destined to be an endless, crying mess that day, but it was okay because they were good tears.
 
Caleb wrapped his arms around her, the music box pressed between them, and she told him, “I fall in love with you more and more every second.
 
How is that possible?”

“It’s entirely possible,” he whispered to her, brushing his lips across hers.
 
“Because I feel the exact same way, princess.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded, pushing his forehead against hers.
 
Then he repeated words she’d said to him.
 
“And loving someone is a good thing.
 
It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she whispered, smiling.
 
“It is.”

She sealed his words with a kiss.

EPILOGUE

“Oh my God, oh my God,” Maddie whispered into Caleb’s ear.
 
“We should…
oh
…not be doing this right now.”

Caleb bit her neck, not caring if he left evidence of this moment for everyone to see.
 
His hips surged into her, feeling her clench around him.
 
Maddie’s body certainly thought that they
should
be doing this right now.

“Why not?” he rasped.

She bit her lip, dazed eyes meeting his.
 
They were against the wall in their bathroom upstairs.
 
Maddie had been getting ready for their daughter’s second birthday party, but when he’d seen her in her dress, with her damn perfect legs and teasing eyes, he’d had to have her.
 
Immediately.

“Maybe because guests will be arriving,” she moaned when he reached down between them to find her clit, “any moment.”

He gave her a grin, the one that she said made him look like a devil, as he strummed his fingertips between her legs.
 
“I’ll be quick then.”

Maddie let her head fall back against the door and she let him have his wicked way with her.
 
Her hands clutched at his chest and shoulders as he continued to pump into her.
 
She loved to touch him.
 
And it had taken a long time, but he loved it too.
 
They still liked to play with their ropes, but being with her like this, with nothing holding them back, was something special.

Moments later, Caleb had to clasp his hand over Maddie’s mouth to stifle her loud moans as she climaxed.
 
And when he felt her pulse around him, he was right there with her, coating her walls with his hot seed.

Maddie sighed happily, smiling, and Caleb helped clean her up and straighten out their clothes.
 
She looped her arms around his neck and pressed kisses to his lips.

“Love you, princess,” he murmured into her kiss.

He knew that Maddie never got tired of hearing him say that, so he said it often.
 
He’d said it when their daughter, Kinsley, was born on a sunny August afternoon, when he’d proposed to Maddie, tucked in a cozy cabin during a snowstorm on their first vacation together, when Maddie had received her Master’s degree last June, during their vows when they got married almost a year ago, and every single day in between.

“I love you,” she whispered, eyes glittering, giving him one last lingering kiss, like she never wanted to stop.
 
Then she took a deep breath and pulled away.
 
“Are we ready?”

“Let’s go relieve your mom and Peter of babysitting duties,” he said and they made their way downstairs.
 
Friends and family were expected to arrive in the next ten minutes or so and Maddie still had to set up the food.

When they went out into the backyard, Caleb’s chest threatened to explode when he saw Kinsley, his beautiful daughter.
 
He wondered if he’d ever get used to the feeling.
 
No matter how many times he saw her, it was always the same reaction.
 
Cindy had been right that morning in the hospital.
 
When Kinsley had been born, it was like another piece of his heart had torn free from his chest and was given to her on a silver platter.
 
It was beautiful, yet maddening.
 
The panic he felt everyday, worrying that something might happen to her, or to Maddie, was excruciating.
 
Sometimes, he just stood in her nursery at night, watching her sleep, just to make sure that she was all right.

Maddie told him she felt it too and it made him feel a little better.
 
And knowing that he had her, his beautiful wife, by his side meant everything.