Let Love Shine (9 page)

“Maddy...oh God,” he grumbles into my neck. “I can feel
you…God, I can feel you clamp down on me. Come, baby.” As if he doesn’t trust
me to obey his command, he removes his hand from my neck and trails it down in
between my legs.

A few brushes against my clit and I fall, coming wildly. My
hips thrust without any rhythm whatsoever. Fire spreads through my belly as
Reid pulls me hard against his chest.

“Fuck, Maddy. I can’t hold off any longer.”

With a few more erratic thrusts, Reid growls out as his
orgasm pours into me.

He sweeps my hair to the side and kisses my neck. Resting my
cheek against his bent arm, I nuzzle into him inhaling his purely masculine
scent.

After a few long moments, our breathing calms. I kick my
shoes off, and even though I’m completely incapable of moving, I sit up so I
can get rid of what little clothing I have on. Reid tosses me one of his
T-shirts and gathers my black satin and lace garments from the floor.

“These are definitely going to have to make another
appearance, real soon,” he smirks as he tosses them into the laundry basket.

When we’re curled around one another in bed, a sense of calm
peacefulness fills the room. Our son is sleeping quietly in the next room and
we just had wild, crazy, monkey sex without waking him up. I guess we’re
getting good at this parenting stuff, after all.

I laugh out loud at that thought.

“What’s so funny over there?” Reid pops a kiss to the top of
my head and squeezes my shoulder.

“I was just thinking how crazy insane it is that we just did
that
and didn’t wake him up.”

“Shh. Don’t jinx it.” We share a laugh and I begin tracing
random patterns in his chest hair, following the inky, black lines of his
tatted pecs.

“Can I ask you something?”

He looks down at me wary of my randomness. “Of course,
sweets. Anything.”

“Do you ever think of having another one, a baby, I mean.”

His hand stills on my shoulder and I feel him hold his
breath, his chest tense under my hand.

“Relax, Reid. I didn’t mean today or tomorrow. I just meant
sometime in the future.”

His hand resumes tickling my skin as he presses his lips to
my forehead. “You’re not popping one out tomorrow, right?” he jokes, but I hear
the seriousness there. I shake my head and he chuckles. “Well, in that case,
yes.” I poke him in the ribs at his sarcastic tone.

Cupping my jaw and staring intently into my eyes, he brushes
his lips against mine. “Yes, Maddy. I want to have more babies with you. I want
to have a big family. I want us to be the family that neither of us ever had.”

My heart swells for my man and his sweetness. “You mean you
don’t think it’s crazy we’re both barely in our twenties and we’re talking
about having
another
baby?”

A dopey smile lifts at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, sure
it’s crazy. I can’t imagine that things will get less crazy, but I know way
down to my bones, that there is no one I’d rather go crazy with.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?” I smile up at him, his deep
blue eyes alight with humor.

“Yep, I sure am. But it’s only because I have you.”

“Now, you’re just laying it on thick, Connely.” I poke him
in the ribs again.

“Is it working?” he quips.

Even though the room is dark, I roll my eyes and say
nothing.

“I thought so.” I feel his smile against my temple as he
presses his lips there one more time.

“I feel like a dork.” I look at Melanie who is sitting
behind me on my bed. Adjusting my graduation cap and tassel one last time, I
zipper up my gown and hold my arms out to the side.

“Yep, you look like one too. A dork with a diploma though.”
Mel’s freckled face splits with a proud smile.

“It’s only junior college. Not a big deal.” Shrugging, I sit
next to her and slide my feet into black, strappy sandals.

“It is so a big deal. Besides, trying telling Mom that.
She’s practically rolled out the red carpet for you.” Mel reaches into her bag
next to her on the bed. “Here. I got you a little something.”

“Melanie, you didn’t have to.” She shoots me the
best
friend
slash
shut your mouth
look and I tear into the paper.

“Oh, Mel. It’s gorgeous.” I trace my fingers over the silver
letters that spell out “sisters” across the cover of an absolutely stunning
scrapbook. “Did you make this?”

“Yes, I did. I wanted you to have something special today.”
She squeezes me tightly and scoots right next to me so we can look through the
pictures together.

I’m rendered speechless at her thoughtfulness. Carefully
selecting pictures of both of us, from when we were babies all the through just
last weekend at a backyard barbeque, she has created a timeline of both of our
lives. We’ll never be sisters by blood, but looking through this album—seeing
the two of us all dressed up for prom, goofing off at sleepovers, and dancing
at my wedding—we’ll never be anything but sisters by choice.

We both swipe at the tears of happiness flowing down our
cheeks. “Come on. We better get going. Everyone is out there waiting for us.”
We share in one last sisterly embrace before walking out to the living room
where Momma, Evan, Bryan, Braden and Reid are waiting for us. Katie and Joe
even made the trip out to celebrate.

A chorus of cheers and claps great me. Braden races up to
me, calling out “Mommy! Mommy!”

“Hey sweet boy!” I lift him up to my hip and Reid stands
next to me. Making eye contact with everyone else, I smile and fight back a few
tears. “Thank you for being here guys. I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing to say. We’re here because we love you and
we’re extremely proud of you.” Momma hugs me and hands me a tissue. Evan stands
beside us, smiling proudly. “We both are, Maddy. A college degree is a huge
accomplishment. Lucy and I are very proud of everything you’ve done.”

It’s silly really, but hearing Evan say those things,
feeling Momma’s arms wrapping around my shoulders, makes me feel like I’ve been
given back the parents I lost so long ago.

Scanning the room, I realize that one very important person
is missing. “Hey, where’s Dylan? I thought he was meeting us here?”

“He was supposed to, but Lizzy showed up at the center today
with a letter from Cane.” Reid’s words silence the room.

“What?” I gasp. “When? Why didn’t you tell me? What
happened? Is everything okay?” My questions come out rapid-fire style, frantic
and obviously concerned.

“Yes, everything is fine.” Good, he decided to answer the
most important question first. He sees my shoulders slump and rubs my back to
ease the tension. Even though he’s been in relative safety living with his aunt
and uncle, we’ve all been concerned that he’s really okay.

“So then what happened?” Bryan chimes in. Having always
taken an interest in Reid’s work with bullied kids, he was really affected by
Cane and Lizzy’s situation. When Cane ran away and no one heard from him in
that first week, Bryan actually helped out down at The Bridge stuffing
envelopes and making calls.

“Well, it was a good update actually. He sent Lizzy his
graduation picture. Dylan said Cane looks healthy, really happy too.” A
collective sigh of relief fills the room. “He’s adjusted pretty well there,
apparently. Lizzy just needed someone to talk to, so he said he would meet us
there later.”

“That’s really great news, Reid.” Bryan claps him on the
shoulder.

“Yeah, I know we were all expecting the worst. Hopefully, it
continues to work out for him. He’s too young to be afraid to live his life.”
Reid takes Braden from my arms and kisses him sweetly. “Dylan and Lizzy have
been meeting a lot over the last few months, so he wanted to be there to
support her today. He said she was really upset, missing him and all.” Reid
shrugs like what he and Dylan do on a regular basis with these kids is not that
big of a deal. But it is. I try to convince him that what they do is nothing
short of amazing, but I know there’s a part of him that still won’t give
himself the credit he deserves.

Joe sees it too. I notice him smiling through Reid’s update
on Lizzy and Cane. “Good job, son.” Not afraid to show his emotions, Joe hugs
Reid with the fatherly pride that he’s deserved all his life.

Katie takes Braden from Reid and whispers something in his
ear before turning to the rest of us. “I’m going to go put this little guy in
the car. We better hit the road if we want to get to the college on time.” She
taps the face of her watch and everyone else falls in line.

I grab my bag as Reid grabs his keys from the dish on our
entryway table. “What did Katie just say to you?” I ask, straightening my cap
one last time.

He gulps before smiling, his eyes crinkling in the corners.
“She said that Mom would be proud of me.”

“Oh, baby. You know she would be. So would Shane.” Standing
next to him, we gaze at the framed faces of those we have loved and lost. I
wrap my arm around his waist as he kisses my hair.

Cars honk out in front of the apartment, our cue to get our
butts in gear, but I call him back into the living room as his hand hovers
above the doorknob.

“Reid. Wait. I have something for you today.” Nervousness
makes my voice tremble.

“For me? But you’re the one graduating.” He grins goofily as
he tucks his sunglasses into the slightly opened collar of his dress shirt.

I hand him his present, a small rectangular box, like one in
which you would put a piece of jewelry.

After ripping open the paper, he cracks open the box and
stares at me, dumbfounded. “Re-gifting already?” He arches an eyebrow as he
pulls the necklace that he gave me on our first Christmas together out of the
box.

“Not really. Look closer.” I take the necklace out of his
hands and repeat the words he said to me once before.

“This one is for you,” I say as I hold the charm with “R”
engraved on it. “And this one is for me. This next one is for Braden,” I let
the fourth charm slip out of my palm where it was concealed. “And
this
one—” His lips stop my words.

Smiling against my lips, he wraps his arms around my waist
and spins me in the air. “Really?” His voice is shaking with emotion.

“Yes, really,” I smile lamely, hopeful that he’s not upset.

“But we only…”

“I know. We only just decided, but I guess we’re just that
lucky.” We’ve talked about it in the last month or so and decided that despite
the challenges it might pose to our careers and my schooling, it was more
important to give Braden a sibling close to him in age.

“Damn straight we’re lucky!” He kisses me again and I can
tell he’s anything but upset.

“Maybe it’ll be a girl.” I’m not-so-secretly hoping for that
to be true, but when I see genuine fear dance across Reid’s beautiful face, I
have to laugh at him.

More honks interrupt our little bubble. “Okay, so that’s a
‘maybe’ on the whole girl thing,” I joke playfully poking him in the side.

“I’d be the luckiest man on Earth to have a daughter. Hell,
I’m already the luckiest man alive to share my life with you.” Lacing our
fingers together, he brings our joined hands up to his lips and kisses my
knuckles.

“I’m pretty damn lucky too, babe.” We share one last hug
before deciding to hold off on telling everyone else for now.

Today, we’ll celebrate one chapter of our lives coming to a
close, and tonight, well, I guess tonight ,we’ll celebrate another chapter of
our lives beginning.

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