If Forever Comes (Take This Regret #2)(25)
Author: A.L. Jackson

I loved her more for seeing her way through it. Loved her most for seeing through all of mine.

Dragging my attention away, I unwrapped her gift and slowly lifted the lid. Inside, the gift was wrapped in white, shimmery tissue paper, and a tiny note scrawled in script was laid on top.

For your wedding night.

The tissue paper rustled as I pulled it free.

Maybe I was a little surprised. Maybe I really wasn’t at all. And it wasn’t awkward or weird. I knew she was giving it as her blessing.

Gently I lifted it by the delicate ribbon straps. The nightie was entirely white. Baby-doll style, the soft material looked as if it would brush just along the top of my thighs. The bra and trim were edged in satin, and the rest flowed free in a silky-sheer mesh. It was elegant and altogether sexy.

In awe, I looked up at her. “This is beautiful, Claire.”

I was just about as excited to stand in front of Christian wearing this as I was my wedding my dress. No, being with Christian was nothing new. How many times had I made love to him when we were young, when we were all hands and need and desire? As he’d taught me and I’d willingly learned, as I’d begged and he’d pleased. And God, these last months since we’d reunited… I tingled with the thought.

We knew each other’s bodies well.

But on our wedding night would be a first, a start and a finish. A culmination. A completion.

“Thank you so much,” I whispered.

Prodding, she gestured with her chin. “There’s one more there from me.”

Sarah was quick to place the second gift on my lap. Smiling, I tugged at the paper and opened it.

My breath caught.

“Now, I know this is your bridal shower, and maybe I should have waited for your baby shower, but I really couldn’t resist.” An expectant smile flickered across her face, one only a grandmother could wear.

A tiny blanket lay nestled in the box. White with little specks of yellow and green, soft and used and just all around perfect.

She almost hesitated, then rushed out, “That was Christian’s. I…I wish that Lizzie would have had the chance to use it. When I kept it, that had been my intention—that it would be handed down to my son’s first child. And she should have had it…I wish she would have…but I want this baby to have the chance to represent the beginning of your family.”

My fingers traced along the soft material and caressed over a faded stain that hinted at one satiny corner. “This is…amazing, Claire.” Tears surfaced again. Fighting them was futile. I wiped at them as they fell. “So I’m going to blame this baby for all these tears I keep crying,” I said through soggy laughter.

Claire wiped away her own.

I loved Christian. So much. I always had. It was impossible to love him more, and there was no chance I could love him less.

But sharing this pregnancy with him, gaining back what I’d lost, what I’d so desperately missed, had filled the void that had haunted me for so many years. How intensely had I longed for a family? Only because I’d longed for him. Going through this together, I felt closer to him than I ever had.

I knew he’d appreciate this gift as much as I did.

“Okay, that was the last one,” Sarah said as she began picking up the few stray pieces of tissue paper that had made their way to the floor. She stuffed them inside an empty bag.

Lillie kicked me again. Caught off guard, I jumped with the twinge of pain that bit at me just below my rib. I covered the spot with my hand.

“Is that little girl giving you fits again?” Mom asked. The quiet but firm gentleness that always surrounded her glimmered in her eyes.

“Yes.” The fullest smile lifted my mouth as I pressed my hand a little firmer to my side, feeling a slow roll of her movements across my abdomen.

“Can I feel?” Sarah asked. She didn’t wait for an answer, because she already knew what it would be, and she reached out to cover my hand with hers.

She tilted her head as if she were studying before awe filled her face. “Oh my God.” She glanced up at me with a smile to match my own before she dropped her attention back to where she had her hand plastered across my stomach. “She’s moving all over the place. You’d think after having two kids of my own, this wouldn’t seem like the coolest thing in the world.”

I knew what she meant. Even after having Lizzie, every time this baby moved, I was struck, unable to process how truly amazing it was.

I turned back to my guests. “Thank you all so much…for everything,” I said, getting up to embrace each of them. They’d truly showered me with their love and their blessings. Sarah and Natalie placed all the bags near the door, a wealth of candles and perfumes and gift cards that promised me relaxing days at the spa.

My spirit danced in the midst of these women who’d rallied around me. Only this time, it wasn’t to pick me up when I was down, but to support me in my time of happiness.

Most stayed for a while as casual conversations struck up in my sister’s cozy living room. Eventually people began to leave. Goodbyes were said, hugs, gentle hands pressed to my belly.

I couldn’t believe the next time I saw my friends and extended family, it’d be as I began the march down the aisle to marry the man I’d loved for as long as I could remember. The upcoming week would be nonstop, dinners to entertain our guests arriving from out of town, our rehearsal and dinner, and I knew Natalie would be dragging me everywhere as we took care of all the last minute details.

I closed the door with a final wave. The only ones who remained were my sisters, Natalie, my mom, and Claire.

I blew out a heavy breath, realizing just how exhausted I was after today. Everyone headed into the kitchen to begin cleaning up, all except for my mom, who hung out on the other side of the couch, watching me.

“This was a great day, Elizabeth,” she said with a subtle nod of her head.

“Amazing. These women…” I looked back at the door they all had just disappeared through. “I can’t imagine feeling more loved than I do right now.”

She offered me a smile as she pulled a small gift from behind her back. She began to walk toward me. “I have something for you, but I didn’t want to give it to you in front of everyone.”

A smile wobbled at one corner of my mouth, and I looked at my mom who appeared a little self-conscious, shifting her feet, ill at ease.

The gift was haphazardly wrapped, all over the place with kinks and uneven edges and subdued beauty, a little like my mother’s constant demeanor.