If Forever Comes (Take This Regret #2)(21)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Affection poured from Christian as his gaze settled on the two of them. “Well, now that I have all my girls here, I really don’t think I want to leave.”

“Daddy,” Lizzie scolded with her toothy grin, dimples denting her cheeks. She’d matured so much over the last year. We celebrated her sixth birthday just last weekend. Sometimes it was unbelievable how fast she’d grown, that my round-faced baby was growing into a little girl.

Still, she remained the sweetest thing I’d ever seen.

“You have a party. You have to go,” she continued on as she rocked onto the outside of her feet and swayed at her grandmother’s side.

My heart swelled a little further.

Was it possible to be happier than I was now?

I looked between the faces of the family I loved, and thought no, not a chance. Christian had given me back everything I had lost, completed me in a way I never thought imaginable.

“You’d better go and give your daddy a hug goodbye before he leaves,” Claire prodded as she slanted a knowing smile at her son. I loved seeing Christian and Claire this way. Close, each other’s staunchest supporter, defender, and friend.

Two nights ago, when we’d picked her up from the airport, I couldn’t stop crying as I clung to her, so grateful for how important this woman had become in my life. How crazy it was that she’d once been someone I despised, one I thought was only there to heap more burden on her son, that she really didn’t love him the way a mother should. When in reality, she had one of the greatest hearts of anyone I’d ever known. This was only the second time I’d seen her since Christian and I had reconciled. Still, we spent hours on the phone, talking as if we were the oldest of friends, and then there were the times she was there to offer me motherly advice. So easily she fit into both roles.

Lizzie ran down the drive to Christian, and he scooped her up and spun her around.

“I’m going to miss you, princess. You have a fun time at your friend’s house.”

After the fitting, we’d be dropping her off at Kelsey’s mother’s house for the evening. We figured a bridal shower wasn’t the best place for a six-year-old impressionable little girl. No doubt, some of these women would be doing their best to embarrass me.

“I will, Daddy,” she promised. “I like playing at Kelsey’s house, then I get to spend the night at Grammy Linda’s house!”

“Well, that works out perfect, then, sweetheart. Be a good girl for me, okay?”

“Daddy…” She squirmed and a roll of giggles escaped her as he tickled her side. “Of course I’ll be a good girl.”

He softened and kissed her nose. Tenderness filled his expression. “I know you will, baby girl.”

I leaned into them, my hand on Lizzie’s back while Christian held her in the crook of his arm, his other wrapped around my waist, Lillie pressed between us. This time, no one bothered us as we stood there as one. A family.

The way we were always supposed to be.

Mirrors rose up on every side. Quiet rumblings whispered back from them, stirred something deep inside me, uttering my forgotten hopes and dreams. They murmured of a future I’d longed for as a little girl. One where it was love that conquered all.

So badly I’d wanted that for my life, but years ago, I’d given up on that perfect picture, counted it as loss.

Standing here now, those hopes came rushing back, kindling the remnants of those days of my life that had been filled with such a pure, unassuming innocence. It set those hopes aflame and ignited my dreams anew.

My attention wandered the length of the mirror, taking in the simple strapless gown. It had a bodice of delicately braided white lace and a thick ribbon sash that fit snugly just above my expanding waist. It gave way to a cascade of tulle that fell in soft waves down my body. The dress flowed all the way to the floor, and the material was fuller in the back with just the hint of a train.

A swell of emotion surged, pumped steadily through my veins, joy and peace and ecstasy.

How, in such a short time, had my life gone from empty to complete? Less than a year ago, I’d spent my nights alone, yielding to the belief that I always would be. Now they were spent in the safety of his arms.

Christian had once again changed the direction of my life, this force of a man that I could never have resisted. I never should have tried.

Because a life with him was the only thing I wanted.

“Oh my God, Elizabeth,” Natalie whispered at my side. Her fingertips were pressed to her lips. “It’s…perfect.”

Through the mirror, Natalie met my watery gaze. I let mine wander to my daughter who bounced beside her.

“You look so pretty, Mommy…like a princess,” she asserted through her precious grin.

A tremulous smile edged my mouth as I looked down upon the little girl I loved with all my life. I slanted my hand over the soft material covering my stomach, where this new life blossomed. Somehow this baby girl managed to fill me just as full. Not for a second did she take away from the love I held for Lizzie. She just magnified what was already in my heart.

“And look at you, precious girl. You are going to steal the show,” I promised her.

Redness flooded Lizzie’s face as she twirled the silken material of her baby blue flower-girl dress. She giggled. Bashfully, she whispered, “I think I look like a princess, too, Mommy.”

From over my shoulder, I caught my mother watching me with outright adoration.

In the beginning, she’d had reservations about Christian and me. It wasn’t that she didn’t want us to be together, it was just that she believed we were rushing into things too quickly, the way we’d upped the wedding date, definitely when we told her we were expecting. She’d wanted us to give it time so we could find if we really could fit back into each other’s lives, for trust and belief to build before we made any permanent commitments.

But time had brought that all to an end, because time could never change what Christian and I shared. A strong relationship had steadily built between Christian and my mother. It was one that was so incredibly important to me because I loved them both more than should have been possible. I couldn’t stand for any riffs to remain between them.

The same awe I was feeling shined back at me. Moisture swam in her eyes, glistening in the warm brown. “You’re beautiful, Elizabeth. Unbelievably beautiful,” she said.

Her words tightened my chest and made it hard to breathe. “Don’t make me cry,” I demanded, pressing my fingers into the hollow beneath my eyes, trying to rein in the emotion that was vying for release.