She Has His Eyes, and He’s Marrying My Stepsister Chapter 09

Chapter 9: Every Letter

Tread them on the floor of the hallway until 3 a.m.

Wren, why won’t you answer me? Did I do something wrong?

Wren, I dreamed about you again last night. You were laughing on the rooftop.

Wren, I’m coming back. I don’t care what anyone says.

The last one was dated the week after he saw me pregnant through that apartment window.

I hope he’s good to you. I hope he knows what he has. I won’t write again. But I’ll love you until the day I die/Even if you

never know it.

I didn’t hear him come down the stairs. I just felt him kneel beside me.

“I kept them,” he said quietly. “Every time one came back, I told myself to burn it. I never could.”

I looked up at him with tears pouring down my face.

“She drew smiley faces on them,” I whispered. “She sent every single one back and drew a smiley face.”

His jaw clenched so hard it shook.

“Five years,” I sobbed. “She stole five years from us. From her.”

He pulled me into his arms. And I broke. Five years of loneliness. Of 3 a.m. feedings alone. Of Ivy asking why other kids had daddies. All of it came pouring out against his chest while he held me like I was the only thing keeping him alive.

“I’m here,” he kept saying. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Never again.”

When I finally looked up, he was crying too.

I didn’t think. I kissed him.

It wasn’t gentle. It was five years of starving. His hands were in my hair, mine were gripping his shirt, and the letters scattered across the floor around us like fallen leaves.

“Wren,” he breathed against my mouth. “Tell me to stop.”

“Don’t you dare stop,”

He picked me up like I weighed nothing and carried me upstairs.

I woke up wrapped in his arms, sunlight pouring through the window. For the first time in five years, I wasn’t afraid.

Killian was already awake, tracing slow circles on shoulder.

my

“Good morning,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my hair.

“Morning.” I smiled into his chest. “Ivy’s going to be up soon. She’ll want duck pancakes.”

“Then she’ll get duck pancakes.” He paused. “Wren. When this is over, I want to do it right. All of it. You. Her. Us.”

My heart flipped. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying-”

His phone buzzed on the nightstand. Then again. Then it didn’t stop.

Mine started too.

Killian frowned and grabbed his phone. I watched his face go from confused to pale to murderous in three seconds.

“What?” I sat up. “What is it?”

He didn’t answer. He just turned the screen toward me.

Sloane’s account. A new post. Twelve minutes old. Already a million likes.

A blurry black-and-white ultrasound photo. A tiny tiny shape. And a caption that made the floor fall out from under me.

The best wedding gift ever. Baby Voss is coming! We couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. I love you, Killian. Our family is finally starting.