I pick her up off her feet and take her into the house and lean her against the wall of the dining room. “How long have you known?”
She lifts her shoulders. “Just a little over a week.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugs and averts her eyes.
“No, baby, no secrets. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I know the kind of man you are, Patton. I didn’t want you to marry me because you felt like you had to.”
I shake my head and clench my eyes shut. “Aww, baby, don’t you know? I want it all with you. I want to go to bed with you next to me each night and wake up with you in the morning. I want you to be the mother of our babies, and I want to spend the rest of my life showing you that I love you.”
She rubs her hands through my beard and pulls me in for a kiss. “I do now. I love you, Patton.”
A tremble shoots through my whole body. I have everything I could ever want right now with her. “I love you too, Cora.”
Then I kiss her. Our friends can wait.