Panicked, I ask, "You're not doing this 'cause I'm pregnant, are you? You don't have to."

He scoffs, flashing me a dark look. "No, Skeptical Sally, I'm d.a.m.n sure I want to marry you. Baby or not, I love you. I'll marry you right now if you want. Because I'm not going anywhere. It's me and you and this kid," he says, poking me in the gut.

"Really?" I cry and he smiles.

"Really. I'm not like your parents-or those f.u.c.ktards you call brothers. I love you, and I'll stand beside you for the rest of my existence. So you say the word and you get this amazing fella right here," he says, hooking his thumb toward himself, a stray tear rolling down his face and falling off his jaw.

It all seems too good to be true.

So perfect.

But it's real.

I know it is.

So I nod and whisper, "Word."

He eyes me and I watch as he realizes what I'm saying. As he laughs, he goes to his feet, lifting me off the ground and kissing me hard on the lips. Our mouths move together, and I know this is crazy. I know that we are young and it's so sudden, but I love this man.

And I will for the rest of my life.

When we push through the county clerk's office, I look over at Avery and meet her excited gaze.

"We did it."

Her eyes are still filled with tears, but I know they are happy tears.

She may have thought she was getting an abortion today, but not on my watch.

Nope, we got married.

When Pastor Dwayne holds his hand out, I take it and shake it hard. "Thank you so much for fitting us in."

He smiles, but I know he's still a little wary of our union. I've known him a very long time, grew up going to his church. He may think that we are too young, but I'm convinced it really was a gift from G.o.d that he was marrying someone else when we walked in. It was a sign. I had only planned to get the marriage license and then get married at our church. But he was there, we were there, and it just seemed right. He did hesitate, asked if we were sure, and it took everything out of me not to scream, "Yes!"

I want this.

I want Avery.

I want her to never stop smiling.

And boy, is she beaming.

"I'm very happy for you both. Hope to see you at church this Sunday," he says with a wink and I nod.

"For sure, thank you."

"Thank you," Avery says as she trembles beside me.

Giving us a hearty smile, he waves. "Good luck."

"Thanks," we both say as he turns to walk away. When I wrap my arm across Avery's shoulders, she looks up at me and I grin down into her beautiful face.

"We really did it."

"Yup."

Her lips turn up and my heart just, wow, it soars. "This is crazy."

I nod. "It is. But it feels right, right?"

"Yeah," she says breathlessly, turning into my chest, her hands coming to rest against my heart. "It feels so right."

Her smile drops, though, and she looks a little green. "Are you about to get sick again?"

She swallows hard. "No, I swallowed it again."

I chuckle. "That's so gross."

She giggles as she holds me tight. "Eh, you're stuck with it."

Wrapping my arms around her, I kiss the top of her head. "Yup, and I couldn't be happier."

Kissing the base of my throat, she squeezes me as the sun shines down on us. It's chilly, but in her arms, it's perfect. This is perfect.

Holy s.h.i.t, I'm married.

And we have a baby coming.

And my mom is going to kill me.

Chuckling, I hold her tighter and she looks up at me. "What?"

"My mom is gonna freak her s.h.i.t."

She smiles. "Hey, at least she'll care. My family won't."

I hate the sad look she gets when she mentions them. I wish they'd just disappear or at least treat her right. I lean my head to hers. "We don't need them."

"We don't," she agrees, nodding her head. "But are you sure this was okay? Didn't you want your family here?"

I shrug. "I would have liked it, but it was just right, you know? You're not upset you didn't get to rock a dress are you?"

She smiles. "Not really. I just want to be yours."

"Boom, done." I grin as I throw my hands up for dramatic purposes and she laughs. "And I promise, when I sign my bada.s.s contract, I'll take you on a honeymoon."

"With a brand-new baby?"

"Yup," I say with a grin. "Or my mom can babysit. She wants a new grandbaby, remember?"

She laughs. "This is all so crazy."

She looks worried, so I hold her tighter. "Hey, crazy is awesome. Keeps us on our toes. Don't worry."

Her eyes start to fill with tears and I lift her off the ground, pressing my nose to hers. "Avery."

Her eyes look wild as she shakes her head, her heart beating hard against mine. "No, really, it's just we didn't think about this, and your family could freak. Hate me. What if I lose the baby? What if you don't get into the NHL? And we're broke? Oh Jesus, what did we do?"

This girl, man.

Jesus.

Putting her on her feet, I take her face in my hands, leaning my head to hers and pressing my nose into hers. "Avery, do you love me?"

Her lips tremble as she gasps for breath, her face pale with sweat beading along her collarbone. "Yes."

"Then we're good."

"Jace," she says solemnly. "We can't live on love. We can't feed a baby on love."

I smile. "Yes, we can. 'Cause that love will fuel me to do everything I can to support you and our child. That is my main concern: you and this baby. You have nothing to worry about, Avery Rose Sinclair. I got you." Her tears roll down, falling over my hands, and I smile. "Your heart is jackhammering. Calm down."

She slowly nods, her bottom lip trembling as she searches my eyes. "You c.o.c.ky b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she breathes with a grin and I smile.

"d.a.m.n right," I say with a wink. "We are gonna be okay. Great, even. Trust and believe that, okay?"

"Okay," she whispers.

"Depend on me. I got you."

I feel her heart slow, her eyes drying as she nods. Reaching up, she holds my face, running her thumbs along my cheeks as she searches my eyes. "I love you so much, Jace. So d.a.m.n much."

I grin. "Awesome, 'cause I love you more than that and then some."

Her lips curve as she shakes her head. "Nope. Not even close," she says with a wink and then my mouth crashes into hers to show her she's wrong. That I will forever love her more than she can even comprehend. Holding her tightly, I swear our kiss feels a billion times more intense than ever before. As our mouths move together in such a perfect way, it feels all-consuming, right. The thought that this is how our kisses will be for the rest of my life is just... It's just f.u.c.king amazing.

This girl is my life.

I pull away and see she has her eyes closed as she leans her forehead to my lips and sucks in a deep breath. When she starts to laugh, I squeeze her, moving her face up with my chin as she laughs harder. Meeting my gaze, she shakes her head. "What?" I ask and she giggles harder.

"A month ago, you thought you were a player."

I glare. "I was."

She scoffs. "Please, you fell harder than a bag of pucks for me, and now look at us. Married less than two months later."

"With a baby. Don't forget that," I say with a wink and she shakes her head, her eyes wide and her lips curving.

"Did you think this would happen?"

I smile, holding her face in my hands. "Now, no. But one day, yeah."

"Really?"

"Hey, I know what I want and you are it."

Holding my gaze, she covers my hands with hers and sighs. "It must be great to be you."

Leaning down, I press my nose to hers. "It is now."

I'm not nervous.

But I might be a little scared as we pull into my mom's driveway. I mean, I've got this. I know I love Avery, I know I want this, but my mom might freak out and I don't know how I feel about that. I hold what my family thinks so highly in my heart, so if she doesn't approve, I'll be crushed.

But she will.

Yeah. She will approve.

Parking my car behind hers, I turn it off and let out a long breath.

"Jace, I'm scared s.h.i.tless your mom will shoot me."

I look over at Avery. Her face is panicky and I laugh. "Please, the only way she'll kill you is smothering you with kisses."

I hope.

Giving me a deadpan look, she shakes her head. "Why are she and Lucy home?"

"They somehow worked their schedules to take the same day off. They're weird," I laugh, pushing open my door and getting out as she does the same.

"So what you're saying is you're taking me into a house with two women who love you very much and you're gonna tell them we just got married and we're pregnant? Yeah, this is no big deal."

I laugh, wrapping my arms around her. "Lucy knows, and come on, we have nothing to worry about."

"You're insane. I'm shaking in my boots over here."

Grinning, I squeeze her into my side. "We are good."

I think.

Walking up toward the door, I try to settle my beating heart as we hit the porch, but then the door opens and my mom is filling it, eyeing us.

"Hey, guys. I didn't know you were coming by," she says, her gaze dropping to me. I smile extra big, the kind of smile I shot her when I was the one who broke the window but didn't want to get into trouble, even though Jude and Jayden threw me under the bus. But it always works. "Oh Jesus, what did you do?"

Or it did.

"Huh?" I go in for a hug, but she presses her hand to my chest.