Running To Him - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 6

Epilogue

8 Months Later

It's been nearly a year since my wife and I started trying to get pregnant. It felt like we've done everything imaginable to conceive. We already had a vigorous sex life as it was, fucking every day and sometimes more than once. Harper would check to see if she was ovulating and we would make sure to have even more sex during that time.

She would write everything down, too. Not just her ovulation dates, but the times we had sex, her temperature, her food...everything. Then she would get stressed out and it would cause her period
to come a day or two late. When that happened she would automatically think she was pregnant. Then she would be devastated when she took a pregnancy test and it would say negative.

Of course she always kept her composure and tried her best not to let her emotions get to her. Sometimes I thought she did that because she knew I couldn't stand it when she was upset. Anytime she cried it felt like a knife in my heart. I couldn't stand for her to be in pain. I only wanted her happiness. Our happiness.

All this time I thought we were both keeping it together and keeping our spirits up pretty well over these past eight months. That was until the one night I came home early from work and found her on the floor in the bathroom.

Getting home two hours early from work was not originally a part of my plans tonight. But I was missing my wife and Nate offered to stay late in my place.

As I stepped off the elevator, I could already imagine how she looked in our bed right now if she knew I was on my way home. She would almost always be waiting up for me, propped up against the headboard of our king-size bed, usually wearing some kind of sexy lingerie I would rip off her as soon as I saw her. Of course, she wasn't expecting me tonight. Damn it. She was probably sitting on the couch either drinking a tea and reading a book, or watching one of her guilty pleasure reality TV shows.

Either way, I was just happy to see her. I was quiet as I unlocked the door and stepped into our condo. She wasn't in the living room which meant she was most likely in the bedroom. Hoping to surprise her, I walked quietly through the house until I got to our room. No sign of her.

"Princess?" There was a loud noise that came from our bathroom. Worried she fell or hurt herself, I ran over and burst through the door.

Nothing could have prepared me for the scene in front of me. Harper was sitting on the floor against the shower door, her knees bent with her hands covering her face. There were a dozen pregnancy tests and wrappers around her. And she was crying. Not just crying, but hysterically crying.

"Princess?" I dropped to my knees in front of her and gently grabbed her by the shoulders. "Please look at me, princess. Tell me what's wrong."

She finally lifted her head and I lost the ability to breathe. Her eyes were red and filled with tears that never stopped. She was crying so hard she couldn't even speak to tell me what had her so upset.

I reached out with my hands to gently wipe the tears from her eyes. When that seemed to make her cry even harder, I sat down on the floor of the bathroom and pulled her into my lap.

"Sh, princess. It's going to be okay. I'm here, love." I continued stroking her hair, trying desperately to get her to calm down. It took a little while and a lot of coaxing before she finally lifted her head from my chest to look at me. "Why these tears, princess? Please, talk to me."

"I really thought I was pregnant this time, Jackson. I was almost a week late on my period. I was feeling nauseous." Fresh tears started rolling down her cheeks and it nearly killed me. "God, I thought..."

"Why didn't you wait for me?" I asked her in a gentle tone. "We promised to do those tests together. To go through this together."

Her eyes met mine. "I was so sure this time. I just wanted to surprise you when you came home." She dropped her gaze and started shaking her head. "Jackson, maybe it's not meant to be. Maybe I don't deserve—"

I cut her off immediately. "Look at me, princess. No, look at me. Come on, love." When her eyes finally met mine again, I made sure she understood what I was telling her. "I don't ever want to hear you say that you don't deserve a child. Our child. You have the biggest heart I've ever seen. Do you hear me, princess?"

"But I—"

"No," I said firmly. "Not a bloody chance in hell. Now, do you hear me, princess?"

"I hear you, Jackson."

I kissed her softly on the lips before kissing her tears away and brushing her blonde hair out of her face. "I love you so much, princess. I can't bear seeing you like this. I promise you we'll keep trying. For as long as it takes."

"What if it doesn't work?"

There was a sharp pain in my chest. I was never the praying type, but right now I was willing to get on my knees and beg the Almighty to give us a child if that was what it took.

"I promise you, princess, we'll find a way. We will have a child."

That night still haunted my dreams. Seeing her that upset did something to me. But we worked past it and it lead us to alternative methods. Which was why at this very moment she and I were waiting to step inside the double doors marked OB-GYN OBSTETRICS AND IVF.

"Are you ready for this, love?"

She looked up at me and nodded, a sad but hopeful smile on her face. "Yes, I'm ready. Are you?"

I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed it. "Anything for you, princess. I'm ready."

Finally, we pushed the double doors open and went inside.

***

I hope you enjoyed this epilogue for Forever Mine. I'm looking forward to getting started on Harper and Jackson's next book and can't wait to share it with you.

Don't forget to add this book to your library! I'll be publishing the first chapter as an early release on February 1st and it will be getting regular updates starting on Valentine's Day.

🖤