Until Jax

“Hey, don’t cry. I’m sure your dog is okay,” Jax says softly, running his fingers over the back of my hand.

“Ex-excuse me?” I sputter, turning my head towards him.

“Cat?” he asks, frowning.

“Hope is my daughter,” I hiss, pulling my hand from his grasp.

“Daughter?” He pales, searching my face.

“You have to carry me upstairs,” I tell him breathlessly, coming back to myself.

“I already carried you upstairs,” he chuckles, and I feel the bed underneath me as he lays me down.

“Oh,” I mutter, feeling my eyes grow heavy as he gets into bed and rolls me to face him.

“Who’s Ty?” he asks, and my body starts to shake with laughter as I bury my face against his chest, ignoring his question.

“Who’s Ty?” I ask Ellie, and she rolls her eyes then hands me Toby.

“Who’s Ty?” I ask my boys, and they just look at me before taking off to cause chaos somewhere else.

“Do you know who Ty is?” I ask Toby, who pats my cheek and babbles something I can’t make out.

“Fine, I won’t climb on the counter anymore,” I give in, knowing he won’t stop until I do.

“Between you and Hope, I’m going to turn gray by the time I’m thirty,” he says as his hands wrap around my back,

“You don’t want to see your ring?” he asks with a smile in his tone as his arms band tighter around me.

“I already know it’s perfect,” I whisper as tears fill my eyes.

“I had this whole fucking thing planned of how I was going to ask, but I don’t want to wait any longer. Marry me, Ellie,” he says, picking up my hand, settling something cool and heavy on my finger.

“Jax.”

“We’ll go to Vegas next weekend.”

“How do I do that?” he asks, looking lost.

“I don’t know,” I confess, feeling tears fill my eyes. “But I’ll help you.”

“I’ll help too, Daddy Ax,” Hope says as she runs into the living room and climbs onto the chair with us. “What are we doin?”

Laughing, Jax presses a kiss to her hair then smiles at her. “You’re doing it, sweetheart. You and your mom both are.”

“I’m a good helper.” She smiles, making us laugh.

“You were almost taken from our home. I could have lost you and Hope, and I would’ve had no way to find you,” he says, getting down on his knees in front of me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his head in my lap.

“You would have found us.” I whisper, forcing his eyes to meet mine then holding his face in my hands. “You wouldn’t have stopped until you did,” I say then drop my forehead to his. “I don’t want to play what if, not when we’re here together, not after what happened,” I whisper, closing my eyes, feeling his arms wrap around me.

“Are you sure you all want to sleep in here?” Cash asks.

“I need my girls close,” Jax explains quietly, moving his gaze to the bed, where Hope is a sleep, then to me.

“Whatever you need, bud,” Cash says, and I hear the rawness in his voice,

Then I see Jax walk out the front door, holding Chip in his hands as he scans the yard. I bang on the glass of the door and his eyes come to me, and he jumps down the steps and runs toward us.

As soon as he reaches the car, he swings the door open and gathers Hope and me in his arms. “I’m so fucking sorry…so fucking sorry,” he repeats over and over, while he rocks us against him.