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  Outside of Trish, my world was perfect. I was sure we’d never be friends, and even the relationship between her and Sebastian was strained as the months went by. She was still a cold fish, and my husband was beginning to see people as more than just things to be used at whim.

  Tom turned in his notice to my husband, but wished me well before he left. I still thought he was a sweet man, but knew without doubt he wasn’t the right one for me. I hoped he found some woman that made him incredibly happy someday. He deserved that.

  I was learning to trust Deshawn again, though, that was a slow process. Matteo had a lot to do with it, because I couldn’t resist his charm and I understood why my best friend had fallen head over heels for him. I was glad we lived in a place now that accepted their relationship better than the home we came from.

  With everything that had happened in my life, I felt blessed instead of cursed now. I had the perfect husband, an incredible life and it all started because my best friend decided to pawn me off as his virginal sacrifice. Life had a funny way of turning the worst things in your world into the best gifts you could ever imagine.

  Sebastian

  18 months later

  My wife was never getting pregnant again! Holding her hand as she pushed to bring this new life into the world, I wanted to kick myself in the balls. Her screams echoed off the walls, and she cursed me like a sailor as the next contraction started as soon as the last had finished. Wiping down her face with a cool cloth as she collapsed after another push, I didn’t know how to help.

  This had to be the longest birth in the history of births, and I wanted it to end. Twelve long hours, and she’d refused any pain medication. Hell, I was ready to force her to take it after seeing the suffering she went through. “Let them give you something. For the love of God, don’t try and be brave.”

  “My baby will not be coming into this world doped up, Sebastian Church!” she screamed as another contraction hit, and I knew she was having the baby but it hurt me watching her like this. Finally, God in his infinite mercy let the baby’s head push through. We had decided not to know the sex of our child until it was born.

  I watched in wonder as the little body escaped her and wanted to fall to my knees in praise as the loud cry filled my ears. “It’s a boy.” Those lungs were powerful. As the nurse lay him on Ashley’s chest, I counted all his fingers and toes, thankful they were there.

  My son! There was nothing more precious in this world than seeing the woman you loved cradling your child to her breast. Tears filled my eyes as I kissed her cheek and carefully allowed my fingers to trace over his silky skin. Her eyes met mine and she smiled. My world was perfection. Maybe she’d want to do this again someday?

  When they took little Jonathon to be weighed and whatever other things they did with newborns, I placed kisses all over her face. “Sebastian, I’m all gross.” She was laughing again. After all that pain, did she think I cared what she looked like? She was perfection to me in every sense of the word, and I’d spend the rest of my life worshipping her for the gifts she’d given me.

  “You are now, and will always be, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. I can’t thank you enough for loving me. I don’t think I lived until the day I met you, Ashley.” The words were spoken in awe, because this woman had changed the man I was so completely I couldn’t even remember the past.

  She started to cry, and I joined her, the emotion too strong to hold back, even if I was supposed to be her rock. “I love you.” Those softly whispered words meant more to me than anything else.

  “I love you, sweetheart. I’ll spend the rest of eternity trying to be the man you deserve.” We kissed each other tenderly, and would have continued had our son not been returned to her arms.

  As I looked down into his little face as she breastfed him, I felt my heart fill to overflowing. I was the most fortunate man and I would never forget it. My family, the only thing in this world that would every matter, was right here in my grasp. I’d give my life for both of them. This was love. I knew now that I’d never understood how completely an emotion could bind people together until this very moment.

  Michelle Hughes lives in Verbena, Alabama with her husband and their children. She grew up as a military brat and fell in love with travelling. Michelle was a professional singer/songwriter until she began her family, then became a respiratory therapist. In 2017, she was awarded a Kindle Press Contract for her western romance, Cowboy Sanctuary. With over 20 books penned in different romance genres, she writes what’s in her heart.

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