“We need each other, like we have from the very beginning.”

He bent his head to kiss her, lingering for a long moment. “I don’t know how I ever lived without you.”

“I feel exactly the same way.” She went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “We’re going to get you through the trial, and then we’ll have the rest of our lives together.”

Running his hands down her back, he cupped her bottom and lifted her.

Laura clung to him as he walked them across the room to their bed. He undressed her and then himself, all the while gazing down at her with love in his eyes. Leaning over her, he left a circle of kisses on the slight bump on her abdomen.

“I can’t wait to meet these guys.”

“Neither can I.”

“I can’t wait until they stop making you sick every day.”

She slid her fingers through his always unruly blond hair. “Neither can I.”

Chuckling, he kissed his way up the front of her. “Let’s cover you up so you don’t get cold.” He lifted her effortlessly, arranged her on the pillows and covered her before he slid in next to her.

Laura turned on her side and reached for him. “This is the best part of the day. The very end, when I get to be alone with you.”

He worked his leg between hers and put his arms around her. “It’s my favorite time of day, too.”

Despite the desire she always felt for him, especially when they were naked in bed together, her eyes refused to stay open any longer. “I can’t stay awake.”

“You don’t have to, honey.”

“Don’t you want to…”

“Always, but you need to sleep.”

“I’ll make it up to you in the morning.”

“You don’t have to. You give me everything I could ever want and then some. You don’t owe me anything.”

“I owe you everything,” she whispered. “I was wrecked, and you put me back together.”

“Best project I ever worked on.”

With her face tucked against his chest, she smiled, content and happy. No matter what went on around them, they’d always have this. She took that thought with her as she drifted off to sleep.

For a long time after Laura fell asleep, Owen was awake, listening to the South Harbor foghorn and the crash of the waves hitting the breakwater. The sounds were among his favorite from a childhood short on happy memories. He and his six siblings had spent their summers here with their grandparents, which, other than their father’s deployments, was the only break they ever got from their violent upbringing.