“I bet you could.” He reached up and grabbed my hand, pulling it to his lips. “I trust you. These hands are blessed.”

My heart pounded as tears threatened to escape my eyes, but I sucked them back in and finished up his cut.

“All done. You look so good, Kellon Barnes. I want to eat you up!”

I grinned as he pulled me into his lap, being careful of my belly. We sat like that for a while, just holding each other enjoying each other’s quiet company until his phone buzzed on the windowsill again making my eyes roll. I was sure it was another headline, another rumor, or twisted version of what happened.

“I’m sick of this,” I whispered. “Everyone has something to say, but none of them know.”

He nodded.

“You’re right, and that’s why we’re going to tell them.”

“Tell them what?” I stared at him confused.

“The truth. Our truth. Let’s release a statement.”

I hesitated. “A statement? That’s going to put the whole world in our business.”

“We’ve already had our names dragged through the mud. This time, we speak our truth, and if they drag us after that, so be it.”

“Okay, let’s do it.”

I climbed out of the chair, and we made our way to the living room. Kellon propped his phone on a tripod and pressed record before coming to join me on the couch. Kellon took my hand, and I looked straight into the camera.

“Hey everyone,” I spoke quietly. My gaze drifted over to Kellon. “We’ve been dealing with a lot behind the scenes. As some of you know, there was an incident. I was attacked.”

“We’ve stayed quiet for a lot of reasons. But mostly because we needed space to breathe… to heal,” Kellon said. Then he looked at me, and I picked up where he left off.

“Like I said, I was attacked. A stranger was sent to hurt me by someone I once called a friend. It wasn’t about money. It wasn’t random.”

My hand drifted to my belly.

“There have been rumors, stories, and questions about why the attack happened,” I added, gathering strength from the love of my life. “While we don’t owe anyone details, we do want to say this. We are moving forward in love and peace.”

“No matter what anyone says,” Kellon said. His voice was low like he meant business. “This baby is mine. Our family is real, and we’re not entertaining drama or distractions. We choose love over lies.”

Kellon’s grip on my hand tightened as I blinked back tears.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported us. For those who haven’t, that’s okay too. We’re still gonna love out loud.”

Kellon stood from the couch and walked over to stop the recording, watching it back before saying, “Perfect. You ready to post it?”