Chapter 19 ~ Tae

Taylor stared out the window of the motel. It was raining again. She needed to look for a place to stay since the longer she stayed here, the less money she would have to find somewhere else.

She looked towards the pack-and-play where Levi was sleeping. She didn't like having him in some rundown motel anyway.

Her eyes moved towards her phone for the thousandth time in the last three days, but, as she knew, there wasn't a call from Rhett. She didn't expect there to be one. He was through with her. He'd had his fun, but as soon as things got tough, he threw in the towel.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she remembered the first time she had met Rhett. It had been pouring rain just as it was today. She thought back to how fast his mood had changed in the beginning. It had gone from furious to caring in a heartbeat. She thought it was funny since, in the end, his mood changed from caring to furious even faster.

Her single tear turned into a bucket load as she recalled all the memories they had made. Yes, there was no doubt that she had fallen in love with the moody cowboy. Too bad he didn't love her back.

Levi began crying, and she put a stop to her pity party. She moved to pick him up and realized he had a soggy diaper.

She had another human being to take care of, and she couldn't just think of herself anymore.

She began to panic. She had barely gotten by when it was just her, and now she had a child to take care of. Her fear multiplied when she realized she was almost out of diapers. This was her last one.

She couldn't believe that in the last few days, she had totally forgotten to restock on Levi's necessities. Even his bath stuff was low.

She kicked herself. She'd been too busy wallowing in her sorrows to remember the poor guy. She changed his diaper and put him in new clothes.

"Come on, little man, we're going shopping," she said, holding him against her.

He looked up at her cooing. He was an easy baby; he didn't fuss, and he was content sitting in a bouncer.

She grabbed the diaperless diaper bag and headed toward the truck. She put Levi in the car seat and crawled into the driver's seat.

This truck had been Rhett's when he was younger, and she was constantly finding funny things inside. She would give it back once she had something to drive, but for right now, she'd keep it. She wouldn't have taken it if it was just her, but with Levi, she wasn't going to go without transportation.

She sighed as she pulled into the store. Levi was jabbering away to himself and she smiled. She looked back at him in the rear-view mirror, and it sent a knife straight through her heart. His eyes were the same as looking into Rhett's. No one would ever believe that he wasn't Rhett's.

Rhett's eyes were the only things that he had gotten from his mother. It seemed to be the same for poor Levi. It was hard to think of them as brothers. Their mother was in her forties.

She grabbed a buggy and began her shopping. Levi sat in the top of the buggy taking everything in. The bright colors made him smile. When he started giggling, Taylor's heart constricted. This poor beautiful baby had been given a bad hand of cards for his life too. That was something they shared in common.

A couple of ladies commented on how handsome he was and squeezed his cheeks. Levi smiled and jabbered to them. He wasn't bashful, that was for sure.

"Well aren't you a darling," the one said.

"He's such a happy baby," the other said.

Taylor smiled and nodded at the pair.

"He is that. He's an extremely easy baby. I'm a lucky woman," she said.

The two cooed over Levi some more before moving on.

Taylor made her way to the baby section and restocked on what was running low.

When Taylor finished her shopping, she loaded the bags into the truck. Levi yawned, showing he was ready for a nap. Taylor chuckled.

Looks like we're going for a ride.

She hated taking him out of the car seat when he was sleeping. He slept better when she drove than when she took him out in the middle of his nap.

She turned right out of the parking lot and decided she was going to look at her old house. Thinking about the past made her think about what her future would hold.

She needed to find a job and a babysitter. She also needed to find somewhere that she could stay. An apartment would be fine since it was only the two of them. Getting close, she looked around the familiar sights of her past neighborhood. Finally, she pulled up to her old family house.

She looked at the worn-out roof and the unkempt lawn. It was a shame. She left the truck running and hopped out. She set up the monitors and took one with her. As she walked to her front porch in the rain, she tried to keep the tears at bay. Once she reached the doorstep, she sat down. She laid her head against the front door and closed her eyes. She listened to the cars go by and the rain beat on the porch roof.

She sat here for a while. She was remembering all the good times she had had with her family in this home. It was hard to think they'd been gone for so long.

Soon she heard a throat clear and she looked up startled. She saw Rhett standing by the steps. He was leaning against a pillar, and even soaked with rain, he was still a handsome devil.

"I thought you might be here when I didn't find you at the motel," he said softly.

Taylor closed her eyes again and rested her head against the door.

"What are you doing here, Rhett?" she asked quietly.

She heard him sit down beside her.

"Funny you should ask that. I asked myself the same thing a hundred times on the way over here," he said chuckling.

Taylor rolled her eyes to herself.

"So what was your answer?" she asked him.

She heard him sigh and she opened her eyes to look at him.

"The answer to what? What I was doing?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Well, I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm apologizing to the only woman I've ever loved," he said.

It took her a moment to process, then she gasped.

He loves me?

She stared at him with her mouth hanging open, waiting for him to continue.

"I've never been lonelier in my life than the last three days. I never even realized I was alone until you walked into my life, Tae. I've kicked myself over and over for letting you walk away. I would have been here sooner, but I convinced myself you were better off without me. I guess everyone was tired of me moping because they told me they were going to lock me in my house if I didn't come talk to you, so here I am," he said.

She stared at him, unable to form words.

"I was a complete ass to you, and I apologize. I should have never said the things I said to you," he added.

He looked at her with a small smile.

Still unable to form words, she gave him a small smile back.

Rhett took this as encouragement.

"I love you, Tae. I love Levi too. You light up my world like nothing I've ever known. I haven't slept in a week because you haven't been in my bed. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking that Levi is crying, and then I'm the one crying because he isn't really there. I need your sassy self to keep me in line. I need your smile to keep me going when I'm too tired to move. I just need you."

Taylor's teary eyes turned into full-on falls. As the tears ran down her face, Rhett scooped her up and brought her to his lap. He crushed her to him and held her while she cried.

Finally, when her tears were cried, she looked up at him.

"Thank you," she said to him.

She couldn't believe that he had come back for her. She'd thought that he hadn't wanted her because she was too much work.

He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. She giggled. She had missed how he talked with his eyebrows.

"For what?" he asked her.

She sighed and snuggled into his chest.

She finally replied, "For loving me. I wouldn't be able to live if you didn't."

He smiled and pulled her closer to him.

She leaned up so they were eye-to-eye.

"I love you too, Rhett Frankly Montgomery," she said before she met him the rest of the way to kiss him.

As Taylor was relishing how much she'd missed Rhett's kisses, she realized the monitor was going off. She sat back. Rhett looked at the monitor sitting beside her.

"That would be our child crying in the truck, I take it?" he asked, giving her a lopsided grin.

She giggled and nodded, sliding off of his lap. She watched as he hopped off the porch and jogged through the rain to the truck. He opened the door and she listened.

"Well, hi there, buddy. What are you doing? I see your mama has been taking good care of you," he cooed to the boy.

Taylor's heart stopped when Rhett called her Levi's mama. Her tears started flowing all over again. She tried to pull herself together as she walked to her guys.

She leaned against the truck as Rhett took Levi out of his car seat. He hugged the boy to him.

"Oh, I've missed you, Levi," he said softly to his baby.

Levi grumbled and shook his fist before he grabbed Rhett's nose.

Taylor giggled.

"I think that means Don't ever leave me again, Dad, in baby language," she said.

Rhett looked up at her with moist eyes.

"I don't plan on it, little man," he said looking back down at him.

Taylor watched in awe as he looked down with love at Levi. She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked over his shoulder at their boy.

As she soaked in the moment, she realized the rain was lessening.

"Hey, look. The sun is starting to come out," she said against Rhett.

Rhett looked up to the sky and smiled.

"Let's go home, Tae," he said happily.

He turned to look at her before kissing Levi on the head. Slowly, he put him back in his car seat.

Taylor looked back at him when he turned around.

"I have to get my stuff at the motel," she murmured.

"All right let's go get it. The quicker I have you home, the quicker I can get some sleep," he said kissing her forehead.

She rolled her eyes.

"All right, let's go," she said pushing him toward his truck.

She turned to climb into her own truck when Rhett grabbed her by the waist. She didn't have time to breathe before he was on her. He kissed her senseless, and she loved every minute of it.

"Man, I missed you," he whispered into her hair.

He hugged her to him again, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Smiling broadly, he went to his truck.

Giggling, Taylor climbed into her truck. She was headed home with the man she loved.