The Keeper: Chapter 14

“Easton,” I gasp as realization dawns. “Oh my God, E. I’m so sorry.”

He gathers me in his arms and holds me close. “You still want that annulment, baby?”

A sob bubbles up in my throat. “I was awful to you.”

“You didn’t remember,” he tells me as he buries his face in my hair and runs his hand along my spine. “I knew how you felt. I just needed you to remember it.”

“But I . . . I blamed you. I forgot . . . I forgot everything.” My chest tightens, and the all too familiar heavy ball of anxiety starts to grow in my chest. “I’m so sorry. I don’t have any better words to give you.”

“Baby, I don’t care about your words. Give me you, and I’m good.” He plays with the rings I haven’t taken off since he put them on my finger. “Marry me, Madeline Kingston.”

I wipe my face and run my hand over his heart. “I just told you I remember marrying you, E.”

“Do it again. Do it the way we should have done it the first time. In front of our families. Our friends. You in a white dress. Let Dixon walk you down the aisle and give you to me.”

The anxiety shifts and changes course as I think about my family and the way they’ve vilified Easton. “I’ll marry you again whenever you want. But I don’t care if anyone else is there, E. I just need us.”

“That’s not true, princess. You need your family. You might not be happy with them at the moment, but you can’t give up on them. I’d do almost anything to have my mom back.” Then almost like an afterthought, he adds, “She would have fucking loved you.”

“Fine. I’ll try to talk to them again when I get home, but I make no promises.” I wrap myself around my husband and lay my head on his chest, almost scared to close my eyes. “E?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Till we’re old and gray.”