“Congrats.”

Brandon turned, surprised to see Sofie smiling at him. “Thanks,” he smiled, trying not to look as uncomfortable as he felt.

So far all the other times he’d had to be around her, especially since he’d been busy consoling Regina at her father’s services, she’d been the only one of the Moreno clan he had yet to speak to. He figured it’d happen eventually. He just didn’t think it’d happen when they were alone.

“Gina’s a great girl. You two should be really happy.” She glanced in the direction where Bell and Romero sat with her brother Art and his wife. “Her family really likes you too, as they should.”

Brandon smirked, nodding. “Yeah, Aunt Benny says I’m handsome.”

Sofie laughed sweetly. “Aunt Benny knows what she’s talking about.”

Feeling the smirk diminish, he took a sip of his beer, not sure how to respond to that. Sofie glanced around, a bit guarded.

“Listen, Brandon,” she said, lowering her voice a bit. “I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance to, but now that I have it I want to make sure I apologize.”

He stared at her confused. “For what?”

“Everything that happened in the past. It wasn’t fair that you took the blame for it all when I’d willingly gone along with it. You have no idea . . .” She stopped and smirked. “Well, actually you probably do have a very good idea what it was like to deal with my brothers.”

Brandon couldn’t help but smirk either. “Yeah, I have a pretty good idea.”

“I want you to know I did try to explain to them that it wasn’t all you. I even tried explaining it to Eric, but after everything that happened and given the history they had with you, it was impossible to get them to think objectively. They just weren’t seeing it. As far as they were concerned, no matter what I said, I was being naïve and it was all you.” She rolled her eyes. “I gave up trying to convince them, and after you left, I figured it didn’t matter. Even though that was a long time ago, I’ve always felt bad about it.”

Of course, he’d never tell her how much she’d affected him and for how long. In hindsight, he knew now it wasn’t so much what happened between them but when it happened. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Aside from the horrific incident he’d gone through with Regina, that year was one of the most devastating of his life. Because things had gone down with her that same year, he just always associated her with the worst period of his life. He’d been swept up into that memory, but really, the memory of the first girl he thought he had feelings for and didn’t reciprocate shouldn’t have been so tragic.

He’d since come to another conclusion, and that he would tell her. “I was angry about that for a long time, but you know what? I’m glad things happened the way they did.”

Smiling, he thought about the tattoo on his abdomen, and for one very foolish moment he considered lifting his shirt and showing it to her. He almost had to laugh, knowing that, while seemingly no one appeared to be paying attention to them, if he did, he’d be tackled on the spot.

“Shakespeare said it first, but then a very wise woman said it to me later. ‘What’s past is prologue.’”

Her eyes widened, and she seemed almost embarrassed. “I’m still no good at deciphering poems or whatever things that deep mean.”

“It just means my past set up my present, and I’m presently one very happy man.”

Regina walked up to them suddenly, slipping her hand into his. “And I’m one very happy woman.”

Sofie smiled genuinely. “And I’m very happy for you both.”

A crying baby got Sofia’s attention, and she excused herself. Regina turned to look at him, squeezing his hand and lifting a brow with a smirk. “I was jealous for a moment there when I saw you two chatting alone,” she whispered, poking him in the ribs with her elbow. “You don’t even know how lucky you are I walked up at just the right moment. You would’ve had one crabby brat to deal with for the rest of the night.”

“Crabby brat?” He grinned. “Not my princess,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers. “And trust me. I know just how lucky I am.”

~*~

Regina

“I’d say your family’s excited.” Brandon smiled, kissing Regina as he opened the car door for her.

Regina was still walking on air. She couldn’t believe what a difference a few months made. The first couple of weeks after her dad’s death had been incredibly depressing—something she’d never thought she’d get past. Luckily, she had Brandon to help her through it. With each day that passed the world got a little brighter.

She was even beginning to deal better with knowing Janecia was now also engaged to a man who owned a motorcycle—one she’d been on more than once. Though secretly she knew her dealing better with it had everything to do with the fact that Janecia was pregnant now. Not only had she told Regina there was no way she was getting on a motorcycle while she was pregnant she’d also mentioned Clay had been the one to bring up trading in his “Hog” for a better suited family SUV. It wasn’t a done deal yet, but Regina had her fingers crossed.

She turned to Brandon and took his hand between both of hers then leaned her cheek against it, feeling so blessed to have him in her life. Brandon glanced at her and smiled. “Chocolate for your thoughts.”

“Deal!” she said, smiling big.

“Chocolate-chocolate-chip waffles?” he asked, switching lanes suddenly. “They serve them all day.”

“Yes,” she said quickly with a giggle.

That made her even more excited. She’d never been into carrot cake and that was the kind Bell had gotten for Romero. Regina had barely touched her slice.

“Okay, so let’s have it,” Brandon said. “What’s that dreamy smile about?”

She didn’t want to kill their happy moment, but she wouldn’t lie either. “I truly believe you and I were meant to save each other.” They came to a stop, and he turned to stare at her but said nothing. She immediately felt choked up, but she had to continue. “I never told you this, but that day you found me in my bathroom hysterical, I had every intention of putting that gun against my head. My heart felt so hopelessly broken it literally ached with every beat. But it wasn’t until I heard your cries . . . It wasn’t until I felt how much I’d be hurting you in the process that I instantly regretted having so much as thought of doing something that would devastate you like that.”

Brandon was staring straight ahead now, his own eyes tearing up. “I’ve had some bad days in my life,” he whispered. “But that was by far the worst one ever.”

“Medication or not, I can promise you this with absolute certainty. Those thoughts will never cross my mind again. It’s not about just me anymore. I live for you, Brandon. And I’d never do that to you. Ever.”

She kissed his hand and he pulled her hand to him gently. “Good,” he said, kissing her hand too. “Because I don’t know about me saving you, but I know you saved me.” He shook his head as a single tear slid down the side of his face, and he leaned in and kissed her. “I live for you too, baby.

Epilogue

Mrs. Billings

My wife

My princess

My love

My world

Lost for a moment, still staring at the tattoo he’d gotten on his upper arm just over a year ago, Brandon’s train of thought was derailed as Regina gasped and Buddy, their six-month-old beagle, barked.

“Artie baby, not so fast!”

Brandon glanced up at the tall slide his son was now rushing up the ladder of. He tugged on Buddy’s leash to calm him then smiled. “He’s all right,” he assured her, wrapping his arm around her from behind and rubbing her pregnant belly.

“He wants to keep up with all the other boys, but he’s the littlest one,” she said.

Brandon watched as his son effortlessly climbed the ladder and reached the top, holding his hand out for him to see. He gave his son the thumbs up and smiled. A few years ago, having a family of his own was the furthest thing on his mind. Now here he was with a wife, a son, another one on the way, and a dog.

Artie grabbed hold of the pole on top of the slide and swung himself out over the open slide, laughing and making Regina gasp again and pull away from Brandon.

“Arturo Stephen Billings, don’t you dare do that again!”

Brandon made eye contact with Artie and shot him a warning look. His son sat down on the slide and slid down hands in the air. He came down so fast he flew into another boy at the bottom and they both fell into the sand. The other boy, at least two years older and twice his size, got up then shoved Artie back into the sand. Artie rolled around, laughing.

Regina started to charge. “Hey! That’s not nice!” she said to the other boy who’d already started walking away but turned to look at her.

“Relax,” Brandon assured her again. “He loves that shit. It’s just horseplay, baby. It’s what boys do.”

Artie was already running back to climb the ladder of the slide. One of the other boys pushed him aside and climbed up before him.

“No pushing!” Regina yelled out, glaring at the other boy.

Artie didn’t even flinch as he rushed up behind the other boy, laughing. Brandon watched, chuckling and calming Regina the whole time. It was the same thing every time they came to the park. By the time they packed things up, Brandon could see his son wouldn’t even make it out of the parking lot awake. As usual, he made Dad proud, playing hard and keeping up with the big boys the entire time.

Brandon chased him down and tackled him on the grass. Buddy joined in the fun, jumping all over them both. This was something he’d never had the pleasure of doing with his own dad, and it was something he knew Artie loved. It was now one of his most favorite things to do with his boy—wrestle and see how much Artie enjoyed their time together.