“Sounds good, bud. Put on some sunscreen, too.” Sophie skimmed his hair as he went by. “I’ve got a breakfast casserole thing that’ll be ready in about ten minutes. There’s a vegan one for you and Biyen, Emil.”
“Thanks, Sophie. Am I going to be the first to say it?” Emil scratched his hair and looked around, then directed his thumb at Logan. “I didn’t expect this guy would ever get married, let alone marry this well. You’re great. Your kid is great. He is a very lucky man.”
“He knows,” Logan said dryly, sending her a look that warmed her through.
He didn’t get a chance to say anything else. It was time to tie up to form their raft. Logan’s boat was deemed the most powerful so they were designated as the middle boat. Dario took the helm.
Once the men were fed and the galley tidied, Sophie joined Biyen in the bow.
Initially, Logan had planned to get his boat to Canada by himself, but it had morphed into this family trip. They had planned for it to be a disaster. If Biyen had grown tired of being cooped up on a boat, or Sophie sucked at homeschooling, or Logan got antsy with extra people in his space, they would have booked the necessary flights. Nolan had been prepared to come get Biyen if Sophie wanted to stay with Logan, and Reid and Emma were champing at the bit to keep Biyen in Raven’s Cove if he wanted to be back at school with his friends.
So far, those conversations hadn’t come up once.
They had left right after Christmas and the trip was exceeding all of their expectations. Biyen’s Spanish was already better than Sophie’s. He soaked up new information like a sponge, and he was giving Trystan a run for his money when it came to vlogging about his days.
Trystan, of course, was boosting his profile with shares to his own multimillions of followers, which certainly didn’t hurt.
They were missing everyone and Sophie looked forward to getting home, but it was really nice to have this chance to gel as a family. Logan was in his element, happier on the water than anywhere else. Every night, after they made dinner and cleaned up, he and Biyen plotted their next day’s course while Sophie read a book. Read. A. Book. Sometimes with a glass of wine, if she had her period.
Today, she didn’t have her period. It had been a few days, actually. This morning, when the curiosity had got the better of her, she had used a test she had bought on their last day in Florida.
On the inside, she was freaking out, but she made herself stand at the rail with Biyen as they inched toward the first lock, trying to decide if telling Logan would be a distraction he didn’t need today.
Logan came to stand beside them. “All good?”
“Uh-huh.” Biyen took Logan’s hand and said, “But I think you should know that I love you for bringing me on this trip.”
A sound came out of Logan as though he’d been punched in the gut.
“Buddy,” he breathed.
“Yeah?”
Beneath his smile, Logan was so moved, his eyes misted. He swallowed.
“I love you, too. You and your mom. I love you both the most.” Logan looked up at her and his emotive look faded to alarm.
“Are you crying? What’s wrong?” He reached out to hold her arm, Biyen still between them.
“I wasn’t going to say because I want you to be able to concentrate today, but…” She could hardly speak through her trembling lips. She had to run the heal of her hand under her eye. “It’s not just us. We’re three and a bit. Soon to be four.”
“Are you kidding me?” Logan’s jaw dropped. He grabbed onto the rail as though he needed to steady himself.
“You’re gonna have a baby?” Biyen grinned up at Logan, but he soon got squashed as Logan pressed forward to hug her, seeming to burst a ball of sunshine through her whole body.
“Wait. Ack! Let me out!” Biyen wiggled free and clasped onto the rail. “Okay, now you can hug and kiss.”
They did.
The End
If you enjoyed Forgiving Her First Love, you’ll love the other books in…
Raven’s Cove series
Book 1: Marrying the Nanny
Book 2: Forgiving Her First Love
Book 3: Wanting a Family Man
Acknowledgement
While this story is fiction, it takes place on the unceded, traditional territory of the Heiltsuk people.
Exclusive Excerpt: Wanting a Family Man
Book 3 in the Raven’s Cove Romance
Keep reading below this is coming soon!
Of the many mistakes Cloe Vance had made in her twenty-three years, showing up in Raven’s Cove unannounced was arguably one of the worst.
She’d been scared, though. Scared someone would tell her she wasn’t allowed to come. Scared no one would tell her where her niece was. Scared that her phone would be tapped and tracked. Heck, she was even scared that she was becoming paranoid, which said everything about the state of her life these days.
She was a mess, which was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid when she’d aged out of foster care and started adulting. She had been determined to make smart, practical choices. She hadn’t wanted to end up like her mother, yet here she was—broke, homeless, and fleeing a dangerous relationship with a Very Bad Man. She wasn’t doing drugs to numb the pain, but she could see how alluring that type of escape could become.
She saw clearly how all the rotten stuff happened. When you felt like you were utterly alone in this world, it took only a little misplaced trust and allowing hope to override your gut. The next thing you knew, you had no job, no home, no friends. She had even lost her sister, which wasn’t directly connected to her actions, but it felt as though it was.
This new perspective humbled her. It made her hate herself for judging her mother all those years ago. Being frightened and lonely wasn’t a crime.
Being an accessory to money laundering was, though.
Somehow, Cloe had avoided being charged with that. She had cooperated and was still in a daze that she had walked out of the courthouse with her freedom.
Within days, she had liquidated her few remaining possessions and bought a bus ticket north. It was strange to be so untethered. As she had sat on the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington, into Victoria, Canada, she had felt like a castaway bobbing on an open sea.
She still felt adrift, even though she’d since left that ferry for a second bus that had taken her to the top of Vancouver Island where she had climbed aboard a second ferry that took her even farther up the coast and into the night.
She didn’t stop for a proper sleep anywhere, just dozed in her seat, waking disoriented from confusing dreams.
When she walked off that last ferry, she found herself two miles from town. At midnight. The landing crew must have thought she was waiting for someone because they got in their car and disappeared, leaving her alone on the slip.
