Chapter 8 - Years After the Wedding That Never Happened, I Finally Understood Why My Father Wanted Me to Find Carter AgainOur lives became ordinary.
And ordinary was beautiful.
Carter built a legitimate business division.
I expanded my father's foundation.
The hospital clinic grew.
Lexi moved overseas.
Richard went to trial.
Edward's trust became a permanent foundation.
The Preston family stopped making decisions behind closed doors.
For the first time, I saw Carter smile without calculation.
He was happy.
So was I.
Then one morning, Graham called.
“We found another document.”
“What document?”
“Your father's original trust instructions.”
I drove to his office.
The document was dated twenty-four years earlier.
It contained one sentence that stopped me.
If Morgan and Carter find their way back to each other after all this, leave the final decision to them.
I stared.
Edward had known.
My father had known.
Everyone had known.
Except us.
I cried.
Carter came into the room.
“What happened?”
I showed him.
He read it.
Then laughed softly.
“Our families were terrible matchmakers.”
I laughed too.
“Awful.”
He took my hand.
“Still.”
“What?”
“I think they were right about one thing.”
“What?”
“We were always going to find each other.”
I looked at him.
“But not this way.”
“No.”
“Never this way again.”
He smiled.
“Never.”
That summer, we moved into a small house together.
Not the Preston mansion.
Not a penthouse.
A quiet house with a garden.
We adopted a dog.
We argued about paint colors.
He learned to cook.
I learned to stop working at midnight.
We built a life that belonged to us.
Then, one evening, Carter found me crying in the kitchen.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
He frowned.
“That's not your face for nothing.”
I handed him the ultrasound.
He stared.
Then looked at me.
“Is this real?”
I laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
He sat down.
“Morgan.”
“Yes?”
He was crying.
“We're having a baby.”
I nodded.
“Our baby.”
He put his hand against my stomach.
“I don't deserve this.”
I touched his face.
“No.”
He looked worried.
“You deserve the chance to earn it.”
May you like
He nodded.
“I will.”
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