Finally (14 page)

That was one of my favorite things about her. She knew I loved her without my having to say anything. She said it for me, sometimes in passing, sometimes teasing, sometimes when she wanted me to know just how much she loved me, but I’d promised myself. “And you know how I feel about you?”

She blinked once but smiled serenely. “Yes, you show me every time I see you. Every time you look at me or touch me, I know.”

“And that’s enough?”

A small frown appeared. “Of course, M, have I given you the impression that it isn’t? I love you, and I feel your love when I look in your gorgeous brown eyes that tell me almost everything that you’re thinking.”

Smiling, I teased, “What am I thinking right now?”

“That you like having me practically sitting on top of you, that you thought I looked sexy paddling through the water today, that you can see the four grey hairs on my head but won’t say anything about them, oh, and you can’t live without me.”

I laughed. There was so much I loved about this woman, but her wit ranked almost as high as her kindness. I also loved that she had a dark edge to that wit. It clashed so well with her compassion. “I love having you in my lap. You always look sexy to me. You’re delusional about the grey hair, but when you fi nally get it, you’ll look just as gorgeous as you do know. And no, I can’t live without you, but more importantly, I don’t want to live without you.”

Her smile faded a bit as she registered my serious tone. Her hand pressed against my chest to take in how hard my heart was beating right now. She looked like she wanted to say something, but I wanted to get this out.

“This past year has been the best of my life. I feel like I must have gone through everything that happened to me when I was 113

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younger so that when I met you, when you gave me your love, I’d feel like I deserved it. You make me feel like nothing will ever hurt again. Like I belong, fi nally, and I’m so proud that you’ve chosen me.” I brushed away one of the tears that had dropped onto her cheek. “I love you, Briony. Will you honor me as my wife?”

“Oh, God, M!” She breathed out, a small sound leaving her throat. “I love you so much.”

I waited for more, but her face was now buried in my neck and small tremors ran through her body. I stroked her back, helping to soothe her. “Bri?” I asked when I felt her take a cleansing breath and push herself back. “Is that a—”

“Yes! Yes, M, I want nothing more than for us to be married.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t have time to think about how stupid that sounded before her lips landed on mine, kissing with such abandon that I forgot everything else I wanted to say. She’d always had that effect on me.

“I’m so happy you asked. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold off before the hints about a permanent future with you became anything but subtle.” She grinned, a sheepish look making her all the more lovable.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but we’ll have to talk to Caleb. I know some people don’t think their kids should have a say, but I don’t want to force myself into Caleb’s life.”

She laughed, a soft rhythm of sound that caressed me. “He wanted to ask you to marry us last Christmas.”

“What?” I couldn’t hide my shock.

“Kids are like that. He knew how much I loved you and he’d just told you that he loved you. He wanted you to live with us right then. He’s going to be thrilled about this.”

I let out a breath of relief. “That’s wonderful.” I reached down under my chair and pulled out the hidden ring box. “I got this for you, but if you don’t like it, we can get one you like.”

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She stared wide-eyed at me before looking at the box. “You bought me a ring?”

“I wanted to give you a ring. Is that all right? If you’d rather not, we can just get wedding bands. I thought you could pick those out for us.” I lifted the lid on the box so she could see the ring.

“It’s beautiful, honey. I love it. I love you.”

“I had it inscribed.”

She carefully pulled it free and read the inscription. Tears sprang in her eyes again as she looked back at me. “I love you, too, Mabel. Always.”

As with everything about her, those words told me that I’d never want for anything else ever again because of her.

115

Jessie’s Epilogue

When the doorbell rang, I was in the middle of showing my buddy, Caleb, how to throw a discus in my backyard. We’d been working through the ten events of the decathlon for three days, ever since my beautiful spouse opened her big mouth. A mouth I loved, but still, it got a little big every once in a while.

“That’ll be Mom,” Caleb said, half with disappointment, half with excitement.

The tone made me smile. I’d enjoyed our time together, too.

“Should be.”

“But we’re not done,” he protested even as he was tilting around me to see if Lauren had answered the door yet.

“We’ll pick up the next time you visit, CeeGy. You’re a natural at this stuff.”

He beamed and hustled to help me put away the discus and shot put in the storage shed where I still kept a javelin and hurdle from my training days. Then we raced each other to the patio door. I couldn’t resist reaching down to sling him over my shoulder. He giggled uncontrollably and grasped my waist as if afraid I’d drop him.

“Oh boy, here comes trouble,” Briony muttered with a huge smile on her face. Her arm was wrapped around her partner’s waist as they waited with Lauren for us to reach the front room.

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rushed into his mom’s arms. “Hi Mom, missed ya.”

“Not as much as I missed you.” Her grin was as big as his.

“Even with red hair.” She ran a hand across his spiking hair, and I burst into laughter. “Your doing, Jess?” She pierced me with a teasing glare.

Before I could answer, Caleb spoke up. “Jessie says red hair is hot.”

“It’s the wash out kind,” Lauren assured her even as we laughed at Caleb’s declaration. She’d been fretting about it since we got back from the drug store and spiked his hair yesterday. She reached out and slid her hand into mine for a reassuring squeeze.

“I think we should make it permanent,” his stepmom, M, kidded with him.

He grinned. “It looks cool, though, doesn’t it?”

“Ham,” his mother accused. She looked at me as I pulled Lauren closer and wrapped both arms around her. “I can’t thank you both enough for stepping in like that.” Her usual sitter had gotten called away only a day after they’d gone out of town for a few days.

“It was our pleasure,” I assured her. Briony didn’t like to ask for help. She’d never asked before.

“We loved having him here, really. He’s always welcome.”

Lauren smiled warmly trying to convey her sincerity. This type of consideration for her friends was just one of the many things I loved about her.

“Did you thank Jessie and Lauren for keeping you alive these past four days?” Briony prompted.

“Not for that,” Caleb giggled again and swung around to face me. “Thanks for picking me up Thursday after school and letting me stay and bringing me everywhere with you.” He squished me into a hug before turning to Lauren. “And thanks for teaching me how to play chess and how to make sopapillas. I had a lot of fun.”

“You’re welcome, Caleb. We loved having you here.”

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“Thanks again, you guys. I honestly don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t stepped up like that.” Briony hugged me fi rst before turning to Lauren.

“Bye!” Caleb called out, darting out the door in front of his parents.

“Whew!” I blew out a breath as I dragged myself back to the living room and dropped onto the couch.

“Oh, you don’t fool me, toughie.” My beautiful partner sashayed toward me with a grin on her face. “You loved every minute of having that kid here.”

I bit back a grin. I had loved it. Started me thinking, too, but I got all distracted as soon as Lauren slid fi rst one knee onto the couch beside my thigh then the other to straddle me. Her devious grin kicked my heart rate into overdrive.

“You loved it so much you’re thinking about something, aren’t you, darling?”

God, she knew me so well. I’d always thought having a lover who knew me so well would annoy me. But Lauren got to me on every level, crashed through every defense I’d ever set up, and never let me get away with a damn thing. “Well, I don’t know, shug. What do you think about what I’m thinking about?”

She gripped the front of my shirt and shook it slightly. “Do you really want us to have a baby, Jess?”

“That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking,” I replied. “But if you want to have a baby, L, I’ll do anything for you.”

She leaned down and kissed me with those lips that knew exactly how to drive me crazy whether they were touching me or not. “God, I love you. Tell me what you were thinking before I respond to that.”

“I was thinking more like adoption or fostering,” I stopped, checking her expression. “Of an older kid.”

She beamed widely. “Like say 11 or 12?”

“Like say that, exactly,” I kissed her again just because I 118

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could. “Would that be something you could handle, Laur?”

“Honey, I’m happy with anything you want. I love our life right now. I’ve loved it for the past three years, and I’ll love it for as long as we live, with or without kids. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and watching you with Caleb these past couple of days has been so amazing. You’d make a great mom.”

I sucked in a breath. “Thanks, Lauren. So would you. He absolutely adores you. But I don’t know how great I’d be with just any kid. I’m actually surprised Briony called us.”

“I’m not.” Lauren snuggled in closer, her breath tickling my neck.

“I was probably the last on her list. Well, we might have beat out Des and Skye.”

Lauren tilted her head back to look at me. “Not even close.

We, or I should say, you, were her fi rst choice. You have to know that?”

“No, she must have called Caroline fi rst, then Isabel. Hell, that’s who I’d call.”

“Darling, she doesn’t trust just anyone, and she’d never trust her child with anyone that she doesn’t think of as a close friend.

She called you to take care of her baby. You should be proud of that.”

I smiled in spite of myself. I kinda hoped that Briony had called us fi rst. “She asked us, Blue. You’re the anchor here.

Without you, I wouldn’t trust me with holding a baby much less taking care of a kid for four days.”

She cuffed my shoulder. “Stop that. You are very trustworthy, very reliable, very maternal.”

“You’d make a great mom, too. Maybe in a few years, we could think about the whole fostering thing. What do you think?”

“I think I married the wisest, most gorgeous woman in the world.”

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“You can’t marry yourself, Laur.”

“Oh, be quite, sexy.” Her lips pulled at the part of my neck that always shut me up so I could enjoy the sensation. “Now tell me where you’re taking me for our second anniversary.”

My lips spread wide. I could feel a twinkle form in my eyes.

I’d been planning this trip without her learning a thing for over two months now. She was getting impatient, despite loving the guessing game we’d been playing. “It’s a surprise.”

“You’ll tell me.” Her fi ngers fl exed against my stomach trying to tickle me. “You want to tell me.”

“You’ll ruin the surprise.”

“I don’t care. Tell me. You’re torturing me, Jess.”

I laughed at her excitement. “Fine, if you don’t want to be surprised.”

She leaned in and kissed me quickly, bouncing on my lap.

“This is going to be good. I can feel it.”

“You did pretty well yourself last year. I have a lot to live up to.” We now traded off planning our vacations. It took away a lot of pressure and added excitement in not knowing every little detail of the plan.

She raised a hand and blew on her fi ngernails then rubbed them against her chest. “It was pretty fantastic, wasn’t it?”

“So good that I had to pull out all the stops this year. You sure you don’t want to keep guessing?”

“I’ve been guessing for weeks now, darling. Tell me.”

“Well, we’re not going alone.”

“What?” She jerked upright, surprised.

“Are you going to keep interrupting me?”

“I’ll tickle you to death if you don’t start talking, missy.”

I laughed with her this time. “We had such a good time on our pre-honeymoon, I thought maybe we could repeat that.”

Her eyes popped wide and she sucked in a deep breath. “My parents are coming with us?”

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“For the fi rst part, just like last time. Is that okay?” I asked of the unexpected trip we’d taken just after getting together.

Her caressing mouth told me the answer with enthusiasm. “I love you so much. I can’t believe you’d think of this. Do they know?”

“We’ve been plotting for two months now. We thought Dublin for a few days before we head over to where your extended family lives. They’ll stay in that bed and breakfast they liked for a couple of weeks while we get on a plane for the rest of our trip.”

“Back to Bilbao?” Her turquoise eyes sparkled, getting darker with excitement.

“Nope,” I replied almost smugly. “You’ll never guess.”

“Don’t make me.”

“What would be your ideal?”

“We had my ideal last year. St. Barts, you in a bikini for two weeks, Gracious me, that was heaven.”

“You can’t resist this body, can you?” I fl uttered my eyebrows.

“You looked damn good in a bikini yourself, Blue.”

“Stop trying to distract me, and get on with it.”

“Okay, neither of us will be in a bikini this year, unless you want to have a private showing back in our hotel room.” I paused hoping she’d offer, but she gripped my shirt harder, urging me to continue. “Fine, fi ne, if your ideal is a beach, water activities, and bikinis, this won’t be near that. Sorry, shug. I really thought this would be perfect. Looks like I fell short.”

“Jess!” Frustration marked her tone, but I knew she loved this as much as I did. “Where are we going?”