Amy felt her cheeks get warm, and she didn’t know why. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been married for almost a year. Plus, they’d been best friends forever before that.
“Kissing you will never get old,” she said, snuggling deeper into his arms and enjoying a little bit of privacy. It wasn’t like their whole house wasn’t private, since they didn’t have any children, and Amy was a little bit sad about that. She kind of thought that they would start having children right away. But the money that they were supposed to have inherited from his aunt after they got married had never materialized. It turned out there had been some embezzling going on, and all the money from his aunt’s estate had been needed to pay the bills. There was still some litigation going on, but Amy didn’t figure they would ever see the money.
“You look sad,” Jones said, and Amy again was amazed at how tuned into her moods he was.
“I’m not,” she said, putting a smile on her face.
“Is it the money?”
“No. We’re doing fine.” And that was true. They had to move his practice, since the place where he had had it when they got married had been sold, but it actually worked out well because they were able to move it into the building right beside Amy’s house. Where she kept her animal sanctuary. They had had to invest a little bit of money into redoing the building to contain exam rooms and a waiting room, and an operating table in the back, but they had done most of the work themselves, and their practice was busier than ever. Jones had let all the office help go, and he and Amy did everything.
Apparently people thought it was quaint that a married couple ran the veterinary practice together, and business was booming.
“You know we wouldn’t be doing so well if it weren’t for you,” Jones said.
“Because people know how ferociously I love animals because they see what a crazy animal sanctuary I have?”
“No, because they love seeing a husband-and-wife team working together. And because they see how much you love their animals.”
“All right. So I was half right.”
“I can’t even give you that much? Or you taunt me and lord it over me.”
“I’d never,” she said, swatting his arm lightly.
“When you do that, you know I have to kiss you to calm you down.”
“Is that what happens,” she murmured as his lips lowered again.
They didn’t talk for a while, but Jones finally lifted his head and looked around the kitchen.
“These are nice digs,” he said, admiring the spacious area and the high-class cabinetry and counters.
“They are, but I guess I would rather be with you than in a high-class kitchen all the time.” She wasn’t really much of a cook anyway. She could do it, because her mother had insisted she learn, but shepreferred working with animals, and Jones did too. Sometimes her meals were rather lean.
“Have you seen the way Gilbert looks at Summer?” Jones asked, lifting his brows after he rested his forehead on hers.
“I have. Interesting, isn’t it?”
“They really seem good together, although Summer seems so young compared to him. But she is a baby, and he’s this old man with practically grown children.”
“It is kind of amazing how quickly his kids have grown, isn’t it?” The thought made her a little sad. Time marched on, unceasing, relentless, sometimes it felt like. She just wanted to freeze it and enjoy being young, but someday she’d look like her mother, and Jones would look like an old man beside her, and they’d be grandparents. If they ever had any children.
“There’s that look again,” Jones said.
“I don’t have sad thoughts,” Amy said, trying to summon up a happy smile.
“But it’s Thanksgiving. You’re supposed to have thankful thoughts,” he said.
“I’m thankful for you. Thankful for my family. I’m thankful for the blessings that God gives me every day, that half the time I don’t appreciate, and I know I should, because I’m so blessed.”
“And I’m thankful for you. And I can say the same thing. God has blessed me far more than I deserve, that’s for sure.”
Amy snuggled in Jones’s arms, thankful that his aunt had died and left them money, even though they’d never gotten it. If she hadn’t done that, she and Jones might never have considered getting married, and she wouldn’t be as happy as what she was right now, pressed against him, knowing that whether they had children, whether they didn’t, whether their veterinary practice was a success or whether it wasn’t, whether they got the money eventually or whether they didn’t, it didn’t matter.
She was one of the blessed people who had found the real deal. A man of character and convictions who would love her until he died.
Chapter Twenty-Five
