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His forehead shifted down to touch hers. "We can start again? You and me, without money standing between us?"
"Yes, please."
"I want you to move in with me."
Jessica gasped. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I am. We can find someone to sublet this apartment but first, we'll move your stuff to my house tomorrow."
"How . . . how will I get back and forth to work? And to school?"
"We'll get you a car. Something mid-size, something safe."
"I don't know, it doesn't seem like an equitable relationship."
"Fuck equitable. I want you to move in. Tomorrow, okay?"
Jessica took a deep breath and saw the nervous tension on his face. "You really love me?"
His eyes blazed into hers. "Yeah, I really love you."
Jessica felt her heart melt. "Okay, I'll move in tomorrow."
Epilogue
How had the years flown by so quickly? How could he possibly be thirty-five years old and Jessica twenty-seven? As he waited for Jessica's plane to make its descent, with a chubby little hand clutching his, Connor took a deep breath and repeated the same prayer he always repeated when she was in the air. Dear God, keep her safe, keep the baby safe, give us many long years together.
As he heard her flight number called and knew that Jessica's plane had touched down safely, he felt his stomach unclench as it did every time she made it home in one piece. She only had to make three or four short trips a year these days, but it hadn't always been this way.
By far, the worst had been the six months right after she'd graduated from college. The same petroleum company she worked for now, the same one that had awarded her the scholarship seven years ago, had sent her to Antarctica for six months. Six months. He still remembered his panic as if it had only been yesterday.
It had been Jessica's dream job, the opportunity of a lifetime, and Connor remembered the spiral of fear he'd felt when she'd told him she was accepting the job and leaving within the week. The look on her face and the sound of her voice when she'd told him formed a memory that he'd never forget. Her words had been determined but tremulous at the same time, and he'd quickly figured out he had to support her decision to make the trip because he couldn't take the chance of losing her altogether.
But that hadn't stopped him from hustling her to the airport, and with one of the best memories of his life tickling his mind, he thought about the gobsmacked look on her face as he'd spelled it out and put it on the line for her. He would let her go to Antarctica without a fight . . . but she was marrying him in Las Vegas before she went.
Those six months had been hell, but their marriage and video chat had enabled him to live through it.
But that didn't mean he wanted to repeat the experience.
He inhaled deeply as the plane began to debark and a mass of people began coming down the ramp. Finally, Jessica came around the corner and hurried toward them. Her face lit up and her eyes flashed wickedly at him, but she went down on her haunches and took their daughter into her arms first, her maternal instinct strong and something else he loved about her. She stood to her feet, their little girl in her arms, and he hugged them both close, feeling as if his world was right again.
"How was Houston?" he asked.
"The same . . . but worse."
He frowned. "How so?"
"I was sick to my stomach every morning." With their daughter looking between them with her thumb in her mouth, Connor studied Jessica thoughtfully.
"You mean--"
"Yes, I mean," she laughed.
His arms tightened around her, pleasure exploding inside his brain and running through his veins. "How?" he couldn't stop the question that spilled from his mouth.
"How? Really, Connor?" Jessica was fully laughing now, and at the obvious joy on her face, he felt a river of happiness envelop him as he hugged his precious gifts to his heart, before taking them home.
The End
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I appreciate all the interest in Josh and Hannah's coming story, which was the excerpt in the back of Marco's Redemption. I promised another piece of their story, and here it is. :) They are teenagers during this scene, as well.
Josh and Hannah--excerpt #2--Copyright Lynda Chance 2013
A few more slow, agonizing weeks slid by. And then one day, Hannah was studying at a small, cramped table in the school library across from one of the sweetest, geekiest boys in town. Her brain was involved with the advanced trigonometry she was focused on, and she didn't think anything about her place at the table or her math partner until something made her look up from her notebook and she saw Josh standing a few feet away, watching her with an arrested expression on his face.
For a few seconds he stood completely still and stared at her, his feet glued to the floor and his gaze glued to her. Her breath seized up in her lungs as his eyes dropped to her lips and then slowly, to her breasts. Her muscles tightened and a thousand butterflies went crazy in her stomach and she barely managed to take in enough oxygen to sustain her. She licked her lips and his eyes found hers again, his nostrils flaring. And then he glanced to her right and as his eyes fell on the boy she was sitting with, he visibly stiffened.
Steven, her study partner, must have felt the tension take hold of her because he glanced up from his math book and his gaze travelled in the direction she was looking. His shoulders jerked and he swallowed hard, as he no doubt realized that he was the reason Josh Turner stood glaring in their direction.
Josh stood erect with his shoulders squared as his eyes moved away from Steven, back to Hannah and then back to Steven again. His fists clenched and his mouth flattened as his gaze narrowed on the younger boy. There was a harsh, distinctive hardening of Josh's green eyes and Hannah was quietly alarmed as his stance seemed to grow as he drew breath into his lungs, his chest and arms tensing in an aggressive manner. There was no question that he was pissed, even though he seemed to be trying to control it. The facial scars that always gave him an air of menace stood out more prominently than usual as his face filled with heat.
Not a word was spoken, but Hannah could almost feel the cold sweat break out on Steven. Josh never moved a step, never said a word, just stood and silently waited, his hostility more than apparent.
Steven received the silent message, and stood up with haste and left the room.
Josh's eyes stayed on Steven until the door shut and then his gaze slid back to Hannah. Almost immediately, his posture relaxed as his eyes drank her in. His expression visibly softened, and even though she knew she should be upset by his display of ownership, she wasn't. Her insides were like marshmallows, and since she couldn't date him, touch him, or even talk to him, this was the only source of communication she had with him. His display of jealousy was like a balm washing through her.
Hannah had about ten sweet seconds of his eyes devouring her, his attention focused on her, and during those seconds, the realization came to her that this wasn't just a high school crush for her. She wasn't merely infatuated with him; this was an emotion deep in her soul that she was very much afraid would never go away.
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