AllFreeNovel
Share Us
'This is it,' he announced, and removed the blindfold from her eyes. 'I hope you like it.'
She was standing by the rockery she had built for her aunt, and, looking up, she gasped. Six feet up, cut into the cliff face, was an oval niche lined with blue mosaic tiles and containing a perfectly sculptured statue of the Madonna and child. Tears flooded her eyes, and unashamedly she let them fall.
Luke's arms wrapped around her. 'I know you said your Aunt Mary would have liked a gravestone but she didn't think it was right somehow. I thought you might like this instead.' His hand rubbed up and down her back. 'I'm sorry if I was wrong. Please don't cry. I can't bear to see you cry,' Luke groaned against her hair.
Jemma tilted back her head, a tremulous smile on her lips, her eyes swimming with tears of joy tinged with sadness for what the statue represented. She knew Luke loved her, he had shown her in a thousand ways, but that her formidable husband had had the sensitivity to think of such a marvellous present overwhelmed her. 'You weren't wrong, Luke. I love it—and I love you,' she said, her heart in her eyes. 'I would never have thought of it, but I'm sure Aunt Mary would have approved; it's the most wonderful surprise ever.'
'It's a Greek thing, I suppose,' Luke husked, and brushed his lips against hers, then slipped his tongue into the sweet moistness with an ever-deepening pleasure. Finally, when he lifted his head to let her breathe, he added, 'I must confess I do have another motive for bringing you here.'
'You do?' Enfolded in the warmth of his embrace, his aroused state very evident against her belly, her pulse racing and her heart overflowing with love, she had a good idea what he had in mind.
She wasn't exactly wrong…
'Yes, it's a family tradition I want to revive,' he said, nuzzling her neck where the pulse beat heavily in her throat, his hand stroking over her breast. 'Theo was conceived on this beach, and so was my mother. With your agreement, I want our next child to share the tradition.'
Nine months later, Lucy Marie did…
