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She picks her hands up and then lets them fall and slap against her thighs, creating that sound I first heard on that first day. Now I can only think about getting her into bed, about tasting her new pheromones, about claiming her all over again.
Properly claiming her. Making her mine.
“I didn’t come here to get a marriage proposal,” she says in a rush, shaking her head. “I came here to just live my life, Sturgill.”
“Sometimes that’s just the way things are,” I answer. “Everything happens for a reason.”
She raises her eyebrows. “I thought you were a man of science?”
“Science has its limitations,” I shrug. “Part of being a scientist is acknowledging when you don’t understand something. And I don’t understand how you swept through my life, and somehow found a way back here… Carrying my child…”
She closes her eyes when I say the words, shivering slightly. I move toward her, eager to feel her skin in my palms.
“You should marry me,” I say again softly, pulling her close. “We are supposed to be together.”
“Supposed to be together is just something crazy people say,” she objects weakly, but she isn’t pulling away.
“Crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” I counter as my lips brush against her hairline.
I can smell that she is different now. Her body is changing, thriving, going to work to do its essential job. I could no more let her go now than I could amputate my own arm.
“I have things to do,” she whimpers. “I have a life! I don’t know…”
“I know,” I counter as I pull her even closer, feeling how she aligns herself to me. We do fit together so well. There is something between us, something as immutable as gravity. Something I can’t think of a reason to fight against anymore.
“Everybody gets divorced!” she squeaks.
“Not my parents…” I counter. “Not your parents either. It’ll be hard sometimes. It’ll seem impossible sometimes. We will both have to be dedicated to getting it done.”
She chuckles helplessly. “Well… I am pretty good at getting impossible things done.”
“I know you are, Joanna,” I murmur as my mouth finally closes over hers.
She’s sweet and pliant, finally no longer holding back. I feel her give in to me as my arms close around her, as I step across the threshold in my mind and pledge myself to her. Now I understand what doing the right thing really means. It might be old-fashioned, and it might be the hard road, but when something this perfect materializes in your life you have to do everything you can to keep it.
That sounds mystical, I suppose. I guess I am changing too.
Epilogue
Joe… Joanna
“Didi! Didi!”
I bang on the door with the heel of my hand, breathless and concerned.
“Didi, open this door up!”
I hear a rustling around the side of the cabin and crane my neck to see her trudging through the sawgrass, holding her sarong over her knees.
“Quit your yelling!” she fusses. “You’re going to wake the neighbors!”
“You’re late!”
With a sigh, she continues to the front yard, watching the grass for lizards and snakes as she walks. When she finally reaches me, she gives me a perfunctory smile and opens the passenger-side door of my truck.
“Sorry, boss,” she mumbles as she climbs inside. I follow suit and twist the key in
the ignition, letting the sound of the engine drown out the white noise in my head.
