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Forever and Always
Maggiewasawokenearly the next morning with a slight headache and some nausea, but this had become the norm in the last week since her injury. This morning, though, she also had a distinctly warm feeling in her heart, and at her back, where Zane lay curled around her. A slow smile grew on her lips as she looked at her hand where the new diamond sparkled in the light peeking around the curtains in her bedroom. She caressed the arm around her middle, loving the familiar feel of the strong muscle under the skin of his forearm. She gave a little sigh of pleasure when she felt a kiss on her shoulder and felt the arm she had been admiring tighten around her. She wiggled to tuck herself even closer to him.
”Is this a dream?” she whispered, unable to believe she was really engaged to this amazing man. He had crashed through her carefully built up defenses and let her bloom like her favorite pink roses.
“It definitely is,” Zane responded, “and I don’t ever want to wake up from it.” His hand took her left one and caressed her fingers around the ring there, watching the glinting stone. “Tell me again, baby. Tell me you’re really going to be mine forever.”
“Forever and always,” Maggie said, emotion welling up in her chest.
In a heartbeat, Zane had her under him and was staring deep into her eyes. “Forever and always,” he echoed as he took her mouth.
He placed almost reverent kisses on her forehead, her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks. After claiming another searing kiss, he started to move down her body slowly, touching and tasting, seemingly trying to memorize every inch of her. She writhed under him, her heartbeat speeding in her chest. Her breaths coming faster as his determined exploration continued. When he reached her core, she only had enough breath to utter, “Zane, please” before she lost the ability to form words. As he conceded to her plea, she forgot all about her headache.
After they came back to themselves a while later, they lay twined around each other in the bed, listening to the birdsong starting in full force outside of the bedroom window, both lost in their own thoughts. Maggie finally broke the bubble they had been lying in. “I was just thinking,” she began.
Zane brought her hand intertwined with his to his mouth and kissed it. “About what, sweetheart?”
“Logistics,” she blurted, pushing up to look down at him, her face suddenly serious. “How are we going to make this work? The commute is already a problem. I don’t see how long term....” She broke eye contact with him and looked sad.
Zane smiled and tipped her chin up forcing her to look in his eyes again. He smiled broadly at her. “With all the, uh, excitement, I completely forgot to tell you.”
He pushed himself up to lean against the headboard, pulling her to sit across his lap. She cocked her head and looked at him inquisitively. “What?”
“Dani came to my place the night before last to kick my ass and try to talk some sense into me.” He chuckled at her half amused and half horrified expression. “Well, she did warn me when we first started dating that she’d do that if I hurt you. And you know she scares me a little.” He raised his eyebrows comically.
Maggie slapped his chest lightly. “What did she say?”
“After she got done reaming me a new one, she reminded me of the business plan that she and Beau, Lu’s therapist, had been working on for a stroke and cardiac care clinic.”
Maggie looked at him expectantly, silently encouraging him to continue. “Even through the scotch haze I was working under, I remembered it was good. After some coffee, it got even better. Yesterday, I met with her and Beau at that old brick building just past downtown. It was perfect for what we want to do. We’re starting a stroke and cardiac specialty clinic and I’m going to be the medical director.” Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a silent ‘O’. His hand stroked her hair. “So you see, no more logistical problems. I’m moving to Gladewater.”
A sob broke free and she threw her arms around his neck, clutching him to her tightly. She felt his lips turn up and the chuckle that rumbled in his chest before she let him go. “Really?” she asked, unable to believe that everything was working out so perfectly.
“Really,” he confirmed. "There's quite a lot to do to wrap up things in Dallas. I'm going to try to talk Carol into coming with me. I'm hoping she'll consider it now that her kids are grown." He ran his hands through her hair and palmed the back of her head, bringing her mouth down to his. “But that will all get worked out. Now I think we have something else to celebrate. Don’t you think?”
Maggie kissed him hard before she answered. “Most definitely.” She was going to be late to work that morning, and she didn’t even care.
After their second celebration and a long shower for two, Zane piled ingredients on the counter and searched through cabinets while Maggie dried her hair. He wanted to make breakfast for her but he was having a time trying to find the cookware, utensils and things he needed. This is a cook's kitchen. Shouldn't things be closer to hand? He was squatting next to a lower cabinet door searching for a frying pan when Maggie came into the room.
She giggled when she saw the confused expression on his face and his hair sticking up every which way proving he had been tugging on it in frustration. "What are you doing?"
A rueful grin broke out on his face as he turned and stood to face her. "I was trying to make you breakfast," he said glancing unhappily at the raw ingredients on the granite countertop. "But I didn't get very far."
She went up on her toes to give him a quick kiss. "That was a very sweet thought, but you go sit down. I'll take over."
After another kiss, or two, Zane gave in and sat at the kitchen table watching Maggie throw together some breakfast while he sipped his coffee. He thought he could get used to them being like this every day. He’d never imagined a simple domestic task could make him so happy.
“What are you grinning about?” she asked as she set a plate of eggs and toast in front of him.
“Just enjoying watching my fiance make me breakfast,” he said, his smile engaging his whole face.
“Oh, really? Does that mean you’re expecting me barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen serving you every day?” Maggie crinkled her brow into a frown, pretending insult.
“Hmmmm, while that has its appeal,” he teased, “it’s more that I just want to wake up with you every morning and be able to do regular things. Have breakfast together, come home, tell each other about our days, and go to bed together, every night. The thought of that makes me happier than I could ever have imagined.”
“Stop. You’re going to make me cry again.” Maggie sniffed and sat in his lap, hugging his neck tightly. “It makes me happy, too. I never want to be without you again.”
He wrapped her in his arms again. “You’ll never have to be.”
