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Chapter Forty
Christmas that year was by far the best holiday Jill had ever had. She and Andrew traveled to her parents’ house for the holiday and spent almost a week with them.
He hit it off with her parents immediately. They had met Andrew in the past, of course, but hadn’t seen him in years. She was happy to see her parents really liked Andrew.
He spent time with her dad in the garage playing around with a car he was restoring. She and her mom looked through wedding magazines and Jill was relieved that this visit had come after she and Andrew had acknowledged they loved one another. The thought of facing her parents had seemed daunting when her wedding was more about a contract between two good friends than love.
With Andrew’s love and support behind her, she was happy to bury herself in wedding plans and hopes for future babies.
Andrew surprised Jill on Christmas morning with an antique box camera he’d found on Etsy. It was by far the most thoughtful present she’d ever received. For his gift, she had printed several of the shots she’d captured during their trip to Big Bend and had them framed for Andrew’s office.
Now, she and Andrew sat on the back swing on her parents’ porch. They snuggled together with mugs of mulled wine to keep their hands warm and rocked lazily in the crisp evening air.
Jill felt completely at peace. Content. It was hard to believe she had felt so off-kilter just a few months earlier, as if her whole world had been rocked and she would never find her axis again.
Now, she knew that Andrewwasher axis. Her whole world hadn’t truly ever been in balance before him.
She let out a soft mewl of happiness as she let her hand play up and down his stomach, to his chest and back down again. The feel of his strong arms around her and his warm body pressed against hers had Jill almost dozing off to sleep as they rocked.
“I think I want six.” Andrew really wanted four kids, but he figured he’d start the conversation at six so Jill would have some room to talk him down.
“Hmm? Six what?” she asked. She didn’t raise her head from his side.
“Six kids.” Now Jill’s head came up. “Six! Are you crazy? I’m thirty-five years old, Andrew. When do you think I’m going to pop out these six babies?”
Andrew laughed. “Five?” He countered.
“Two.”
“Four and a half?”
“Half?”
“Well, that’s how you negotiate,” Andrew explained. “I gotta have something left to throw away after you make your next bid.”
She shook her head but he could see the laughter in her eyes.
“Three. That’s it, mister. Three.” Jill laid her head back down on Andrew’s chest.
He waited a few beats, letting the swing soothe her back to her lazy, relaxed state.
“Okay. Four,” he said quietly.
He felt her soft laugh against his chest and pulled her tighter, kicking his legs to keep the slow rhythm of the swing going.
Chapter Forty-One
Chad walked past Jennie’s desk at noon the first day back at work after Christmas. He paused and leaned down so that only Jennie would hear his words.
“Stay late tonight? We got the go ahead from Jack and Human Resources.”
She nodded at him and he kept walking.
She met Chad in his office at the end of the day, knocking once and opening the door to his answering grunt.
“Hey,” she said, tugging the door shut behind her. “Theresa just left. There are a few people left on the other side of the building but everyone over here has left for the day. If you keep watch while I go through her desk, we should be okay.”
Chad didn’t say anything. He just shut down his computer and stood up, waiting for Jennie to go back through the door to the outer offices.
