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She had no words for such a bold statement. He didn’t seem to expect any. He merely slipped out of her and replaced her panties. When his heavy length was once again confined inside his jeans, he slid both his palms up her thighs, then cupped her mound possessively.
“I love you,” he said, his voice steady and strong. “Always and forever.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she touched his jaw. “Always and forever, River,” she murmured, knowing it was nothing short of the truth.
Epilogue
“You cannot be serious,” River muttered.
“I’m very serious. I want a midwife and no drugs. I won’t negotiate on this. I want to have this baby as naturally as possible.”
At the moment, Jeanette was sitting across the table at Wanda’s home with the entire bunch chatting and laughing at once. For the past half hour, they’d been enjoying their evening meal of grilled salmon and steamed vegetables.
Two weeks ago, Reilly and Lucy had gotten married in the gorgeous old church the Jenningses belonged to. Jeanette had been her maid of honor, while Shayla, Julie and Sarah, the fiancées and girlfriends of River’s brothers, had gotten to be bridesmaids. It’d been a wonderful summer day for a wedding.
They’d held the reception at the Blackwater Restaurant, and everyone in town had been invited. Not surprisingly, the bride and groom had come up missing an hour into the festivities. It seemed Reilly hadn’t wanted to waste a single moment once he’d slipped the ring on Lucy’s finger. Jeanette, Julie, Shayla and Wanda had worked hours to get everything ready in time for Lucy’s big day. Everything went off without a hitch, so the work had been well worth it.
Jeanette wondered how long she’d have to wait for River to propose. Knowing River, Jeanette would probably have to hit him over the head with a proposal before he managed to get the words out.
Together, she and River had told the family that the doctor had pronounced she was indeed four weeks into her pregnancy. River had puffed up with pride, a grin ear to ear. He’d promptly picked her up and led her out of the restaurant. He’d taken her back to his place and made slow, sweet love to her the rest of the day and into the night. It’d been something right out of one of Jeanette’s dreams.
Even now, as she glanced over at him, his gaze snared hers and a smile lit his face. Jeanette thought his eyes seemed a bit over bright—as if he held back tears of joy. She knew the feeling all too well.
Amazing how life could do a complete one-eighty on you. If someone had walked up to her and told her that in such a short span of time the man of her dreams would be madly in love with her and she’d be pregnant with his child, Jeanette would never have believed them. It made a woman want to cry a veritable river of happy tears. She only wished her mom and dad were there to share in her joy.
She forced her mind back to the conversation going on around her. River was in the middle of explaining to her—as if she were an unruly child—the virtues of modern medicine. But in this she was determined to hold firm.
“A hospital is fine, but I want a midwife, and I want to do this
drug free. I mean it, River,” Jeanette said, more firmly this time, driving her point home. “And just to make sure you don’t try to wiggle your way around me by talking to the doctor yourself, I’ve asked Lucy to be in the room with me when it comes time.”
River’s eyes grew wide. “So now you don’t trust me? You think I would manipulate you?”
Jeanette gave him a knowing look. “When you want something, River Jennings, you tend to move heaven and earth to get it.”
Heat filled his slow grin. “You do have a point.”
Lucy patted River on the hand. “It’ll be okay. Jeanette’s tough. I’m sure everything will work out fine.”
Since Lucy had given birth to twins, Jeanette considered the words a true compliment. Jeanette sat up straighter and took a sip of her water. “Thank you. At least someone believes I can do this.”
“Besides, if things get scary, we’ll just hog-tie her and force the doctor to our way of thinking.” She shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Lucy!” Jeanette screeched, not liking the gleam of satisfaction on the other woman’s face. “I thought you were on my side.”
“I’m on the baby’s side, girlfriend, and you know it. Whatever the baby needs, the baby will get.”
“Hear, hear!” River shouted, putting in his own two cents.
Then it was Wanda’s turn to lend her weight, and for a small woman, she could really lend a lot of weight. “I think you should listen to them, daughter. Having babies naturally can’t be easy.”
“How about we just wait and see how it goes,” Jeanette offered, knowing they were wearing her down. “Does that make everyone happy?” They all gave nods of agreement, and Jeanette suddenly wanted to cry.
Oh God, she loved them all so much. She felt incredibly lucky to have them in her life. It was just too much sometimes. After her parents had died, she’d been so alone. If not for River, she didn’t know what she would’ve done. Now she had an entire family to love and cherish.
“I’m seriously the luckiest woman alive,” Jeanette said softly, putting her thoughts into words. Everyone grew silent and gazed at her with affection. River leaned over and kissed her cheek gently. “We’re the lucky ones, sunshine.”
River stood tall and proud under the rose-covered arbor in the backyard of their family home. Love welled in his chest as he watched his sweet Jeanette walk toward him. Her pale yellow dress set off the wavy mass of her long, shiny, dark brown hair beautifully. He was a lucky man. Since the moment he’d met her, when she’d been a freshman in high school, he’d been blessed.
