She waved her hand like she was erasing the conversation. “I’ll be more relaxed after my vacation. It’s been a while since I got away.”
“Be careful there, yeah?”
She rolled her eyes. “What trouble are a bunch of teachers going to get up to in Vegas?”
Jonah carefully walked toward me. If the water got choppy, he had brought a wide-based cane, but so far he hadn’t needed it. He sat next to me.
“She thinks you’re getting me wood for Valentine’s Day,” I said.
He smirked. “Sunshine, I’ll get you whatever you want, but I will always have plenty of wood for you.”
Seven months later . . .
Summer
This year, Valentine’s Day was much different. I wasn’t in an itchy wedding dress and I wasn’t dreading a church full of family, friends, and future in-laws I couldn’t stand. I was in a living room with a special present for Jonah. I’d gotten home from work an hour ago, but I’d made a stop I hadn’t told Jonah about.
I was cuddled on the couch, in the old blanket Vera had made for me when I was a teen. Jonah was busy in the shop, taking fewer but more complex, customized projects like the collectible epoxy tables to free up his time. He could charge top dollar for those, which meant he could schedule long gaps between orders to do what he wanted, like make his parents matching nightstands. He still sold his hobby pieces at the coffee shop, but with Myles’s help, he’d started a foundation in Eli’sname. People who needed mobility modifications in their homes could get financial aid.
The savory smells of an elk roast Jonah had put in a Crock-Pot before work filled the air. He and my brothers had split the one elk they’d gotten while hunting last fall and then donated another portion of the meat.
I’d made a fresh salad to have with it.
A snowstorm was on the horizon and I’d also brought home my work laptop and a load of groceries. Just in case I got to be stranded with my husband again.
The back door opened. The thumps of Jonah kicking snow off his boots rang through the house. Stormy’s claws clattered against the floor and then the sloppy noise of lapping water filled the silence.
“Hey, sunshine,” he called.
“Hey, mountain man.”
His footsteps and the thump of his cane on the floor grew closer. His leg bothered him more before a weather change. I’d give him a nice long massage tonight. And he’d give me a nice long orgasm or three.
His cool arms wrapped around me. He smelled like fresh-cut pine and impending snowstorm. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“This had been the best one ever.” We hadn’t done anything different than any other day. With the snow on the way, we hadn’t wanted to go out, and it was a weekday. I’d told Jonah that every normal day with him blew away any other day.
He said his greatest gift was when he went to sleep with me and woke up to me, and being inside me, and when he ate with me. He would’ve kept going if I hadn’t shushed him with a kiss.
He reached behind him and produced a short, flatbox wrapped in pink paper with red hearts. “I made this for you.”
Grinning, I ripped the paper off. The box was plain with no logos. When I took the lid off, I squealed. A thick pair of pink-and-cream woolly mittens. When we shoveled, I always complained about ruining my cute pairs working outside.
Usually he let me run the skid steer and stay out of the wind.
I put my hands into the cozy mittens. “I love them, and they’re so cute.” I grabbed a gift bag at my feet that was wrapped in similar wrapping paper. “Here’s yours.”
His face was full of interest when he came around the couch and sat next to me. He always looked stunned to get a gift. Christmas with him had been interesting. We’d gone to his parents’ new place for Christmas Eve. The evening had been cozy and quiet, a way to mellow out before the chaos of Christmas at Mama’s.
He opened the bag and a deep laugh rumbled out of him. His grin stayed broad while he withdrew a black pair of Carhartt winter gloves. “I needed a new pair.”
“Great minds think alike.” I reached behind me where I’d hid the other part of his present. “But that’s not all.”
“Oh shit, you got me more?”
The panic on his face was endearing. I withdrew the baggie. “It’s for both of us.”
Shock stole his expression as he took the pregnancy test from my hands. In block letters was PREGNANT. “You’re pregnant?”
