When she reached out and beckoned me, my gaze fell to her tattoo. It now had an added teardrop, and our initials in script inside each droplet. She said the eye was now “crying tears of happiness.”
“Thought you’d never ask,” I said while whipping off my pants and tossing them on the floor.The heated floor.
I might have bought a big old farmhouse, but I wasn’t moving my family in until it had been updated. Bess liked living in Florida okay and all. But between the baby on the way and the party scene, it wasn’t the best place for her.
For the first few months, she worked with James, fed her growing belly, and I continued to work with my therapist. Eventually I came to the decision to take Bess back north. She had a few friends up there and loved the quiet comfort of the woods. I was making peace with my past and thought it might be a good idea to be close to Jake, who was working hard at getting his shit together.
Once I was naked I slid in behind my wife, stretching my legs around her small frame, and she lay back against my chest and sighed.
“Ah, amazing.” I relaxed and inhaled, breathing in my life. I felt like gasping for more and taking huge gulps; it would never be enough. Seeing Bess as a mom, watching her take pride in her new purpose—raising our daughter—made my heart beat and skip at the same time.
“The best,” Bess said in a breathy voice.
I looked around at the high ceiling and the large frosted glass windows they put in during the remodel. The place was growing on me. The house didn’t have the sleek modern comfort of Florida, but it had history, and its warmth seeped through your bones like hot chocolate on a cold day. I’d bought it back in early May, when Bess was getting close. She didn’t know, but AJ’s foreman, Jax, had put me in touch with a contractor who was able to rush the renovation for us, making it possible for us to move in right after the baby was born in July.
Watching a newborn Madison sleep on her momma’s chest inside the cabin, I knew I’d made the better choice. Both my girls deserved peace and quiet to live. And the little country town was benefitting too with Bess as a regular speaker at the same rehab place she’d gone to.
She was so strong, the stronger of the two of us, and I wanted our daughter to have all of that strength in its fullness. Not clouded by the bright lights and plastic smiles of the beach.
Like the rumpled piles of shoes by the door and the goofy dog with a big wagging tail, this place was a crazy, wild home. It wasn’t completely controlled and sterile, but I liked it more and more. My dad would have loved it here.
As my hair fell toward my face, reminding me of him, I smiled inside.
As for AJ, that fucker was still messed up and confused, but who the hell wasn’t? Anyway, I was fine with him as long as he kept his distance. He’d called me after getting down to North Carolina to apologize.
I’d answered the phone with a hurried hello, and he’d said, “I know you know the program by now, so I gotta ask you for your forgiveness. Sorry, my man.”
I didn’t want to give it to him, but I knew Bess would be upset if I didn’t. AJ deserved to stay clean and sober just like anyone else.
“Yeah, I got you,” I said reluctantly. “Just do what you need to do.”
“I loved her, man. I’m getting over it, but I want to know she’s happy.”
At this, I blew out a loud breath. “She’s happy, having my baby.”
“Shit ...” he breathed out. And then he hung up.
“I missed you, Lane,” Bess said, drawing me way out of my ill-timed and worthless thoughts of AJ.
Leaning in, I kissed her neck. “I know. I missed you and Mad. I have to go to California after the New Year, maybe you two will come?” I slid my hand down her side, under the water, and right to her center. She squirmed as I teased her, tickling her inner thigh, trying to get my hand where she wanted it.
“I like the beard, glad to see it’s back,” she said. I’d started to grow it before I left, but it had filled out while I was gone.
“I know you do. Want to feel it between your legs, babe?”
“Yes,” she said as she jolted from my touch landing right on her clit. “Can we get out?”
“Why?” I taunted her.
“You know why. I want that.”
“What?”
“Your beard in between my thighs, Lane,” she barely rasped out, hoisting herself up and throwing her leg over the side of the tub, not bothering to wrap herself in a robe.
By the time I stood up, she was standing there impatiently with a towel, waiting for me to get out.
I quickly dried off and picked my wife up, carrying her to the king-sized sleigh bed. A moment later, we heard a crash of some sort on the first floor and both said, “James!” before ignoring it and going back to what we were doing.
