Douglass tears her attention from the nearby twenty-foot magnolia tree that’s already in bloom since we’ve had a warm winter. The massive, white blossoms can be seen easily even in the dark.
“She’s over the moon. She wants to enjoy what she can, while she can, if that makes sense.”
“It does. I wish Mom was still here. That she and Natalie could have enjoyed a life together. Things may not be perfect today, but they’re a lot better than a decade ago. They wouldn’t have had to hide their relationship like they did back then. Just think. I could’ve become your stepbrother if they had gotten married.”
Douglass’s face scrunches with distaste right before she slaps a hand over her mouth and dissolves in a fit of laughter.
“That just sounds wrong on so many levels. You were going to be my brother-in-law. Would that have made you my stepbrother-brother-in-law, and Amelia your stepsister-wife?” Douglass stops walking, and the smile she was wearing disappears. “I didn’t mean to bring her up.”
My eyes land on her arm where Amelia hurt her. Douglass’s shirt is long-sleeved and covers it up, but I can still see the bloody marks Amelia left as clear as day.
“Nothing is off limits between us. You can tell me anything, even if it’s about Amelia. But I do agree with you that she has no place here tonight. Tonight is about you and me and no one else.”
Douglass nibbles on her bottom lip and nods. She has a true Cupid’s bow shape to her mouth, where the bottom lip is slightly plumper than the top. Her face is that of an angel, but damn if her lips aren’t made for sin. And I’m going to kiss the hell out of those lips before the night is over.
I tug her along before my mind dives down further into the gutter with all the things I want her sinful lips to do to me.
“Come on. I have a surprise for you.”
We enter the garden from the east side through a tall arch covered in climbing jasmine.
Douglass trails a hand along the hedgerow of gardenia bushes. “When I was here last, I saw some of the garden through the large kitchen window. What I saw was breathtaking. Your mom really did have a green thumb.”
Not able to stop myself, I bend to place a kiss to the top of her head. “She loved being out here. She called it her little slice of heaven. Before the cancer took her, she asked Grandpa Jack and me to spread her ashes over her prize rose bushes. I guess that’s why I spend most of my time out in the garden when I’m home. In a way, it’s like she’s still here. Like I haven’t completely lost her, you know?”
“That’s a really lovely sentiment, Jordan. I wish I had something like that to remember my mom and dad by.”
There’s a melancholy to her voice that matches the loneliness I’ve felt for years after Mom and Jack died. That loneliness isn’t as bad anymore since Fallon found me and told me I had seven other brothers and sisters. Having Harper and Bennett here also helps. But the core of it is still there, caused by my desire for a family of my own. A wife to love and share my life with, and children who will fill this big house with laughter.
Douglass gasps as we come to the center of the garden. Dandelion lights surround the small table and two chairs placed in front of the ornamental fountain shaped like a Ruby-throated hummingbird. The trickle and splash of water cascades down from the center sculpture and fills the air with the sounds of gentle rain. Miniature ball lights hang in rows overhead like a blanket of stars, giving off a serene glow.
“Jordan, this is… this is incredible. You did this?”
She looks at me like I hung the moon, stars, and all the planets in the Milky Way.
“I’m glad you like it.”
Stepping underneath the ball lights, she turns a full circle, taking in everything. The centerpiece made from the magnolia blossoms I gathered earlier catches her attention, and she dips a finger in to swirl one of the flowers.
“Thank you. I have no words.”
“First dates are supposed to be special, just like the woman standing in front of me.”
Her face breaks out in a luminous smile. “Very poetic.”
“Laying it on too thick?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. It’s perfect. I know this is going to sound pathetic, but this is actually my first ‘first date.’”
Mason never took her out on a date? I’m her first? That statement rings true on many levels. According to what she wrote in her journal, I was her first when we had sex in the storage closet. A mixture of shame and pride crash together. I have so much to make up for with this woman.
“Douglass, come here.”
“Why?”
As usual, she doesn’t do what I ask. So stubborn and defiant, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
“Because you can’t say something like that and be where I can’t touch you.”
