I chuckle. “If you want. No skin off my teeth.”
“Asshole.” He holds me tighter. “I’ve never had a vasectomy,” he says after a moment.
I smile. “Good to know.”
“You, uh, feel strongly about your IUD?”
I gaze up at him curiously. “We’ve been together two weeks and you’re ready to make babies?”
“It’s come up enough times, just in general conversation, for me to know it’s important to you, and if it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”
I swallow hard, tears stinging my eyelids. I’ve been crying a lot lately, but it’s good to purge all these feelings because Ace makes me believe everything is going to be okay.
“Would you do me a favor?” I ask quietly.
“Of course.”
“Would you get my purse from the living room?”
“Sure.” He untangles my arms and pads into the living room, giving me a glimpse of his gloriously hard and sexy backside.
Damn, I love looking at his body.
He comes back with my bag and hands it to me as he gets back into bed, settling with his arms around me and some pillows propped behind us.
I dig my father’s letter out and hold it up.
“Your father’s letter,” he said softly.
I nod.
“We’re supposed to read it together.”
I meet his eyes. “You think now?”
“Have you forgiven your mom?”
“We’re going to go back to therapy, via Skype, with the counselor we used before. I’m on the road to forgiving her because she’s the only mom I have and Dad would be so upset if I cut her out of my life. She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s my mom. You know?”
“I get that.” He kisses me.
My hands shake a little as I pull the letter out of the envelope. “I don’t know what this says, but Mom said even if I never spoke to her again, to make sure we read this together. And that’s definitely my dad’s handwriting on the front.”
“Then we should read it,” he says gently.
“Okay.” I unfold two sheets of paper with handwriting on them. I clear my throat and hold it out in front of me as I start to read aloud:
My darling Shannon and Ace,
If you’re reading this, my dying wish has come true and that makes me happier than you’ll ever know. Please don’t be angry with your mother. I asked her to do it, to make this happen between you because I ran out of time.
Shannon, I had no idea that night, when I re-introduced you and Ace at the charity dinner, that it would make such a lasting impression on you. But watching you struggle to find a man like Ace, who was worthy of you, broke my heart. I knew your husband was going to hurt you, but you wanted children and your mother made me believe that if we just left the two of you to work things out, it would happen. For that, I apologize. I love your mother, but I shouldn’t have listened to her. Not then.
Ace, I knew who and what you were, so I couldn’t reach out, but I hoped you’d come home ready to settle down. I was afraid you might not, though, and now that I’m near the end, I’ve told Samantha not to wait too long, that you and Shannon need each other. I’ve followed your career, and I saw the writing on the wall, your frustration as agency politics started to interfere with the missions, the job. I hope, now that you and Shannon have found each other again, that you’re going to do the right thing, both for you and for her. I want grandchildren, and even though I won’t be there to see them grow up, I’ll be watching.
Shannon, you were the light of my life, and I wish I’d been around more when you were growing up. I loved serving my country, but the sacrifice was time with you, which, as we now know, was far too short. You’re a smart, loving woman who’s much stronger than you let on. It took guts to come to me about Douglas’s vasectomy and to walk away without looking back. He was the wrong man, but Ace is the right one, so fight for him. Don’t let him walk away; he needs you just as much as you need him, and you two have known that almost from the beginning. Sometimes, you just know. I knew the minute I laid eyes on Samantha she was the one for me, and I think the two of you knew that about each other as well.
Together, I hope you’ll do all the things I didn’t get to do. My service, my sacrifices, my country took too much. Learn from my mistakes and live your lives to the fullest. Together. You can serve in other ways, Ace, and Shannon, put yourself first sometimes. Demand his attention, because men like us sometimes need to be put in our place.
