Letters to Gabriella

by Patricia Paris

  When Chloe got home from school, she looked at Justin and frowned.

  “I know you’re Mr. Blake,” she said, wrinkling her forehead, “but you look more like your brother Justin to me.”

  Gab and Justin looked at each other and shook their heads.

  “I am Justin,” he said, opening his arms to give the girl a hug. After he did, he lifted her up onto his hip and asked, “How do you think I look like me and not Blake, Chloe?”

  “’Cause you see me different,” she said, her answer baffling him.

  Gabriella didn’t seem to understand anymore than he did and shrugged her shoulders at her daughter’s response.

  “What do you mean he sees you different?” Gab asked, angling her head.

  Chloe rolled her eyes at them as if they were both dense. “Mr. Blake’s real nice, and I really like him and all, but when he sees me, I’m just Chloe…you know, like a kid. But when Justin sees me, I’m still a kid, but not like all the other kids. He sees me special.”

  Justin’s heart turned over. He swallowed the lump that rose in the back of his throat. Gabriella was staring at her daughter, her eyes turning bright with unshed tears. He wrapped his arms a little tighter around the girl and hugged her against his broad chest. “If I see you special, it’s because you are special.” His voice cracked a little from all she’d made him feel.

  “Are you gonna have supper with us tonight?” Chloe asked, already moving on.

  “What if I take you and your momma out for dinner?” Justin suggested. “We haven’t done that in a while, and I’d like to treat my two favorite girls to an evening on the town.”

  “Cool!” Chloe lifted her hand to give him a high five.

  “Why don’t you go put your things in my office, honey, and since it’s the weekend, you can watch a movie before we go to dinner instead of doing your homework right away.”

  “Awesome!” the girl cheered.

  Justin lifted her back down, and Chloe grabbed her backpack and ran into the house. When he looked at Gabriella, she was studying his face. The corners of her mouth twitched as she watched him watching her.

  “What?” he asked, curious about what she found so amusing.

  “I never noticed it before, but she’s right.”

  Justin took hold of her hands and eased her toward him.

  “What is she right about?”

  “I should have known it was you all along. You see me different.”

  The fire in his eyes blazed with love as he began to lower his mouth to hers. She was right. He did see her different because she was like no woman he’d ever known or would ever know again.

  AFTER GETTING back from dinner the three of them played a game of Scrabble. Justin was at a huge disadvantage because they had agreed that to try and make the odds fair for Chloe, to only use words relating to fairy tales or Disney movies.

  He did successfully argue that food applied because everyone had to eat, and climb because he knew he’d heard fairy tales where someone had to climb something, although he couldn’t say which ones.

  When Gab came back downstairs after putting Chloe to bed, she was delighted to discover Justin had carried in some wood and was building a fire in the large brick fireplace in the living room.

  “Why don’t I get us some wine?”

  He looked over his shoulder and nodded. “Sounds good.”

  Upon her return she saw that he had piled several cushions on the floor in front of the fire, and she walked over to join him there. He took the glasses from her and set them on the side of the hearth. Turning back around, he reached for her and drew her into the circle of his arms, against the solid warmth of his chest.

  “I don’t think I can wait one more night to make love to you,” he said huskily, his hands stroking up and down her back, along her sides and over her breasts. Gabriella closed her eyes and languished in his touch. He was magic, and she willingly let him pull her under his spell.

  THE FOLLOWING morning, Gabriella made French toast layered with fried bananas and a side of bacon for breakfast. Serve him bacon with just about anything and Justin thought he’d be a happy man. While she was cleaning up the dishes, he went down to the pier with Chloe to fish.

  Justin wasn’t much of a fisherman, never had been, but apparently Gab’s daughter had taken up the sport and enjoyed it.

  “Who taught you how to cast?” he asked Chloe when she pulled her rod back and released it with a gentle flick of her wrist.

  “Mr. Blake.” She glanced back at him and smiled. “He took me and Ben out in their johnboat,” she told him, and he chuckled at her use of the term. “Me and Ben get to fish from their dock sometimes, too. I want to practice ‘cause Ben’s been fishing a mite longer than me, and that’s why he’s better at it.”

  Justin bit his lip trying not to smile. He could just imagine his brother saying those exact words to Chloe so she wouldn’t feel bad if Ben were catching fish and she wasn’t.

  “Maybe I’ll go up to the shed and get another pole so we can fish together,” Justin suggested, thinking it would be a nice way to bond with the girl he hoped would soon become his daughter.

  She threw him a cautious look. “I don’t think we have any more poles.”

  “Yes you do. I saw a couple hanging on the back wall of the shed when we got yours out.”

  “Well…” She chewed on her lower lip, looking hesitant, and he got the distinct impression she didn’t want to fish with him. Maybe she thought he was as good as Blake and Ben and didn’t want to be shown up again.

  “I’m not very good at it,” he said, trying to boost her confidence.

  “Yeah, I know. Mr. Blake told me if I wanted to learn to fish, he’d teach me ‘cause if you did it, I might end up with a hook in my bottom.”

  Justin grimaced. “And you don’t want to end up with a hook in your bottom? Is that it?”

  She shook her head emphatically. “Or no place else,” she informed him with wide eyes.

  “Okay. Well, you don’t mind me sitting here with you while you fish, do you?”

  “No.” She gave him an angelic smile that mended any harm her critique of his fishing skills had done to his male pride. “I like you being here.” And there went his heart again.

  “Chloe, you know I like you and your momma a whole bunch, right?” Justin leaned forward where he sat on the dock and rested his forearms on his knees.

  Chloe nodded. “Ummhmm. I like you a bunch, too. I think Mom does, too.”

  “I think she does, too. And we have lots of fun together, you and your mom and me. That’s why I want to get your advice about something.”

  “Okay.”

  “You see,” Justin said, wondering if he was approaching this the right way. “I’d like to spend a lot more time with you and your mom.”

  “You mean like a family?” the adept girl asked.

  “Exactly like a family. Do you think you’d like that?”

  “Would you be like my dad?”

  Justin nodded. “I sort of thought so. Of course, I’d have to marry your mom, which I think would be pretty cool, too.”

  Chloe put her pole down on the boards and gave him a fist bump. “Awesome!” she said. “And you’d really be my dad?”

  “It would make me real happy if I could be. The only thing is, I need to ask your mom if she’ll marry me. Do you think she might say yes?”

  Chloe scratched her head. “Well…I think so. Do you want me to ask her for you?”

  Justin chuckled. It hadn’t occurred to him the girl might interpret his attempt to win her over as a plea for help to convince her mother to accept him.

  “I think I should probably ask her myself, but thank you. I just need to get a little time alone with your mom so I can convince her what a good idea it would be for us to be a family. How does that sound to you?”

  “Cool! Why don’t you ask her now?”

  “I think that’s a great idea. You won’t mind if your mom and I go outside on the porch by o
urselves for a bit so I can ask her?”

  Chloe shook her head. “I can pretend I want to watch a video. It’s the weekend so Mom will probably let me.”

  They agreed to the plan, and Justin swore her to secrecy.

  When they walked back up to the house a few minutes later, Chloe took his hand and looked up at him with a broad smile, matching her step to his. They went around to the front of the house, and before going inside Justin winked at her and put his finger to his lips.

  Chloe matched the gesture and giggled, a true conspirator at heart.

  GAB WAS just putting the last of the dishes from breakfast away in a spare filing cabinet in her office, their temporary home until the kitchen was done, when Justin came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Everything all cleaned up?” he asked, nibbling on her ear.

  “Yep, but from the way you’re gnawing on my lobe it seems you’re still hungry.”

  He turned her around and grinned down at her. “I’d like to gnaw on a few other things right now,” he teased, dropping his mouth to her neck and sending a shiver of delight that reached all the way down to her toes.

  “Walk outside with me,” he said, raising his head and looking at her with an intensity she found almost alarming. “I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Is everything all right?” she asked, a little uneasy over his seriousness.

  “I’ll let you know after we talk.” He put a hand against her back and steered her out of the office and into the living room.

  Chloe was on the couch playing with some of her dolls. She looked up at the two of them and said, “Mom, can I put a Dora video in?”

  Gab agreed, thinking it would give her and Justin a little time alone so he could tell her whatever was so important it had him looking nervous enough to make her nervous.

  They walked out onto the porch, and he sat down on the front steps, reaching up for her hand and pulling her down beside him. Her heart was racing. She tried not to imagine anything negative. Just because his expression was solemn didn’t mean it had to be bad.

  He looked around at the yard, turned his head and looked at the house, then leaned it back and took in the porch roof. She was glad he had been able to come to terms with the house and, more importantly, with her father. It meant so much to her to discover, after all the years of feeling unwanted, to know her dad had loved her, and she wanted to be able to cherish the knowledge without upsetting Justin.

  “This really is a great house,” Justin said, glancing at her. “Once Blake finishes the kitchen and dining room remodeling, we should talk to him about updating the second floor bathrooms…maybe redoing the master bedroom.”

  Gabriella blinked and stared at him. She wasn’t planning on doing any other remodels, at least not for a while. What money she had left when this one was done she had earmarked for landscaping in the spring.

  “I’ll have to wait a couple of years before tackling any other major renovations,” she told him. “I want to put some of the money I budgeted into fixing up the yard before I do anything else in the house.”

  She cocked her head and looked over at him. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked. “My remodeling projects?”

  He grinned. “We should put in a garage, too.” He hitched his head toward the far side of the house. “That shed isn’t big enough, and if we’re going to live on the water, we should keep the cars parked in a garage to protect them from the salt air.”

  “Is there anything else you think needs to be done?” she asked, catching her lower lip between her teeth, afraid to hope this was going where she suddenly suspected it was going.

  He leaned his head toward hers and kissed her softly on the mouth, his eyes burning into hers. “The corner bedroom. It’s got great light, but the windows are old and probably drafty. I think we should replace them.”

  “You do?”

  He nodded. “We’ll do all the windows while we’re at it. Then I won’t have to worry about you and the kids being cold in the winter.”

  “What kids?” She gazed up at him.

  He regarded her with tenderness, his heart in his eyes. “Chloe,” he said, “and the ones we’re going make as soon as you agree to marry me.”

  Gabriella threw her arms around his neck, and he crushed her to him, his mouth covering hers with a hunger that made her dizzy. He wanted to marry her. They were going to be a family and raise their children here in this home and grow old together.

  Justin dragged his lips from hers and trailed them over her forehead, down the side of her face, and across her ear. “I hope that’s a yes,” he whispered hoarsely, “because I was also thinking I could build a man cave onto the back of the garage.”

  Gabriella leaned her head back and laughed. He kissed her throat, and she could feel him smiling against her skin. It felt so right. It felt perfect. She brought her hands around to take his face in them and met his warm gaze.

  “You can have a man cave if you promise not to hang animal heads in there,” she said between kisses.

  “Deal.” He kissed her again, nipping at her lips. “Can I hang naked pictures of you?”

  “No,” she told him, fighting back a grin, “but you can hang a big-screen television.”

  “What did I do to deserve a woman like you?”

  Gabriella shrugged. “You’re just lucky I guess.”

  Justin touched his forehead to hers and looked into her eyes. What she saw there filled her with a joy unlike any she had ever known. He was her future, and no matter what path life led them down, they would walk it together, hand in hand, heart to heart.

  Afternoon turned into evening and as the sun went down, everyone found a spot to enjoy the fireworks show Blake and Ted were preparing to set off down in the sand.

  Justin and Gabriella sat stretched out on a blanket in the same spot they had exactly a year ago to the day. She’d been Delaney’s guest, a newcomer to town, and after two months of chance encounters that led to nowhere, she’d finally met the man fate had intended her for.

  She glanced around. Delaney and Mary O’Meara stood several feet away gushing over little Kate as the girl took some toddling first steps. Delaney looked up and smiled, waving to them and pointing to her daughter’s accomplishment.

  Chloe and Ben were with all the other kids, jumping around and twirling sparklers. Girlish laughter and squeals of delight over being allowed to play outside so late mingled with boyish taunts of butt-head, poopy-face, and a few fart jokes.

  Gabriella leaned her head against Justin’s shoulder and smiled. This was where she belonged. This was home.

  “I guess some things never change,” Justin said, chuckling at the kids. He kissed the top of her head and slid an arm around her waist. Gabriella snuggled against him. “I’m glad.”

  “You know what I’m glad about?” He slid his hand back and forth seductively over her ribcage.

  “Tell me,” she said, trying to ignore the fire he was stoking.

  His warm amber eyes glowed down at her, never failing to ignite her desire when he looked at her that way. “I’m glad I’ve only got to wait about two more hours before I can get you naked in bed.” He grinned, knowing full well the effect he had on her, and wiggled his brows.

  Laughing, she punched him in the arm. “Stop it. It’s not nice to tease.”

  Justin leaned down and stroked her ear with his tongue. “But you like it when I tease you.”

  She snorted. “Do not.”

  He chuckled low and warm. “Wanna bet?” He gave her a little nip and drew her lobe into his mouth.

  Gabriella groaned and then pushed him away. “You’re insatiable.” She reached up and combed her fingers through her short black hair and then looked at him. Unable to keep a straight face, she broke out into a grin. “And I’m so glad you are.”

  It was his turn to groan, and she curled her mouth into a payback is hell smile.

  “Hey, Jus,” Blake called at tha
t moment. “Can you give us a hand here a minute?”

  Justin held up a finger and with his other hand pulled her head to his for a blistering kiss. When he eased back, Gabriella had to drag in a steadying breath.

  “Something to keep you warm until I get back, sugar,” he said, giving her a crooked grin. Yeah, payback was hell.

  She didn’t tell him that kiss could have kept her warm until next May. Lord, she was easy…but only for him, as it had always been, only for him.

  Delaney joined Gab a few minutes later, balancing Kate on her hip. “Look at those two,” she said, hitching her head toward Blake and Justin who were securing a rocket on the beach. “Have you ever seen two more gorgeous specimens of male in your life?”

  Gab smiled. She really hadn’t. And not only were they beautiful men on the outside, they were beautiful on the inside.

  “Nope, and you’ve got another one bringing up the rear who’s going to start setting another generation of Glebe Point females all atwitter in about ten years,” Gab said.

  They both swung their heads and looked at Benjamin. Delaney smiled, her dimples lighting up her face. “It’s uncanny how much he looks like Blake and Justin. When I see pictures of them as boys, I could swear it’s Ben I’m looking at.” She juggled Kate to her other hip and slid Gabriella a glance. “Have you told Justin yet?”

  Gabriella shook her head. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment.” She shifted her gaze to her husband and felt a warm glow flow through her. She put a hand on her belly, where Justin’s baby had begun to grow.

  Delaney smiled at her. “You know he is going to freak out!”

  Laughing, Gab nodded her head in agreement. “He’s going to be an amazing father. He already is with Chloe, and whenever I imagine him holding a tiny baby in those big arms, it brings tears to my eyes.”

  Delaney brushed her cheek. “Don’t start that or I’m going to be bawling as bad as when the two of you told us you were getting married.”

  Gabriella looked at her sister-in-law and slipped an arm around her shoulder. The two women exchanged glances, each knowing they had formed a bond that was special, even among real sisters. They smiled at one another and then looked back down to the waterfront. They looked at their men, and each reveled in the love they had found.