"Yes, brat, I am, if you give me half a chance. Sophie, this is Cadie Jones. Cadie, this little monster is Sophie Palmieri."
"Nice to meet you, Sophie," Cadie said, extending a hand which the girl shook enthusiastically.
"So you must be Jo's new girlfriend, huh?" she asked bluntly.
Jo rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead at the youngster's precociousness.
"Yes, yes I am," Cadie said, grinning back at the pre-teen.
"That's cool," Sophie replied calmly. "You must be pretty special though. She's never brought anybody here for dinner before."
"Is that right?" Cadie looked at her lover, who was blushing deeply, and smiled softly.
"Go, troublemaker," Jo said gruffly as she slapped Sophie on the backside and sent her giggling on her way.
The rest of the Palmieri family settled into their places around the table but before they could begin eating Rosa had them all hold hands for grace. Cadie slid her right hand into Jo's and felt Roberto's larger, rougher hand take her left. The surprised look on Jo's face told her that it wasn't usual for Rosa to say a formal blessing before meals.
"We must thank II Padre before we eat," Rosa insisted, smiling at her guests. Everyone bowed their head and the matriarch led the prayers. "We thank you, Father, for the food on our table and the love of our family, both of our blood and of our choosing." Cadie felt Jo squeeze her hand and she smiled. "We thank you also for the life of Ron Cheswick, for the many blessings he brought to us while he was here." She paused as they all reflected on the week's events. "And finally, Father, we thank you for the new joy we see in bella Jossandra's eyes." This time it was Jo's turn to feel Cadie's reassuring squeeze. "You have seen fit to find a way to bring Arcadia into her life and we know it means only good things for them both. Amen." An echo came around the table.
Cadie opened her eyes to a circle of wide smiles that she readily returned. Jo was speechless and more than a little tearful at Rosa's gesture. Fortunately, the Italian didn't expect too much of her in response.
"Don't look so stunned, little one," she pronounced, reaching up with both hands and patting the tall woman's cheeks. "You know we have always wanted the best for you, Jo-Jo. Why would you be so surprised that we give thanks when our prayers are answered?" She beamed at the dark-haired woman.
"Thank you, Rosa," Cadie said quietly. "Thank you, all of you."
Roberto squeezed her hand. "You are familia now," he said. "Come on, everybody, we eat now. Enough talk."
Jo laughed and turned to look at Cadie, who brushed away a tear from her lover's cheek with a soft fingertip.
"I'm just a big mushball, aren't I?" Jo asked huskily.
"It's all right, sweetheart, your secret is safe with us," Cadie said solemnly, resisting the urge to tweak the embarrassed woman any further. But her twinkling green eyes gave her away.
"Oh shut up," Jo replied softly as she leaned in to steal a kiss.
"Ewww, mushy stuff. Make them stop, mama," a disgusted voice came from the other side of the table.
"Hush, Sophia," her mother admonished. "One day very soon you will realize that—how do you say it in English, Jo-Jo? L'amore fa il mondo va rotondo. "
Jo laughed and leaned towards Sophie. "Love makes the world go round, kiddo."
"Ewww, gross."
Cadie didn't have to do much convincing to persuade Jo to take a midnight stroll along the beach with her before they went back to the Seawolf. The evening had been full of fun and laughter and for the first time in weeks she felt fully relaxed and happy. She tucked herself into the crook of Jo's arm as they wandered barefoot along the Hayman Island beach. Away to their left the lights of the resort twinkled and above them the moon, approaching full once again, bathed everything in liquid silver,
Jo was silent but Cadie sensed the tall woman WHS content just to be together.
"You do realize we're going to save an incredible amount of money over the next few weeks," Cadie said finally.
There was a pause while her lover thought about the incongruousness of that statement.
"Okay, I'll bite," Jo said finally. "Why is that?"
"Because I for one won't need to eat for about a month," Cadie said with a grin. She patted her stomach. "God, I feel like a tubby little Buddha."
Jo kissed the top of her head and laughed at the thought. "S'funny, because you look like a gorgeous, sexy woman," she said softly.
"Ohhh, you are such a sweet talker," Cadie replied, standing on her toes to reach up and plant a kiss on Jo's cheek. "It was a lovely day, Jo-Jo. Thank you."
"For what?"
"For including me in everything. The wedding. Rosa and her family. It's been wonderful."
Jo was a little perplexed and she stopped walking, pulling Cadie around to face her. She tipped the blonde's chin up slightly with her fingertips. "Arcadia," she said gently. "You are a part of me. Somehow I knew that from the moment we met. I couldn't not include you in everything if my life depended on it." She gazed down into silvered green eyes. "Is that what you want, my love?" She found herself holding her breath.
"It was a beautiful ceremony today, wasn't it?" Cadie asked after a brief pause. Jo nodded silently. "I kept wondering all through it, if that was the kind of commitment you would want to make to us, one day." She saw Jo's eyes, almost black in the moonlight, widen. "Because I think it's what I want," the blonde whispered. "I just wasn't sure... I mean, we've never talked about... that kind of thing..."
Jo grinned. "When have we had the chance? Talk about your whirlwind romance."
They both laughed softly.
Jo traced Cadie's lips delicately with the pad of her thumb. "Angel, I have never in my life felt about anyone the way I feel about you." She wrapped her other arm around the blonde's waist, just wanting the feel of the compact body against her. "When I was in Sydney..." She paused, reluctant to let her mind go back there. "Women were afraid of me. I was the Dark Avenger, y'know?" She shook her head ruefully and she felt Cadie's arms slide around her reassuringly. "And when I came up here I just kept everyone at arm's length. Emotionally, at least."
Cadie chuckled at the woman's blush, just discernible in the moonlight. "It's okay, sweetheart," she said softly. "I'd pretty much figured out you were no virgin."
Jo snorted. "But then you came along," she continued. "And I didn't want to keep you at arm's length. Not ever. Not in any way at all." Cadie grinned up at her. "During the wedding I was wondering if it was way too early to be asking you to marry me." Jo swallowed hard.
"Are you proposing, Jo-Jo?" the blonde whispered, desperate to be sure she was understood properly.
Jo nodded. "I love you, Cadie. I know you were with Naomi for a long time, and that you've only been away from her for less than a week. But I can't think of any better way to tell you how I feel, than to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me."
Cadie's heart melted at the simplicity of the tall woman's words. She stretched up and captured Jo's soft lips in a deep, passion-filled kiss that escalated quickly until the skipper took them both down into the warm sand. Jo cradled her as they let the desire ebb a little into a gentle undercurrent.
"Jossandra," Cadie whispered close to her lover's ear, "it doesn't matter how long I was with Naomi. It doesn't matter how long I've been away from her. None of that mattered from the moment I saw you. It just took until Sydney Airport for me to realize it." She felt Jo smile. "Yes, my love, I will marry you."
Jo buried her face into the soft skin of Cadie's neck, speechless with happiness. Cadie smiled up at the moon over Jo's shoulder, feeling more contentment than she had a right to, she was sure. "I adore you, Jo-Jo," she said quietly. She felt the skipper pull away just enough that they could look into each other's eyes.
"And I adore you, Arcadia," came the reply. "Now and forever."
"Now and forever," the blonde confirmed.
They were content to lie sleepily entangled in the sand for several minutes, just listening to the rush and re
treat of the small waves against the beach.
"There are a lot of loose ends, baby," Jo murmured finally against Cadie's neck.
"Mhmm, that there are," the blonde agreed. "Not the least of which is figuring out what we have to do so that I can stay here permanently."
"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Jo asked, shifting so she was resting on one elbow. "We could go live back in the States."
Cadie smiled and shook her head. "Sweetheart, you just inherited your dream business. Don't try and tell me you want to give that up, because I know better." Jo grinned down at her, recognizing it for the truth. "My business is the mobile one," Cadie continued. "All I need is a phone and a laptop and I've already got those."
"What about your family, and all your stuff back in Chicago?"
"Well, Mom and Dad will understand. They've already heard a lot about you," the blonde said, brushing a stray lock of ebony hair off Jo's face as she thought about the phone calls she'd had with her mother over the past several days. "By the way, Mom called this morning while you were getting Paul organized."
"Yeah?" Jo kissed the corner of her mouth softly.
"Mhmm," Cadie replied languidly, happily noting the wave of tingles spreading through her as Jo's hands explored. "A van full of my stuff arrived on her doorstep yesterday."
Jo paused and met the blonde's eyes steadily. "Wow," she said grimly. "Fast work."
"Mhmm. The senator doesn't waste much time when she's pissed."
Jo sighed, a frown creasing her brow. Cadie reached up and smoothed it away with a gentle fingertip.
"Darling, don't worry about it. We have two months before my visa runs out. That's plenty of time to work out all these details. After all, look what we've done in just one month." They both laughed softly, and she slid a hand around the back of Jo's neck, tugging her down for another long kiss. "Right now, all I want is you."
Jo groaned. "Your wish is my command, princess," she murmured.
Several heated minutes later, it was Cadie who came up for air first. "Jo-Jo," she gasped.
"Mmm?"
"This beach is very romantic, but if you're going to continue to touch me there..." She caressed the back of Jo's intrepid hand gently and felt her lover grin against her neck. "Then take me back to the Sea wolf first. Sand in that particular spot doesn't really appeal."
A low rumbling chuckle close to her ear sent sexy chills down the American's spine but before she could make the most of it, Jo was on her feet and offering her a hand up. They walked hand-in-hand back along the beach towards the Hayman Island marina.
"Would you like to go sailing tomorrow?" Jo asked.
"Mmm, yes please," Cadie replied. "I wish we could take Mephisto with us, Jo. He hasn't seen much of us this week."
"We can," Jo said matter-of-factly.
Cadie stopped in her tracks. "Really? On the boat?"
Jo nodded, grinning at the blonde's surprised expression. "Sure. I take him sailing with me a lot. He comes from a long line of ship's cats. The only reason he doesn't come on every cruise on the Seawolf is because there's always one guest who's allergic." She kissed Cadie quickly and pulled her along the beach again. "He's an old hand."
"Cool. So we could pick him up in the morning?"
"Yup."
Silence reigned again for a few more seconds.
"Hey," Cadie said suddenly. "First one back to the boat gets to be on top." She raised a playful eyebrow.
"Oooo, you're on," Jo purred, with a lopsided, sexy grin.
Cadie crouched into a starting position.
"On your mark," she said. "Get set..." The blonde set off at a sprint, pounding along the damp, hard sand near the waterline. "Go," she yelled over her shoulder at the stationery skipper left in her wake.
Jo chuckled. "I don't know what the future's going to bring, Cadie Jones, but with you I know it's never going to be dull," she muttered, grinning as she pushed herself off, long legs chasing after the woman of her dreams.
Heart's Passage Page 39