“I…he—he told me, um, he didn’t ask me for permission, but he said he wanted to date you, and I realized…”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. What you’re really saying is, petty jealousy took over, is that it?” Her hands hit the counter with a smack, and as the kettle began to boil, so did her temper.
“No,” he scoffed, and shook his head like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. “I just—Matt wanted to let me know, I guess, because...you know...we were supposed to get married, and he wanted me to hear it from him, before I heard it from anyone else.”
It was a decent thing to do, Jessica thought, especially since Matt didn’t owe his brother any kind of an explanation.
“I’m not interested,” Jessica grabbed the now-whistling kettle and poured a cup of steaming water.
William walked over to the kitchen, leaning on the counter. “How can you say that?” he seemed genuinely shocked, like he’d expected her to leap into his arms the minute he said he wanted her back.
Jessica dipped a teabag into the water and watched it float before it settled and sank into the cup. It was clear to her what this was about. William didn’t really want her, but he also didn’t want his brother to have her. But something else hit her, too. William was a petty, sad excuse of a man, and the luckiest day of her life was when he ran out on their wedding.
“I think you should go.” Her intent was firm and resolute. This conversation was over. Suddenly, it washed over her. The mistake she’d made.
You almost married the wrong brother. Wasn’t that what Maggie said recently?
“Jessica, you were everything to me, and you can be again. I know it. And I’m not asking for an affair, I-I’ll get a divorce and we can…” His words trailed off as she held up a hand for him to stop. Then she leaned both hands on the counter, so they were facing each other, only a few feet apart.
“William, you are a ridiculous man, to come here while your new, trusting wife is at home, or wherever she is. You’re newly married, and yet you have the nerve, the utter gall, to stand here, saying these things which, as you and I both know, are only out of petty jealousy. You don’t care about me. You just can’t stand the thought that I might love your brother in a way I could never have loved you.”
He wagged a finger at her. “That’s not true. You and Matt aren’t good together.”
Her heart softened at hearing Matt’s name, the man she’d so quickly discarded, insisting she was broken. How stupid she was, not to have realized until this very moment that she wasn’t the broken one after all.
She shook her head and said, softly, “Matt and I are great together. In fact, I’ve never met anyone like him, and I realize now I’ve loved him for as long as I can remember.”
“You’re a tramp!” William spat. “You can’t have one brother, so you go after the other.”
Bile soured her throat and mouth. “I want you to go. Now, William.”
“No, not until you listen to reason. This is ludicrous! Do you have any idea what people are going to say? First one brother, then you trade him in for the lesser sibling.”
Now she was really pissed, so much so that her hand itched to slap his face.
“You couldn’t be remotely like Matt on your best day, William, and you know it. In fact, that’s why you’re here. You thought you were the star of the family, going off to law school, and now working in a big, prestigious law firm.
She threw up her arms. “And Matt! Well, what did Matt end up doing but cleaning up your messes and going off to help save the world? And you can’t stand that, can you? That no matter how many degrees you get, or how big your paycheck, you’ll always be a poor man’s Matt.”
She licked her lips and continued. “Now you read that Matt and I survived this storm, we were alone together for a couple of days, and you just had to swoop in before something more happened, didn’t you? Well, let me tell you, something did happen. I fell in love, maybe for the first time in my entire life.” An image of Matt, strong and tall, filled her mind. “He is the most amazing person I have ever met.”
Something caught in her throat, the mere mention of him, and the overwhelming love she felt for him rushed through her, leaving her breathless.
“You’re sick!” William’s arms were at his sides, his hands balled into fists.
Jess shrugged, “Maybe I am, but I’m not the married one, begging my former fiancée to get back together with me. Now leave, or I’ll call security.” She picked up the intercom phone in the kitchen.
“Fuck you.” William snarled. He marched into the living room, grabbed his coat, and strode out the door without another word. Only when the door slammed did Jessica breathe a sigh of relief.
The next moment, she felt the full impact of the horrible mistake she made.
24
The meetings couldn’t end soon enough. Jess was on the train, headed home. She rehearsed what she would say, but nothing could have prepared her for actually seeing him in person.
She walked into Brady’s because she’d first knocked on his door and hadn’t gotten an answer, but she saw his truck, so she knew he was either in the pub or on a walk.
She’d literally gotten off the train, tossed all her stuff in her car, and driven straight over. She hadn’t gone to her shop first, as she normally would, and she hadn’t gone home.
She needed to see Matt with a desperation she hardly recognized. As if her life depended on it. And maybe it did.
Had it been weeks since she saw him? No, only days, but it felt like weeks now.
He was sitting on a barstool at the pub, a bottle of beer in front of him. Some sports game was on, and that had his attention until he felt her looking at him.
He turned his head slowly.
“Hey,” she said as calmly as she could, which wasn’t at all that calm, because standing this close to him made her heart leap and her pulse kick up. A lot.
He only nodded and looked back at the TV.
Damn it. What was she supposed to do now?
“Um. Matt? Hi, can we, um…talk…?” Well, high marks for sounding coherent, Jessica.
Their gazes locked and held.
“It killed me when you left,” he said quietly. “If you aren’t sure, if this is you riding in here on a boatload of guilt, or some sorry attempt to be friends, for chrissakes, then I need you to leave.”
Jessica closed her eyes, guilt squeezing her lungs so tight she couldn’t breathe. She’d hurt him badly, and had no one to blame but herself for that.
Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and said, “That’s not why I’m here.” She glanced left and right. It was noon, and Brady’s wasn’t terribly busy, but people were starting to notice them.
She leaned closer to him. “Can we go upstairs and talk?”
Matt didn’t respond for a minute. He just looked at her, his eyes hot. When he scrubbed a hand over his face, she stilled. For a moment, she wasn’t at all sure he would to talk to her, ever again. He looked back at his beer, and desperation swept through her.
“I love you,” she said, maybe louder than she should have. A few heads turned in her direction, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered except this man.
“I want to marry you and have babies and spend our lives together.”
He turned to look at her and cleared his throat. “Jess, did you just propose to me?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
She heard “awwwws” from a few of the tables.
Matt reached in his pocket, yanked his wallet out, and threw some bills on the counter. The bartender nodded at him. Matt grabbed her hand.
“Let’s do this upstairs,” he said, and pulled her along, not all that gently.
They walked outside and up the short staircase. Matt opened the door for her to go in ahead of him.
Once they were inside, he tur
ned to her. “What’s all this about? A few days ago, you were too broken. What changed?”
It was a reasonable question, she thought, but a complicated answer. The only way she knew through this was with the truth.
“Your brother came to see me.” Shock and anger rocketed across his face.
“He did what? When?!”
She walked over to the couch and sat. “While I was in New York, he showed up at the apartment to tell me he wanted me back.”
Matt covered his face, shaking his head, his shoulders jerking. She was about to run to comfort him when he erupted with laughter, and when she looked surprised, he held up a hand. “I’m sorry, but what an idiot he is. That poor wife of his is in for a mess of pain and misfortune.”
Jessica let out a sigh. She didn’t disagree.
“Then what happened?”
“I-I realized…I mean, I believed all these years that it was me, that I wasn’t good enough. I thought I was either too much, or too little, for anyone to want.”
He stared at her.
“Jess, are you serious?”
She nodded.
“And when you and I…” she trailed off, wanting to let the silence finish her sentence.
He waited.
Finally, she took a deep breath and continued. “I was so overwhelmed with what I felt, and so terrified that I’d screw it up. I assumed I had lost William because of me, something I did.” She began to cry. “All this time,” she sobbed, “I assumed it was me.”
Matt sat next to her and took her hand, “How could you ever think any of it was your fault?” he asked tenderly.
She licked her lips and looked at him. “I know I hurt you, but I love you, so much, and I was so stupid, Matt, so stupid… Especially when I didn’t realize it years ago.”
He wiped a tear off her cheek.
“And I want to get married and have babies and love you. And I’ll wait for you while you’re in Afghanistan, and when you’re back, I’ll move with you, wherever you need to go, as long as we’re together.”
Her words squeezed his heart. “I’m not going,” his voice was deep, and resonated through her.
“What do you mean? I thought you had to be back by Valentine’s day.”
He shook his head.
“I was replacing someone, and they don’t need me anymore. Also, I’m being re-stationed here.”
“Oh, God,” she said, tears streaming down her face again.
He leaned in to kiss her, his lips hot and wanting, then pulled back slowly and smiled at her.
“And yes, I will marry you.”
Jessica threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again. “Let’s not wait,” she breathed.
“Would you be agreeable to starting the honeymoon early?” he whispered in her ear, and it sent shockwaves through her body, pooling in a warm space low in her belly.
“What did you have in mind?” She cocked her head and winked.
He scooped her up. “I know a great, exotic place we can escape to,” he smiled, carrying her to his bedroom.
When he set her down on the bed, she said, “Matthew Larson, I can’t get enough of you.”
He stilled and stared down at her, “Good,” he said, in a fierce voice that had nothing to do with lust, and everything to do with emotion. Gut-wrenching, heart-stopping, soul-to-soul emotion.
“There is nothing I want more,” he said gently, “than to spend my life loving you, and I’m going to start right now.” And with that, he leaned her back on the bed and kissed her till she was breathless.
EPILOGUE
There was no sense in waiting, and since they both had an aversion to holiday weddings, they were married just before Valentine’s Day. Besides, Jess had considered, for all of a half a second about waiting to get married, enjoying their engagement.
But she didn’t want to wait.
What was that line Billy Crystal used in When Harry Met Sally? “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
They were married in a small ceremony in gorgeous Barclay Park at the edge of town. It was where they had met for the first time, and Matt insisted it was the perfect place to get married.
Jessica wore a simple off the shoulder silk gown she designed for herself, and Matt wore his dress blues. Her gown had minimal beading around the collar and shoulders. She wore her hair down, soft curls falling around her shoulders.
His best man, Brady, was there, along with the coven. Maggie stood by Jess as her maid of honor. It was a small and intimate ceremony of about twenty-five people. It was perfect.
Brady closed the pub in their honor so they could have their reception there. Matt was taking her to Paris for their honeymoon, so she could see the fashion capital of the world, and take long walks by the Seine.
“First dance! First dance!” Maggie yelled above the crowd, cueing the DJ for their song. Matt had asked Jess if she had any idea on the song she wanted for their first dance, and when she didn’t, he offered to choose it, saying he wanted to surprise her. “Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams was greeted with a collective ‘awwwwwwww’ from the audience.
Matt took her hand, “May I have this first dance with my wife?” He held her gaze, his eyes twinkling, as he kissed her hand with the élan worthy of a historical aristocrat.
She gazed at him, feeling she might burst, she was so full of of love. Then she cocked her head. “Why this song?”
With a glint in his eye, he said, “We danced to this song a million years ago.”
Jess licked her lips and he scooped her up in her arms, “We did?”
He gave her a smiling kiss. “I wouldn’t expect you to remember. It was a long time ago, and I’m pretty sure it’s the day I realized you were my one and only.”
Thank You For Reading!
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed My One and Only! With this book, I am starting a new Harper’s Corner series. Each book will highlight a new character while still keeping any former characters woven into the story. I always loved books that do this and thought it was time to write my own series!
I started out, years ago, writing just one book. And it’s because of you – my awesome reader – that I keep writing. You encouraged me, you gave me feedback, and most of all – you asked for more. As an author, I love feedback. So, tell me what you liked, what you loved, even what you hated. I’d love to hear from you. You can write me at [email protected] and visit me on the web at https://www.christinageorgeauthor.com
Finally, I need to ask a favor. If you’re so inclined, I’d love a review of My One and Only. Loved it, hated it - I’d just enjoy your feedback. As you may have gleaned from my previous books, reviews can be tough to come by these days. You, the reader, have the power now to make or break a book. If you have the time, here’s a link to the book on Amazon: http://bit.ly/MyOneandOnlyNovel
And if this is your first time reading my books, thank you! You can see other books I’ve written by going here: http://bit.ly/ChristinaGeorge
Thank you so much for reading My One and Only and for spending time with me.
In gratitude,
Christina George
My One and Only: A Holiday Novella - Book One in the Harper's Corner Series Page 8