Embracing Love (Once Broken Book 1)

by Alison Mello

  “I’m fine. You two get home and get some sleep.” He hugs his mama goodbye.

  I hug her and she says, “Welcome to the family, sweetie.”

  “Thanks,” I say to her, then we finish our rounds.

  As soon as we’re done, Remy takes my hand and says, “It’s time to finish this celebration in privacy.”

  Chapter 26

  Kenzie

  It’s New Year’s morning, and I’m watching Remy sleep peacefully beside me. It’s a sight to see. For the first time since he’s been home he is asleep with a smile on his face. We both shut off our alarms due to the late night. We got home close to one, and then had a little celebration of our own. A huge smile spreads across my face as I think about his proposal last night. He picked the perfect ring for me. It’s simple and beautiful. After he made love to me, we sat up talking and decided that since I have a house he will move in with me. I have some updating I want to do around here, but he seems to think that it’s simple stuff that we can talk to Keaton about doing for us.

  It’s getting late, and I need to wake him. I promised Aunt Kenderly I would make a late lunch for us at Nana’s house. Emily has the day off, so Remy and I are going to head over to do some cooking, and then my aunt will put her to bed. It’s my final weekend off before I head back to school on Monday. I sigh, realizing I won’t get to spend my days with Remy any longer, but in reality it wouldn’t have lasted anyway. He’s been cleared to go back to work as well. He is going to continue to see his counselor once a week, but he goes back to work at the base on Monday.

  I bite my lip as I slip my hands under the quilt to find his cock is already starting to harden in his boxers, so I make quick work of getting him to full erection stroking him through the thin material. Slipping beneath the blankets, I pull him from his boxers and wrap my mouth around his mushroom tip. His cock twitches in my mouth, making me smile. I begin taking him deeper as I use my fingers to work him as well. He’s so big I have a hard time taking all of him in my mouth. His hips start to move as I’m sucking on him. A groan escapes from the back of his throat. He lifts the blanket over my head, and I watch as his eyes flutter open. He smiles down at me and says, “Good morning to you too.”

  I suck him harder and deeper. He groans, and slips his hands into my hair pulling it slightly. “Fuck, my cum is about to shoot down your throat. I hope you’re ready.”

  “Mmm,” I moan with my lips around his cock as my fingers massage his balls. As promised, he shoots his seed into my mouth. I continue sucking until I’ve swallowed down every drop.

  He grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me up the bed, flipping me over so I’m beneath him. His mouth crashes down on mine, and our tongues collide as he slides his fingers through my folds. When he discovers just how wet I am for him, he moans into my mouth and slips his fingers inside me, finger-fucking me as he kisses me. His cock is already pressing against my hip, fully erect and ready to go. He kisses his way up my jaw to my ear. “Please, Remy, I want to feel you inside me.”

  He places the tip of his cock at my opening and says, “Is this what you want?” he asks, slipping it in slightly and pulling it back out.

  “Yes.” I whimper from his teasing.

  He licks up the vein my neck, and buries his cock balls-deep inside of me. He nips my ear and whispers, “You feel amazing. I’ll never have my fill of you.”

  “That’s good.” I bite my lip. “I love how you feel inside me,” I pant as he keeps hitting that sweet spot inside me. “Oh Lord…” I trail off as he brings me to an orgasm that has me shaking and screaming his name. He continues as I ride out my orgasm, and then buries himself one last time, emptying all he has deep inside me.

  He kisses just behind my ear and says, “That was one amazing wake-up call.”

  I giggle as he looks down at me. “I love you so much,” I look into his eyes.

  “I love you too. Now let’s go shower. We have a lunch to make, and we have to tell Nana the good news.”

  ***

  We get to Nana’s, and as planned, we’re the first ones there. I go about preheating the oven, and then I go to Nana’s room to find her sitting up in bed. “Hey, Nana, are you ready to get up? Aunt Kenderly and Uncle Jasper will be here soon, and we have some good news to share with you.”

  “Sure, I’ll get up.” Her voice is raspy. I help her out of bed, taking her to the bathroom to wash up and get dressed. Her body is a bit shakier than normal, and it puts me on alert. I have to be sure to tell Dr. Bennett and find out when he’s coming by to check on her.

  By the time I have her situated in the living room with the TV going and I get back to helping Remy in the kitchen, he has the ham out and ready to go into the oven. He also has the sweet potatoes peeled so we can set up the casserole. Once we put the ham into the oven, we go sit with Nana for a few minutes in the living room. “What’s this good news?” Nana asks.

  “Remy asked me to marry him last night. I’m engaged, Nana.” I show her my hand, and for the first time this week she genuinely smiles.

  “I wanted you to see that I plan to keep my promise to you. I plan to take care of Kenzie till death do us part.” Remy winks at her. She leans forward and kisses him on the cheek.

  “You sweet boy, you have no idea how happy this makes me.” I make note that her hand is shaking as she gently pats him on the arm. I’m trying not to show my concern, but I’m sure I’m failing. I can see she’s getting weaker by the day, and I’m getting nervous.

  “Nana, Remy’s going to sit with you while I go into the kitchen to finish cooking. Aunt Kenderly and Uncle Jasper will be here soon.” I throw the sweet potatoes into the oven, and begin preparing the cauliflower. I can hear Remy talking with Nana. He’s telling her the story of how he proposed last night. I thought it was sweet that he did it on New Year’s Eve, with our family all around us. I chuckle to myself when he says, “Nana, she left me hanging. I felt like I was down on my knee forever waiting for her answer.” Nana starts to laugh. “She finally came to her senses and said yes.” I lean against the door, watching him make a funny face. Nana laughs.

  I shake my head and chuckle. I love how good Remy is with her. It amazes me. He’s only known her a short time, but he talks to her like she’s his own grandmother. He probably misses his own grandmother, and Nana may remind him of times with her.

  I’m so deep in thought that I hadn’t noticed Aunt Kenderly come in. “Did you notice Nana’s shaking?”

  I jump, placing my hand on my heart.

  “Are you okay?” she asks.

  “Yeah, sorry, I was just deep in thought. What did you ask?”

  “I asked about your grandmother shaking.”

  “Yeah, I was going to mention it when you got here.”

  She nods and looks down. We both know we’re losing her, but neither of us want to admit it, so we go back to making dinner in silence. We move around the kitchen, accomplishing our mission without saying a word. We’re stuck in our own minds, dealing with our struggles and fears of losing the same person. I can hear laughter coming from the other room. Wandering over to the doorway, I find Uncle Jasper and Remy are clowning around. They were telling her all kinds of silly jokes when Nana starts laughing again, and tells them to stop monkeying around, and even though she’s trying to be demanding, she’s laughing too hard to sound serious. Suddenly, both guys turn into monkeys jumping around making monkey noises, causing her to laugh even harder. Now she’s slapping her knee and tears are rolling down her cheek. It’s good to see her laugh, and it warms my heart to see Remy and Uncle Jasper getting along.

  Aunt Kenderly wraps her arm around me and kisses me on the head. “I’m so glad to see that you’re in good hands.” I smile up at her. “You can always come to your uncle and me, but we won’t be around forever, and with your cousins so far away, I was fearful you would end up alone. Your uncle and I love you dearly, and we both feel so much better seeing you in a strong, healthy relationship.”

  “He’s a g
ood man,” I tell her with pride.

  Both men look over to the kitchen to see us watching them, and they crack up laughing all over again when they realize we saw their silly behavior. “Lunch is ready,” my aunt says with laughter in her voice. I continue to watch as both men take one of Nana’s arms and walk her into the kitchen for lunch. We all sit around the table, and my aunt begins passing the food around.

  “I’m so glad to see my kids doing so well and so happy.” Nana says.

  Remy looks at me with a big smile on his face. He says, “I told you I could keep a promise, Nana.”

  “Where are you going next?” Nana asks Remy.

  “Nowhere, I’m staying right here,” he says proudly.

  “Are you two going to move in together now?” my aunt asks.

  “Yes, ma’am, I’m going to move into her place. It only makes sense. No point in buying another house when she has one.” My aunt and uncle nod their agreement.

  “The only problem I have is deciding what to do for a wedding. Part of me wants to get married next summer, so we can take our honeymoon while I’m off from school, but I’m nervous about waiting that long.” My voice is barely a whisper by the time I’m done with my sentence. The entire dinner table goes quiet. Part of me wants to wed tomorrow just so Nana can be there, but I know that’s not really an option. I need to talk with my aunt, uncle, and Remy when Nana’s not sitting right beside us.

  Remy gives my leg a slight squeeze under the table in silent support over my internal struggle. I’m sure my worries are written all over my face. I’m not even really eating, more like shifting food around on my plate. Remy stands to clear his plate and begin the process of cleaning up. I help Nana into the living room, and once she’s situated she says, “What’s wrong, dear?”

  “Oh, nothing, Nana, you just rest.”

  “Don’t you go lying to me now, you hear? I’m no fool. I can see the pain in your eyes.”

  How do I tell this woman that I fear she’s dying and I don’t know what to do about my wedding because of it? “I’m just scared, Nana.”

  “What do you have to be scared of? You have that wonderful man who is going to become your husband and be by your side for the rest of your life.”

  I smile at her as I swallow past the lump in my throat. “You’re right, Nana. He’s quite a guy, and I love him dearly.”

  “Then get to marrying him so you can make me some grandbabies,” she says, shooing me away. I can’t help the laughter that bubbles up through my tears. I nod and head into the kitchen so she doesn’t see me lose it.

  “Are you all right, sweetie?” my aunt asks.

  “Yeah, Nana is a funny woman. She just told me I needed to hurry along and marry Remy so I can make her grandbabies.” I take a deep breath. “She totally thinks I’m my mom again, and sometimes it just kills me that she doesn’t realize who I am and that I want to give her great-grandbabies, or worse, that she may not be around to see them born.” I begin to sob.

  Remy joins us, slipping his hands across my cheeks he lifts my face and wipes my tears away with his thumbs. He presses a soft, sweet kiss to my lips and says, “I would give you five babies right now if I thought it would make this better, but it won’t. I understand the pain you’re feeling, and I wish I could wipe it away the way I can your tears, but I can’t do that either. All I can do is tell you that I’ll be here for you every step of the way, and that together we’ll get through this.” I wrap my arms around his neck, and he rubs my back as I thank him for his love and support.

  When I’ve finally calmed down, we finish cleaning up the kitchen together, and then we all go to sit in the living room, but we find Nana sleeping in her favorite chair. That’s when I realize I need to ask my aunt about her arrangements.

  “I know this is tough to talk about with her sitting here, but has she made all of her arrangements, or do you have some serious decisions to make when she decides it’s time?”

  “Uncle Jasper and I were just discussing this the other day. She has a plot paid for, but that’s it.” I nod. That’s exactly what I thought. “I mean, I think some of it is easy. She’ll go to our family church, and we’ll use the home up the street where your grandfather was shown, but…” she trails off. “The rest is on us.” She points to her and Uncle Jasper.

  “You know we’ll help you every step of the way, right?” Remy jumps in. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

  “Thank you, Remy, that’s real kind of you,” my aunt says to him. The room gets really quiet again as we all get lost in our own thoughts. Today is supposed to be a day to celebrate new beginnings, and I feel like we’re planning a loss we haven’t even experienced yet.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought this up today. It’s just something that’s been on my mind.” I bite my lip feeling bad that I brought up such a touchy subject.

  “Don’t be sorry, you’re not the only one who was thinking about it, but your uncle and I didn’t want to burden you with it. It’s our problem to deal with,” my aunt says, squeezing my uncle’s hand.

  “I’m sorry, Auntie, but we’re family. We need to shoulder this burden together. It shouldn’t be left to anyone individual to handle. Unfortunately, your sister isn’t here to help you, so we will,” I tell her as I glance over to Remy. He gives me a warm smile in support.

  “We appreciate that, more than you know, but it’s not something we need to decide today, so why don’t you two run along and enjoy the rest of your day together? You both will be going back to work on Monday, and I’m sure you have things you want to square away before you do.”

  We both hug them goodbye, then shoot over to Remy’s so we can start moving his things to my house, getting him settled before Monday rolls around.

  Chapter 27

  Remy

  As disappointed as I am that we both have to go back to work today, it’s really nice to wake up next to Kenzie, especially knowing I get to do it for the rest of my life. I woke up before the alarm, so I’m lying here watching her sleep until it buzzes in a few minutes. She looks beautiful with her long brown hair sprawled out across her pillow. She must sense me watching her, because she rolls onto her side just as the alarm is about to go off. “I can feel you watching me.”

  I burst into laughter as I roll over to shut off the alarm. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking about how lucky I am that I get to wake up next to you for the rest of my life.”

  “Now we get to start and finish our runs together too.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me as she jumps out of bed to get into the running clothes she pulled out last night. I’m thrilled of course, so I follow her, changing quickly as well. We both like to run to music, so we set up our arm bands and start out on our run. It’s a gorgeous morning, cool but not too cold. The air is crisp and perfect for a nice run. We set out at a good pace, and I begin making note of the path she takes from her house as I follow her.

  I smile, noticing there are houses still decorated from the holiday. I make a mental note to talk to Kenzie about decorating her house more next year. She got a small tree this year that I thanked Keaton for helping her with, but that was the extent of her decorating. She seems to really love Christmas, so I assume her lack of decoration was because she had mentioned being depressed, given that I was away.

  When she told me how worried she was that I wouldn’t be home for Christmas, it made me feel bad that I had only been thirty minutes away and I hadn’t told her. I ended up explaining why I hadn’t told her and promised to never keep anything from her again.

  When we get back to the house, we both pause on the front lawn trying to catch our breath as we pace. We quickly stretch, and I can’t help but stare at Kenzie’s ass as she bends over, stretching her hamstrings. Damn, she has a mighty fine ass. The leggings she’s wearing make my mouth water.

  “Um, you want to wipe the drool from your chin before we go in to shower?”

  I crack up laughing as I stroll toward her like she’s my prey. She squeals and
runs into the house, but I’m quick so I easily catch her spinning her in the air. She giggles and says, “We have zero time for fooling around. I have to get to school, and I don’t want to be late.”

  “Party pooper,” I say with a pout.

  She giggles. “We can party after dinner at Nana’s tonight.”

  “Fine.” I slip her down my body. Taking her hand, I pull her into the bathroom so we can shower and get ready for work.

  ***

  Kenzie

  What an amazing start to my day, I think to myself as I drive to work. I got to wake up to the most amazing man smiling down at me, and then we finally got to start and finish a run together. I think my favorite part was the way he savored my body in the shower. He gently washed every inch of my body, including massaging my scalp while he shampooed my hair. It was fabulous.

  I’m so excited that we’re going to meet up at home after work, then head to Nana’s together for dinner. I’m in the best mood, and I swear nothing can ruin it. I stroll through the door to find some of my fellow teachers gabbing away. “Good morning, Ms. McCormick,” my friend Suzie says to me.

  “Not for long.” I hold up my hand to show off my ring. “Soon it will be good morning, Mrs. Bennett.” We all squeal like school girls. She takes my hand as she and the other ladies begin checking out my beautiful engagement ring.

  Remy’s mom walks in the door, and I shock her when I say, “Good morning, Mama.”

  She gasps, thrilled I called her Mama. “Good morning, sweetie. How’s my boy?”

  “He’s off to his first day back to work. He’s meeting me at home tonight, and then we’re off to Nana’s for dinner.”

  “Very nice. You two don’t be strangers now, you hear?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She winks at me and walks toward her classroom.

  “I can’t believe Remy proposed! Did he do it for Christmas?” Mrs. Franklin, a teacher I hardly know, asks.