For as long as they both had life.
“Jared, I don’t want to regret not loving you. Seth told me to decide what I’d rather live with, the regret of not loving or the thankfulness that I had a moment to love. He said it’s not the length of life that matters, it’s how well the moments are lived.”
She snuggled in as Jared held her, tucked her deep in his arms. He kissed her mouth, her cheeks, her tears, and the corners of her soggy eyes. “We have to do something about all these tears.”
“We are.” She felt the giggle against his lips. Leading her to the couch, he shoved Jake to one side so they could sit. He pulled her onto his lap and met her eyes. “One of these days, we’re going to have a longer sofa.”
She laughed. So did he. Eventually he lifted her hand to his mouth, his lips warm as he kissed her fingers one by one. As he’d done before, he slid the magnificent ring on her finger.
“For all our days, love.” He whispered the words of the inscription etched inside the band against her lips. “Tyndal, this is the second time I’ve placed my ring on your finger. I think it wants to stay this time.”
“So do I. It’s where it belongs. And I belong here, next to your heart.”
Holding her in his arms, she wondered if Jared heard the words and the deep laugh rumble in her heart…
That’s my, well hmm. That’s our girl.
****
The wedding happened the last day in October and the morning dawned bright and warm. Tyndal smiled. She’d gotten up early to brush Bhetami and her brat. Bahadur was going to have a difficult day. As a member of the wedding party, he’d have to be good. Or not. She and Jared wanted kids soon as possible. She grinned at Bahadur. “We should have realized we already have one.”
Laughing, she whispered in the colt’s ear. “Guess what? This is the day!” She hugged his neck, fed him a carrot, and sighed. Maybe it was silly, but the day felt different from other days. Had the universe noticed? If someone were to look, would they see the vows she’d make to Jared, that he’d make to her, written in the sky, etched in the clouds? Celebrated by all who’d attend?
Dubious, at best.
But Fionola’s garden bloomed.
Between the long-lasting warm fall days, and the orders her grandmother issued daily to carpenters, grounds crew, and gardeners, Tyndal wasn’t sure if a thank-you note or an apology was more appropriate. Fionola intended for everything to be a perfect fantasy of flowers, of candlelight, and music.
It didn’t have a choice.
Tyndal slipped back to her house, Jake, poor thing, was out cold. Who said dogs didn’t worry? She opened the windows; the hammers and lawnmowers were quiet. There were no delivery trucks going by her house. She could actually hear the wind whisper through the trees. She filled the tub, sank in and dreamed till the sun came up.
“Nice.” She sighed.
The peace lasted until Jared opened her front door.
****
“You decent up there? I have muffins,” he hollered up the stairs, banging around in her kitchen.
She poked her head out the bedroom door. “You know you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding, don’t you?”
“So I’ve heard. But I have it on good information the phrase actually refers to the moments just before the ceremony. The groom isn’t supposed to see the bride while she’s dressing. And since you did your toenails last night, this doesn’t count.”
“Oh, I see. I feel better then. Give me five and I’ll be down.”
“I could come up and help…”
She mumbled something like, “Not if you want to live.”
He figured the double-sized Jacuzzi tub in the suite he’d reserved for the night would make up for what he missed that morning.
“We’re getting married today,” she announced as she skipped down the stairs and spun a circle on the kitchen floor, giggled as he spun her in another one.
“That’s what I’ve been told.” He poured himself a cup of coffee, handed her a muffin.
“What are you doing here so early?”
“Escaping. Fee’s got everyone in the house nuts. I barely made it out. Seth wasn’t so lucky. Since he’s giving you away, Fionola stuck her hair stylist onto him. Apparently he’s getting the works. Keno won’t come out of his room. As best man, he said he’s entitled to a few privileges. Sleep being one of them. I snuck out the back way. Come here, woman. Kiss me good morning.” He tugged her close, kissed her on the mouth. “You taste like blueberries.”
“It’s the muffin.”
Jake grumbled inside, flopped onto the sofa.
“If you say so.” Jared looked at the big dog. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s disgusted. He was trying to follow Keno’s lead. You know, sleep?”
“Good luck with that around here today.” He took another sip of coffee, eyed his soon-to-be-bride. “Tyndal Morgan, I want you to know you’ve managed to interfere with everything right now. I’m distracted with work. Pyralis thinks I’ve slipped a cog. I stare out windows thinking about you, about all we’ll build together.”
“You know,” she said, slowly, “I plan on interfering with your days for a long time to come.”
He studied her bright eyes, her glowing face. Wondered if he could still make her blush. “I suppose that’s a fair exchange since I plan on interfering with your nights for about the same amount of time.”
She turned as pink as her toes. He grinned, kissed her on the forehead. The first of a lifetime of simple mornings. And a lifetime of days and nights, of laughter and tears, waited for them. He opened his arms to her, to their future and welcomed the life they’d make together.
Epilogue
From the moment Tyndal stepped into her new life as Jared’s bride, it seemed everything in her world changed. First of all, being a wife was more fun than she’d imagined.
Jared promised to give her a honeymoon of her dreams, but asked if she’d let it be a surprise. Agreeing was easy. Managing to not get carsick wasn’t. When they landed at their destination, Jared rented a little car similar to the one he had at Morgan’s Walk and drove her through the mountains, up a road of twists and turns.
“It’s beautiful, but it’s all mountains. And curves.”
“Not quite, love.”
Grateful for solid ground, she waited as he opened the door to the home where they’d honeymoon, and gasped. “Jared! It’s all windows! And ocean! Look at the flowers! Fee would love this.”
“We’ll bring her one day.”
Tyndal had to touch the blooms. Bougainvillea draped the terrace, platter-sized hibiscus spilled from pots and planters. Jasmine and sea scented the air.
For dinner that night, she wore a silk gown the color of moonlit water, flowing and softly belted at the waist, silver heels, and silver earrings. The chef set a table on the patio where the ocean swirled below them; its quiet hiss filtered into the night air. “I’ve had trout and bass,” she said. “Fionola keeps the pond stocked. But this is great.”
“Grouper escoviche with plantains and callaloo,” he said. “Traditional Jamaican food I hoped you’d enjoy. Tomorrow, if you’d like, we can ride. The owner has a small stable that’s at our disposal.”
“Tomorrow, the tomorrow after that…Jared, we can build our life as we wish. I want…” She paused, looked at him.
“You want”—his eyes went dark—“what?”
“Everything. You. To love you. To experience everything that’s possible to pack into each moment.”
“Then let’s do that.” As he stood, she smiled and moved into his arms.
The next afternoon, they took two long-legged Thoroughbreds out for a canter, ocean waves playing tag with their hooves. The horses tossed their heads like eager children.
On the flight home, Tyndal turned to Jared. “Though I appreciate the privacy the owner of the estate gave us, I wish I could have met him. Or them. Maybe it’s a couple who owns it. Anyway, the house and grounds are
so beautiful, I’d love to say thank you.”
“He’d be very happy to know you liked it. But…” Jared pulled a key from his pocket. “A couple owns it now, and he can’t imagine being there again without his beautiful wife by his side.” He pressed the key into Tyndal’s hand.
“You mean, you’ve had this all the time? This is the place on the beach you told me about before?”
“One and the same. It’s ours now, love.”
At Morgan’s Walk, they decided to stay in her little house. It was a tight fit, but they had too much fun being together to mind. They loved and whispered in the early mornings. They teased Fionola until she sent them off to pester one other. They sat in front of the fireplace during snowstorms, at home with their love, and smiled across the room at one another.
From the first night at the farm, Jake and Jared battled an endless war about who slept where on the bed.
Jake claimed first dibs.
Jared disagreed, and in an attempt to distract the stubborn dog, he bought a puppy.
“What is it that she’s to do, love?” Tyndal couldn’t believe it when Jared introduced Jessie, a wiggling, fawn-colored flirt of a puppy.
“Well, the plan was they’d move out of our bedroom and sleep in front of the fireplace…on these.” He held out two extra-large pillows.
Tyndal just smiled. “I understand your perspective. But I’m not sure he does.” She pointed at an annoyed Jake who wouldn’t allow the puppy or her energetic tongue within five feet. The big dog leveled a long stare at Jared, then got up and left the room.
“I don’t think he’s happy.”
“Groveling may be required.” Tyndal laughed.
Jessie, because Jared wouldn’t allow it, never slept on the bed. Occasionally Tyndal caught her sneaking a nap beside him when they dozed away an afternoon.
But Jake was a different story. He came to tolerate Jessie, but that was his only concession. On sleeping arrangements, he absolutely refused to budge or cooperate. His attitude was a profound rejection that no command, warning, temptation, or cajoling changed. He slept on the bed. If Jared had a problem, as far as he was concerned, the floor was available.
The two of them compromised when Jared purchased a larger bed.
There were days when fear crippled her, especially when Jared decided he wanted a private pilot’s license. He’d spend the day in the small plane he purchased, flying it over the prairie just for fun. Sometimes she went with him, sometimes she didn’t. When she wasn’t with him, she worried about the ‘what ifs,’ a remnant of her old fears. Sometimes it took a while to breathe again, to feel a bit of peace. For all our days, love.
Mostly she hoped the days would never end.
Especially if the discovery she’d made that morning were true, and she was sure it was, a precious new life needed just such timeless protection, such extravagant care. The child was merely a whisper, a feeling, a tingling awareness sighing from deep within of its very new, and very lively, presence. When Tyndal woke, she walked out onto the balcony, feeling wonderful, feeling as if she could dance, and feeling suddenly, intimately, that someone she hadn’t met before was trying hard to say hello.
Just to be sure, just to make sure it wasn’t only a wish, she thought to wait a few days before she mentioned it to Jared or Fionola. But the glowing life was too exuberant to be ignored.
She poured coffee for Jared, took it to him. He slept with Jake sprawled across his chest. Jessie, sneak that she was, slept on his feet. There was no way the man could move.
She feathered a kiss across his forehead, and waking him, smiled. “Guess what, love?”
She whispered her secret as the bright morning sun flowed like liquid gold across her midnight hair. Before long, tests confirmed Tyndal was indeed as the doctor laughingly said, “With children.”
Twins to be exact.
The news was all Fionola needed. Twins! Forget having a shopping assistant. Fionola just bought out whole, entire stores.
Fee knew, was absolutely certain, the twins would love this, and that, and something else, and on and on and on until Tyndal figured she and Jared and the twins really would need to take Fionola up on her suggestion and move into the upstairs wing of Fionola’s huge house. Because if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be enough room left over for anyone to move inside theirs.
She expected the morning sickness everyone warned about, but for her, it wasn’t an issue. Mornings were wonderful. And because her pregnancy was so easy, Tyndal continued riding and training up until the doctors thought it might be becoming a bit much.
Seth suggested she needed to have mercy on the horses.
Keno, who’d bought a small place not far from Morgan’s Walk, said she might not hurt a draft horse, or a wooden carousel pony. Jared told her if she didn’t stop, he would put her on a boat where there were no horses. She thought of the waves, the rocking sways and swells—the ground was a much better idea.
And poor Jake—even Tyndal worried about the great dog. If he’d been anxious when Bhetami gave birth to Bahadur, it was nothing compared to how he was with Tyndal. He was so in the way that Jared said he felt he needed reservations simply to have dinner with his wife.
“First a wife, love, and now, you’re almost a mother. How are you with all that?”
“Thrilled,” she said.
He’d made arrangements that evening at a restaurant in town for the two of them. Jake wasn’t happy with being left behind and as Jared told him to man up, Tyndal stood in their bedroom and laughed.
“It’s still a little hard to believe sometimes. I stand in the mirror and look at myself, imagining the twins, and wondering what it’ll be like to actually see them, to touch them. I’m impatient and scared at the same time.” She turned a circle in their bedroom, sighing at the dress she’d chosen for the evening. “I’m wearing a tent,” she moaned.
“You are?” Jared reached out for her hand. “I didn’t notice the dress for being stunned by the woman. If it’s possible, I think you’re more beautiful each day, love. Having children agrees with you.”
“I’d question your eyesight if I believed you meant a word of that,” she snapped, exasperated. “I’m as big as the barn. My feet are swollen; I need a bulldozer to shove me out of a chair. It’s all I can do to stand up and waddle and I don’t even want to think about how it feels to sit down. Do I still have toes? How would I know? I haven’t seen them in weeks.”
“Okay, since you put it that way,” he said, evenly, “as soon as you’re ready, we’ll try for triplets. I’ve always had this fantasy…” He couldn’t hold back the grin as her eyes went huge.
“Triplets?”
“Sure, why not? With five kids, I think we’d have a good start on our family. I’ve always thought I’d like a big one. Twins are a great beginning though, love. I wouldn’t want you to feel disappointed.”
“You know,” she said slowly, her eyes on his, “I’m starting to want to deify whoever it was that gave us that set of cast iron skillets for our wedding. Maybe if I found one and whopped you over the head a time or two, you’d make a little more sense. Five kids? And you have the nerve to stand there looking as if I’m supposed to agree? Jared Grant, so help me…”
His eyes twinkled.
“You’re so easy.” He grinned and drew her into his arms. “Come here, love.”
“Oh, don’t start. I’ll cry if you start being sweet. I’m getting to be as dotty as Fee about the twins. I bought two overstuffed spotted giraffes just because I thought the twins would enjoy climbing on them and now I can’t find room to put them anywhere. I knew it would happen. We are going to have to move!”
She wailed and sighed, Jared smiled.
“Fionola is serious,” Tyndal went on, “when she says she wants us to move up to her house. It’s not that there wouldn’t be enough space. I mean, we’d have four times the room we have now. It’s just that I love our house. And I think we’re going to have to cancel our dinner plans.”
She sat down, her eyes going bright and round. She placed her hands on her very large abdomen. “No kidding. We have to go to the hospital. Right now.”
****
The twins, Laris Irene and Noel Chase Grant made their debut quickly. With little fuss at all, except for Laris, who had to inform everyone within hearing of her arrival, a trait Fionola said would probably stay with her the rest of her life. She squalled into the world a full and demanding two minutes before her more reserved brother.
Laris, her bald head shining under the bright lights of the delivery room, opened her indignant green eyes as if wondering why so many hands rudely interrupted her nap.
Noel’s hair, already full and luxurious, was dark as his mother’s, but his eyes were pure cobalt. Both were healthy, beautiful, and so welcome. Neither suffered from any lack of attention.
A month later, dozing in the hammock Jared placed in the cool shade of the cottonwoods and river willows, Tyndal held the twins. Jake, ever vigilant, lay beside her. The great dog and Jessie introduced themselves to the twins with soft kisses and velvet, furry noses. The twins loved to tickle them with their tiny fingers, and the dogs loved the twins. Jared, never far away, poured a glass of sweet Riesling, his wife’s favorite.
“Life’s good, isn’t it? Really good? I thought being your wife was all I’d ever want. Now I feel so much more. I don’t know how to explain it.” Noel snuggled in closer. Laris opened her eyes. “I didn’t know love could be so big. It swamps me.”
“Chase told me he never understood that much about romance,” Jared said. “He tended to think of himself as a straightforward type of guy. But when he married Fee and they had their son, he said he started to learn about love. I’m learning too, Tyndal. I know what you mean about feeling so much.” Jared, his eyes on his wife, grinned when his daughter, who asked for everything at the top of her lungs, screamed. She’d heard Jared’s voice and wanted her father. Her shrieks became sighs as he gathered her in his arms. Laris didn’t know her daddy had the same effect on her mother.
And Jared, as Tyndal watched him with their child, loving how the sun caught the gold highlights in his hair; the man was still a trial. Sometimes deliberately so. He had a playful side that was never boring. But he was hers and she, well, she was his.
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