“And what was that?”
“A future,” she said after a moment. “Something good and sure and, yeah, safe, that’s only going to keep growing.” Releasing his hand, she fingered the edge of the table, her forehead crunched. “Something, if I’m honest, I never saw in Enrique’s eyes. But what did I know? And considering how desperate I was…”
She looked back at him. “I don’t need you to define me, or to make me feel worthy. But I do need you, Eli. Make no mistake about it, I need you like I’ve never needed anyone else, ever. And I don’t need years or months or even weeks to be sure about that.”
Smiling, Eli reached for her hand again, holding it captive in both of his. “Same here,” he said, and she laughed. “You know…it takes two to find a balance. If all the weight’s on one side of the scale, it doesn’t work.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I think I finally figured that out.”
Eli kissed her hand, but didn’t let go. “When we were younger I thought forever was the scariest word in the dictionary. Now I’m thinking it’s the only one that matters. My folks’ve been together for more than thirty-five years, and I know for a fact it hasn’t always been easy. But they made a promise to each other, and they’ve stuck by that promise no matter what. So I’m here making that same promise to you and the kids.
“And one more thing,” he said, letting go to lean back with one wrist propped on the table edge. “Just in case I didn’t make this clear enough before? There’s nothing sexier on God’s green earth than a woman who knows who she is, what she wants and how to go about getting it.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. I got no trouble taking charge if the need arises, but neither do I feel threatened by a woman asserting herself. Taking the lead.”
The cutest blush ever crept up her neck and across her cheeks. “Then…you wouldn’t have an issue with, say, me asking you to marry me?”
Eli felt a big grin stretch across his face. “No, ma’am, I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all. C’mere,” he said, motioning for her to sit on his lap. Her own lips tilting in a smile that promised fun times down the road, she straddled his thighs and linked her hands at the back of his neck, after which they kissed each other for a long, long time, until Micky yelled, “Ew, gross,” from across the room.
“You, go back to your game,” Eli said, only Miguel said, “You two gonna get married or what?” and Eli said, smiling into Tess’s eyes, “I think we just might. That okay with you?”
At the sound of sneakers shuffling in their direction, Tess got off Eli’s lap. But Miguel didn’t go to her, as Eli might have expected, but to him, standing with his arms crossed and a stern expression not unlike those he’d seen on a girlfriend’s father’s a time or two before.
“You promise not to make Mama cry?”
“Micky! For heaven’s sake—!”
“On my life, buddy.”
“And Julia and me can see you every day? You swear you won’t go away?”
“Swear,” he said, hand on heart.
“Then go for it,” the kid said, returning to his game.
“Welcome to parenthood,” Tess said, chuckling. Eli pulled her back into his lap.
“Can’t imagine anyplace I’d rather be,” he said. And her smile, right before she kissed him again?
Best damn moment of his life.
Epilogue
“Five more minutes, Mom, please?”
Hands full of toddler toys, Tess glanced over at the pair of dark eyes barely peeking over the top of the old beige sofa, worn in places, but comfortable as all get-out, sitting in the place of honor in front of the big-screen TV.
“Yeah, c’mon, Mom,” Eli said, twisting around to grin at her, his cheek close enough to Micky’s to totally block out the Road Runner cartoons on the TV. “It’s Friday night!”
“And first night of spring break!” Miguel put in, nodding vigorously. “An’ anyway, we haven’t eaten all the popcorn yet!”
“Oh, well, then,” Tess said, dumping the toys in a laundry basket and coming up behind Eli to wrap her arms around his shoulders, her heart melting at the sight of her little boy snuggled tight against his stepdaddy, her daughter already sacked out in her pink fuzzy jammies on his other side. She planted a kiss on Eli’s temple, then, suddenly ravenous, reached over to grab a handful of popcorn out of the bowl on his lap. From the center of the coffee table Maybelline opened one eye, sighed and went back to sleep—only to fly off the table when Micky roared with laughter as the Road Runner got the best of poor old Wile E. Coyote yet again.
Chuckling, Eli wrapped his fingers around Tess’s left hand and lowered it to his chest, bringing her face close to his. Toying with the slim, diamond-studded band that had been his grandmother’s, he whispered, “You should come join us.”
“Right. And where would I sit?”
“Hmm,” he said, looking from one kid to the other. “You might have a point.”
Grinning, Tess gently slapped her husband’s chest, then moved around to haul the snoring two-year-old off the sofa to carry her to bed. “One more cartoon,” she said warningly to Miguel. “Then it’s bedtime, got it?”
“Got it,” both man and boy said.
Shaking her head, she carried the little girl down the hall and laid her in her toddler bed. But she’d barely kissed her daughter’s cheek and pulled the covers up over her shoulders when she heard the telltale creak of Eli’s footsteps in the hall. She looked up in time to see him carry Micky, slumped in sleep with his cheek pressed against Eli’s shoulder, into his room across the hall.
Smiling, Tess returned to the kitchen through the hodgepodge living room, feeling a sense of satisfaction in the melding of Eli’s and her “stuff” she would have never thought possible. Styles and colors clashed, chairs and tables were squished together in odd arrangements, but she’d never felt more at home.
More at peace.
More…part of something lasting and real and just plain fun.
“Hey, you,” Eli murmured, coming up behind as she stood at the sink, rinsing off the dinner dishes. He threaded his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. She shivered; he chuckled. “Getting the kids into their pajamas before we started watching TV was a stroke of genius. You are one brilliant woman.”
Smiling, Tess moved his hands to her tummy. “Among other things.”
He stilled, then turned her around to face him. “No.”
“Yep, O fertile-loined One.”
Slowly, a grin stretched across that wonderful, goofy face, before Eli let out a hissed, “Yes!” and hugged her. Then kissed her. Then hugged her some more. Then he dropped to his knees to talk to her navel, making her laugh.
“Hey, kid—this is your daddy. So you be good to your mommy while you’re in there, okay? And whenever you’re ready to come out, I’ll be right here, waiting.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her belly, then got to his feet to tug Tess to him. “Because I ain’t goin’ anywhere,” he whispered, sealing his promise with a truly fine kiss.
And the future beckoned, smiling.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3916-0
A MARRIAGE-MINDED MAN
Copyright © 2009 by Karen Templeton-Berger
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A Marriage-Minded Man Page 20