by Marie Force
“They won’t mind. They have to get back to their lives tomorrow, if the airport is open.”
“Enough about anyone who isn’t you or me.” He took hold of her hands and stepped back for a better look at her dress. “I want to remember every detail of how you looked on the day you finally married me.” Taking a slow look from the top of her head to her feet and back up again, he said, “There were so many times when I thought this day would never happen.”
“I’m sorry I put you through so much.”
“I’m not.”
“You aren’t?”
“Nope. If all that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t appreciate what we have now as much as I do.”
“I love you, Michael. I have from the first time I ever saw you, and I always will. I hope you never doubt that.”
“I’ve never doubted it. Why do you think I waited for you? I always knew.” He took her hand and laid it flat against his heart, which beat fast for her. “You were meant for me.”
“And you were meant for me.” She raised her hands to his bow tie, working to remove it before she started on the ivory buttons on his shirt.
He’d worn an old-school tux with flat pleats on the shirt, velvet trim on the burgundy jacket and a black vest.
Juliana removed the jacket, the vest, the shirt and his T-shirt. When she would’ve started on his belt, he stopped her.
“My turn.” He helped her to turn around so her back was to him so he could unzip her dress. His lips skimming over the back of her shoulder made her shiver in response. He slid his hands inside her dress, encircling her waist, his chin on her shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Absolutely nothing. I just want to touch you for a minute.”
“Take all the minutes you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I feel so lucky to have forever to spend with you.”
“So do I.”
Juliana shimmied out of her wedding gown, and it landed in a silk cloud at her feet.
“Holy crap,” Michael whispered as he got a look at the thong and garters she’d worn under the dress. He flattened his hands on her back and dragged them down to cup her bottom. “You just took my breath away for the second time today.”
“I thought you might like that.”
“I love it.” With his hands on her shoulders he encouraged her to turn to face him and pulled the pins from her hair, one by one, until it tumbled down around her shoulders. “You’re gorgeous. I feel like the luckiest guy alive right now.”
“We’re both lucky.”
Tipping his head, he brought his lips down on hers as he backed her up to the bed. “I want to make love to my wife.”
“Your wife would like that very much.”
Two years later…
“Michael, I can’t… I can’t do it. I thought I could, but I can’t.”
The panic he heard in her voice spiked his anxiety into the red zone. He stood by her bed, holding her hand and trying to keep her focused. “You’re the strongest person I know. You’ve got this.”
“No,” she said, tears running down her face. “It hurts too much.”
“They’re coming soon to give you an epidural. Everything will feel better then.” He glanced at the nurse, silently imploring her to find out what was taking the anesthesiologist so long.
She left the room, and Juliana cried out as another contraction overtook her.
As Michael tried to help her find her focus during the latest vicious contraction, he couldn’t bear to see her suffering. Bathing her face with a cool cloth, he wished he could change places with her.
Thankfully, she dozed off after the contraction, which gave him a minute to stretch his cramped muscles and do some deep breathing of his own. None of the classes, books or videos on childbirth had prepared him to see his wife in such agony. Sure, he’d known it wouldn’t be pleasant, but it’d been way worse than advertised.
His phone buzzed with yet another text, and since Juliana was getting some much-needed rest, he checked his phone.
From his mom: How’s it going?
Not so great. She’s in a LOT of pain. Can you come?
On my way.
Thank you.
Hang in there, honey. She’ll be fine.
Michael already felt better knowing his mom was coming to offer her support, and her assurances went a long way toward alleviating some of his stress.
The nurse returned with a doctor who was introduced as the anesthesiologist. Thank you, Jesus.
Before the doctor had a chance to say hello, Juliana was gripped with yet another contraction. Every new battle left her more fatigued and less focused.
“Let’s see what we can do to make it better, Mrs. Maguire,” the doctor said.
The nurse suggested Michael come around the bed to let Juliana lean against him while the doctor administered the epidural in her back.
“I’m sorry it’s so awful,” he whispered to her.
“They say it’ll be worth it in the end.”
“Times two in our case.”
She groaned. “Don’t remind me that I have to push out two babies.”
Smiling at her saucy comment—and relieved that she felt up to sparring with him—he stroked her hair and kept his eyes closed so he wouldn’t pass out at the sight of a needle going into her back.
Everything was better after the epidural. Thank goodness for modern medicine.
Maureen came in a short time later and kept them company while Juliana went through what they called transition. Soon they said it was time to push. Everyone moved quickly, getting things ready, positioning Juliana and settling him behind her so he could support her.
“I can wait outside,” Maureen said.
“No, stay,” Juliana said, reaching out to her. “Please stay.”
She took hold of Juliana’s hand. “Of course, honey. I don’t want to be anywhere but with you.”
His mother’s presence seemed to calm Juliana, which in turn calmed Michael.
The OB came in, and with everyone in position, Juliana was encouraged to push.
His wife was a warrior. Her courage moved him to tears as she brought their first daughter into the world after an hour of pushing. Twelve minutes later, her identical twin sister arrived. They both had a cap of dark hair and the palest skin Michael had ever seen.
“They’re absolutely beautiful,” his mother said, mopping up a flood of tears.
“What’re their names?” one of the nurses asked. “Since they’re identical, we need to get ID on them right away.”
“Sadie Maureen Maguire and Sophie Paulina Maguire,” Michael said.
Juliana squeezed his hand.
“I’m so honored,” Maureen said, “and I know your mother is, too, Juliana. She’s watching over you.”
“I like to think so,” Juliana said.
The babies were evaluated, measured, weighed, foot-printed and swaddled before they were handed to their overwhelmed father. He cradled one in each arm as he brought them to meet their exhausted but elated mother.
“Oh, Michael! Look at how perfect they are.”
“Thankfully, they look just like you.”
“I see you in them, too. Their noses and mouths are all you.”
“They have your eyes.”
“The books say the color will change.”
“The shape is the same as yours.”
“Look at what we did,” she said, gazing at the babies with blatant adoration.
“Look at what you did.”
Reaching for Sophie, she gazed up at him and smiled. “We did it together.”
“If you say so, but I’m giving you all the credit, my love.” He leaned over to kiss her. “Thank you for my gorgeous daughters.”
“I’d say it was a pleasure, but…”
They laughed, and as they watched their sleeping daughters, Michael said a silent prayer of thanks for their safe arrival.
Two years after that…
; “You’ll understand if I never have sex with you again,” Juliana said as they gazed down at their newborn identical twin sons.
“How is this my fault?” Michael asked, laughing.
“You’re putting out some sort of super sperm that leads to twins. They must run in your family or something.”
“You heard what the doctor said about identical twins when the girls were born. They don’t run in families. They’re a stroke of fate. A lucky, lucky stroke of fate.”
Tiny Patrick Donovan yawned and stared up at his father with big, unseeing eyes while his brother, Michael Sean, slept in his mother’s arms. Even though Michael had a nephew named Patrick, he’d wanted one of their sons to have his late brother’s full name, so he would be Patrick Donovan Maguire II. Their son Michael would be called “Mikey,” the nickname only Patrick had ever called Michael.
“What if I get a vasectomy?” Michael asked. “Will you have sex with me then?”
“You’d do that?”
“If it means I get to have sex with my gorgeous wife any time I want, then yes, I’d do it in a minute.”
“You’ve got six weeks to get it done, or no nookie.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Although, knowing you, some super sperm will sneak through and knock me up with triplets.”
Michael rocked with silent laughter. “Your imagination has run wild, my love.”
“I’ve seen what you’re capable of. Nothing would surprise me.”
Three years after that…
“I mean it this time. We are never, ever, ever having sex again.” Their “miracle” baby, a son named Liam Michael, had been the biggest of their five children at nine pounds eight ounces.
“How is it my fault that you’re a Fertile Myrtle?”
“Where in the hell did you hear that expression?”
“One of my sisters said it about you at the baby shower.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Which one?”
“I’m not telling.”
“This is entirely your fault, and no more sex.”
“What if we got your tubes tied this time? Nothing can get by that.”
“Nothing except your nuclear sperm.”
“So it’s gone from super to nuclear?”
“It got through a vasectomy, Michael. What would you call it?”
He smiled widely at her, delighted with her even when she was threatening to withhold sex. Her threats never lasted for long.
She scowled at him. “Stop acting cocky.”
He snorted with laughter. “Poor choice of words, love.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “We can’t take any more chances. We’re already a traveling circus.”
“I have a feeling little Liam here will be the one who keeps us sane while the others run roughshod over us.”
“You could be right. He is awfully cute.”
“Of course he is. We made him, and we only make cute kids.”
“You’re rather pleased with yourself for a man who has to put five kids through college.”
“That’s years from now. In the meantime, I plan to enjoy every minute with my wife and five kids.”
“Five kids,” she muttered. “How did this happen to me?”
He stood and leaned over the bed to kiss Liam and then her. “Well, it all began in an airport in Baltimore…”
Author’s Note
Waiting for a delayed flight in Baltimore’s BWI airport in the fall of 1999, I overheard a man and woman discussing their long-distance relationships. Both were headed to visit their significant others in Florida for the weekend. When they discovered they were on the same flight home, I imagined them falling in love with each other, and a novel idea was born. I carried the idea with me until I finally wrote Michael and Juliana’s story many years later.
I wrote this book in 2006, back when none of us had yet heard the term “smart” phone, which is why Michael and Juliana didn’t have photos of each other after their initial time together ended. When I updated the book in 2017, I decided to keep it the way it was at the time I wrote it because those things added to the flavor of the story.
Thank you to April and Rich Pardoe for “loaning” me the Baltimore rowhouse I used as Michael’s home. Right down to the hanging kitchen cabinets, the roof deck, and the phones in the bathrooms, his home is their former home. April also answered numerous questions about Baltimore and Butchers Hill.
To my husband, Dan, and our children, Emily and Jake, thanks for putting up with my crazy moods—and a dirty house—when I’m writing. My friends Christina Camara, Lisa Ridder, Paula DelBonis-Platt and Julie Cupp helped out with the original draft of Love at First Flight. My high school classmate, attorney Martin Medeiros, helped with the legal aspects of the trial, and I’m grateful for his assistance. Special thanks to my current team, which Julie now leads as my Chief Operating Officer, along with Lisa Cafferty, CPA, our Chief Financial Officer, and Holly Sullivan and Isabel Sullivan, our formatters-in-chief.
I married my husband ten years into his Naval career and spent the next decade in Spain, Maryland, and Florida before we moved back to my home state of Rhode Island in 2002. I was homesick most of the time we were away, but now I’m so grateful for the experiences we had and the friends we met at each stop because they’ve given me great fodder for my writing. Maryland and Florida, along with my hometown of Newport, RI, feature prominently in this book.
Thank you to everyone who embraced Love at First Flight the first time around. I hope you enjoyed the glimpse into Michael and Juliana’s life after they got their happily ever after.
xoxo
Marie
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Contemporary Romances Available from Marie Force
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Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 4-6
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Book 1: Maid for Love
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Book 2: Fool for Love
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Book 3: Ready for Love
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Book 4: Falling for Love
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Book 5: Hoping for Love
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Book 6: Season for Love
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Book 7: Longing for Love
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Book 8: Waiting for Love
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Book 9: Time for Love
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Book 10: Meant for Love
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Book 10.5: Chance for Love, A Gansett Island Novella (Jared & Lizzie)
Book 11: Gansett After Dark
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Book 12: Kisses After Dark
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Book 13: Love After Dark
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Book 14: Celebration After Dark
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Book 15: Desire After Dark
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Book 16: Light After Dark
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Episode 1: Victoria & Shannon
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Book 1: All You Need Is Love
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Book 2: I Want to Hold Your Hand
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Book 3: I Saw Her Standing There
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Novella: You'll Be Mine
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Book 5: It's Only Love
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Book 6: Ain’t She Sweet
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Book 1: Every Little Thing
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Book 1: Can’t Buy Me Love
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Love at First Flight (New Edition Coming Soon!)
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