by Cora Seton
“Don’t mention it. You were worried about me. Besides, I think Marlon will recover—now that the hard part is over.”
“I sure hope so.”
Hunter wasn’t sure what to say next. He wanted to tell her about the wedding, but it seemed callous to talk about something that made him so happy when Marlon was still in the brig.
As if she’d read his mind, she added, “He told me about Jo. I’m so happy for you both. I can’t wait to meet the woman who’s won your heart.”
“You know I’d like you all to be at the wedding, but I understand—”
“Hunter Powell, we will be at your wedding, you can depend on that. It’ll be a good reminder there’ll be more happy times ahead. We could use that,” she added.
“I’m glad you’re coming. That means a lot to me.”
He only wished Marlon could be there, too.
All the damage had been repaired in Alice’s carriage house studio, and with the large windows letting light spill into her sewing room, Jo was able to keep her mind on their childhood romps in the large space instead of the unpleasantness that had happened here recently.
She had tested herself coming up the stairs. Only weeks ago, she’d fired a shot that had helped kill a man here on the upper landing, but Alice must have used some of Sadie’s sage to clear the space of bad vibrations. Jo felt no trace of that horrible encounter; only the light and life that had always imbued Alice’s studio.
“Where’s Alice?” she asked Cass when she entered the main room to find her sister holding up their mother’s wedding dress. Cass had worn it to marry Brian. Sadie had worn it to marry Connor. Now it was Jo’s turn. How would she look in it?
Ridiculous?
No, she wouldn’t look ridiculous, she told herself; Alice would see to that. Still, she remained curious and a little unsettled when she tried to picture herself at the altar, pledging herself to Hunter.
“Alice will be here in a minute.” Cass carried the dress over and held it up. “You’re going to look beautiful. Put it on.”
“You don’t think I’m rushing things?” Jo asked lightly as she stripped down to her bra and panties and pulled the gown over her head. She was glad she’d cleaned up after another morning of working on the house. It was really coming together now that the other men were pitching in.
“No. Oddly enough, I don’t. I think Hunter is one in a million, and the way the two of you are together is a revelation,” Cass admitted. “Sometimes I think I don’t know you at all.”
Jo, midway into the dress, stopped, confused, before fighting her way through until her head was clear of the fabric. “What do you mean?”
“It’s my fault,” Cass said. “I see that now. I’ve tried to keep you young. I’ve treated you like you never got past seventeen. I think… I think I was afraid to let you grow up. Because that meant it would be over.”
“What would be over?” Jo slid the gown the rest of the way down and turned around so Cass could do up the back.
“Our childhoods,” Cass said softly. “I think I hoped… that if I could just hold on… maybe Mom would come back. Or Dad. But they never did.”
Jo turned to face her. Took her sister’s hands. “But we’ve got each other. That’s what matters. That’s what you always told us.”
Cass blinked rapidly. “If you only knew how many times I didn’t know what to say—didn’t know what to do. I was so scared, so much of the time. So terrified I’d get it wrong. I couldn’t be her. I tried—”
Jo caught Cass in her arms and held her.
“What if I’m a bad mother to my own child?” Cass said, gulping back tears. “What if I mess everything up?”
“You won’t. You did a fantastic job. I mean it, Cass; I couldn’t have asked for a better mother, even if you were my sister.”
“But I didn’t protect you from Sean. I didn’t stop Grant—”
“I didn’t need you to.” Jo realized she was speaking the truth. “I needed to stand up for myself. I needed to be myself. You couldn’t do that for me.”
Cass pulled back and searched her face. “You mean that? You’re all right, after everything? You don’t hate me for the times I’ve gotten it so wrong?”
“You’re my sister. That means everything to me,” Jo said fiercely. “All I remember is the times you got it right.”
“We have to make things safe before I have this child.” Cass lay a hand on her belly. “I don’t know how, but we have to.”
“We will,” Jo told her. “Somehow we will.”
Alice appeared at the top of the stairs, a phone in her hand. “It’s for you,” she said to Jo. “It’s the General,” she added in a whisper.
Jo took the phone reluctantly, remembering what she’d said to Hunter. “Hello?”
“Jo. Heard about the wedding.” The General’s voice was gruff. She recognized this tone. All business, as if they spoke all the time.
“Heard you’re not coming,” she retorted.
Silence greeted this. “Look,” he said finally. “This job—”
Jo meant to scoff, but the sound that came from her mouth was more of a sob. “This… job?” Was he for real? Did he think she was still a child to be fooled by a lie like that?
As if he’d heard her thoughts loud and clear, the General fell silent again. When he spoke again, his voice had changed. Grown thin. He sounded… old. “Look, Jo. I’m… trying.”
Jo held her breath. She didn’t have to touch her father to know he was finally telling the truth.
“Your mother,” he went on. “I… miss her.”
“I miss her too.”
“I’ve let you down—so many times.”
Jo swallowed, not knowing what to say. She couldn’t deny it.
“You’re still my soldier. My little soldier. My girl. I’m still so proud of you. I wish—”
He cleared his throat—a strangled sound. Jo waited for him to finish. She barely heard the quiet click. She didn’t realize he’d ended the call until the dial tone sounded.
Jo clutched the phone, tears streaming down her face. Alice moved to take it from her hand, then wrapped her in a tight embrace. Cass joined them, encircling both of them in her arms.
Sadie and Lena, who’d just clattered up the carriage house stairs to join them, came to a halt. When they took in the scene, they quickly moved to join them.
“We’ve got each other,” Cass said firmly, as if she’d heard everything the General had said—and didn’t say. “We’ve got each other and we always will. No matter what.”
“Finished. Without a moment to spare,” Hunter said several days later. He put away his tools and stood next to Jo, both of them surveying the small house they’d built together. The board and batten exterior was painted a weathered gray, the windows trimmed in white. They’d built a brick walkway from the dirt track to the front door and put up a square of picket fencing around the yard. Sadie had already planted shrubs and bulbs inside its perimeter and promised to put in a full garden come spring. It looked snug and tidy, and Hunter was proud of it. He had to admit Jo had done a great job designing the interior and they’d managed to work together to iron out the difficulties that cropped up during the building of it.
“I can’t believe it’s done. I was beginning to think it never would be.” Jo pushed the hair that had escaped her pony tail out of her eyes. She’d been quiet the past few days and Cass had filled him in on her phone call with the General. Hunter had made sure to stick close to Jo and she’d shared more details with when she was ready. She seemed calm. At peace. “He misses my mom,” she’d said simply. “I think I understand that all the way now.”
“Think you’ll have the stamina to build a bigger house in the spring?” Hunter asked Jo.
She hesitated long enough he laughed long and hard.
“By spring we’ll have forgotten how difficult this was. Right?” she asked.
“Yeah. And we’ll probably be so sick of stepping on each other we’ll be ready
for more space.”
“We haven’t even moved in and already you’re complaining?” She elbowed him.
He was happy to see her good humor returning. “I won’t be complaining one bit when we move in. I’m looking forward to a little privacy. You and I can make some noise tonight.”
“We could make some noise right now.”
“Hell, yeah.” Hunter was all over that. With a hammer tucked through her belt loop and a smudge of dirt on her cheekbone, Jo looked delicious. He held open the door. “After you.”
Jo tossed her hammer aside and hurried up the two front steps and inside the little house. Hunter quickly followed. Inside, they stopped to admire the wooden cabinetry, the hand-hewn slab countertops, the tile backsplash and crisp, new stainless-steel appliances.
“We could do it right here,” Hunter said. “Or we could go up to the bedroom.”
“Or we could do it everywhere.” She looked up at him from under her lashes.
“Sounds fine to me.” He pulled her close, leaned back to shut and lock the door, then began to undress her. He’d gotten good at that the past few weeks. Jo got to work on his clothes, too, but both of them soon lost patience, and his jeans were still tangled around his ankles and her bra still on when he pulled on a condom, lifted her on the kitchen counter and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her back was angled awkwardly against the upper cabinets, so when he’d filled her, and tried to pump into her a couple of times, Hunter decided they needed to find somewhere else.
He held her as he kicked his boots and jeans the rest of the way off, keeping up a rhythm as best he could to keep both of them happy in the meantime, then lifted her up and walked toward the back of the house to lean her against the ladder that led to the loft.
He’d only meant to pause while picking their next spot, but he couldn’t help himself. Bracing her there, he pumped into her again, one hand gripping her bottom, the other cradling her to shield her back from the hard rungs.
Jo dug her fingers into his shoulders and pressed her mouth to his neck, her soft moans music to his ears as he moved inside her. God she was hot. Slick with need for him. Urging him on with the movement of her hips.
This couldn’t be comfortable for Jo, though. Hunter glanced around. Should they try the couch? He picked her up again and lurched over to it, nearly dropping her as he tried to lay her down. All the while, Jo kept her legs wrapped around him—kept urging him to keep up his rhythm.
This was easier.
Sort of.
He thrust into her again.
The couch was a little short for his tall frame, and Hunter found himself half crouched on the floor, half perched on the cushions trying to get leverage he needed. For her part, Jo did the best she could, but now she was clinging to the back of the couch as well as his shoulder, as if afraid they’d slide off it altogether. Her positon brought her breasts up near his face and he took the opportunity to lavish them with attention. He loved Jo’s breasts. Love the heft of them in his hands.
Not that he had a hand to spare—he was holding on to the couch, too.
“Don’t let me fall!” Jo shrieked as they began to slip.
“Upstairs?” he gasped. She felt so good, he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d need no matter where they were.
“Yes. Hurry.”
Hunter didn’t need to be told twice. He scooped her up again, steadied himself, took two steps to the ladder and began to climb.
Carefully.
“Faster!” Jo rocked against him. “God, you feel good.”
“I know what you mean.” He finally made it to the top of the ladder and crawled forward, Jo dangling underneath him like a sloth hanging from a branch. She began to shake and Hunter realized she was laughing. “What?” he demanded.
“Would you pick a place and make love to me?”
“You said you wanted to christen the whole house.”
“Not in one go. You need to focus—oh.” She sighed as he set her down and stroked into her.
This was better. Now they were on their bed, in their loft. At night they’d be able to see the stars out of the skylights in the roof. For now the autumn sun shone through and warmed his skin. As he pumped into Jo, he felt the rightness of it.
This was where he belonged. This was their home.
The one they’d built together.
He picked up his pace and Jo clung to him. She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts.
Nothing felt like Jo. He could do this all day, every day.
“Oh, you feel good. So good.” She arched back and moaned.
Hunter thought he’d never seen anything as sexy as Jo giving herself utterly to him. Never heard anything as sexy as her cries as she came. For once they didn’t have to be quiet. Overtaken by his own release, he thrust into her again and again, until he collapsed on top of her, absolutely drained.
“I love you,” he whispered into her hair. “Jo Reed, I love you. I want to spend my life with you. Every day of it.”
“That’s what I want, too.”
“Do you want children?” Jo asked later, after they’d made love again, more slowly this time. They were still lying on their bed, watching puffy white clouds drift past in a sky so bright blue it made her eyes hurt to look at it. She wasn’t sure where the question came from, except that they were marrying soon. It would be good to know.
“I think so.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
Hunter twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. She could see him considering what to say.
“Neither of our fathers are anything to write home about. I don’t want to be like that. But what if I am?”
“Do you think you’ll be like that?”
“No,” he said. The corner of his mouth tugged up. “But does anyone think they’ll be a failure as a parent?”
“Probably not. Here’s the thing, though. We’ve both been on the receiving end of absentee parenting. We know what it feels like. Don’t you think that’ll keep us in line?”
“And if that doesn’t work, we can keep each other in line.” He kissed her.
“I know how to be loyal. So do you. We’ve both proved that.”
“That’s true.” He gave her a considering look. “So when do you want to have kids?”
She felt her cheeks heat. “I don’t know.”
As he gathered her close, Jo sighed, so in love with her husband to be.
“Now?” he asked her.
“Maybe.” She kissed the underside of his chin. Hunter rolled her over until she was astride him. She could feel the stirrings of his interest underneath her and she smiled, anticipating taking him inside again.
This time would be different.
No condom for one thing.
“That was fast,” she said as she rocked against him. He’d grown hard already.
“You’re damn sexy.”
As she leaned forward to kiss him, he palmed her breasts in his hands and Jo murmured her approval against his mouth. She lifted up to allow him to move into a better position, then eased down until she felt him nudging against her.
He felt wonderful—like he always did, no matter how many times they made love. When he palmed her breasts again, and leaned forward to take one sensitive nipple into his mouth, Jo groaned.
She settled down over him as he pushed into her, sighing as he slowly eased inside. Hunter filled her perfectly, and as soon as she’d taken him in, she couldn’t help but begin to move rhythmically. She lifted up and down in time with his thrusts, arched her back to give him access to her breasts, and closed her eyes, loving his touch, loving the way he moved inside her.
Soon she’d lost track of everything except the way Hunter was making her feel, and she was so close to the brink that every stroke of him inside her was liquid fire. She couldn’t get enough of him. Couldn’t get close enough to him. She wanted more.
More—
Jo cried out as she crashed over the edge, pulsing with ecstasy, her body thr
umming with waves of feeling. Hunter picked up his pace, thrusting into her until he came, too, his grunts echoing her cries.
Jo held on through his orgasm, her body revving up until she shuddered through a second one of her own, surprising her with its intensity.
By the time she collapsed on top of him, they were both panting.
That… was… incredible,” Hunter said.
She could only nod.
“We’ll have to do that a lot,” he went on. “Takes a lot of work to make a baby, you know.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Chapter Fourteen
‡
On the day of his wedding, Hunter watched the guests settle into the folding chairs that were arranged in the front yard of Two Willows. The morning had dawned clear, and after a brief scare when a squall had run through the area, the skies were clear again. It was a cool day with a hint of a breeze. It was a good day to be alive, Hunter decided.
A good day to marry the woman he loved.
They’d taken a chance scheduling an outdoor wedding, but Jo had wanted one and it had all worked out. Hunter was glad.
In the past week, they’d made love in every corner of the small house and he wondered how long it would take for Jo to get pregnant. He wasn’t in too much of a hurry. He was having far too much fun now. After the wedding, they were headed for a short honeymoon in New England. They were going to see the fall colors and tour the quaint towns and scenic byways of Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, which would give them plenty of opportunities to work on that baby. Hunter looked forward to seeing a part of the country he hadn’t spent time in before. He thought Jo felt as he did; that stepping out of their lives for a few weeks would give them a chance to simply be together and start their time together as husband and wife right.
His mother took her seat in the front row and gestured to Sue-Ann and Jessie Frank to join them. The rest of the Frank siblings sat beside them and in the row behind them. It was good to be surrounded by the noisy, happy family again.
All but Marlon, who hadn’t gotten in touch since their last conversation. Hunter knew he was serving his time. He hoped Marlon was on his own journey—toward healing. Toward a future where love could touch him again.