All through the night, we wake when we are not touching, which leads to me making love to her and then her falling asleep in my arms again. When I finally wake in the morning, I look over and see that the bed is empty, and I spring out of bed. She didn’t leave, I tell myself while I slip on my boxers. She wouldn’t just leave, and when I walk into the kitchen, I stop to see her standing there in the middle of my kitchen, wearing my shirt. She looks over at me, and a smile fills her face. “Good morning.”
I stalk over to her, my heart beating so fast as I push away the thought that she was gone. I grab her face, and she just looks at me. “I woke up, and you weren’t there,” I say, trying to catch my breath. “I thought …”
“I was making us coffee,” she tells me, her hands going to my waist. “I wanted to bring you coffee in bed.”
My lips crush hers, and I kiss her frantically as if it’s our last kiss. I pull the shirt off her, the need to have her naked under me is the only thing I can think of. “Jacob.” I pick her up, placing her on the kitchen table. She feels my need to touch her, and just like that, she gives it to me with no questions asked. When I collapse on top of her, she lets me lie here, playing with my hair. “Well, that is one way to say good morning,” she says, making me laugh, and I kiss her in the middle of her chest.
“I’ll go clean up and make you breakfast,” I say, slipping out of her.
“That sounds like a plan,” she says, getting off the table. “I’ll disinfect the table.” I look at her over my shoulder. “Your son eats at that table.” I roll my lips. “And my ass was just on that table.” She shakes her head, walking over to pick up the T-shirt that I threw.
“You keep bending over in front of me, you’ll be disinfecting the whole house.” She cocks her head. “Especially that wall.” I point at the empty wall where I’m going to take her against when we come home.
“Promises, promises, McIntyre.” She winks at me and walks to my bedroom.
“Fuck,” I say silently to myself.
“What?” Her head pops around the corner. I look at her. “What happened?”
“I’m happy,” I say. “This is what it must feel like to be happy.” Shaking my head, I say, “I have an appointment at ten.”
“Oh, I can be out of here in twenty.” She smiles at me, and I just look at her, and she stops. “What now?”
“You’re coming with me,” I say, walking to her. She waits for me, and we walk to my bedroom together.
“Well, where are we going?” she asks. Going to the bathroom, she takes off the shirt and starts the shower at the same time I take off my boxers.
“It’s a surprise,” I say and step into the shower. I leave the glass door open for her to step in, and she stands there, leaning on one of the sinks. “Are you not coming in?”
“If I come in there,” she says, pointing at the shower, “it’s going to lead to things.”
I try not to laugh. “What kind of things?”
“Well, for one, I’m going to get on my knees,” she says, and my cock stirs. “Then I’m going to sit you on that little bench.” She points at the bench against the wall. “And I’m going to want to ride you.”
“I see nothing wrong with anything that you just said.” I turn to face her, and her eyes roam up and down my body.
“But then I won’t get breakfast.” She folds her arms over her chest.
“I have a compromise. We get breakfast to go, and everyone wins,” I say, holding out my hands.
“Fine,” she says, stepping into the shower as if I twisted her arm, “but we have to make this quick. I still have to clean the table.”
I laugh at her, and she gets on her knees, taking me all the way back into her throat. It doesn’t go as fast as she wants, and when I get out after her, she’s already dried off with her hair wrapped in a towel. “I need coffee,” she says, walking out of the room. When I finally get dressed and walk into the kitchen, she has two coffee cups on the counter, and she is wiping down the kitchen table with a bottle of Lysol.
“You ready?” I ask her and walk to the table in the living room, grabbing the piece of paper that I need.
“I have my mother’s truck,” she says, opening the cupboards in the kitchen and looking for a thermos.
“We can drop it off now or later,” I say, walking to her and kissing her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she says softly. Putting a hand on my stomach, she leans up again, and this time, it’s her who kisses me softly.
“Let’s go, baby,” I say, and we walk out with her at my side. She is wearing the same thing she wore yesterday. “You need to bring over your stuff.”
“What stuff?” she asks, walking to the passenger side of the truck, and I press the button to unlock the doors.
I get in at the same time as she does, putting my coffee in the center console, and buckling up. “Your clothes and stuff.”
“What clothes?” she asks as I make my way out of my driveway.
“All of your clothes,” I say.
“What?” She looks over at me, her mouth hanging open. “Jacob,” she says, “I can’t just move in with you.”
“Why not?” I look over at her.
“Well, your son, for one,” she tells me. “I haven’t even met him, and all of a sudden he is going to come home and I’m there.”
She’s right. I know she’s right, but I just got her back. The last thing I want to do is be without her. “So if I introduce you to Ethan, and we have a couple of dinners …?”
“Then I will go home after the dinners, and I will come over and stay when he’s not there,” she says. “It’s a big step.”
I pull up to the shop and turn to look at her. “This is to be tabled for later.” Leaning over, I kiss her lips. “Let’s go.” Turning to get out of the truck, I meet her on the sidewalk, and we walk up the tiled entryway and stop at the front door.
“What is this place?” Kallie asks, looking around, and the front door opens.
“Donnie,” I say to the man who stands six foot eight with a beard down to his chest.
“Hey,” he says, reaching out his hand to shake mine, his bulging arms fully covered in tattoos. “Come on in.” He steps away from the door, and I put my hand on Kallie’s back and usher her inside.
“Thank you so much for squeezing me in.” I say once we are inside. “Donnie, this is Kallie.”
“Pleased to meet you.” He nods at her. “You ready to do this?”
“Yes,” I say. He turns and walks to the closed door on the right-hand side. He opens both doors, and I look over at Kallie, who doesn’t say anything.
We walk into the room that has a chair in the middle and shelves on the back wall with all different colors of paint. Donnie puts on his glasses and sits down on his stool and slides over to me. “Let me see what you have.”
I take the white paper out of my back pocket and hand it to him. “What are you doing?” Kallie asks me when she sees me hand him Gabriel’s footprint.
“Sit down. I’ll start in a second,” Donnie says. I pull off my shirt and hand it to her.
I sit in the chair, and she looks at me, holding my shirt close to her chest. “Okay, let’s get this started,” Donnie says, rolling to the side to get his ink gun. “What date do I have to add to the cross?”
“November thirteenth,” I say, the birth certificate memorized.
“Oh my God,” Kallie whispers, and I look over at her as she stands there with tears in her eyes.
“You can have a seat over there.” Donnie points at another chair in the corner. She walks over to the chair and brings it to my side.
“Is this okay?” she asks, and he nods his head at her and smiles.
“We’ll get the date added on here,” Donnie says, cleaning my pec, “and then we’ll add the footprint right under it.” He gets up and walks over to the paper. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sounds good,” I say, and he walks out of the room.
“You ar
e adding Gabriel to your cross?” she asks, wringing my shirt in her hands.
“He’s my son,” I say and reach out to grab her hand. “He belongs on me.”
“And his footprint?” She now loses the battle of her tears.
“It’s the closest that I will ever get to him,” I say and bring her hand to my lips and kiss her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kallie
I sit on the chair right next to him, holding his shirt in my hand as he gets the footprint of our son tattooed right under his birthday that was added to his cross. When the doors first opened, I had no idea what this place was, and when I saw the chair, I still didn’t know. But then everything clicked into place.
He sits in the chair, not even flinching when the needles go into his skin. Donnie does a little line and then wipes it off, repeating it over and over again, and I can’t wait to see the final product. “I want one also.” My mouth moves before I can even comprehend what I’m saying. Donnie looks up at me, and Jacob turns his head to look at me.
“On my wrist,” I tell them, “right over my heartbeat.”
“We can do that as soon as I’m done with his,” Donnie says, and I just smile at him.
I sit now waiting in the chair for my turn, anxious and excited. When Donnie wheels away from Jacob, and says, “All done,” but before I can see, Jacob jumps out of the chair and walks over to the mirror he has on the facing wall. I get up and walk over to him as I look at the little footprint he has now on his chest.
“It’s so beautiful,” I say, looking at it and wanting to reach out and rub my fingers over it after I kiss it. Instead, I look up at Jacob. “I love you.”
“Okay, let’s get that covered,” Donnie says. “And, you,” he says to me, “can get into the chair.” I hand Jacob his shirt, and he goes over to Donnie, who covers it with a white bandage. “Take it off after four hours.”
“Will do,” Jacob says and puts his shirt on while Donnie comes over to me, and I turn my wrist for him.
“What color do you want?” he asks, and I look at Jacob.
“I want it to match Jacob’s,” I say, and he nods his head and goes to do something and then comes back with the tattoo gun in his hand.
“So is this your first one?” he asks, and I nod.
“Virgin skin.” He jokes with me, and I laugh anxiously. “Everyone is different,” he starts, “the pain could be through the roof or it could be nothing.”
“Okay,” I say and look over at Jacob who sits in the same chair I just sat in and holds my hand in his and kisses my fingers.
“It’s going to burn,” Donnie says, rubbing my wrist with his latex-covered hand. “Here we go.” I wince when the needle goes through my skin.
“Oh my God.” I say at the burning, but then it slowly goes down a notch. “Okay, this isn’t bad,” I say, and my eyes never move from his gun as he writes the date November thirteenth.
“There we go,” he says, wiping it for the last time. I hold it up, and it’s beautiful. He comes back over, getting it ready to be bandaged up. He wraps the white bandage around my wrist three times. “I’ll give you instructions for care,” he tells me, and I get up.
“You ready?” Jacob asks, and I nod, wearing a smile on my face so big my cheeks hurt. We say goodbye to Donnie who tells Jacob he’ll send him the bill.
Jacob’s hand goes into mine as we walk back to the truck. He opens my door, but before I climb in, he pushes me against it. His hands go to my face, and he tilts my head up, kissing me. My arms go around his neck as he kisses me senseless in the middle of the sidewalk. “I love you.”
“I love you more,” he says, and then his thumb rubs my cheek when his phone rings in his pocket. He takes it out and looks at me. “It’s Casey.”
I look at him with worry as he answers, “Yeah.” He looks at me and smirks. “She’s with me. She’s fine.” He then hands me the phone. “It’s for you.”
I shake my head and grab the phone. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” Casey says. “We are having lunch in twenty, and Mom wants you here.”
“Well, then,” I say, looking at Jacob, “set two more places.”
“No kissy faces at the table.” He tries to sound mad, but the snicker that comes out after ruins it. “We’ll talk when you get here.” In his true Casey self, he hangs up without saying goodbye.
“Well, then,” I say, handing the phone back to Jacob, “we are having lunch at my parents’ house.”
“Good,” he says. “About time we had the talk.”
“Wait.” My heart starts to speed up. “What talk?”
“Well, we need to tell them about Gabriel,” he says, “and then we need to tell them that we’re getting married.” He tries to walk away from me, and I grab his arm to stop him.
“We’re getting married?” I ask. My head is spinning, and just like the old Jacob, he walks back to me and grabs my face, knowing it calms me.
“I’d marry you today if you would have me,” he says softly. “So yeah, we’re getting married.”
“Jacob McIntyre,” I use his full name, “this better not be my proposal.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “On one knee,” I say, and he kisses me, “with roses.” He shakes his head and walks around the truck. “Candles.”
“Anything else?” He looks over the hood at me.
“Champagne,” I say, getting in the truck. He gets in after I close my door.
“Small wedding or big?” he asks, looking over at me.
“Small,” I say. I don’t tell him that I planned the wedding when I was sixteen. It would have been the talk of the town, but now just him there with our closest family members and friends would be perfect. Thinking about it, just the two of us would be perfect.
“Outside or inside?”
“Outside.” A picture of marrying him right under our tree by the creek flashes through my mind.
“Good to know,” he says as we turn into my parents’ driveway. He turns the car off and looks over at me. “You ready for this?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Not even close.”
“Whatever happens, I’m going to be right there by your side,” he says, and I look up at the house and see my mother coming out with a worried look on her face.
“Well, here we go,” I say to him and open the door, stepping out. “Hey, Mom.” I put up my hand to wave to her while I wait for Jacob. “Let’s do this.” I put my hand in his, and he brings it up and kisses it, making my heart flutter.
“Hi, you two,” my mother says to us, and I see the smile on her face but also the tears in her eyes. We walk up the steps together, and she hugs me first. “Are you okay?’ she whispers in my ear. I nod at her, and then she goes to hug Jacob. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Thank you,” he says and then shocks us both when he grabs her hand with his. “Thank you for being there for Kallie and Gabriel.” He puts his arms around my shoulder as my mother wipes away tears. “He was in the best hands.” She pats his hand in hers. The door opens, and my father comes out and sees that my mother and I are crying.
“What in the world?” he says, then looks at Jacob. “This is a surprise.”
Jacob just nods at him. “Let’s go inside. I don’t think I can hold off Casey any longer,” he says, laughing. “You ready, boy?”
“Bring it.” Jacob looks at my father as he turns and walks inside, and we follow my parents.
I look up at him when we walk into the family room and see Olivia sitting on the couch with her feet curled under her with a glass of wine in her hand. “Ohhh, this is going to be good.” She smiles at me and winks, then looks over at Casey. “You need to simmer down, cowboy.”
“Darlin’,” he says softly to her, and she raises her eyebrows at him.
“Okay,” I start, “we might as well get this out of the way before lunch.” I walk over to the couch and sit next to Olivia, who hands me the wine glass. I look over at her and smile. “I
might need something stronger after this.” I look at her with tears in my eyes.
I feel the couch beside me shift and look over to see Jacob sitting beside me. “Dad.” I look at him. “You should sit.”
“No,” he says, shaking his head, the worry written all over his face as he takes off his cowboy hat and holds it in his hand.
“Billy,” my mother says softly, going to him with tears running down her face, “you should sit.”
“Is she sick?” he asks my mother, his eyes now filling with tears. “Are you sick?” He looks at me and asks me while I look at Casey, who looks like he’s going to jump out of his skin.
“I’m not sick,” I start and take a deep breath. “Here it goes,” I mumble.
Casey barks out, “What in the hell happened to your hand?” He looks at the bandage around my wrist.
“I got a tattoo,” I tell them. My mother’s mouth falls open, and she sits down on the couch next to my father.
“You got a tattoo?” Casey asks me, shocked. “A tattoo.”
“It’s for life.” Olivia leans to whisper in my ear. “Forever.” She raises her eyebrows.
“I know.” I smile back at her. “It’s the date of my son’s birthday,” I say out loud, and then I look around the room. My father sits there in shock, his cowboy hat falling to the floor. My mother puts her hand in front of her mouth, and Casey folds his hands over his chest, his jaw tight.
“What are you talking about?” Olivia looks at me and grabs my hand in hers. My other hand slips into Jacob’s.
“I was pregnant when I left here,” I say. “I just didn’t know until I was two months along.”
My father now with tears pouring down his face. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was going to, but every single time I tried, I got scared.” I tell the truth. “There was just so much going on.”
“Where is the baby?” Casey’s tone is tight, and I look down and then at Jacob, who brings me to his chest.
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