probably should have let you, but I’m so glad that I didn’t. If I had, I would be dead now. You saved my life. Thank you for that.”
Toni nodded sharply, but didn’t say anything so Julie quietly asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. You know this just perfects my atrocious dating record. Not everyone can attract serial rapists and killers.”
“Hey, I knew him a lot longer than you did, and I had no idea. You couldn’t have known. He hid it incredibly well, even from himself. I talked with my therapist about it this morning and he said that it was an obvious psychotic break. I look at it as he had two personalities…the one we knew and the one that was broken by that awful murder of his girlfriend when he was too young to deal with it. Let me give you my doctor’s name. He’s very good and you need to talk about this with someone. It helps. I promise you.”
Toni studied Julie for a moment before agreeing to take Dr. Eckert’s number.
Chapter 42
The next day, Chris awoke Julie with slow, passionate love-making. He was nervous about today. She’d been through so much; he wasn’t sure how much more she could take. Her emotions still seemed very close to the surface, but he didn’t want to hide anything from her any longer. Until they had complete honesty between them, he didn’t feel like he could plan for the future and their life together.
He glanced at the clock. Julie had fallen asleep again, but it was time to get going if they were going to make their appointment. She was asleep on her stomach and he spent a moment tracing the baby’s date on her butterfly tattoo. He had his own butterflies battering at the edges of his stomach. This had to work today.
He trailed a kiss across the wings of the butterfly and then slowly up her spine. Her muscles gradually awakened under his touch. She moaned into the pillow, “Feels so good.”
Chuckling low, he traced behind his lips. “It does, huh? Well, unfortunately, we have someplace we need to be, so you need to wake up, sleepyhead.”
She lifted her head and cocked an eyebrow at him. “It’s Saturday. Where do we need to go?”
“That, my dear, is a surprise.” He slapped her on her ass. “So up and at ‘em. Go get in the shower and I’ll get the coffee started.”
* * *
As they walked into the tree-lined park, Chris glanced around nervously. The only way he could imagine this being any more nerve-racking was if he had an engagement ring in his pocket. Honestly, he probably should have done that, too. If she accepted this, it was a foregone conclusion, at least in his mind, that they would also get married. He knew that was what he planned, but one step at a time. He took a deep breath. Honesty first.
Julie looked at him with curiosity as he pulled them to a stop under a big old cottonwood tree. It seemed somehow appropriate. He spread the blanket out on the ground and asked her to sit down. He looked out toward the playground when he heard barking and smiled at the ball of fluff racing toward them.
He leaned down and it flew into his arms, licking and wagging his tail. “Hey, Brady,” he said to the puppy. “Calm down. I need you to meet a lady.” He glanced up at the rangy guy trailing behind the puppy. “Thanks, Mark. We’ve got it from here. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The guy smiled and waved and offered Julie a small little smile before he loped off.
The golden retriever puppy bounded all over both him and Julie. He quickly snagged the loop of the leash around his wrist so it didn’t get away from them.
Julie giggled as she rolled on the blanket with the puppy. “And who is this?”
“Julie, this is Brady, a seven-week old golden retriever puppy.” He turned to the puppy and scratched it behind his ears. “Brady, this is your new mommy.”
She stilled and gazed at him with wide eyes. Her mouth dropped open. “He’s mine?” Her voice was breathy and hopeful and the rolling in Chris’s stomach began to settle.
“Yeah, he’s yours, if you want him.”
She leapt for Chris and gave him an open-mouthed scorching kiss. “I definitely do. Oh my God, I can’t believe you got me a puppy. Thank you.” Her smile was blinding and so filled with genuine joy as she watched the puppy