one cheek and then the other.
“Pay attention, Lucas. I said while I know I’m capable of taking care of the kids on my own—”
“Of course you’re capable.” His lips tickled her ear.
“—part of what made them so happy and content and secure at my house in the first place was having you around too. And that it would be ridiculous to think you’re an obstacle when what you really are is one of the best things that’s ever happened to them.” She was the one to kiss him now—soundly. “And to me.”
She clung to him, out of breath and out of words, but so full of warmth and delight she wasn’t sure how any moment could possibly top this one right now.
But that was the thing—there’d be more moments like this. There’d be more kisses and merriment and love that kept growing. How did a person ever come to grips with this kind of joy?
“And what did Carmen say?” he finally whispered against her hair.
“Oh, well, after I ranted for a good twenty minutes, she said, ‘All right, let’s talk about what this looks like. Calmly.’”
He chest rumbled with laughter. “And what does it look like?”
“Well, we talked through a number of scenarios. I explained that you have a rather low-profile but high-intensity position that takes you away from home sometimes—”
He stilled her with a shake of his head. “No. I’m done at Bridgewell.”
“But—”
“I’m done and I’ve known it for a long time. I just got confused for a minute.”
“It was more than a minute. You’ve been gone for two weeks. Pure torture.”
His arms tightened around her. “The other scenarios, Jen. What’d they look like?”
She stood on her tiptoes to press one more kiss to his lips and then, “A family, Lucas. They all looked like a family.”
She pressed the picture in her mind of his joy-filled smile just then. Of the rich, swirling sheen in those ever-shifting hazel eyes of his that spoke of longings fulfilled. Of all the bright and beautiful somedays to come.
And his low, perfect voice matched the whisper of her heart. “Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
Thanksgiving
“Jen, Jen, JEN! Hurry up.”
At Lucas’s excited shout, Jenessa stopped filling her coffee mug halfway and jammed the carafe back into place. “Hold your horses.”
The smell of the caramel rolls they’d devoured hours ago still clung to the air, along with the cinnamon Violet had gone slightly overboard with as they’d prepared the pies for later.
Flour dusted Jenessa’s pajama top, and probably her hair too, but who had time to care, let alone look in a mirror, on a morning like this?
Within a couple hours, Belville Park would fill with so many of the people she loved most. Mara and Marshall and Sam, who was overjoyed to have Mackenzie for the day. Aunt Lauren and Tony. Kit and Beckett. Paige. Noah and even Lucas’s dad and Nancy.
Dustin Hollis was the only wild card. They’d invited him, but whether he’d show was anyone’s guess.
But the people she loved the most-most were already here, the drifting music of their voices and laughter sweetening the air around her even more than cinnamon.
Lucas bounded into the kitchen, exaggerated impatience in his warm gaze. Violet had been playing with his hair again—it was pulled back with a scrunchie into something halfway between a ponytail and a bun. He took the mug from her hand and plunked it on the counter.
“Hey, we’re playing host to a thousand people later. I need that extra caffeine.”
Wasn’t he cold in just a tee and gym shorts? “But you’re going to miss it.”
“Miss what?”
Apparently he decided it was too much to explain. He gave a huff and swept her off her feet. Her shriek turned to laughter as he carried her into the family room, where all three kids were gathered on the floor.
He plunked them both onto the couch. She landed next to him, arms still around his neck and legs sprawled over his. “Well, I guess when someone wants his wife’s presence, he gets his wife’s presence.” She tried to sound scolding and failed entirely.
Lucas’s stubble scratched her cheek in that way she loved when he kissed her. And for what was surely the millionth time since they’d married in a short and simple courthouse ceremony last weekend, she thanked God they’d decided to copy Marshall and Mara. Forgo some pointlessly lengthy engagement.
Lucas had stayed out in the cottage until the day of the wedding, and Noah had too. They’d found a brotherly closeness as they tossed around the idea