“I think there was a significant difference in my ability to search for you versus your ability to search for me. Besides, weren’t you pregnant?” Once she’d nodded, he touched her cheek gently. “From what I’ve heard, the first couple of months of pregnancy are difficult. I don’t blame you for being unable to search longer. You were protecting our child.” His hand rested on her flat stomach. “I wouldn’t have wanted you to risk the life of Dylan just to find me.”
She hesitated. “I wanted to. So badly,” she finally admitted. “I wanted to find you and yell at you and demand that you help me, but I was also afraid that you might not be the man I wanted you to be.”
His hand moved around to her waist. “And am I? The man you want?”
She bit her lower lip and scooted forward tentatively, her arms slipping around his shoulders. “I think so.”
He laughed. “Think?” he asked, his hand slipping onto her bottom and he smacked her playfully as he stood up. Not hard, but enough so he had her full attention.
Jemma heard some whispering behind her and twisted in his arms. “What are you two doing?” she demanded when she spotted her son and Adriana peering around the corner, hiding by the big butterfly bush.
They both giggled, covering their mouths to stifle the sound. “Dad just spanked you,” Dylan said, taking Adriana’s hand and pulling her forward. As soon as they turned the corner, the area was filled with yellow lab puppies, jumping up and trying to topple the kids.
“I only gave her a love pat.”
Dylan nodded his head. “She loves you too,” he told Damien.
Damien’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”
He smiled smugly. “Because she cries when you’re not here. She reads stuff about you on the computer all the time. And because she gets all gussied up when she knows you’re about to arrive.” He looked at Adriana. “We figured it out.”
Damien looked down at Jemma after those pronouncements. “Is that true?” he asked.
She was about to shake her head no, but she couldn’t lie to him. “Yes. It’s all true.”
“Even the loving me part?” he asked.
She nodded her head again. “But I’m scared,” she told him.
He pulled her closer, ignoring the puppies that were trying to jump up onto their laps. “I know. But we’ll get through it together, okay?”
Jemma sighed, snuggling deeper into his embrace. “Okay.”
“Now tell me you love me,” he commanded.
She laughed, thrilled with the admission. “I love you,” she said.
He leaned down and kissed her tenderly. “I love you too.”
Epilogue
“Mom!” Sixteen year old Adriana called out, rushing into the living room of their seven bedroom house, dripping wet from the pool. “They did it again!” she cried out furiously.
Jemma turned around to figure out exactly which “it” had re-occurred. When she saw her eighteen year old Dylan laughing around the pool with his three younger brothers, Jemma put two and two together. There was Davis, who at twelve was almost as tall as Dylan, Antonio who was her youngest at eight, and Marcus, a very mature ten year old. Adriana’s latest boyfriend, Andrew, was also by the pool – dripping wet although fully clothed.
Standing up, she walked to the edge of the living room doors and glared out at her sons. “Guys, I think you owe Andrew an apology,” she called out firmly. Walking out to the stone patio, she whipped a towel off of the stand and unfolded it, handing it to Andrew to dry off. “I’m sorry that my boys are so inconsiderate, Andrew.”
Andrew took the towel gratefully, pulling it around his shoulders. “It’s okay, Ms. Alfieri.” He blushed as he tried to dry off. “I’m fine.”
“He’s not fine, mother!” Adriana said, almost stomping her feet even while she glared at her brothers. Jemma and Damien had adopted Adriana two weeks after their wedding thirteen years ago. Now, it was as if she’d always been a part of their family. Damien was careful to tell her stories about her birth mother and father, but she didn’t feel sad about her loss any longer. Only joy that she’d had them for three years and had such a wonderful uncle who had turned into her father.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t dealing with the regular sibling issues. Most of those problems were made worse because she was a beautiful blond sixteen year old surrounded by four brothers who all took after their very Italian, very possessive father. Damien wasn’t ready for