Chapter 14 #2
He stepped back, holding her face in his hands and watching the emotions play over her features. “Don’t leave me again, okay?” She nodded as he covered her face with kisses. “Don’t do that to me. We belong together.”
He bent his head to hers as she reached for him, their lips meeting and melding, becoming one. Her arms clutched at him, pulling him tighter against her body as heat surged through her belly, fluid and warm.
She led him into the house, up the stairs to her bedroom.
Everything she had run from reared to life inside her, the fervent hopes and dreams of this love, of this man, coursing through her body. She opened herself to him, her mind and soul, allowing the love she felt to flow freely, uninhibited and proud.
There was a truth between them that was remarkable and strong despite their separation, and she reveled in their passion, seeing for the first time that their love for each other was honest and good, and could see them through the darkness.
Hank Jared was meant for her, like a flower was meant for the sun.
And she knew. She was going to hold on to this man forever.
Julie cuddled up to Hank’s back and threw her leg over his. They had been making love and sleeping, on and off for the past twelve hours.
“I don’t even know where you live,” she said, giggling.
He cleared his throat. “With my mom.”
“You do not.”
He turned his head into the pillow. “Actually, at the moment I do.”
“Why?”
He rolled onto his back, lifting his arm for her to snuggle closer. “I used to keep an apartment in D.C., but I wasn’t there enough to say so. I gave it up when I resigned my commission. Then I couldn’t bring myself to get another place without…”
She interrupted. “When you what?”
“Resigned my commission. I left the Navy, Julie.”
“What? When?”
“When I went to D.C. for my debriefing after Barstow died.”
She sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover herself. “Because of me? They made you resign because of me?”
“They didn’t make me resign. I quit.”
“But why?” She waved her hand at him. “You love the Navy. The military’s everything to you!”
“No, Julie. You are everything to me.” He caressed her cheek. “The Navy was just a job.”
She threw the blankets back and strode to the bathroom.
“I did it to make you happy,” he yelled after her.
She stomped back into the room, tying a light blue robe around her waist. “Well, why the hell didn’t you ask me first? You just go and quit the Navy like it’s freakin’ Burger Hut and expect me to be grateful?”
He put his hands up. “Wait. What’s happening here? You hate the Navy. You couldn’t stand that I was an officer. Does any of this ring a bell? You didn’t want to be involved with me because of the Navy.”
“I didn’t want you to quit, Hank.”
“I got that. But I don’t understand why.”
“Forget it. Just forget it.” She paced the room. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
She turned and headed for the porch, the cool night air smelling of rain. She sat in her rocker, mentally daring him to follow her. When he did not, she let her shoulders drop and took a deep breath, the pungent smell of honeysuckle only now permeating her awareness.
The buzzing of cicadas mixed with the chirp of frogs and the steady rhythm of her rocking chair. Her body cooled along with her temper, and she began to feel sorry for fighting with Hank.
How could he think that leaving the Navy would make her happy? She didn’t want him to give up what he cared about. Her father was the traitor, the murderer and the psychopath. It was her problem, and she should be the one to pay the price for it. Not Hank.
An hour passed before she saw him standing in the doorway, and she stopped moving.
“May I join you?”
She nodded.
He sat in the wooden porch swing across the way, his muscular arm draped across the back in artful silhouette.
“I’m sorry I got so upset,” she said.
“Can you explain it to me?”
She set her chair to rocking. “I don’t want you to sacrifice something you love for me.”
He was quiet for a moment, and she waited to see what he would say. “Why not?”
“It makes me uncomfortable.”
“Julie, that’s what people who love each other do.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Sure, it is. They sacrifice and they compromise, they bend over backwards to make each other happy. That’s what it means to be in a committed relationship.”
He made it sound so rational, so reasonable. She had never been in love before. Her parents had never gone to such lengths to make each other happy.
Okay, bad example.
Her eyes began to burn as the truth made its way to her lips. “I don’t deserve it.”
He was up in an instant, kneeling before her chair, grabbing her hands and holding them in his own. “You do,” he said, kissing each palm. “And if you’ll let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove it to you.”
She leaned over, her forehead resting against his as she cried. Was it possible that this incredible man knew everything about her past, and loved her anyway?
“Will you let me, Julie? Let me show you how much you deserve it, how much we both do?” He reached up and gently put his hand on her neck. “Will you be my wife?”
“I’m not good at this, Hank. I don’t know what a healthy marriage looks like.”
“We’ll learn together, Julie. We’ll figure it out as we go.”
All the women in the world, and he wants to marry me.
A sob escaped as she nodded. “Yes, Hank. Yes, I’ll be your wife.”