Chapter 10 Jude
Jude
After Em extricates herself from my lap and reclaims her corner of the couch again, we finish dinner while I tell her all about the events of my day starting with Pete’s confession and my conversation with her brothers.
Once we’ve both finished eating, I take out the dishes to the kitchen and clean up, grabbing two cans of real beer out of Em’s fridge at her request before returning to the couch.
Her phone is in her hand when I walk in but she doesn’t hide the fact she’s on it this time.
She looks up and smiles as I hand over her drink. “I was messagin’ Dare back. He’s a bit of a worry wart when it comes to me. I wanted to make sure he knew that I knew.”
“That’s good,” I say, cracking open the beer and taking a much-needed swig. “You can imagine the grillin’ I got from your brothers when I told them what had happened.”
A snort escapes her. “Let me guess, Ash was the worst?”
I smirk. “Oh yeah.”
“What did your family say?”
“They know it’s nobody’s fault. That was what I was worried about, that y’all would think I did it on purpose.”
She’s already shaking her head before I’ve finished speaking. “That thought would never have crossed my mind. You didn’t know what Dad was goin’ to ask of you that day.
I nod, feeling a hell of a lot better at her faith in me and my character. “I just knew I had to go with Sutt and Blair that day. A gut feelin’, I guess. Then I saw you and it was like I’d been walkin’ around blind and finally I could see.”
Her lips part and I know I’ve caught her off-guard with that.
“I had no idea. I knew I felt calm when you were close to me and somehow I just knew you were a safe place for me and my family,” she says.
“It’s crazy, right?”
She scrubs her face with her hands as a dry laugh escapes her. “You’d think I’d know something was up when I didn’t even think before acceptin’ your proposal.”
“Definitely not complainin’ about that, not since it’s brought me to you, here and now.”
She stares at me for a good long while before nodding, a gentle smile curving lips I can’t stop looking at.
“So, where do we—” she asks, just as I say, “What do you think—” and we both laugh.
“Seems we have a habit of talkin’ at the same time, hubby,” she says with a wink.
I nod her way. “You go first.”
“I was goin’ to ask where we go from here?”
“That’s all up to you. I came to Palmer to tell you in person about the mix up.
But, in the interest of honesty, I already wanted to see you before Pete told me.
I’ve really enjoyed gettin’ to know you better over the past few weeks and I’ve been feelin’ pretty bad the last wee while. Probably because of the—”
“Call,” we say at the same time. This time our synchronized thinking fits perfectly.
“Yeah,” I add, staring down at the beer in my hand. “I know the prophesy is in Aster’s books and has become somewhat like folklore these days, but I’ve seen it happen so many times now that I do truly believe in it. I get it if you don’t though.”
Em’s quiet for a long time. When I look over at her, I find her watching me closely. “My thoughts on the Call are a bit more complicated.”
“Because of the rivalry?” I ask.
She shakes her head before she stops, as if to think about it, before she nods.
When she shakes it again, I can’t help but bite back a grin.
“I’ve never quite believed in the whole ‘meet the love of my life and have a happy ever after’ idea.
Not because I was adopted or anythin’. My parents were amazin’.
The best I could’ve ever asked for. I just didn’t set out and design my life around meetin’ someone and fallin’ for them.
All of the decisions I’ve made have been with the sole focus of achievin’ what I want. ”
“To be fair, I hadn’t put much thought into it myself. At least not until Gramps died and we moved to the mountain,” I say. “But there’s somethin’ about makin’ a big life change—or maybe losin’ someone you’re close to—that has a way of makin’ you reevaluate things.”
“I definitely understand that.” Hope blooms in my chest.
“Then Will met Birdie and we found out about the Call, and seein’ how happy my brother was and how perfect him and Birdie are together, I realized that one day I might be lucky enough to find that too.”
Em’s face falls. “Oh.”
“Though, I wasn’t exactly sure I’d find my soulmate livin’ on a mountain in small-town Alaska. That seemed fairly unlikely,” I confess.
“Then you met me…”
“Bingo!” I reply, making her laugh quietly. The sound makes my heart flip.
“There’s one big problem, Jude. I live here and you live there.”
“Why do you think I’m here, wifey?” I say, shooting her a small grin.
Her breath catches and her big, beautiful eyes lock with mine, the draw between us impossible to resist for a minute longer. I shift closer to her and hold out my hand, sighing happily when she laces her fingers with mine. The rightness of it has my mind blanking of everything but here… now… her.
“Yes, I knew that you deserved to be told in person rather than over the phone. It’s more than that though.”
“Will you tell me?”
I give her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I knew you’d left before Dare could tell me. It was like I felt you weren’t close anymore.”
Her eyes flash wide. “Wow.”
“That pretty much sums it up.”
Silence stretches between us, but it’s not awkward, and I don’t rush her. I’ll give her however long she needs to process the news and what it might mean.
“Even before you found out about us bein’ legally bound, you were feelin’ the Call?
” she asks. I nod, not looking away from her, which means I don’t miss the way her whole body relaxes.
“What happens now? I mean, I don’t know about you, but if the mountain spirit has deemed that we belong together, it’s probably not wise to go against her wishes by havin’ the marriage annulled or anythin’, right?
” Then she gasps, jerking her hand from mine and covering her mouth.
“Unless you’re here with papers ready for me to sign.
Cause I will, Jude. Whatever you want. We didn’t think this was real anyway, so if you wanted to cancel out Pete’s mistake or whatever—”
Leaning forward, I gently circle her wrist before pulling it away from her face.
“Breathe, wifey.” She slowly inhales before letting it go, her shoulders dropping down from her ears as she does.
“Better?” I have to bite back a grin when she worries her lip between her teeth and nods.
“You think I’d drive all this way—and bring dinner—just to tell you I want to annul the marriage?
” She opens her mouth to say something but I beat her to the punch, “or get you to sign divorce papers?” When her expression softens, I forge on.
“I’m here to tell you I want to get to know my wife.
Our marriage bein’ real may have brought me here tonight, but it’s not the main reason I’m here.
It’s not why I’ve got plans to visit you every weekend for the foreseeable future either.
I’ll keep doin’ it until you tell me not to.
She quirks a brow. “And if that doesn’t happen?” God that feels good to hear. Any lingering nerves or reservations I might have still had vanish into thin air.
“Then we’ll have some decisions to make about where and how we work toward creatin’ a life together. Whether that’s here or back home. Still with me?”
She stares at me for so long I wonder if I’ve misread her. “This is a lot,” she whispers.
There’s no way I can hold back my smile now. “It is. We don’t have to talk about it all now, but if it’ll help, I can lay everythin’ I want out on the table and you can tell me what you think about it.”
“You mean you didn’t just do that?” My wife is cute as hell.
“Naw. That was me tellin’ you what brought me here. I’m talkin’ about my intentions now.”
The tightness around my chest eases the minute her lips twitch. “OK, hubby. Hit me with the rest. I always work best when I have all the information.”
“OK. I’m here because I wanted to see you.
Been wantin’ more than just phone calls since that first one because I felt there was somethin’ between us the first day we met.
” Her eyes widen but I keep going. “As for now, I wanted to look you in the eye when I told you about us bein’ married for real.
I also wanted to see that the connection and chemistry between us and the feelin’s I get whenever I think about you—whenever I talk to you—aren’t just in my head. ”
“They’re not,” she rushes out, “one-sided, I mean.”
There’s no stopping my smile at that. “Pete’s mistake gave me the chance to tell your brothers about the Call and that you’re my One.
It also meant I have the chance to prove to all of you that the only thing I’m interested in is you.
” Her mouth drops open. “And bein’ here tonight has only confirmed that what I’m feelin’ isn’t just in my head. How am I goin’ so far?”
Her pouty pink lips twitch. “You’re doin’ fine.”
“Ok. I should also confirm that I’m pretty damn happy that drivin’ here means I got to skip my chores,” I deadpan.
“You did not just say that,” she giggles.
I tilt my head to one side, then to the other. “The words came out of my mouth, didn’t they?”
She laughs again. “OK. Does that mean I’ve already earned a tick in the pro-wife column without even tryin’?”