Chapter 19
Em
An hour later, we’re all sitting around the dining room table–this time sans clean laundry–after stuffing ourselves full of sandwiches and Thanksgiving leftovers.
“What is this exactly?” Ash says, waving his hand between me and my husband whose lap I’m sitting in.
If I thought I missed Jude before, that’s nothing compared to the intense need I’m filled with now. I crave him even though I’m in his arms. I’ve never felt this way before, it’s a little unnerving and yet… I’m more content than ever before.
At first, I was happy to sit next to him. Then our hands found their way to each other, forcing us to eat one handed. As soon as we’d finished lunch, though, Jude pulled me into his lap and he’s been my seat ever since.
“We’re married,” Jude states matter-of-factly.
Ash rolls his eyes. “I’m talkin’ about you two not bein’ able to get through a meal without touchin’. And now my sister has made a home in your lap.”
I make a show of wiggling before grinning back at Jude. “He’s comfy.”
“I bet,” Wy snickers under his breath.
“We’re sittin’ right here,” Ash grinds out.
I slowly arch my brow at him. “Like we haven’t all witnessed you tryin’ it on at the Lair on a Friday night.”
EJ and BJ chuckle. “Saturday’s too,” BJ muses. Even Dare cracks a smirk. And I swear Ash’s cheeks turn a slight shade of pink.
“What he’s tryin’ to find out is where does this,” Dare points a finger between us, “go from here?”
They’re the whys and the hows that Jude and I still have to talk about. The ‘where to from here’ conundrum that we’ll have to face sooner rather than later given the fact we obviously can’t be away from one another.
Jude squeezes his arms around my waist and slots his chin over my shoulder. “Whatever happens from here on out is somethin’ we have to decide on. But we have time.”
My heart flips and I feel all warm and gooey inside. That’s not to say there’s not a little voice deep inside me wondering how this is all going to work.
My job is here. My house is here. Jude’s life is in Timber Falls. His ranch. His brothers. It’s back on the mountain.
How long will it be until staying away from home becomes too hard for him.
“You’re overthinkin’ somethin’,” Jude says under his breath. “I’m guessin’ you’re wonderin’ how long I can stay here and not miss home, yeah?”
I turn my head, my wide eyes meeting his all-knowing ones. He presses his forehead to mine, not once looking away. When he does that, the conversation around us morphs into inconsequential white noise.
“I’m here for as long as it takes,” he says. “I’ll have to visit back home occasionally, but I’ll work around you because you and our marriage are what’s most important to me now. My brothers understand and Wy’s already offered to step up and act as me in my absence.”
“But–”
“Hey. It’s OK. You and me, that’s what matters. The where, how, and when? That’s also up to us to decide on when we’re ready. Yeah?”
There’s nothing but absolute truth in his gaze.
It hits me then that it’s not if I’ll return home that’s the question, it’s when. It’s something I’m determined to figure out though, for me and for Jude.
“I love you,” I whisper against his lips.
“Love you too.”
Gagging sounds from the twins successfully cut through our loved-up haze. Narrowing my eyes, I snap my head their way. “You’re just jealous.”
BJ rolls his eyes. “Oh, yeah. Totally jealous of you gettin’ all kissy-kissy and bein’ all lovey-dovey with your Cooper husband.”
EJ smirks. “Never thought I’d see our sister bein’ so girly. Oh, look at meee, I’ve got a boyfriend.”
“Husband,” Jude and I say at the same time.
I smack a kiss on Jude’s lips before turning back to the table and finding Ash and Dare both leaning back in their chairs looking contemplative.
“Jude, do you want to give Wyatt a tour of the house so we can catch up with our sister?” Dare says.
I stiffen immediately, shaking my head before he finishes speaking. “No, no, no. Y’all don’t get to try and scare him away now. We’re married. It’s a done, legal deal now, remember?”
“And the Call has been completed,” Wyatt mutters, earning a growl from Jude.
Ash chuckles. “There’s our feisty sister. We just want to talk without you bein’ caught up in your newfound love and all that. It’s nothin’ personal, Jude.”
“Hey, my brothers and I did the same with our sister when she first brought her husband home. Lucky for you, I’ve got a project out front I want to run by Wy anyway. So two stones, one house or whatever the sayin’ is.”
I snort and turn in his lap. “Don’t leave me with them,” I stage whisper, earning a smirk.
“I have every faith in you, wifey. You’ve always had your brothers under your thumb. I’m not worried so you shouldn’t be either.” He punctuates that statement with a hard, far-too-fast, but oh-so-good kiss before helping me get off of him and placing me back in my chair.
I’m scowling at my family before Jude and Wy have even closed the front door. “That was rude.”
“We haven’t seen you in person for months, Em, and I’m not about to apologize for wantin’ to check in on my sister who was so consumed with grief that she ran away in the middle of the night to find peace,” Dare says, his tone not leaving any room for argument.
“And since we’re layin’ it all out,” Ash adds.
“We all lost Dad, but you also got married the same day you were told you were the key to bringin’ the mountain back together.
We saw how destroyed you were and since we’re the only family we’ve all got left now, we’re allowed to worry about you.
You’ve got a life, a job, and a house here, and on top of that, you’ve got an accidentally legal–but apparently real–marriage to navigate. We just want to know you’re OK.”
“Bein’ married to Jude is not a hardship. He’s been amazin’ and understandin’ and hasn’t once pressured me into doin’ anythin’ I don’t want to do,” I reply, leaving no room for argument in my tone.
“Hey. We get it. Hell, we’ve seen it,” Dare replies.
“Even saw your husband in a towel,” EJ teases.
“We all saw that,” Ash says, screwing his face up. “At least you were dressed.”
“Barely,” I mutter, earning more gagging noises from Ash this time. Serves him right for storming into my house in all his ‘get off my sister’ caveman glory.
“OK, let’s stop talkin’ about what we walked in on and start gettin’ into why we’re here,” EJ says seriously. You know it’s important when the twins aren’t joking around.
I stare over at the oldest of the two. “Yes, let’s do that. Why are you here other than missin’ me at Thanksgivin’?”
Dare rubs the back of his neck as he looks around the table at our brothers. “Jude wasn’t completely off base with his assumption.”
My eyes bug out at him. “Y’all do not need to give Jude the ‘hurt my sister and I’ll hurt you’ speech. He wouldn’t hurt a damn fly, let alone me,” I reply cuttingly.
Dare holds his hands up in surrender. “We can see that. He’s one of the good ones. Doesn’t mean we don’t need to see you’re OK for ourselves. Ash is right about that.”
“I usually am,” Ash grumbles, making me snicker.
Dare shakes his head. “Makin’ sure you’re bein’ looked after has been our job since the day Mom and Dad brought you home and that’s not ever goin’ to change.”
“Do you know Jude wrote me a letter and gave it to me before the ceremony? Before we even knew each other?”
Both Ash and Dare stare at me, their eyes flashing with surprise. “What did it say?” Dare asks softly.
“He promised that I’d be his person and he’d be mine.”
“Before the weddin’?” Ash asks.
“Yep.”
Ash sits back in his chair, a murmured “whoa” passing his lips. “How about when you found out the marriage was real? You haven’t really talked to us about that,” he continues.
My eyes lift to the roof as I try to find the words to explain it. “Before Jude turned up at my door that night, I’d been feelin’ weird for a week or two.”
Dare’s eyes narrow as he sits forward on the couch and rests his elbows on his knees. “Weird how?”
“Like I was missin’ somethin’--or someone.
Like my body was too big for my skin. I was tired all the time and seemed to be gettin’ weaker and weaker.
All I know is that Jude was feelin’ it too,” I explain.
“Here’s the thing, I’m a scientist and there’s no explanation that fits.
I just feel better when we’re around each other and now that we’re…
” My cheeks burn as Dare shoots me a smirk, reading me like a book, “closer, it’s like I can sense him and need to be with him all the time.
” EJ and BJ waggle their brows and I scowl. “Not like that!”
News flash… it’s also very much like that.
“So you believed he was your soulmate, just like that?” Ash says. “You’ve always been one of the most skeptical people I know.”
“Never more than you, big brother.” I poke my tongue his way. “But yes, I not only believe it, I also feel it. I know it, and there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jude is the man I’m meant to love and spend my life with.”
They all fall quiet with a mix of contemplative expressions.
“Do you think Dad knew?” Dare asks, breaking the silence.
“I can’t work that one out,” I reply. “He would never have just asked any man to marry me. Especially not a Cooper, not unless he knew somethin’ we didn’t.”
BJ nods. “That’s true.”
I cross my arms over my chest and look between my brothers. “So, really, y’all came here to gossip. Didn’t you?”
BJ wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side.
“In the interest of honesty, Thanksgivin’ dinner was a bit of a disaster.
EJ and Ash burnt the outside of the turkey while undercookin’ the inside.
” I smirk over at the two bad cooks in question.
“But we did miss you and we’ve been talkin’ about comin’ to visit for a while now.
Jude’s a great guy, but we wanted to check your side of the story just in case he was blowin’ smoke about how happy you are. ”