Chapter 22 #2
She cradled his face in her hands and brought him down for a soulful kiss that sent desire darting through her. Her toes curled as she lifted her hips to give him more.
“I need to move,” he said with a gasp.
She let her legs drop and fall open.
His back was slick with sweat as he pounded into her.
Andi had no choice but to go along for the ride until he sucked her nipple deep into his mouth and sent her into a climax that she felt from her toes to the tips of her fingers.
Suddenly, he went still. “Andi,” he moaned. “Oh, God, I love you.”
She kissed his brow, his closed eyes, his cheek, the end of his nose, and finally his lips. “I love you, too. So, so much. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you, without this.”
“You’ll never have to find out.” He held her close to him as he tried to catch his breath. “I don’t ever want to be away from you again.”
“Good, because I’m not letting you go anymore. All hell breaks loose when you’re not here.”
“Jamie told me what happened with the girls.” He kissed her and shifted to his side, bringing her with him. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that by yourself.”
She smoothed a hand over his chest, stopping to linger when his nipple pebbled under her finger. “I felt bad about upsetting them. I had no idea Clare wrote the note on that board.”
“They know that.” He reached for her dallying hand and brought it to his lips. “I’m sorry I never mentioned it. I heard Jill took it hard.”
“She did, but we had a good talk, and she even let me comfort her.”
“She’s matured a lot this year.”
“She told me she’s happy I’m here,” Andi offered with a smile.
His grin lit up his face. “Did she? I’m so glad to hear that.”
“I was, too.”
“See? It’s all working out. We’re becoming a family, one small step at a time.”
The phone rang, and he reached for the bedside extension. He told the caller that Kate was at the beach. “Yes, I’ll tell her.” Jack hung up and rolled his eyes. “That was Ryan.”
“So I gathered.”
“Kate’s not answering her cell, and he wants to make sure she knows he’s picking her up at seven thirty rather than seven. Oh, the joy.”
She laughed at him. “You’re lucky it took this long for one of them to have a boyfriend.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to like it,” he grumbled.
Andi settled herself on top of him. “I can see for Kate’s sake, I need to get your mind off her love life and back on your own.”
He raised a crooked eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? What do you have in mind?”
“You’ll see,” she whispered in his ear.
They spent two blissful weeks on Block Island at the beginning of August, relaxing on the beach, sailing in Block Island sound, and taking long walks into town for ice cream.
Late on their last night on the island, Jack sat with Andi on Haven Hill’s back porch long after the kids had gone to bed.
“I can’t believe this is our last week with Jill at home.”
“The summer went by so fast.”
“I never really went home again after I left for college. In fact, I didn’t spend a night in my parents’ house for ten years.”
“That was different, Jack. Your father was so hard on you. You know Jill will be home for weekends all the time.”
“It won’t be the same.”
“No, it won’t. We’re all going to miss her, but she’ll be fine.
She’s smart and clever, just like you. And I know it’ll be such a difficult transition for you, but she’s so excited.
Don’t take anything away from her joy by letting her see how sad you are, okay?
It’ll be much harder for her to leave you if she thinks you’re sad. ”
“You know me so well.” He lifted their joined hands to kiss hers. “And you’re right. I need to keep that in mind over the next week. I can be sad later, and you’ll take good care of me, right?”
“Of course I will.”
He released her hand to run his fingers through her long hair. “Are you happy here with us? Do you miss the city—”
She put her fingers on his lips to silence him. “I’m thrilled to be here with you. I’ve never known anything like what we have.”
He hugged her, grateful for the second chance at love she had given him.
The family celebrated Jill’s eighteenth birthday a week early, since she’d be in the midst of freshman orientation on her actual birthday.
Jack’s parents came for the party and to see Jill off to school.
There were tearful good-byes at the house when Jack, Andi, and Jill left for Providence in two cars packed full of Jill’s belongings.
“Thanks again for this, Andi,” Jill said later that afternoon.
Andi had created an away-from-home sanctuary for Jill by using a combination of the girl’s favorite colors: lime green, purple, and blue.
“My pleasure, honey. We’ll sure miss you at home.” Andi hugged Jill one last time. To Jack, she said, “I’ll wait for you downstairs, okay?”
“I’ll be right there.” He appreciated that she understood his need for a last moment alone with his daughter. “You’re sure you have enough money and everything?” he asked Jill for the third time.
“I’m sure, Dad. I have everything I need. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“No chance of that,” he said with a grin. “You’ve got your cell phone and charger, right?”
“Yes, and I’ll use it to call you—often.”
“I’ll be waiting.” He hugged her. “I want you to enjoy every minute of this, but use your good judgment and stay away from things you know you shouldn’t be doing. There’ll be lots of temptation—”
“You don’t have to worry. I’d never do anything to disappoint you.”
He hugged her again. “I love you.” His throat tightened with emotion, but he maintained a smile for her.
In one instant, he saw her dancing at five in a pink tutu, walking over the bridge to Girl Scouts, flying down the lacrosse field with her long hair in a ponytail, jumping off the boat into cool blue water, and skipping across the stage in her cap and gown. How fast it all had happened.
“I love you, too. You can go. I promise I’ll be okay.”
With a deceptively jaunty wave, he finally left her.
Andi waited for him in the driver’s seat of his car.
He got in next to her and sank into her loving embrace as he struggled to compose himself. “You know what I can’t stop thinking about?” he asked after several quiet minutes.
“What’s that?”
“I have to do this again next year.”
Andi laughed. “Yes, you do. Why don’t we go have a nice dinner, and I’ll buy you a bottle of good wine so you can drown your sorrows?”
“I like the way you think.” He was up for anything that would postpone going home to a house where Jill no longer lived.
They went to an Italian restaurant in the city’s Federal Hill section, where he did his best to put away a bottle of wine, but rather than helping him forget, it only made him sadder. They held hands as she drove home.
“Thanks for everything you did to help out today.” He looked over at her. “Jill’s room is amazing. She’ll be the envy of all the freshmen.”
“I’m glad she liked it. It was a lot of fun to do.”
“We’re all lucky to have you.” He leaned over to kiss her cheek and rested against her as they crossed the Newport Bridge.
Jack arranged for the kids to spend the night at Frannie and Jamie’s on the twenty-fourth of August—the one-year anniversary of the day he met Andi. Planning a special night for them had helped to take his mind off Jill being gone, and he’d told Andi to be ready at six.
“Ready to go, hon?”
“Ready when you are.”
“You look beautiful.” He drew her in close to him and gave her a lingering kiss. “Happy anniversary.”
Andi curled her arms around his neck. “Same to you. With Jill leaving and everything, I wondered if you’d remember.”
“Of course I remembered.”
She laughed. “I should’ve known better.”
With his arm around her shoulder, he walked her to his car. “Yes, you should have.”
“Where’re we going?”
“I thought we’d spend the night on the boat like we did that weekend you came to visit,” he said as they drove to the marina.
“There’s nothing I’d rather do tonight, but I didn’t bring anything to stay.”
He kissed her hand. “I took care of it.”
She sighed. “I’ll never get used to being with a man who thinks of everything.”
“You’d better get used to it. You’re stuck with me.”
“Yes, I’m just so stuck,” she said with a smile. “So blissfully stuck.”
He’d been to the boat earlier in the day, and everything was ready for them when they arrived.
They motored toward the bay to see the hotel’s progress from the water. The exterior was just about shingled, the roof was on, and the contractors were putting up the interior walls. They’d had a lucky run with the weather all year, which had kept things right on schedule.
“It looks wonderful, Jack. I can’t believe how close to done it seems from here.”
They lingered for a moment longer to look at the hotel that had brought them together. Then he steered the boat across the bay to anchor in Mackerel Cove for the night.
The same Sinatra CD they’d listened to last time played on the stereo as they dove into the dinner he’d brought.
As Andi polished off the last brownie, she said, “I’m so full, and yet still I eat.”
“I can’t move.” He groaned as he reclined on the other side of the boat’s comfortable rear cockpit. The night air was heavy with humidity, and water lapped gently against the hull.
She gazed up at the spectacular show of stars. “What a lovely evening.”
He looked over at her. “What a lovely year.”
She brought her eyes down from the heavens to meet his. “The loveliest year ever.”
“No regrets?”
“Are you waiting for me to have regrets, Jack?”
“I keep hoping you won’t.”
“I won’t. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever, so don’t spend one more minute worrying about that.”
“You know me so well—better than anyone ever has.”
The gravity of that statement hung in the air between them.
“I feel so disloyal to Clare even saying that, but it’s true.”
“Jack,” she sighed. “I hate the terrible pain I still see in your eyes once in a while.”
“It’s better than it was, but it still gets to me every now and then.”
“Of course it does.”
When their song came on, he sat up and held out a hand to her. “Dance with me?”
She got up to take his hand.
“We might need a new song,” he whispered as he drew her in close to him.
“How come?”
“Since we’re together every day now, I don’t have to remember the way you look tonight to hold me over during the lonely times.”
“I remember how I felt the last time we were right here, knowing I had to leave you in a few days and how hopeless it all seemed. We wouldn’t be here now if you hadn’t had enough hope for both of us.”
“Hope was the only thing I had left then. I don’t even like to think about how differently things could’ve turned out if you hadn’t had the courage to give it a try.”
She reached up to kiss him. “I’m so glad I did.”
“So am I.”
Jack awoke the next morning to his cell phone vibrating on the table where he’d left it the night before. He jumped out of bed to grab it.
“Dad!”
“Kate, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“Frannie had the babies! I’ve been trying to call you all night.”
“The phone was on vibrate. I didn’t hear it. Is everything okay?”
“It is now, but she had a C-section. I guess there was some bleeding or something.”
“You’re sure Frannie’s okay?” he asked as he went in to wake Andi.
“I’m sure. Uncle Jamie just called a few minutes ago. They had a boy and a girl. Owen and Olivia.”
“I can’t believe we slept through all the excitement.”
“Come home! We want to go to the hospital.”
“We’re on our way.”
Maggie Harrington thought the arrival of Olivia and Owen Booth was the most exciting thing that’d ever happened. She’d never seen fingers and toes so tiny as she gazed at them in their bassinettes.
Across the room, Eric signed to his mother, “She likes them better than me now.” He watched Maggie stare at the twins.
“Oh, no, sweetie, she’s just excited about the new babies. She won’t forget you,” Andi assured him.
“I hope not,” he signed, casting another worried glance at Maggie.
“We’re going home soon,” Andi told him.
The new parents took in the chaos from Frannie’s hospital bed.
“Are you tired, hon?” Jamie asked his wife.
“Getting there. You can shoo them out in a few minutes.”
Neil leaned over to take another look at his first grandchildren. He’d handed out pink and blue cigars to everyone he encountered since leaving Palm Beach that morning.
Jack came into the room with a pizza for Jamie and found his daughters holding their new baby cousins. Jill had been in earlier for a brief visit before going back to school. “Hey, Kate, why don’t you think about taking the kids home? It’s getting late.”
“Five more minutes, Dad,” Maggie said as she held Olivia.
After the kids left, Jack wandered over to Frannie’s bed. “How’re you feeling, Fran?”
“Like I got sliced in half by a speeding train.” She shifted, trying to get comfortable.
Jack winced. “Sounds awful.”
“It was pretty scary, but look at those babies.”
“They’re beautiful,” Jack said. They had a dusting of her auburn hair, and Jamie had joked earlier about being stuck in a house full of hot-tempered redheads. “I love their names, too.”
“Thanks. I still can’t believe I’m finally a mom.”
“It’ll become real at three in the morning when they’re both awake and hungry.”
She grimaced. “I can’t wait. We’d like you and Andi to be their godparents.”
He kissed her forehead. “We’d be honored. We’re going now so you can get some rest. Call if you need anything.”
Jack and Andi left the new family and walked to his car. The stifling heat of the late August day still clung to the blacktop.
“What a day,” Jack said as he held the car door for Andi. “Did we really wake up on the boat, or was that a month ago?”
She chuckled. “The babies are adorable. They’re so lucky to have one of each.”
“A ready-made family. They want us to be the godparents.”
“Frannie told me. It’s so sweet of them to include me.”
“Do you ever think about having more kids?”
Amazed by the question, she looked over at him. “Do you?”
“Not really, but I have three. You only have one, and you’re younger than I am.”
“Only seven years.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to one more if you had the urge.”
“With your kids so close to being grown?”
“Eric’s only six, so we’ve got a lot of years of parenthood left. What’s a few more?”
She shook her head. “You never cease to amaze me, Jack. Just when I think I have you figured out…”
He glanced over at her. “So what do you think? Want to have one of our own?”
She thought about it for a moment. “I’d love to have a child with you, but we have a very nice family the way it is now, and with the twins coming into our lives, I think we’ll be set for kids. We can always borrow them when we feel the hankering for babies.”
“Are you sure?”
She leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I am. But I love you for asking.”
“I love you, too.” He held her hand as he drove them home.