Chapter 36 #2
I gasped at the beauty of the gorgeous little antique ring, the delicate filigree around the stone. It had a diffuse glow, like glacial water. “It’s…it’s magic.”
“My mom came to me one day when I was a teenager and gave it to me,” he said.
“She said, this is for your lady, when you pick one out. She told me to hide it someplace where she could never find it and to not tell her where I put it, no matter what she said or did. She didn’t want to come back from some stupid bender and find out she’d pawned it. ”
“Did she…did she try to get you to tell her where it was afterward?” I immediately regretted the question when I saw the shadows in his eyes.
“Yes,” he said. “But I never caved. I wrapped it up in a dish towel and then a Ziploc bag and shoved it into a hollow tree in the woods. I just went to get it a couple of days ago, and not a moment too soon. They were about to clear the woods, to build some strip mall thing. It would have been gone forever.”
I stared down at it, blinking tears away again. “I’m sorry about all that,” she said. “What happened with your mom. So it’s been in the tree, all this time?”
He nodded. “I’m glad I found it. It seemed appropriate. A beautiful thing of great value, snatched from certain destruction at the last minute? That’s our vibe.”
She laughed. “It’s beautiful, that your mother hid it from herself so that you would have it when you needed it. That was the best in her, wanting the best for you.”
His smile was so beautiful, I was in danger of starting to cry again.
“I’ll give you the best of me,” Jed said. “I don’t know what that is yet. I’m figuring it out, step-by-step. But I’ll give you everything I’ve got. Will you wear it?”
He took my hand, cradling it, and waiting for my tearful, sniffling nod.
He slid the ring on, and I knew it was a silly cliché, but it fit as if it were made for me. I could feel the energy from it, rushing all the way up my arm and then straight into my heart, which felt so hot and soft, and infinitely deep. Like the whole world could fit inside it.
“It’s so beautiful,” I whispered. “Thank you. I’m honored.”
“Not as much as me.” He kissed my hand reverently. It was still covered with fading marks from our violent adventures, hardly worthy of such a perfect, glowing ring, but he leaned over my hand as if I were some sort of queen, or goddess.
And all that was romantic and lovely, but after all these weeks of lonesome pining, I needed some assurance of a more earthy kind. I stroked his face, touching the bump on his nose, the healing mark on his cheek, and tugged him close.
“Kiss me, you fool.” I tried to sound commanding, but we both laughed at the waterlogged tone in my voice.
But he took me at my word, and we were off. The kiss caught fire, fueled by all the frustration, the hunger, the longing and the sweetness. The joy.
I don’t know who maneuvered who, but somehow we found ourselves wound together on the nearest couch with Jed pulling me on top of him. I straddled him, winding myself around him, trying to get closer—
“What the hell? Holy crap, Frey! Does this seem the place or time?”
I lifted my head from that marvelous kiss, flushed and panting and disoriented. Looked around at the door, glaring at my interfering big brother.
Ethan was glaring at me. Holly was beside him, biting her lip and looking worried. “I’m sorry,” Holly whispered loudly. “I tried to make him not come in. But you know how he is.”
“Yeah, I get it. Not your fault, sweetie-pie.” I slid off Jed, and off the couch. “Excuse us,” I said pointedly. “Jed and I are going to go down to my apartment to talk privately for a while.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Talk? So that’s what you were doing?”
“Look!” Holly crowed. “She has a ring! So you guys are engaged now? Oh, wow, that’s so romantic! It’s really pretty!”
Ethan’s face was a caricature of dismay. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“We’ll talk about this later,” I said firmly.
“How about at dinner?” Holly suggested. “You guys can have champagne to celebrate! And cake! Can I ask Angela to make some cake? Or some banana pudding?”
Ethan looked at a loss for words. Holly grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the living room. He gave me a swift, speaking glance as he let himself be towed away.
When they were gone, I squeezed Jed’s hand. “I apologize for Ethan,” I said. “He was really freaked out. I have been contemplating escape strategies, but Holly is safest here, and I hate to leave her.”
“Holly is a real piece of work,” he said, his voice admiring.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, stopping in front of the door to my apartment.
“Holly is the best. So smart and funny and worldly wise for a nine-year-old. We love her madly. She misses Shane, but we try to make up for his absence as best we can.” I paused for a moment as it occurred to me that we had never discussed this issue. “About Holly.”
“What about her?”
“Well, you just need to be aware,” I said.
“Once I am free again to live in my own chosen space and conduct my business freely, like before, Holly will be splitting her time between me and Ethan. So, I’m sort of like a divorced mom who shares custody.
And once she’s back in school someplace, it’ll be more than half the time.
Chances are, she’ll stay with me for the school year. So…you’ll be a stepdad.”
Jed thought about that, and smiled at me. “Okay,” he said. “She seems like a great kid. It’ll be fun, learning to be one of her dads. And she’ll make an awesome big sister.”
I gulped. “Maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves again?”
His dimples flashed. “Only if you’re into it. I’m fine either way.”
“There will be time for these intense conversations later. Right now, we have…” I checked my watch.
“Exactly one hour and forty minutes before we go join Holly and my brother for champagne and banana pudding and heavy-duty interrogation. And in that time, you have to make up for leaving me alone for seven weeks. You’ve got your work cut out for you, buddy. ”
His smile stretched out, brilliant and happy. “Then let’s get to it.”
I opened the door to my apartment. We walked through it into a brand new world. One where love prevailed, and our wildest dreams came true.