Jessie (39 page)

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“I'm fine. I have some questions for you.”

Seth nodded, thinking that she sounded as though she were addressing a business meeting. Gone was the miserable woman in the storeroom. The
in charge
Jessie sat across from him.

“Go ahead,” Seth said, trying not to sound like he was dreading this.

“How do you feel about me?”

Seth blinked a little and then caught on. He was not angry, but he was hurt and didn't want her to know it. He kept his voice as even as he could. “I don't want to fight with you, Jessie. I've admitted I did the wrong thing.”

Jessie looked startled by this, but Seth didn't notice.

“If I tell you I love you, you're only going to remind me that I haven't been acting like a man in love or ask me how I could have stayed away for so long.”

Jessie knew she deserved that. She had snapped at him all day and then sat on the sofa and demanded to know his feelings.

“I'm not doing a very good job with this,” Jessie said, sounding less sure of herself and unconsciously making herself more approachable. “I don't know how to start this, and I thought it would help to know how you feel.”

“I'm sorry I assumed the worst. If you really want to know how I feel, I'll tell you.”

“I do want to know,” Jessie said and all but held her breath.

“I've fallen in love with you all over again. I won't insult you and say that I knew exactly how I felt when I came back to town, but I'm learning every day that I'm still in love with my wife.”

“I realized just this morning that I still loved you. I could almost hate myself for it, but that's how I feel.”

“So it's love mixed with a lot of fear?” Seth asked, his heart slamming in his chest.

“Terror is a better word. I don't want to be hurt again.”

“I can't promise that I'll never hurt you, but I'm not leaving again. That I can promise you.”

Jessie's eyes closed. He made her feel so vulnerable, but then he always had. This was nothing new. She hadn't felt that way at the end when they fought all the time, but when it was good between them, she had felt things she'd never felt with anyone else.

“Were there other questions you wanted to ask?” Seth said into the silence, wanting her much closer than she was. His wife still loved him, and he needed to touch her.

“I can't remember right now.”

“Where do we go from here?”

Jessie didn't mean for her eyes to flick to the bedroom door, but they did. And Seth saw it. The look he gave her was unmistakable. Jessie began to rise, moving away from him, but Seth was too fast. He had her hand in a lightning fast move and was pulling her close.

“Come over here, Jessica,” he invited. “We can talk on my end of the sofa.”

“You don't want to talk,” Jessie said, all the while allowing herself to be pulled into his arms.

“I don't want to
only
talk, that's very true. A certain woman started something last night and didn't finish it.”

When she was in his arms, they looked at each other. Their eyes met and held until Jessie had to tell him more.

“I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.”

“I had to make myself forget, or I would never have survived.”

“Forget what?”

“All that we had at the beginning. How sweet it was.”

“It was sweet, but we didn't work as hard on our marriage as we did on everything else. That has to be different this time.”

Jessie nodded.

“I love you, Jess,” he said softly, just before his lips claimed hers. Jessie kissed him right back with all the abandon she felt, knowing this time they would not leave things undone.

Jessie woke on her back to the weight of a large arm across her middle. For a moment she was disoriented and then remembered she was not in with the girls. She moved her head to look at Seth, who was on his side facing her and still asleep.

For the next several heartbeats she let herself be amazed that they were living again as husband and wife. It was the last thing she'd expected two months ago when Seth came into town, but then that was her way of doing things. She and Seth had married less than two months after meeting each other. She could only hope they would do better this time.

“What are you frowning about?” Seth asked, his voice low with a morning growl.

“The past.”

“How far past?”

Jessie looked at him and then rolled to face him.

“I was thinking about what you were saying last night that we didn't do well the first time.”

Seth put his arms around her and drew her close, his heart praying.
I'm not that same man, Lord. Please let it be different this time. Maybe Jess will never want You, but let our marriage be all it can be because of Your death for me.

“I'd better get up,” Jessie said.

“What time is it?”

“I think it's early, but until I tell the girls we're kissing again, I don't want them to find me in here.”

Seth laughed a little at the wording before asking, “Do they ever wake up ahead of you?”

“Not often,” Jessie said and then came close to kiss him. She had no desire to get up, but caring for her daughters kept her on task.

“Why don't you teach me how to make your coffee,” Seth offered, and Jessie's mouth swung open as she slipped into her robe.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” he said on a laugh. “I thought it might help you some mornings if I knew how.”

“Seth I'm-Useless-in-the-Kitchen Redding wants to learn to make coffee. I think I might be beyond surprises.”

The look he gave her told her she had gone too far. Jessie shot out of the bedroom with Seth on her trail.

“Oh, you're going to pay for that, Jessica,” Seth said when he came from the bedroom to find Jessie across the room and still moving. “Now hold still. I'm not 23 anymore.”

Stifling laughter all the while, Jessie skirted the furniture while Seth came after her. It didn't take long for them to get loud. She let herself be caught a short time later, and the two were still kissing when they heard the girls' feet coming out of bed and onto the floor. Seth went back to the bedroom to dress, and Jessie started the coffee herself. It was during breakfast that she told the girls about the changes with Seth while he quietly listened.

“Do you remember asking me if Seth and I kiss?” Jessie asked Clancy.

“Um hm. You said you would tell us.”

“Well, Seth and I do kiss now.”

“Can we watch?” Hannah asked.

“Well…” Jessie had to fight laughter and didn't dare look at Seth.

“This is what we'll do,” Seth cut in, his voice also laughter-filled. “If we're kissing and you're in the room, you can watch. How will that be?”

“Today? Will you kiss today?” Clancy asked.

“Why is this so important?” Seth wished to know.

“I don't know,” Clancy shrugged, and Seth was certain he'd get no more out of her. Hannah, however, had something to say.

“We want Mama to like you.”

“Your mother does like me,” Seth said, his heart sinking when he saw how aware his young daughters had been.

Hannah looked to Jessie, who nodded. The nine-year-old managed to look relieved and excited all at the same time.

“Finish your breakfast now,” Jessie urged them. “It's almost time to get downstairs.”

Taking the conversation in stride, the girls finished and were out the door for school not ten minutes later. Seth and Jessie stood on the boardwalk and watched their daughters walk toward the schoolhouse before heading back inside. It wasn't quite time to open the store, so Seth took the opportunity to talk to Jessie about a house.

“Come here,” Seth said to her, taking her hand and leading her to the storeroom. Jessie thought he wanted to kiss her and was surprised when he walked all the way to the rear door and opened it.

“I've been thinking and doing some checking. What do you think of this piece of land back here?”

“What am I supposed to think of it?” Jessie asked, remembering his actions from earlier in the week.

“Isn't that a good place to build a house?”

The face Jessie turned to him was a mixture of incredulous and excited.

“Are you serious?” she asked in a voice that sounded as though she didn't dare to hope.

“I'm very serious. We can buy it and build.”

“When did this start?”

“That's what I was doing on Monday night—checking into it.”

Before we ever touched each other
was all Jessie could think. She was so surprised that she didn't know what to say. Seth took the silence as negative.

“I haven't done anything that can't be undone. If you don't like it, Jessie, I'll drop the whole idea.”

“That's not it,” she was swift to tell him. “I just didn't know.”

“Didn't know what?”

Jessie looked at him, unable to put her feelings into words. He was the same man and yet so different.

“I didn't know what you were doing on Monday night. I speculated on some things, but this never once came to mind.”

“And now that it has, what do you think?”

Jessie looked back out at the land. The store sat on Main Street, and the lot directly behind it on Corbin Street was empty. A house sat to the right of the lot Seth was looking at, but to the left was another empty lot. None of them was huge, but there was plenty of room for a house. A home.

“I think it would be wonderful,” Jessie finally said, still unable to believe it might happen. “I don't know about the money, though.”

“I have enough to buy the land and pay for about half of the house,” Seth said.

Jessie's heart sank. “Money from working for that banker?”

“As a matter of fact, no. I did make good money on that job, but I was also into investing. The money I have put away is from money I've invested over the years. I cashed almost everything out before coming back to Token Creek. I still have one investment in Texas that Cassy takes care of for me.”

Jessie could barely keep her mouth shut. She had no idea that he had that type of business acumen. She would have said more, but Seth suddenly looked at his watch.

“I've got to open up,” he said, bending to kiss her. “Think about it and let me know.”

Jessie stayed where she was, still looking out the back, a dozen questions shooting through her mind. She studied the lot with its proximity to the store and began to imagine. What she saw in her mind brought a smile to her face.

“I stopped by the shop, and Jeanette said you were home,” Nate said to Heather on Friday afternoon. “How is he doing?”

“He just fell asleep,” Heather said, glancing at the child who occupied the love seat, his blanket clutched in one fist. “He misses Bri terribly, but he's holding up well.”

“How is she doing?”

“I haven't talked to her since last night, but she was doing well then.”

“What did Ertz say?”

“That she needs to be still until they're sure she's not starting labor. It's too soon for that.”

“When is she due?”

“Not until November.”

Nate's mind was swept back to the baby his wife lost the first year they were married. She had not been seven months along, but it had still been hard.

“Are you all right?” Heather asked.

“Yes, I'm just thinking about babies,” Nate admitted and then looked at Danny. “That one is special.”

“I think that might start with special parents.”

“I'm sure you're right,” Nate agreed in a no-nonsense voice.

“You must meet so many people who didn't have a Rylan and Bri as they grew up,” Heather said as she realized that fact.

“That's very true. I think many of them didn't have anyone at all when they were growing up.”