Lucky Chance (10 page)

“We’ll work everything out. D.C. isn’t that far from Virginia Beach, so we can get your stuff down there when I’m not on duty. As for your condo, what about renting it out? There’s always a demand for places there.”

“Yeah, I was thinking that. I have a friend who’s a real estate agent who can handle it. I’ll rent it furnished, and then I won’t have to deal with any of it.”

He ran a hand down her arm. “We haven’t actually discussed it, but I’d like you to move in with me. Not just down to Virginia Beach. My condo is two bedrooms, so if you don’t want to sleep with me you can always have that room. But I want you with me. I want to come home every day and see you there.”

“Every time I agree with you on something, you want to take it one step further.” She turned toward him, pressing the front of her body against the side of his. “You’re never satisfied, Lucky Diamond.”

“I’ll be satisfied when you agree to marry me.”

Marriage?
His expression announced that he was completely serious, and she had to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat before she could speak. “Is that a proposal? Because you’re going to need to do better than that if you want me as your wife.”

“Maddie, I know you, and I know you’re not ready to say yes. I’m going to wear you down, and sometime soon you
will
say yes.”

“You’re so confident.” She tried to relax her body, but every muscle within her seemed to have a mind of its own and stayed rigid.

“I am, and I plan to have you as my wife before the baby is born. That gives me just over four months.”

The very thought stirred excitement and nervousness within her. He was right on one thing. She wasn’t ready to agree to marriage. A week wasn’t enough time to determine if they were still compatible, let alone if they were still in love. The feelings he stirred within her might just be left over from what they had once shared. Even as she thought it, she doubted it. If she knew one thing, she knew she loved him with everything that was in her. But was love enough?

Morning came with the blaring ringtone of a cell phone. Thinking it was hers, Madison cursed as she rolled over to grab it off the nightstand, slamming straight into Lucky. “What? Oh, hell!” She didn’t have time to consider things further as she realized it was his phone going off and not hers.

He brought it to his ear without even checking the caller ID. “Hello?”

As she began to wake up, her memories of how she’d ended up in bed with him returned. They had talked until she began to doze off. She couldn’t remember what he’d said, but he had convinced her to stay curled up against him and sleep.

“Hold on, she’s right here.” He pulled the phone away from his ear and held it out to her. “It’s Wynn. She wants to talk to you.”

“Me?”

“Take it before I verbally tear her limb to limb for spoiling my perfect morning. One I’ve dreamed of all these years. Instead of waking up and snuggling with you, I’m woken up by the phone.”

Relenting, she took the phone. “Hello.”

“Madison, it’s Wynn. I spoke to Gwen this morning and planned to call you, but I forgot to get your cell phone number from her. Since I’m already down at the store, I thought I’d call Lucky.”

“I thought you weren’t working much at the shops, just designing?”

“I am, but that’s not why I called. One sec.” Wynn mumbled something to someone on the other end before coming back to the phone. “Sorry about that. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you right away. I’ve got a solution to your problems.”

She glanced at Lucky. “Umm, I think it’s okay now.”

“Oh, so you aren’t moving here?” The disappointment was clear in Wynn’s voice.

“I am.” She curled back into his embrace. “Word travels faster than a speeding bullet, apparently. I just spoke to Gwen a few hours ago.”

“Gwen?” Lucky questioned.

“Quiet, I’ll tell you later.”

“Did I interrupt something?” Wynn sounded embarrassed. “If so, I really don’t want to know what you and my brother are doing.”

“Actually, we’re just cuddling in bed. There’s nothing wrong with that. He also knows I’m moving there. I told him last night, which is how I ended up in bed with him.”

“Seriously, I don’t need to know.” Wynn’s voice was higher than normal. “My two best friends and my brothers, it makes me want to say
yuck
and spit out my tongue. Whatever the two of you see in them, I’ll never understand. They put me through hell growing up, but I still love them.”

“Wynn, was there a reason you called at the crack of dawn?”

“To offer you a job.”

“What?” She eyed Lucky, but he couldn’t have known about this since he had been snuggling with her all night.

“My husband, Boom, and I have been discussing this for a while. I’ve wanted to bring on a public relations expert to handle the marketing for Roll of the Diamond and Heart of a Diamond. Who better than you?”

“What do I know about marketing clothes?”

“More than I do.” Wynn laughed. “I just wanted to design them, which is why I opened my own store. Then New York came to me, and things have been crazy ever since. I need some help, and I want it to be you. We can learn together, and more importantly we’ll all be together again. Come on, what do you say?”

“I’ve already agreed to come there. As for a job…can I have time to think about it?” She was truly honored, but with all the changes happening so quickly, she didn’t want to jump in with both feet before considering it.

“Sure. I’m going to email my marketing plans and some other information to Lucky’s email account and you can look over them. I’ll include all the details of the job, and if there’s anything you want to change, just let me know. This is a learning curve for me as well. But I want you on this project with me.”

“Okay, I’ll look over them this evening. I’ll let you know within the next forty-eight hours. Umm, Wynn…did Gwen tell you I’m pregnant?”

“Yes and congratulations.”

“No, I mean…I understand if you want someone else for the job.”

“Don’t be silly. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no one better.” There was a man’s voice in the background, before Wynn spoke again. “Boom just arrived. We’re off to find paint for the nursery, so I’ve got to go but I can’t wait to see you.”

“Okay. Have fun. I’ll be in touch.” She hit the end button, and let her head fall back against the pillows.

“What’s this about a job?”

“Wynn is nuts.” She chuckled. “She wants me to come and work for her as the public relations manager. I guess she spoke with Gwen this morning and found out I was considering moving back home to be with you.”

“So, are you going to take it?”

“She’s sending all the information to your email. If you could forward it to me, I can consider things further this afternoon. But…maybe. It sounds like it could be interesting.”

He rolled to his side and propped himself up on his elbows. “There’s something else I should tell you.”

“Hmm?” She let her eyelids fall shut so she could enjoy the moment in his arms.

“When your parents wanted to move to Florida, I bought your old family home. Before you bitch about it, they didn’t tell you because I asked them not to.”

“But why? Why did you buy it?”

“Because I wanted it. You loved that house, and I thought someday you’d come back to me. I thought we might move in and raise our own family there.”

“What about all these years? You had to have figured I wasn’t coming back.” She remembered how much she’d loved the house she grew up in, and how devastated she was when she found out her parents had sold it. She hadn’t even gotten one final visit home before they closed the deal. No one had told her they were even thinking about it until after the sale was complete.

“I admit I lost hope that we might ever be together again, but I couldn’t see someone else owning that home. It meant so much to you, and therefore it meant a lot to me. I’ve kept it, but I couldn’t bring myself to live there. Not without you. I’ve rented it out. Currently, I have it rented to a family that had lived on base but wanted to have a place of their own. They just received notice they’ll be moving. Before you showed up in Graves’s office, I had considered selling it, but now that you’re here, I want us to move in there. We can raise our child there, and when I’m deployed Ace and Gwen will be right around the corner.”

“Raise this child in my old home…” Tears swam in her eyes. “Oh, Lucky, I can’t believe you.”

“Is that a yes?”

“But what about your condo? Ace said you love that place.”

“I do, but I’d rather be in a house where our child can run around, play in the creek, visit their aunt, uncle, and cousin just over the creek. We can make that a home for our family.”

“Your determination is showing through again.” She smirked. “Let’s do it.”

“Another one down, only one more to go. Next up to bat…marriage.”

She swatted at his chest, but he caught her hand before she could make contact. “We’ll see about that.”

Lucky’s part of the competition was over. Now they just had to wait. Sergeant Major Graves had called that morning to wish him the best. It had been the first time they’d spoken since Lucky had been called into his office and given his new orders. It had also been the first chance he had to ask why he hadn’t been told that Kyle had been the one who recommended him.

I didn’t want it to put you off your game. Seeing Phillips was better than me telling you. It was his recommendation, so he needed to be the one to explain why.
The words played in his thoughts again, and even though he had the answer, he didn’t care.

Maddie ran her hand along his thigh as she did her best to distract him, but nothing could keep his mind from what the judges were doing now. He had been the first contestant to cook for the judges, and the hours since had gone by at a snail’s pace.

“This is the first time in weeks we don’t have an interview, and you don’t need to spend the evening cooking or testing new recipes. Why don’t we take advantage of it? Maybe we should go out and celebrate my new employment.”

“I still can’t believe Wynn talked you into taking on the public relations for her designs. Before you know it, she’s going to be global.”

“I can’t believe it either.” Excitement laced her voice, and she couldn’t keep the smile from curling up the corners of her lips. The future would be nothing like her yesterdays, and for that she was thrilled. Challenges were what she enjoyed, and her new adventure would be full of them. “I just hope I can do the job the way she wants. Marketing clothes is very different then my previous experience. Especially since so many of her designs are aimed at military families. The patriotic line is amazing, but I’ll need specialized marketing to highlight it. I’ve got some ideas, but I need to give it some additional thought.”

“I’ve no doubt that you’ll be amazing at it.” He ran his hand along her body. “Though I won’t deny that I’m excited that you found something because it means you’ll be in Virginia with me.”

“Come on, Lucky.” She rubbed his shoulder. “You’re too uptight. Whatever is going to happen will happen. You need to relax.”

“How am I supposed to keep my mind off what’s coming next? If I don’t win, I’m plane bound for Virginia tomorrow, and you’re off on a whirlwind of two more weeks of commitments. If that happens, it’s going to be the longest two weeks since boot camp.”

“We’ll get through it.” She curled against his body on the sofa. “Then, when it’s over, we’ll be together.”

“I’m not letting you get away from me again.” He kissed the top of her head. “Actually, I think it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

In answer, he got down on one knee in front of her. He gave her a moment to realize what he was about to ask her. “Maddie, I fell in love with you when you first came splashing around our creek. Your reddish brown curls flying in the breeze and your carefree personality won me over. The brief moments when you’re mad and your temper flares allow me to see a different side of you. One that’s just as fiery as your carefree side. It gives you the nickname I’ll forever call you by. My Maddie, I want you as my wife. You’re my other half, the one I want to spend the rest of my life with and grow old with. I love you with everything in me. Will you marry me?”

“You told me you’d wait until I was ready, and until just now I wasn’t sure what I would do when the time came. Now I know. This is all happening so fast. But…it’s true that first loves are the hardest to get over, and I was never able to get over you. You’ve always been there with me, even when I was trying to deny it. I’ve always loved you. You’re my world and if you can accept me and my child, then yes, I’ll marry you.”

“
Our
child,” he corrected, as he pulled a ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto her finger.

“Our child.” She looked down at her finger. The beautiful gold band with a large diamond in the middle and two smaller ones on either side shined up at her. “It’s beautiful, but where did you get it?”

“I had Ace overnight it to me a few days ago. It’s the ring I bought after graduation. I had planned to propose to you that morning at the bed and breakfast. I was going to set things up with a dozen red roses…” He moved back up on the sofa. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is we’ve found each other again.”

“The breakfast with the roses arrived while I was getting dressed.”

“What?”

She stared down at the ring, which was now on her finger. “At the bed and breakfast…after you left, it came. I cried as I stared down at the perfect roses, the reds and whites mixed together just like I love, and the baby’s breath. That’s when the doubt hit me full force. I ran to the window just as you slammed the door on your truck and drove away.”

“Maddie, that’s the past. We’ve found each other again.”

She reached up and cupped his cheek. “We have, but we’ve missed so much time we should have had together. We suffered years of heartache. I was scared we’d grow apart because of the physical separation.”

“We don’t know what would have happened.” He placed his hand over hers. “We might have. You might have been right.”

She shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. “Not us. We were in love, and we’d have gotten through it because we knew what we had was worth it.”

“Now we’ll have to make up for the time we lost.” He rose from kneeling before her, and pulled her up to stand with him. “So, once this is all over, I’ll get a few days of leave and we’ll go to Kentucky. We’ll see Kyle and Staci. We’ll spend quality time cherishing the love we have for each other.”

“That sounds like fun. I know I’m really looking forward to spending some time alone with you when this is all over. No running to interviews, or photo shots. Just time with you.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Then I want us to move into your old house. I want to make a home for us and our child. And when you’re ready, we’ll set a wedding date. If you want to wait until the baby is born, we can. Whatever you want, because I just want you to be happy.”

“Who’d have thought in just two short weeks my life would have changed this much, and I’d be marrying you. Life has been a whirlwind lately, but it led me to you.” She leaned toward him and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss. “I love you.”

Her phone vibrated with a text message from her boss.
Gunnery Sergeant Diamond won, so I’m sure you wish to share the news with him. Congratulations. We’ll see you in New York the day after tomorrow.

“Oh, Lucky!” Tears spilled down her face as she held out the phone to him. “You did it.”

He pulled her into his body and kissed her with more eagerness than before. It was time to celebrate their engagement and winning the competition.