What Were You Expecting? (44 page)

“Oh, I’m not famous, Nils. No offense taken. Samara Amaya’s a terrible person. Say whatever you like.”

A little startled by Jane’s comment, Nils dealt quietly, the dueling tensions at the table fueled further by Maggie’s silence. He watched as she placed her hands over her cards and slid them closer to the edge of the table. Was she crying? Was she okay? Did she regret what she’d said to him in the car? Was she waiting for him to say something? Declare himself? Right here? Right now? A bead of sweat popped out over his brow and made a slow journey down the side of his face.

“How’s Lars?” Jane asked, flicking her gaze up to Nils and distracting him from his thoughts.

“Fine. But his truck’s dead for now. Arranged for a tow. He won’t be back in Gardiner for a while.”

“Poor, disappointed
Miss Amaya
,” Jane observed, dryly.

Now this was a curious response. Nils looked up at Jane. “How’s that?”

“She’ll have to wait for this evening’s company.”

No
, thought Nils.
She’s got that sweaty fella from the motel at her place to keep her company.
“What’s that got to do with Lars?”

“Lars is screwing my cousin,” Jane offered matter-of-factly.

Nils stared at her, surprised by two things: the coarseness of her declaration and the fact that it hadn’t made the slightest impact on Maggie. Not a gasp, not even the slightest bob of her head to look at Jane. He swallowed nervously. Was she going to stay frozen until he said it? Was he going to need to say “I belong to you” right here in front of Paul and Jane?

He cleared his throat. “I guess that’d be his business if it were true.”

“I guess so. And it
is
true. We could be family one day, Nils. My cousin. Your brother.”

“We could be family one day, I guess. But, it won’t come about like that.”

“Why not?” asked Jane.

He really looked at Jane now, and realized that she was holding back tears like he’d seen Jenny and Maggie do about a million times. She was hurting. Bad. He gentled his voice. “There ain’t no chance on God’s green earth that Lars is sleeping with that woman.”

“Really?” challenged Jane, her eyes brightening with tears and flickering with hope. “My information says otherwise.”

“Then your information’s bad, Jane.”

He adjusted his knee, rubbing it against Maggie’s, hoping for any reaction at all, but she stayed stock still, hands over her cards, neck bent. She had said that she wanted all of him. And he sensed this was the final test: he was going to need to figure out a way to confess his feelings for her in public. Could he do that? How? Saying those things to her in private was one thing…

“Is that right?” asked Jane.

“That’s right.”

“And why is that?”

The moment had arrived. He knew it. He felt it in every fiber of his being and someday he would thank Jane for pushing the conversation to this place where he had an opening, where he could say what needed to be said.

Nils arranged his cards in a neat pile and folded his hands on top of them, in a mirror image of Maggie beside him, then he pushed his knee meaningfully into hers, feeling the slight pressure of her pushing back. It was time.

He looked at Jane. “Because Lars is taken with
you
. And if you’re taken with someone…if you feel that they—in fact—
belong
to you…” He shifted toward Maggie, leaning his face toward her, his lips a breath away from her ear and spoke in almost a whisper with words only for her, “…it’s
impossible
to let them go.”

Maggie lifted her face slowly, her bright, glistening eyes capturing his as her mouth opened softly in pleasure, in tenderness, in love and surprise, as she held Nils’s gaze with a primitive, aching intensity.

If he thought there was a chance in hell of ever walking away from Maggie Campbell Lindstrom again, for as long as he lived, it died right there. Right there at a table in the Prairie Dawn, his life unfolded in front of him and not one portion of that blank sheet from corner to corner and end to end included a moment that didn’t have Maggie’s hand touching it, and her heart imprinted upon it.

She didn’t flinch as she stared at him, but her face turned pink under Nils’s unwavering scrutiny, and in a role reversal, she clenched her jaw twice, as though trying to be sure that he was certain, sincere and true. He stared back at her, and then turning toward her just slightly, to be out of view from Paul and Jane, he mouthed the words,
I belong to you
.

Maggie blinked her eyes rapidly and bit her lower lip, flicking a quick glance at Paul and Jane, then she stood up and headed to the door without a word. He knew where she was going—to the heaven that was the violet bedroom—and she knew that he would follow her now, as he would forever. And as far as Jane, and especially Paul, were concerned, tonight would be the night that Nils and Maggie “happened.”

He took one moment to process what had just happened, privately and publicly, overwhelmed with emotion as his heart swelled and his breathed changed, almost panting with love for her, with the want of her. And then he stood up, scraping his chair loudly across the floor as he grabbed his coat. Shrugging into it without a word of explanation to Paul or Jane, he followed his wife home.

Chapter 21

Happiness is like its own beautiful virus. Once infected with it, it systemically affects everything in your life.

When Nils finally allowed the last barriers between them to come down, Maggie’s life quickly changed in ways that left her spellbound, wearing her love for him on her sleeve, in her eyes, saturated in the tone of her voice when she spoke to him. She was a sap for it, a slave to it, mesmerized by the miracle that the man she loved unreservedly loved her unreservedly in return.

Maggie sighed, yawning as she daydreamed with her elbow propped up on the counter, her breasts aching and her body sensitive and throbbing as she remembered making love with Nils last night. The protective tenderness she’d always sensed in his friendship for her had been seamlessly transferred to their marriage, and she never felt it more strongly than when they were making love. He was careful—almost reverent—in the way he loved her: no touch wasted, all infused with the full depth of his feelings for her. And when they climaxed together, he would invariably remind her of his love, bellowing her name like an oath, with hunger and possession. And afterwards, as she lay in his arms, they spoke of the little and big things in their lives, laughing about the reactions they were getting from family and friends, marveling in the fact that they had finally found their way. It was joy that ruled over those precious hours where the pain of their longing for one another was requited. It was joy that claimed their hearts and made their eyes soften with tenderness. It was joy.

Even Graham, who’d arrived two weeks ago as planned, only added to Maggie’s happiness. He was challenging in the way all young adults are challenging…keeping his eyes hooded and his answer monosyllabic, playing the loner despite Bethany’s attempts to include him in her various activities…but, he didn’t make trouble. He kept a low profile at work, helping whenever Maggie asked and otherwise working diligently on building her a deck before the cold weather set in. The only glimmers of spirit she noticed were around Nils’s visiting cousin, Julie, to whom Graham seemed to have more than a passing interest. Maggie caught his well-concealed longing glances, the way he stared just an extra beat longer than necessary when the pretty blonde came in for coffee. But, Graham, with his spiky hair, tattoos and piercings, wasn’t even on proper Julie’s radar. Which was probably for the best. While Maggie could share the great joy of loving a Lindstrom, she didn’t get there without a healthy dose of heartbreak first. Still, she loved having her cousin close to her again and even Nils had to admit that despite Graham’s rough urban appearance, his behavior was—if not warm and friendly—irreproachable.

The Lindstroms and Paul had accepted Nils and Maggie’s new dating relationship with open arms and knowing smiles, kidding that it was “about time” they finally got together. Indeed it seemed love was everywhere, even for Paul, who was spending lots of time with a mysterious visitor who’d arrived in Gardiner a few days ago. Despite his online infatuation with a girl from Connecticut, this new stranger certainly seemed to be capturing his attention, and as long as he didn’t get hurt, Maggie was anxious to see what would happen between them.

Honestly, there was only one fly in Maggie’s ointment and it worried her in quiet moments: since the interview two and a half weeks ago, she been increasingly tired all the time and it wasn’t getting better, it was getting worse. At first, she’d chalked up her midday drowsiness to the fact that she and Nils weren’t getting much sleep, waking each other up several times every night to press up against one another with urgency until they found their release together. But, even on the mornings when she actually got six or seven hours of sleep, she was
still
wiped out by mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Add to this—or perhaps because of it—she’d recently come down with a light stomach virus that made her feel nauseous off and on throughout the day. Between the two symptoms, she was always tired and had almost no appetite, which also meant she’d lost a few pounds. And though the moments she spent with Nils were fully electrified, at other moments of the day, she worried quietly that something more significant could be wrong with her. After lots of internet research, she decided she might be anemic and she made an appointment with Doc Garrison for next week, just to run a blood test and be sure, and in the meantime she’d picked up some iron supplements, hoping they would help.

She glanced at her watch as the minute hand drew closer to three, her heart quickening as she wondered if he’d stop by, as he often did once Bethany and Summer arrived for work after school, to grab her hand and race up to her apartment. Once the girls walked into the café, she could barely conceal her anticipation, trying not to look over at the door, trying not to be disappointed if he got too caught up in work today to—

Before she could finish her thought, the door opened and there he stood, his blue eyes searing and hot with lust as he raised his eyebrows, asking her a silent question…to which the answer was “Hell, YES!”

Maggie felt her insides coil tight with need and she circled the bar, pulled toward him like a magnet. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, girls.”

She took his hand and they sprinted around the building, Maggie’s giggles mixing with his panting breath as he pulled her up the stairs, barely getting inside the door of her apartment before he had her up against the vestibule wall, her panties torn off from under her dress, his pants around his ankles as he thrust frantically into her welcome heat.

“I missed you.” His eyes fluttered closed and his breathing was shallow as he thrust upward again. His hands were fisted against the wall behind her as her legs draped over his muscular forearms. “God, I miss you every second I’m not with you, Maggie. I can’t get enough.”

She grabbed his head and pulled him down violently to kiss him in response, her tongue slipping into his mouth where he sucked on it, swallowing her whimpers and quickly bringing them both to a shattering climax.

With only a few minutes before they both had to return to work, he carried her back to her bedroom and they fell onto the bed together, still panting, half dressed, tangled together.

“I love you,” he murmured from beside her, his hand flat on her belly over her dress.

“We stay together,” she answered, rolling onto her side to face him. “I belong to you.”

“We stay married,” he said, leaning up and smiling at her. “I have to get back.”

“Me too.”

“I’m making dinner tonight.”

Her stomach gurgled at the thought and she grimaced, sitting up slowly and covering her nausea with a weak grin. “
Svenska Kottbullar
?”

“Is that a request?” he asked, looking down at her as he pulled up his jeans and tucked in his shirt. His eyes swept over her face and his brows creased in worry. “Hey, are you feeling okay? You look tired.”

“Maybe I ate somethin’ off.” She didn’t want to worry him.

He leaned down, dropping a kiss on the tip of your nose. “Poor Maggie May. Why don’t you rest for a while? Let the girls take care of things.”

She smiled up at him as her stomach settled, and he pulled the comforter over her, watching her lingeringly, love softening his Arctic blue eyes.

“Reminds me of when you were sick. Hey,” he said, pushing her bangs off her forehead and kissing her forehead gently, “you want me to stay?”

“No need,” she yawned, already half asleep. “See you tonight.”

When she woke up, it was dusk. She reached for the clock on her bedside table, knocking her birth control pill pack to the floor in the process.
4:56 p.m.
? She’d been asleep for almost two hours?

Sitting up gingerly, she waited for the familiar nausea to overtake her, but it didn’t and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe the little bug she’d had was finally gone. She bent over to pick up her pills. The cover had been knocked open and she looked distractedly at them before snapping the lid closed in her hand.