Page 38 of Plain Jade

“Yes, but there has to be a condition,” she said.

“What?”

“You’ll always be there in the morning when I wake up.” She didn’t think she could stand for him to be anywhere else.

Jade didn’t want to make him suffer. She didn’t want to waste another moment. Yes, he had left, but the truth was, Braxton had never actually hurt her. His absence had, but she knew and understood why he did what he did. It didn’t matter. She loved him and wanted to be with him.

And that was all it mattered. She had found her soul mate, and she wouldn’t let him go.

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

Jade woke up, like she had many times, to find Braxton was no longer beside her in the bed. She reached out and put her palm next to the spot where he had fallen asleep. In the early days of their marriage, whenever this happened, she often felt a sense of foreboding, but over the years that had changed. She remembered on Valentine’s Day, she had woken with Braxton not there because he had been making her breakfast in bed. The same for her birthdays and Christmases.

Braxton liked to take care of her. This had been new to him as well. He wasn’t used to wanting to take care of anyone. During her first pregnancy, he refused to leave her side, much to Jade’s enjoyment. Even though Braxton provided for her, they had this amazing house, and she knew she didn’t have to work, she still did. She loved working.

After her first child, she didn’t return to work for a several months, and when she did, they were part-time hours. With their second child, her hours were further reduced. By their third child, she was no longer working, but a stay-at-home mom. Now, as she was pregnant with their fourth child, there was no work.

She sat up and didn’t have long to wait before she heard the patter of feet. Her children marched into the bedroom and took over all sense of silence. Braxton was hot on their heels, carrying a tray.

“We made breakfast for you,” Gary, their eldest son, said.

“Breakfast in bed,” Jade said, smiling up at her husband. He put the tray on her lap and then gripped the back of her neck, kissing her.

“Morning, beautiful,” he said.

“I cracked the eggs, Mommy,” this was Bethany, their second child.

She looked toward Braxton with a sense of panic. Bethany often cracked an egg, badly, when they were baking or cooking. Jade had to constantly remove shell from the bowls. Braxton gave a shake of his head.

The morning sickness had already come and gone, and she was close to her third trimester.

With her kids bouncing on the bed, begging for them to go to the theme park today, Jade looked toward her husband, her man, her love. He gave a single nod, and the kids ran off to get ready.

“You spoil them.”

“And I get to spoil you, and that is my aim.” He cupped her face and kissed her. “Now, eat.”

“You’re always so bossy,” she said.

“And you love it. I do believe my bossiness is how we got Gary, Bethany, Ian, and now this little one. You love it when I order you around.”

She couldn’t deny that. Braxton did like to be bossy in the bedroom, but everywhere else, he was the perfect gentleman to her.

“Are you happy?” Braxton said.

“More than you could imagine,” Jade said and smiled.

The End

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