Page 100 of The Acquisition

"In the bottom of the bag is my appointment card for my doctor. I can go to the appointment and renew my prescription, or—"

My heart thundered in my chest. Here it was, everything I'd seen for us: Jana and I madly in love, surrounded by children. I knew she was right to wait. There was an appeal to having her all to myself for a while before we brought children into our lives.

"Are you saying you want children with me?"

Her mouth curved impishly. "I want everything with you."

Searching through the bag, I pulled out the card she mentioned. I put the bag down, and with both hands I tore the card into shreds.

"I want everything with you too."

We'd start with tonight. A weight lifted off us here. Life worked out in the most mysterious ways.

When I was fifteen I met a beautiful girl and fell in love with all reckless abandon a teenager was capable of. For years I was haunted by what I'd lost and searched to get it back.

I thought meeting Jenny was my destiny. That summer became idealized and her along with it. But, in a way, Jenny was a part of my destiny.

I took Jana's face in my hands. "Being here, in the place my life seemed to start, I can see everything so clearly. I was meant to meet Jenny."

Jana worried her bottom lip, and I gently pried it loose with my thumb. "Not in the way you're thinking. Let me finish."

She nodded and watched me with wide blue eyes.

"My life changed when I met her. I think I was tied to her, but not in the way I thought. Jenny wasn't the love of my life, but in a way, she was the catalyst for finding you."

I could see Jana wanted to ask a million questions, but I put my finger to her lips so I could keep going.

"Every decision, every step, was bringing me closer to you. Can’t you see that? What are the odds the daughter I didn’t know existed ended up across the country working for my company? Or that she’d bring along the most fascinating woman I’d ever met? Every road I’ve taken, since way before you were old enough to even care, has been leading to you."

It was true. I hadn't seen it clearly until now, but my life wasn't filled with mistakes as I'd viewed them before. Rather, it was destiny or fate, whatever we wanted to call it, bringing us together at just the right time.

Talking was abandoned as we conversed the way we did best. I'd had her rough and dirty, but tonight I'd have her sweet. We had the time now to explore each other in all the ways we could imagine.

EPILOGUE

"Shh, sweetheart. We need to let momma sleep a bit."

I held Violet, our three-month-old daughter to my bare chest. As soon as her skin touched mine she settled down.

"You're a daddy's girl, aren't you?" I nuzzled the downy soft curls that sprung wildly from her head.

She was the perfect blend between Jana and me. Her dark hair was so much like mine, minus the streaks of silver I'd earned over the years. But her sky blue eyes mirrored her mother's.

I loved this time with her. She woke early every morning, and I fed her while we watched the sun come up.

"Happy Birthday," Jana said, surprising me from the doorway.

"We were trying to let you sleep in." I turned with Violet in my arms and took in Jana, rumpled from sleep and never more beautiful.

"Like I'd choose sleep over spending the day with you, gramps."

Rolling my eyes, I motioned for her to come over to us.

She hurried across the room, and I wrapped one arm around her. When she was snuggled next to my chest, I kissed the top of her head.

"I love when I have both my girls in my arms."

She nuzzled into my chest. "Happy birthday, daddy."

---