Page 64 of We'll Meet Again

He would sit on this couch and hold her until he died if that was what she wanted. He would do anything for her.

A knock on the door woke Ethan up. Billie was still in his arms, but she didn’t move, so he got up as carefully as he could, finding his sweatpants and pulling them on. She must have been out hard, because he barely contained a curse as he stubbed his toe on one of Tessa’s many boxes, but the sound didn’t make her stir. Shooting the box another glare, he went to the door. It was Stevie and her husband. Ethan’s face got warm; he wished he’d thrown on his shirt, though the couple seemed unfazed. He was familiar with the kind of exhaustion he saw in their faces.

“Hey, guys,” he said quietly. He looked at Joel. “Your dad okay?”

“He’s stable,” Joel said. “They’re keeping him a couple days to monitor him.”

“I hope he gets well soon,” Ethan replied.

“Thanks, mate.”

“Where’s Billie?” Stevie asked.

“Asleep on the couch,” Ethan told her. “The kids are in her room. Y’all come on in.”

They did so, stepping softly over the threshold. Joel went right down the hall toward Billie’s room, but Stevie hung back, turning curious eyes on Ethan. He flushed a little under her examination.

“Are you and Billie…together?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, we are.”

She grinned, and he saw the resemblance between them in her smile. “That’s good to hear.”

Joel returned with one child in each arm. Stevie relieved him of Grace, and then thanked Ethan profusely, and asked him to send her gratitude along to Billie as well. He assured her that he would and bid them goodnight, closing the door behind them. Then he padded back over to the couch.

Moonlight pooled into the room from the window, illuminating Billie’s skin in a pale glow. She was absolutely stunning. Since their first meeting, he knew he stood on the edge of a cliff, sticking his foot out while he calculated the risk of falling for her. As he looked at her now, he understood there was no turning back. He took the leap.

Interlude

July10,1944

Utah Beach, Normandy, France

My love,

I am coming home to you.

Henry

Chapter 17

“Well,well,well,lookwho made the front page ofThe Sun!” Tessa teased.

Billie walked out of her bedroom, adjusting the kit Ethan had gifted her - his own, of course, name and number printed clearly on the back, Knight and 9. She wished the kits didn’t have so much yellow, as she never felt the color suited her, but oddly, after three weeks of being with Ethan, she found it rather flattering.

“Who?” she asked, finishing her low ponytail.

“You and Ethan,” Tessa told her, and revealed the cover.

There they were, Billie and Ethan, hand in hand as they emerged from a coffee shop. Billie was looking out toward the sidewalk, but Ethan’s eyes were on her. Just looking at it made her cheeks flush, it was so reminiscent of how he looked when he first saw her without her clothes on. He adored her just as much in a situation as mundane as getting coffee.

“If you look up ‘smitten’ in the dictionary, there ought to be this photo of Ethan,” Tessa said.

Billie chuckled. “He is quite fond of me.”

“And are you as fond of him?”

“Yeah…” she paused for a beat. “I think I am.”

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