Page 35 of Wannabe in Wyoming
Well, it’s late, and I have to be up at the crack of dawn, so I’ll end this letter. Even though I can’t send it, I’ll add it to the other one I wrote, and when we’re together again, you can read about how my thoughts were always with you.
Love,
J
* * *
Folding the letter,Willow tucked it back into its envelope, then rested her head on Nathan’s shoulder. After dinner, they’d gotten their dessert to go and returned home. With the weird way the owner had reacted to Willow’s presence, they hadn’t lingered over their meal, opting instead to share a serving of molten-lava cake on the porch swing. As they sat there, she’d let him see the first letter from her father’s secret stash before reading the second one aloud to him.
As he used his foot to gently rock the swing back and forth, Nathan placed his arm around her shoulders, gave her a squeeze. “So, they were like Romeo and Juliet—like he said. Her parents, and probably his, weren’t happy about the relationship. A few years older and their age difference wouldn’t have been an issue. The religious differences I can’t comment on, since I’ve never understood that.”
“It doesn’t explain why my mother never wanted to talk about him and why he never came back for her. She never married, although she did get engaged once when I was around seven, but it ended a few months later when she found out he was cheating on her. She didn’t go to college either, even though she got her GED after I was born.”
“Hm. I wonder why she didn’t go to college. I mean, I know there was a time when teenage pregnancy was something to be hidden and only talked about in hushed tones. But obviously your grandparents didn’t make her give you up for adoption even though she was sixteen when she had you. If they were helping her out, she could’ve easily gone to school at night, right?”
“I don’t know.” Willow shrugged. “Hell, I didn’t even know she’d wanted to be a teacher when she was younger.”
“What were your grandparents like? Did they help her care for you or was she on her own?”
“They didn’t kick her out or make her give me up, but I know they resented me—especially my grandfather. We were never close. My grandmother grew to love me, I guess, in her own way, but I think she was always disappointed my mother had to give up her dreams for me—although she never said that around me. My grandfather was the complete opposite—he reminded my mother quite often of all she could’ve had and done if she hadn’t kept me. He worked in the city’s sewer system—far from a glorious job. If my mom had actually gone to college, she would’ve been the first one in the family.”
“Did you go to college?” he asked before taking a sip from his beer bottle.
“I went to the community college and got my associates in liberal arts, not that I really did anything with it, but it made my mom happy.”
“What about your grandparents? Were they happy you went to college?”
“At that point, they’d already passed. My grandfather died of a heart attack when I was thirteen, and my grandmother passed away two years later from a stroke. After that, it was just me and my mom. She didn’t have any siblings and hadn’t stayed close with any of her cousins or aunts and uncles.”
“And after she passed away, you were on your own. Just like me. Maybe that’s why Fate brought us together.”
She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him. “You believe in Fate?”
He paused a moment, rubbing his free hand over his short hair, as if gathering his thoughts. “Yeah, I do. We may not always be happy with what Fate sends our way, but a lot of good comes out of it. Think of all the ‘what ifs’ that had to happen before we got to this moment. What if your father decided you were better off never knowing who he was? What if you’d just told the lawyer to sell the place and send you the money because you wanted to stay in Philadelphia? What if you got here and decided it wasn’t for you and still ended up selling it and moving on? What if you never spotted that flyer and sent a letter to Any Soldier. What if, out of all the units your letter could’ve gone to, it ended up in a different soldier’s hand instead of mine? And it’s gotta be Fate, don’t you think? I know some people say there’s no such thing as a coincidence, but I wouldn’t have found you without a whole lot of them.”
He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. Willow couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her as Nathan deepened the kiss. Fate. Coincidence. God. A being from another universe telepathically manipulating the strange humans on Earth. It didn’t matter to her how she’d ended up in Nathan’s arms, she was just grateful she had.
Pushing gently on his chest, she withdrew from him and stood, holding out a hand to him. When he took it, she silently led him into the house and down the hall to her bedroom, knowing she’d fallen completely and irrevocably in love with her soul mate.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Willow shuther bedroom door behind them with a soft click. She loved this man, even if she wasn’t willing to say the words yet, she was ready to show him. The talk of Fate had made her realize she was no longer willing to wait. If Fate had brought them here, then she was going to take everything Nathan had to offer and give it in return.
Urging him toward the bed, she pulled off her boots and socks, throwing them aside. “I want you,” she said before reaching for his belt.
“Hang on.” Gripping her fingers, he halted her attempt at undressing him, although he did toe off his sneakers and pull off his socks. “I told you, for our first time together, I was going to take my time with you. That I was going to kiss and lick every inch of your skin. That starts now.” He dipped his index finger into the open vee of her shirt and pulled on the material. “Take off your clothes.”
Willow’s heart was beating like a drum and her panties were soaked, and he hadn’t even done more than kiss her. She took a step closer to him and ran a finger down his sternum, wishing there wasn’t a shirt between his flesh and hers. “Bossy, much?”
“Oh, baby, you have no idea. I’ve wanted you for a long time. I have a list.” He sat on the queen-size bed, reclining on his elbows. His feet sticking out from the legs of his faded blue jeans drew her gaze. Why did she suddenly think a man’s bare feet were sexy? It made no sense—they were just feet, and as a rule, they weren’t supposed to be sexy, but somehow, he managed it. “A man on deployment has a lot of time to think about his woman back home, and I thought of little else.”
“A-a list?” she stuttered, fiddling with the hem of her blouse. Why was she suddenly so on edge? She wanted this—she wanted him, more than she could express with words. She’d been the one to pull him down the hall and now she was hesitating. Why? Maybe because her feelings for him had hit her all at once and making love with him mattered. Itreallymattered to her, and it meant more than just connecting with another human connection and getting off. It felt momentous and precious, and she didn’t want to screw it up.
“Yes, but we’ll come back to that. It’s long, and I don’t plan on checking off all the items tonight. Why are you nervous?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged, looking at her feet, wiggling her bare toes into the rug. “I was just trying to figure that out myself. I mean, it’s not like I’ve never had sex before.” But even though she wasn’t a virgin by any means, in this moment, he made her feel like one. It was the first time intimacy had meant so much more than just the physical aspect, but she wasn’t sure she was brave enough to tell him that. Sex was easy, emotions were not.
He growled. “Rule number one—I don’t want to hear about any other man who’s been with you. As far as I’m concerned, I’m the first.”
