Page 115 of Hit the Ground
One Year Later
Iranmythumbover Alice’s ring as I held her left hand in mine. It was a habit I’d picked up the moment I’d slipped it on her finger last fall. When I’d added another ring to it at our wedding in the spring, I liked it even better.
“You could tell me where you’re taking me any time now,” she said, without even a hint of impatience.
But that was who Alice was. Her well of patience was bottomless—lucky for me. If she’d given up on me, we wouldn’t be here, married and finally having our honeymoon in California three months later. There were reasons for the delay, like ranch business and Phoebe giving birth to our first niece, and the other reasons…well, she’d be finding out soon.
I sat down on the end of the hotel bed, took her by the hips, and pressed my face to her stomach. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”
“You do have a point.” She stood between my legs, her arms around my shoulders, stroking a path down my back.
I kissed the bump below her belly button before resting my cheek against her. “I like the feel of you, darlin’.”
“He’s getting big already. I’m a little nervous you’ll have to roll me everywhere by the end.”
I tipped my head back to look at my wife. She didn’t look nervous at all, not with the dreamy smile on her lips.
“I think I have a wheelbarrow you’ll fit in,” I teased.
My favorite breezy laugh burst out of her. “If this guy is as big as Shelby said Jesse was, it might come down to that.”
I gave her belly another kiss. “If it does, I’ll toss in a few pillows for you. You’ll ride in style.”
We’d gotten a little bit of a head start at growing our family. Seeing Phoebe and Deacon welcome their daughter, Abigail Joy Slater, and Hannah and Remi, pregnant with their second, had spurred us on. Alice had tossed out her birth control pills a couple months before our wedding, andboom, she fell pregnant. Four months along with our son, she was more gorgeous than ever.
We’d taken our time to begin our journey, but now we were full steam ahead. Married, growing our family, taking our life by the horns and living the hell out of it. We’d had a lot to move on from, but we’d done it.
The piece of shit who’d hurt Alice was in jail. It wouldn’t be nearly long enough, but that was the way of things. There wasn’t any amount of time that would satisfy me. The same went for Kent. He’d be in prison a whole lot longer, and I imagined a guy like him wouldn’t have an easy go of it. Whatever he got was nothing less than he deserved.
But those things were in the past. I’d done some time in therapy to help me deal with the anger and anxiety almost losing my boy had caused me. Talking it out had done me a world of good. Time and Alice’s steady, supportive presence had done the most to bring me back to myself, though.
Christ, there was no one better than Alice. She was…everything.
A part of me would always regret not noticing her earlier, but it was getting easier to push those thoughts to the background now that we were headed in the direction we were supposed to. I’d never know if we would have worked out had I paid attention to her when she’d first come to town. I just knew we were right for the versions of who we were now. Exactly right.
I rose to my feet and touched my lips to her temple. “Think it’s about time to get out of here. Are you ready?”
She practically bounced on her toes. “You know I am. I can barely stand still.”
Chuckling, I pulled her into my arms. “Love you a lot, darlin’.”
She nuzzled against my chest. “I love you too, honey.” Then she gave me a kitten shove. “Now stop delaying and show me my surprise.”
Alice didn’t ask questions, even as our driver meandered through the campus of Savage University. But I could feel her vibrating beside me. I wasn’t sure she’d figured out where I was taking her, but she was excited, nonetheless.
The car stopped in front of Whitlock Hall. I opened the door and slid out, then helped Alice out behind me. Her eyes were bright as she looked around, taking everything in.
“This was one of the reasons we had to delay our honeymoon,” I said as I led her into the building.
“What do you mean?” Her head swiveled around as she took it all in. The students milling around, open classrooms, antique books inside display cases.
“We had to wait for classes to be back in session.” I stopped in front of room 210, our destination. “We’re here.”
Her eyes widened, and she whispered, “Where are we?”
“We’re being college students for the day. I thought you might like this class. It’s calledBeyond the Isle: Themes and Worlds in Epic Fantasy.”
She gasped. “No. It’s not…”
