Page 41 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

"No."

"James!" For some reason his stubbornness made me start laughing. "Do you think I want to imagine you with another woman? The thought makes me feel sick to my stomach."

"Good, me too."

"You have to promise me." Now that I was smiling, I wasn't sure he was talking me seriously at all.

"Absolutely not." He was smiling now too.

"God, what am I going to do with you?" I ran my fingers down the collar of his dress shirt.

He tilted his head down and ran the tip of his nose down the length of mine. "Does that mean we can stay here tomorrow?"

Now he's asking. "You didn't agree to my demands."

"Demands?" He cupped the side of my face in his hand. "Surely you can think of better demands than that."

I laughed.

"That one sound." He closed his eyes. "How can a sound be my favorite thing in the world?"

"I love you, James."

He opened his eyes again. "You're unforgettable, Penny. To me. To our daughter. To our family and friends. Nothing is going to happen to you.

But don't you ever think that if it did, we'd forget you."

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. I understood why he couldn't promise me he'd move on. I could still remember the feeling in my soul when I thought I was going to lose him. That was it. My heart would have stopped beating when his did. I truly believed that it was possible to meet someone so perfect for you that you could no longer exist without them. James was my heart. My soul. My everything.

Chapter 16

Thursday

A light knocking on our bedroom door made me yawn. "James," I said and nudged him. "Who's at the door?"

"What?" he grumbled.

"James," Ellen said and knocked on the door again. "I hate to disturb you, but your brother is downstairs asking for you."

James groaned and looked at the clock on his nightstand. "It's 5 o'clock in the morning. Why is Rob here so early?"

"Do you think something is wrong?" I was about to sit up when James put his hand on top of my massive stomach.

"I got it. He probably just wants to say goodbye before they head down to the beach. I'll go tell him to go away."

I laughed and rolled onto my side in search of a cool spot on my pillow. I was just drifting back to sleep when I heard James clear his throat.

"So, bad news," he said. "My dad came down with some kind of bug. And..."

"Aunt Penny!" Sophie yelled and pulled on my hand that was hanging off of the bed.

I opened up my eyes. "Hi, sweetie. What are you doing here?" I tapped the tip of her nose with my index finger.

"My daddy said I get to spend all day and night here."

"And we're going to go spend that time downstairs," James said and swooped Sophie up into his arms. "And we're going to be quiet so we don't wake anyone who's sleeping. Right, Soph?"

Sophie giggled. It didn't look like she had any interest in listening to what he said.

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