“Hey, where’s Ana?” Grant asked after Nate and Angel left.
“She’s upstairs with Wanda.” Rosa lowered her voice to a whisper and said, “Wanda took her up when Sadie started to get emotional. I would guess that she’s asleep by now.”
“Okay, we’ll stay here tonight. Wanda didn’t get a bunch of guests while we were gone, did she?”
Rosa smiled sadly. “No, she didn’t get any. Poor thing.”
“That’s why we all hang around here so much, to keep her from getting lonely.”
Rosa giggled. “I’ll bet you some nights she might prefer a little loneliness.”
Grant looked over at Sadie and Marcus and made a face. “Will you two get a room, please?” Marcus kept kissing his wife but raised his middle finger at Grant behind her back. Grant laughed. “Fine, we’re going upstairs. Make sure the doors are locked up on your way out.”
Marcus waved him off and still didn’t stop kissing his wife. Grant liked giving his friend a hard time, but the truth was he thought they were adorable together and someday he’d like to have a love like that.
He took Rosa by the hand and hoped in his heart that he’d already found her in Rosa. He led her to the top of the stairs and asked, “Which room is Ana in?”
“She was with Wanda.”
Grant tiptoed over to Wanda’s door. It was open just a crack. He pushed it open enough so that he could see inside. The top of Wanda’s bright head and the top of Ariana’s black, curly head lay together in a sharp contrast against the white pillowcase. He smiled and motioned Rosa over. She looked in at them and smiled, putting her hand over her heart.
“We’re so lucky,” she whispered. Grant nodded and pulled the door back like it was.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure.”
“It’s okay to say no if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“Okay,” Rosa said, cocking her head.
“Can I sleep with you tonight?” he asked, continuing quickly as her eyes went wide. “Fully clothed and I won’t even kiss you…unless you want me to. I just want to be close to you. I missed you.”
Rosa bit her lip but nodded and led him across the hall to the closest bedroom by the top of the stairs. He knew she was still being protective of her daughter, knowing that would be the first door than anyone coming in the house would open. He loved how much she loved Ariana. For a second he thought about his mother and what the chef had told him. He shuddered internally, but forced himself to block it out, at least for the night. Once they were in the room with the door closed, Rosa stripped off her jeans and got under the covers in her t-shirt and underwear. Grant tried not to look, but damn, she had a beautiful body. He started to lie down next to her over the covers, and she said, “It’s okay to get comfortable, Grant. I trust you.”
He chuckled. “At least one of us does.”
“At least take off your shirt?”
He pulled his t-shirt off and got underneath the covers with her in his jeans. She snuggled into his side and, for the first time in his life, Grant prepared to sleep next to a beautiful woman all night without touching her sexually at all.
“Grant?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s okay to kiss me if you want.” Her voice was quiet and shy, almost like a purr, and that somehow made it sexier.
She didn’t know what she was asking. Kissing her would make him want to do so many other things. He hesitated, but then he realized that he already wanted to do those other things so he dipped his head down and found her soft lips in the dark. He kissed her slowly at first, softly tracing the outline of her lips with his tongue before letting it delve into her warm mouth and dance up against hers. She was so warm and pliable against him. One of his hands moved down her back as if it had a mind of its own and the other came up and brushed softly through her hair. It was softer than the sheets they were lying on. The hand on her back pulled her body up and suddenly she was lying on his chest. Both of his hands were now on her back, underneath her t-shirt, and up against her warm skin. He slid them up almost to her bra line and she suddenly tensed and pulled out of the kiss.
“Shit, I’m sorry, Rosa. I got carried away, I’m so sorry.”
She reached across him and turned on the small lamp on the nightstand. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I just need you to see what you’re touching before you touch it. I don’t want you having questions while we’re making love.”
Grant’s mind was so hung up on her use of the words “making love” that he almost missed her pulling off her t-shirt and reaching back to unhook her bra. When it fell off her arms, his eyes automatically went to her breasts and his breath hitched in his throat. She immediately brought her arms up to cover them.
“No,” he whispered. “No, baby.” He took hold of her wrists gently but firmly, and moved her arms out of the way. Every part of her breasts was covered with thick, and some deep, scars. Grant couldn’t speak. He wasn’t the least bit repulsed by her or turned off. He still wanted to touch her, but how could he after some monster that was supposed to cherish her had done this? He felt so undeserving and so enraged. She pulled her arms free and slid around so her back was facing him. The upper part of her back was just as badly scarred.
“They’re on my bottom and the tops of my thighs as well.” He could hear her voice shake. He knew he had to be the first man she’d ever revealed her naked body to and his reaction would stick with her for the rest of her life no matter what happened between them. He wished that he were mature enough to know he was handling it right.
“Rosa?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you turn back around and look at me?”
She slid slowly around and he could feel himself becoming aroused by that simple movement. He didn’t know if that was good or bad. It made him feel slightly perverse. She was sitting up with her arms covering her chest again. He reached up once more and moved them.
“Rosa, you’re beautiful. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world to me. I want to kill the person that did this to you because he hurt you and I can’t stand the thought of anyone hurting you. But these scars don’t take away from your beauty. These scars tell a story of a mother that didn’t have to love her baby. A mother that was abused as a child, only to grow up and be forced to have a child of her own by a monster. I don’t know how many women could have found room in their heart for that child the way you did. You risked your life for her before she was even born. You loved her despite what you had to go through to make her. That’s phenomenal to me, even more so after what I found out about my own mother today. Ariana is the luckiest girl in the world and right at this moment, I am the luckiest guy in the world. You’re so beautiful, baby, inside and out. I love you, all of you.”
Tears were rolling slowly down Rosa’s cheeks as she listened to him talk. When he finished, she lay back down on his chest and curled up against him. He held her tightly and he kept his hands still. Cade was wrong about one thing; he had patience when it came to certain things. For Rosa, he’d wait forever if he had to. She lay still for a long time and he thought that she’d fallen asleep. At last, she pulled her head up and looked at him.
“I love you too.”
Grant’s heart swelled so big that it felt like it would rip through his chest. He reached over and turned off the light and only saw her silhouette through the glow of the moon. He then turned on his side and pulled Rosa’s back into his body. He kissed her neck and inhaled her scent and told her he loved her over and over until she finally fell asleep. That night when Grant closed his eyes at last, it was the happiest that he ever remembered being.
********
Grant woke up the next morning, cold and alone. It was a rude awakening since going to sleep had been so warm and sweet and comfortable. He’d woken up twice during the night just to look at Rosa and pull her in tighter. He hoped that he wasn’t squishing her, but he felt like he just couldn’t draw her in close enough. He rolled out of the bed and grabbed his t-shirt off the floor. He didn’t bother with his socks or his boots as he raced down the stairs. He stopped as soon as he got to the bottom of the landing. The dining room doors were open and Nate, Angel, Rosa, Ariana, Wanda, and Colt were gathered around the dining room table eating breakfast. Nate was the first to laugh and then Colt picked it up. Even sweet old Wanda cackled. Angel had the decency to cover her mouth and try not to laugh and little Ariana giggled because everyone else was. Rosa was the only one looking at him and not laughing. She was smiling and her eyes were shining. She was looking at him the way he looked at her.
“Well, good morning. You all seem to be in a jolly mood.”
“It’s just your hair, baby. It’s a little wild and with those stitches and…is that a new bruise on your jaw? I’m not sure what you’re doing to that pretty face of yours,” Wanda said, shaking her head.
Grant ran a hand through his hair and made his way to the table. “How did you sleep?” Rosa asked him sweetly.
He smiled at her. “Wonderfully. How about you?”
“The same, thank you.”
“Hey, little lady! I missed you,” Grant said, leaning down and tweaking Ariana’s nose.
“I missed you too!” Ariana pouted. “Maggie’s been waiting to have her party until you came back. Uncle Billy would play baseball with me but he said he drew the line at dolls.”
“Yeah, Uncle Billy can be a little weird and grumpy sometimes,” Grant chuckled, sitting down next to her. “You want to pass me those pancakes?”
Ana lifted the plate to him and everyone started passing him more plates. Once again, as much as Grant thought he missed his solitude up on the mountain, he was enjoying the hell out of this family atmosphere. It was strange and all so new to him. He listened to all their stories about what went on while he was gone. Colt, of course, had the scoop on everyone and everything. A few of his stories he said would have to wait until young ears weren’t in the room. Grant hoped he caught Nate and Angel with those.
“So what’s the plan for today, Ana?”
She shrugged. “Mama’s working. I wanted to get my trick or treat costume.”
“Is it time for trick or treat already?”
“Almost,” she said excitedly.
“Not for another two more weeks, baby,” Rosa said. “We have lots of time to go before then.”
“Angel, are you working today?” Grant asked her.
“Yeah, I have to go to San Antonio and cover this charity thing for the paper.”
“So, Nate…?”
“Would I mind spending another day at Benny’s? I think I can stand it. Remember we have a lunch meeting with Cade today.”
“I remember. Rosa, would you mind if I took Ana shopping for her Halloween costume? There’s a Halloween store in Medina. We could get there, find a super cool costume, and be back in plenty of time for my meeting.”
“Please, Mama!” Ariana pleaded, giving her mother puppy-dog eyes.
“You two are getting too good at that,” Rosa said with a sigh.
“Good at what?” Grant asked innocently.
She laughed. “Teaming up on me.”
“So is that a yes?”
“Please, Mama?”
“Fine, you two go shopping and I’ll go to work. Send me pictures before you buy one though, okay?”
“Fair enough,” Grant said with a wink in Ariana’s direction. She giggled again and then perked up again.
“Can we get a costume for Maggie too?”
“Ana!”
“I don’t see why not. Poor Maggie can’t be left behind on trick or treat night.”
Rosa rolled her eyes but she was gazing at him with that look again…the one he hoped she only reserved for him for the rest of his life.