Five years later . . .

Rourke was late. There’d been a disturbance at The Inferno Rourke had to deal with before he could escape for some much needed facetime with his better half. Rourke had been the head of security for Luc’s at The Inferno Hotel and Casino, as well as Hell, the private entertainment club, for over five years. As long as he’d been married. His job was not of the nine-to-five variety, and it interfered with many a date night. There was always some drama or another that needed his attention. Thankfully, Jennifer was a very understanding woman with her own thriving enterprise to keep her busy, while she waited for her always-tardy husband.

Rourke was late for date night with his wife, again. Jennifer was behaving a little oddly over the past few weeks, and Rourke was starting to worry that she was feeling like his last priority. That was the furthest from the truth. Jennifer was his whole world. He worked hard to secure their future. So did Jennifer. But he could see how a woman might feel unappreciated after so many canceled dinners and nights on the town.

Rourke should have picked Jennifer up at Showgirls, her flourishing dance studio, over an hour ago. He hadn’t even bothered to change out of his suit before racing across town to Paradise, where Showgirls was located. He hurried through the smoked glass front door of the studio and down the long hall past the various studio classrooms toward the office in the rear. Jennifer had built the place from the ground up in just five years, and Rourke couldn’t be more proud of his talented, business savvy bride.

Jennifer’s lifelong dream of being a Broadway dancer morphed shortly after they were married. She didn’t want to spend long hours, late into the night, performing on the stage any longer. She wanted to help young people with a passion for dance to improve their skills and teach little kids. She had adult classes for beginners, too. She was spreading her passion for dance to anyone who wanted to learn.

In the beginning, they were strapped for cash. There wasn’t much money to be had between a military veteran and an ex-showgirl. So Jennifer got a loan and worked hard to get the business off the ground. Her father offered to give her the money, but Jennifer refused his generosity. She wanted to do it on her own, and she’d done it spectacularly. Now, she had a team of dance instructors who offered a variety of classes and an army of students who filled every class.

Rourke stopped before he reached Jennifer’s office, when the sound of music floating out of one of the studios drew his attention. Moving around the room in a graceful dance was Jennifer. She never failed to take his breath away. She flowed like water through the dance. Rourke watched, mesmerized by her every movement. When the dance was over and the music faded, Jennifer stood there looking blindly off into space. Rourke moved further into the room. Jennifer’s eyes lifted to meet his in the floor to ceiling wall mirror. God she was glorious.

Another song started. Jennifer turned and held her hand out to Rourke. He came forward eagerly to dance with his wife. Rourke learned to be a half-decent dancer since he was married. Jennifer loved to dance, and he wanted to be a part of anything that made her that happy. They wordlessly spun around the floor together in a waltz, content just to be together.

“Things are going to have to change, Rourke,” Jennifer spoke first.

“I’m sorry I’m late, baby. There was this crazy woman shouting about prostitutes and illegal gambling clubs out on the sidewalk. She was making a scene and drawing attention. Threatening to call the police. Scaring off customers. I had to deal with her before I could get away.” It was a sorry excuse, but it was the only one Rourke had to give his disappointed wife. “It’s not that late. We live in Las Vegas. It’s never too late or too early here. Let’s get out of here. We’ll get a few drinks and dance the night away.” Rourke gave Jennifer that smile that was just for her.

“That will have to change, as well. At least for a while. No drinking for the next six months or so. I know I told you I would never try to change you, Rourke, but this is a game changer. It’s not just you and me anymore.”

Rourke didn’t know what to say. He’d done it this time. Jennifer was finally realizing she’d gotten the raw end of the deal when she married him. Rourke pulled Jennifer more tightly into his arms. He couldn’t lose her. He’d leave his job at The Inferno if he had to. He’d even move to Washington if she demanded it. He would do anything for his wife. Anything.

“I love you, Jennifer. I’ll do whatever it takes to make things right. Tell me what you need. I’ll make it happen.”

Jennifer wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Did you hear what I said? It’s not just you and me anymore. We both have to adjust to a new way of life. I’m promoting a couple of the girls to management, so I don’t have to work so much. I might need to put off expanding to a new location for a couple of years. I also think we should start looking for a house right away. Luc was very generous to give us a suite for so many years, but I don’t think I can raise children in a casino. We’ve saved a lot of money. We can buy a house outright if we want. We need to think about the kind of neighborhood that will suit us, and schools will be important.”

Rourke heard the words, but he wasn’t able to absorb them at first. They bounced around his brain while he tried to grasp them. His feet stopped moving. His brain stopped moving. His damn heart stopped moving.

“A house?”

“Yes,” Jennifer nodded.

“Schools?”

“Looking for a school early is very important. I hear there’s a waiting list for the best preschools. We will need to pick one and apply a few years early. Especially since we’ll be enrolling two children at once,” Jennifer spoke so matter-of-factly. As if she hadn’t just decimated his brain.

“For the baby?” His deep voice had definitely risen to an unmanly squeak on that last word.

“Yes, dear, the baby. Actually two babies.”

“Our babies?”

“Our babies.” Jennifer’s smile could light up Rourke’s world and it often did. She stepped back to take his hand and place it over her flat belly. “I know it’s a surprise. We said we’d wait until our lives settled down, but it’s happened. We’re pregnant.”

“We’re pregnant?” Rourke was sounding like a confused parrot. The brain still wasn’t responding. Babies? Two of them?

“Are you angry?” Jennifer asked nervously. Those ocean-blue eyes peered up at Rourke with so much hope and love. How could he ever be angry with her?

“Angry?” Rourke blinked. He spread his fingers wider over Jennifer’s abdomen. No, he wasn’t angry. Just shocked. He tried to organize is thoughts, but it was useless. Jennifer was anxiously waiting for Rourke’s reaction. Did she really believe he would be upset that she was having his children? Children. Two at the same time. Now that his brain was rebooting, Rourke’s predominate emotion rising to the surface was pride. Pride and protectiveness for his wife and their growing family.

“Are you sure?” Rourke knew Jennifer would be sure before she told him, but the operator in him needed to see the proof for himself before he began to work out a plan of action. There would be tremendous changes in his life once he saw the evidence of their pregnancy.

“I’m very sure. I went to the doctor today. You know I haven’t been feeling like myself. I’m exhausted all the time. Apparently, being ten weeks pregnant with twins will do that to you. I’ve been so busy with competitions. I thought I was just overworked. You know I’m never regular. It never dawned on me that I might be pregnant. The doctor almost had to pick me up off the floor I was so stunned,” Jennifer stepped out of his arms and retrieved her purse from a hook on the wall by the door. She came back to Rourke with a small square of black and white paper.

Rourke was expecting a positive test result, not an image of the babies. He’d missed their first sonogram. He was already slacking in his duties as father. He inspected each image closely. It didn’t look like much of anything to him at first. Typed near two blobs were the words “baby A” and “baby B”.

Jennifer pointed to the image, “There’s a head. That’s the body. Over here is another head. You see this?” she asked. Rourke looked closer. “Those two lines are tiny little legs.” Jennifer was peering down at the picture lovingly.

Rourke looked at her belly and back to the image a few times. It was hard to imagine she had two babies in there. After Jennifer pointed out the features on the sonogram image, they came into focus for him. The blobs became tiny people with perfect little heads and rounded bodied with dark spots in the middle that Jennifer said were their hearts. Those were his children’s hearts. His children were in her belly growing right now.

Rourke’s brain finally came back online. He had so much work to do and only six and a half months to do it. He scooped Jennifer up into his arms and carried her down the hall.

“What are you doing?” she giggled. “I can walk.”

“Not yet. I need to hold you,” he explained as he backed out of the studio’s front door, being careful not to bump Jennifer’s head.

“I need to lock up,” Jennifer complained, but she was still laughing. Rourke didn’t see anything funny. He was going to be a father. He had so much to do. So much to learn.

“I’ll do it once I get you in the car.” Rourke took her to his car and rested her on her feet just long enough to get the door open. Then, he picked her up and placed her gently in the passenger seat. He was buckling her seat belt so he could be sure she was properly secured before he took her home and built a wall around her and his babies. He didn’t want anything or anyone to touch them. Jennifer’s hands came up to touch his face.

“Rourke,” Jennifer said his name with so much love. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to be fine. We can do this.”

Suddenly, Rourke’s knees felt weak. He loved her so much. Now, he had three people to love that way. Could his heart handle all that intensity? Was there room? As soon as he had the thought, Rourke knew his heart could handle it. It was already growing in his chest to accommodate the two tiny lives they’d created.

“I’m going to be the best dad.” Rourke smiled. It was a huge, full body smile. Jennifer giggled again.

“You’ll be the best dad ever,” she agreed. “I love you, Rourke.” She kissed him sweetly. Rourke kissed her back passionately.

“I love you,” he said when he finally broke the kiss. “I’m thinking maybe we should build a compound. You know, to keep out the riffraff. How do you feel about home schooling? How young do you think is too young to start weapons training?” Rourke asked Jennifer seriously. She couldn’t stop laughing. She kissed him again to shut him up.

That night, when they crawled into their giant bed in their fancy suite at The Inferno, Rourke and Jennifer held each other tight after he made slow sweet love to her. Jennifer lightly traced a finger over the SEAL tattoo on Rourke’s forearm and moved up to the newer ink that ran up to his shoulder and over his chest. Rourke’s growing collection of body art was sexy as hell in Jennifer’s eyes.

It seemed like so long ago when Rourke came home with that first tattoo. It symbolized the end of his military career and the beginning of their life together. It was a rough road in the beginning, but they made it together.

A new chapter in their lives had begun that day, and neither of them could wait to see what happened next in their epic love story. Rourke stroked Jennifer’s still flat belly and spoke to his unborn children. Jennifer laughed at his crazy plans to build a wall around her and the babies. And they lived happily ever after.

 

THE END.

Or is it the beginning?