Chapter Eighteen
Four months later, Leigh escorted Jeremiah’s final patient of the day to the door. As she watched Mrs. Spiegel walk down the steps, she felt Jeremiah come up behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and she leaned back against him and gazed at the setting sun reflecting on the lake.
“I love you,” he whispered near her ear, as he had many times over the past few months. She believed him. He showed it every day.
“I love you too,” she said, turning and wrapping her arms around his waist. As they were in the habit of doing, they buried their faces in each other’s necks, like swans curling around each other.
“Don’t forget,” she said, breathing in his scent. “Harry is coming over for dinner.”
“Is it Friday already?”
“Every week.”
“Speaking of which, happy three-month anniversary, Mrs. Cook,” he whispered. “How do you feel this evening?”
Leigh smiled and laid her head against his chest. “A little bit tired, but happy as could be on our anniversary, Dr. Cook.”
“Expectant mothers do tend to tire easily, dear. After dinner, we shall send your great-grandfather away to his new cottage, and I will rub your feet and your temples and whatever else you wish to have rubbed.”
“Yes, please,” she said. “Oh yes, please.”
“It will be my pleasure.”
“I’m pretty sure it will be my pleasure too,” she said with a giggle.
Jeremiah kissed the top of her head, and she rubbed against his chin, like a cat.
“And as if we weren’t busy enough, everyone is coming over on Sunday for dinner.”
“Please remind me which of your everyones you mean.”
“Everyone. Nancy, Rosanna, Jane, Will, Martha and Jefferson, Katherine, John, the kids and Harry.” Leigh suddenly lifted her head, bumping Jeremiah’s chin in the process.
“Oh, sorry! Hey! Do you think there’s something going on with Mrs. Jackson and my great-grandfather? I caught him in the kitchen yesterday, sipping on a cup of coffee. I didn’t even know he was here! Well, ‘caught him’ is the wrong expression, but I didn’t realize that Mrs. Jackson could blush like that, so...” She left her words trail off.
Jeremiah’s smirk matched her own. “Now that you mention it, I do think something is in the air,” he said. “Remember, she had a crush on him when she was a young girl. That type of love probably doesn’t fade.”
“My love for you is never going to fade,” Leigh said softly. She caressed his cheeks.
“Nor will mine. You are the only woman I will ever love.”
She melted against him, pressing her face against him and listening to his strong heart.
“I wish I could say those words to you, but they wouldn’t be true.” She looked up into Jeremiah’s eyes again. “But you are the last man I will ever love.”
“That is enough for me, my heart,” Jeremiah said. He bent his head and kissed her before taking her hand and leading her out the door to sit on the porch and watch the reflections of trees, shadowing mountains and the fading sun on Lake Kaskade.
In the distance, they saw Harry strolling down the road toward the house. He towed a dog he had recently found and couldn’t bear to be parted from, even to come to dinner.
“He’s filling out,” Leigh said, “putting on weight.”
“Well, as you say, you found him in Mrs. Jackson’s kitchen. She must be feeding him.”
“And the dog.”
“And the dog,” Jeremiah agreed.
Leigh shared an amused look with her husband. Every now and then, an image of a petite blonde woman popped into her head, but rather than envy Tanya, Leigh pitied her for leaving him.
She couldn’t say yet that she had loved Jeremiah longer than she’d loved Sam, but her admiration, desire and adoration of Jeremiah far exceeded anything she had felt for her husband long ago in the twenty-first century.
She sighed and squeezed Jeremiah’s hand. “When I first got here, I never imagined I’d be sitting here on a porch in front of the lake with a man I love. If anything, I thought I’d be counting the days until the next summer solstice, strategizing how I could leave.”
“I thank you every day for choosing me,” Jeremiah said. “I thank Kaskade every day for choosing you. I do not understand the phenomenon, but Kaskade knew I needed you, and here you are, my love.”
Harry could be heard whistling as he approached.
“Do you think you will ever tell him?” Jeremiah asked.
“I have no idea,” Leigh said. “I think about it sometimes, but he’s pretty confused about the cousin thing. I’d hate to make things worse and tell him that I’m his fourth great-granddaughter.”
“And a fifth great-grandchild on the way.”
Harry opened the gate at the end of the walk.
Leigh raised her hand in a wave.
“I love you, Jeremiah,” she said, turning to look up at him.
“I love you too, my heart.”
Harry climbed up the steps, and Leigh threw Jeremiah a mischievous look before rising to greet Harry with a hug.
“You know what, Harry? If I had a grandfather, I’d want him to be just like you!”