Anything for You

He understood.

First thing she did was buy six huge hanging baskets for the front porch. A porch swing that dangled from the overhead beams. Wicker chairs and tables. Connor wondered how it was that he’d owned the house for five years and never thought to sit out here and watch the sky darken, wave to the neighbors, just sit with his arm around his wife and want for nothing.

Davey lived in the apartment, a little more independent than he had been. They had a security lock put on the oven and stove so he couldn’t cook without one of them entering the code, and they’d done their best making the place safe. But he made his own toast now, and Connor was working on figuring out how to teach him to make his own nachos without starting a fire. Miranda came over to visit sometimes, always with her mom, and The Avengers had been played so many times that Connor could now recite it by heart.

And for three days a week, Davey stayed with Jessica’s father. And that was very nice, too.

Connor had changed his hours so he could work more day shifts and let Rafe have a little more say over the kitchen. “A control freak changes for the love of his woman,” Colleen had murmured. “Call the newspaper.” Maybe it was true.

About six weeks after Jessica Dunn became Jessica O’Rourke, Connor got some surprising news. Greg Gennaro, also known as Generic, the president of Empire State Food & Beverage, ponied up the money. “Find someone else to be the face of the company,” he advised when they signed the papers. “But you make great beer, son. Just go easy on it, you hear?”

In addition to the brewery, Connor also had a new brother—Ryan, a ten-pounder with a head of red hair. Connor visited them at the hospital, and even brought Gail flowers and thanked her, saying that since Colleen was clearly deficient as a sibling, he really appreciated Savannah and Ryan. This comment earned him a smack from his twin, as he’d known it would.

Life was good. He and Davey got along great for the most part, only one or two meltdowns, but not the head-banging kind. Connor was learning how to deal with his brother-in-law, how to be clear and specific, how to see his frustrations coming and hopefully help him deal.

And Jess...she was perfect.

Not really, of course. She still was learning to rely on him and not see it as weakness, but instead as what it was. Love. But every night when he came home, or sometimes in the middle of the night, he’d just look at her sleeping face, still a little stunned that she was his.

Then he’d wake her up. Slowly, kiss by kiss.

She loved him. She always had. Yep, stunned had it covered.

It was a beautiful evening, summer just a month away, the trees in bloom, the peepers calling. Connor was alone for the moment; dinner in the oven. He took a beer (a small one) out onto the porch to wait for his wife to come home.

Wife. The word still sounded so damn good. A hummingbird buzzed in for a drink at the hanging baskets, and across the backyard, he could hear Noah Cooper shrieking with glee, the Gomez kids shooting hoops down the block. Davey was at Keith’s tonight, so it would be just him and Jess.

Con sat on the porch swing, then lifted Fluffy up to sit with him. Jess was a little late; she’d gone to visit Honor, who was still on maternity leave, and little Elizabeth, who was an extremely beautiful baby with wide gray eyes and a solemn way about her. A sharp contrast to Isabelle, a tiny tyrant, whose first word was Con. Connor planned on lording that over his sister’s head for the rest of their lives. Colleen had another baby on the way. She hadn’t told anyone, but he knew. Another girl, he thought.

Babies were all around, it seemed; just last night, Connor had rung the bell at the bar, offering a round of drinks on the house with the news that there was another John Holland in the world, courtesy of Emmaline—and Jack. Connor had always loved the Hollands, but now they were truly like his own family. They’d brought Jessica in and made her feel like one of them, so Connor was more than happy to part with $400 worth of alcohol.

And one of these days, maybe Jess would be ready to have a baby, too. They didn’t talk about it too much, and honestly, if it never happened, Connor wouldn’t mind. He had enough. His life was full. He had a niece and a baby brother and a little sister and an irritating twin. He had Lucas, and he had Davey.

He had his wife.

And speaking of... Jess pulled into the driveway and got out of the car.

“Hello, beautiful,” he said, and she smiled. Looked even more beautiful than usual.

“Hey,” she said, sitting down next to him. The smell of her shampoo, familiar as it was, still got to him. She kissed him, soft and sweet with a hint of sly and still that bit of shyness.

God, he loved her. She pulled back and smiled at him.

“How are Honor and Tom and their crew?” he asked.

“Everyone’s great. But I actually had an errand to run, so I cut the visit short.”

“What errand was that?”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a shiny piece of paper.

He looked at it. His beer glass slid out of his hand and thunked on the porch floor. Connor looked at the paper more closely.

Looked back at his wife.

Jessica was smiling. “Hope you meant it about having kids. Seems like we’re having twins.”