Six Months Later
Jace Bennett
IT WASN’T THE most traditional thing I’d ever done.
I was coming out of the garage after throwing the last of the trash away. The rented tables and chairs were still scattered here and there. I glanced around and spotted Hannah immediately. She had stopped cleaning up and was standing barefoot in the backyard looking at the sunset.
She was so beautiful, and that beauty wasn’t only on the outside. I stared at her for a few moments, thankful she had allowed me to be a part of her life, and thankful for this life in general.
It was a rare profound moment that seemed to be not so rare anymore.
Just then her blue summer dress and her blonde hair blew in the wind, and I couldn’t stay away. I quickly found a song to play on the speakers set up in the yard. As soon as Kiss’s “I Was Made for Loving You” started to play, I strode toward her.
Punk or hard rock, it no longer mattered. I didn’t have to drown my thoughts anymore, and I could just listen to the lyrics.
The sound of creaking swings and happy laughter told me the kids were just fine, and I could give her all my attention, for a few moments, anyway.
A lot had changed besides the manicured lawn, the new addition of an in-ground swimming pool, and a swing set complete with a tree house.
Hannah, Scarlett, Jonah, and I had become a family. Today might have been the day we made it official with a small ceremony at our house that joined Hannah and I as husband and wife, but the feeling had come slowly over the past six months as the four of shared our days and nights under the same roof.
I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she responded.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
She gave a contented sigh. “Nothing. Everything.”
I turned my mouth and kissed her neck. “That’s very poetic.”
She laughed and let her head lull back, giving me better access. “How happy I am.”
“That’s a little more specific,” I teased, and kissed a little higher.
“How happy you make me.”
I kissed her again, this time on the corner of her lips. “Keep going.”
She twisted in my hold and turned to look into my eyes. “How much I love you and Scarlett.”
“Well, that’s much better,” I grinned.
She giggled and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. “I don’t think I ever told you this, but the night after I met you at that party in college, I told my roommate I was going to marry you some day.”
I pulled back slightly to look into those blue eyes I knew I would never get enough of. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’d forgotten all about it until just now.”
“Maybe Ethan wasn’t that far off when he told me us being together was destined by fate.”
Her face scrunched in the most beautiful way. “He said that?”
I nodded.
“He’s the poetic one,” she laughed.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you,” she whispered back.
“Remember that,” I said, as I bent and took her in my arms.
She screamed a little bit and kicked her feet. “Jace! What are you doing?”
Cradling her in my arms, I strode toward the pool. “Carrying you over the threshold, Hannah Bennett.”
She turned her head and saw I was headed in the opposite direction. “Jace Bennett, don’t you dare act like a big shot.”
Big shot! I had to laugh—hey, it was better than motherfucker.
Just then little feet came rushing over. “Daddy!” Scarlett yelled, putting her hands on her hips. “You put my mommy down right this minute.”
I stopped at the edge of the pool and froze. Scarlett was wearing a dress that matched Hannah’s and had little flowers pinned in the curls of her hair. And it was the first time she’d called Hannah anything but Hannah.
Hannah glanced at me, and I smiled. Smiled huge. Smiled wider still, and said, “Looks like you’re going under, Mommy,” then jumped right in that pool.
“Watch this, Daddy! I’m a warrior.” Jonah came a hundred miles an hour across the lawn in his little tuxedo and did a cannonball, splashing Scarlett.
She scowled at him and put her hands on her hips. “Why do brothers have to be so annoying?” but then she shrugged and jumped in too.
Hannah sputtered as she came to the surface and I grabbed hold of her and crashed my mouth to hers. The honeymoon wouldn’t kick-off until our weekend getaway, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get started early, if only with a just a kiss, for now.
“Ewww,” Jonah said. “You’re going to get cooties.”
I smiled around the kiss, and my wife did too.
The clapping I knew came from Scarlett, who when I looked, was in the shallow end of the pool standing on the stairs, giving Hannah and I a standing ovation.
This was her version of a happy ending.
And I had to admit . . . it was mine too.
THE END