He watched his father embrace Savannah, then kiss her forehead in the same sweet manner.
“Thank you for helping us both,” his father said.
Jack watched his father drive away, and then he and Savannah mounted his motorcycle. Savannah’s body pressed against Jack’s back as they rode up the steep driveway. Jack swore he could feel the remaining claws of the past ripping from his body and mind and freeing him from its confines.
Chapter Forty-One
SAVANNAH STEPPED FROM the bike, finally understanding why Jack had hidden away in the mountains for so long. Not only had he lost someone he loved, but he had the added stab of a daily reminder just down the road. How many times had he driven by before he snapped and decided he never wanted to go back? She didn’t quite understand everything that had transpired with his father, but she trusted that Jack would fill her in when he was ready. She trusted everything about Jack, from his understanding of what he needed to make it through his days to the safe and real love he felt for her.
He came to her side and looked up at the house. “This is where I live.”
The way he said it was not convincing, as if he’d said, “The earth is square.” Savannah knew what he was really saying. This is where I lived when it happened. It was obvious that Jack hadn’t really lived anywhere after the accident…until these past few days when he’d begun living again.
Savannah stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I’m right here, Jack, and no matter what happens, I’m not going anywhere.”
He looked down at her and furrowed his brow; then he placed his warm hands on her cheeks and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I know you’re not, and neither am I.”
Jack opened the door and they stepped inside. The house smelled woodsy and masculine with a hint of cedar. Kinda like Jack. He motioned to the open living space.
She took another step inside and looked at the warm furniture, the expansive fireplace, the mix of textures: woods, stone, granite. “This is very nice,” she said. “It looks like a place I could envision you spending time in, reading in front of the fireplace, sitting on the deck.” Her eyes caught on a photograph on the bookshelf next to the fireplace. She moved closer, and recognized Jack in his cap and gown. “Your college graduation?”
“Yes. That’s my family.”
She realized that the blond woman beside him was probably Linda. She was very pretty and was looking up at Jack adoringly. Who wouldn’t? He is worth adoring.
“And Linda,” he added. “If it upsets you, I can put it away.”
“No need. I feel like I know where her life ended, and I know she had a life with you, so it’s nice to put a face to the woman who loved you. I’m glad you kept it.”
Jack went to her side and pulled her against him. He kissed the top of her head. “I really don’t need to keep it out. It was just a happy time with my family.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Jack, I’m not threatened by her. If it doesn’t make you sad, then to me, it’s just another family member who’s no longer here but who doesn’t deserve to be forgotten.”
“How can you be so good, Savannah?”
“When you love someone, you want them to be happy, and repressing ten years of your life can’t make anyone happy. I didn’t know her, but I assume she was a good person, or you wouldn’t have been with her. And now you have me. There’s no issue. If you compared me to her all the time or complained that I should be more like her, that would be cause for some different action to be taken, but I can’t see that happening.” She put her hands on his waist. “I do like your house. It’s very you.”
“I’m selling it,” he said. “I needed you to see where everything happened so you would understand what I’m going to do next.”
“Why?” The minute she asked, she knew why. It was one thing to say goodbye to his past, but another to be reminded of it every day.
“My life is no longer here, Savannah.”
A powerful and unexpected thought came into her mind, and she furrowed her brow, thinking it was too impetuous and she should tuck it away, but when she looked into Jack’s eyes and saw the love there, the desire to squelch the thought disappeared.
“Move in with me.” The words tumbled out. Her heart raced at the thought, and the faster it beat, the more she was sure it was the right thing to do.
He looked down at her, and behind the shock of his gaping mouth and wide eyes, she saw—and felt—the same excitement that sent her up on her toes to steal a kiss from him.
“Jack, no one knows what tomorrow will bring. No one knows that better than you.”
He searched her eyes, and she wished he would say something, anything. She knew in her heart this was the right thing to do. She didn’t want to come home one single night and know Jack wasn’t there. She thought of him all the time, and the more time they spent together, the more she loved him.
Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around the room, blinking so much that she was sure he was trying to figure out how to let her down easily.
“It’s okay,” she said quickly. “I was just excited. I…I don’t know what I was thinking.” She looked away, her heart shattering into smithereens. What have I done?
Jack lifted her chin with his index finger, and when she drew her eyes to him, he was smiling.
“Savannah, after my mother and sister left today, I spent two hours walking around the city, making sure that none of those dark thoughts would find their way back to me and thinking about us.”
“And?” Her stomach twisted into a knot. Hadn’t he just said goodbye to his past? Was he now going to tell her it was still there? She held her breath as he continued.
“You have taught me that life is about living, and you’ve loved me through the scars that my past left behind. Do you remember the rules of three? In extreme conditions a man can live three minutes without air, three weeks without food, and—”
“Three days without water,” Savannah added.
“Yes. Three days without water. Angel, my rules are now three plus one. I don’t want to live three seconds without you in my life. If you’ll have me, I want an eternity with you. I want to fall asleep with you in my arms and wake up to your warmth beside me. I want to be there when you laugh and I want to share your sadness so you know you’re never alone. Savannah, you are my future, and I hope that I can be yours.”
Her chest constricted. She could barely breathe. “Jack?” she whispered. “Are you asking me…”
“Marry me, Savannah. I don’t care when. Tonight, next year, five years from now. Promise me an eternity and I’ll promise you the same. I’ve never wanted anything so much in my entire life.”
Now she knew why he’d been blinking so much, because as her eyes filled with tears, she couldn’t stop her lashes from trying to blink them away so his handsome face could come back into focus again.
“Yes, Jack. Yes, I promise you forever and a day.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he lifted her into his arms. It was the most natural thing in the world for her to wrap her legs around his waist and lower her lips to his, then deepen the kiss with thoughts of spending forever with Jack spinning in her head and filling her heart.
“I want to take you upstairs,” Jack said, then kissed her again.
“Take me.” Savannah was lost in their next kiss, and only when they drew apart again and she looked into his eyes did she understand the significance of what he’d said. Upstairs. In the bedroom he couldn’t sleep in. “Are you sure?”
“As certain as I am that I want forever and a day with you,” he said.
He lowered her to the floor and they went upstairs hand in hand. “I want to take you to my cabin in the mountains. Think you can break free next weekend?”
“I would love nothing more. I feel like the mountains are our place, Jack.”
He stopped at the landing and eyed the second door.
“The nursery?” Savannah asked.
He nodded, and she touche
d his cheek. “It’s okay, Jack. One day you’ll have a family. One day we’ll have a family.”
“Do you want children?” he asked.
“Many,” she said with a smile.
“Me too, angel. Me too.” He took her face in his hands and pressed another kiss to her lips. “Are you okay?”
She placed her palms against his chest. “As long as I’m with you, I’ll always be okay.”
Chapter Forty-Two
THE NEXT NIGHT, after Hugh accepted his award, Savannah and Jack went to meet her family at Treat’s Manhattan apartment. The blue shirt and Jerry Garcia tie Jack had picked out with Siena and his mother was perfect for the fun evening, and Savannah wore her favorite blue minidress, which complemented Jack’s outfit nicely.
“Hugh looked so handsome accepting his award,” Savannah said.
“He looked happy, that’s for sure,” Jack said.
Savannah hung up their coats as they moved toward the voices coming from the living room. She felt like a bundle of nerves. None of her brothers had met Jack, and although she knew they’d love him as much as she did, it had been so long since she’d introduced a man to them that she found herself having flashbacks of dates she’d brought home in high school and her five brothers hunkering over them with threats and harsh stares.
“Are you okay, angel?” Jack touched her cheek as they entered the hall, and she stopped walking to look up at him.
“I’m just nervous. I know they’ll love you, but I never really know what to expect.”
Jack kissed her forehead. “I’m a big boy. I can handle anything. Don’t you worry.”
She remembered her father’s words, and as she looked at the man who had made her the happiest woman in the world, she realized how true they were. “You can learn all the fancy skills you feel you need, but the strength and ability to survive comes from within.”
He lowered his lips to hers, and Savannah melted into his arms.
“Don’t let your brothers catch you making out before you even say hello.”
Savannah pulled back from Jack and laughed. “Riley, wow. You look radiant.” Josh’s fiancée hugged her; then she took Jack’s hand. “This is Jack.”
“So you’re the man who rocked Savannah’s world. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I think it’s the other way around. She rocked my world. I was just a bump in the road for her,” Jack teased.
Riley led them into the living room. “Look who’s here,” she called out.
Her brothers turned, and she cringed as each one of them ran their eyes up and down Jack, then across their linked hands. The ten seconds of once-overs felt like an hour.
“Jack Remington, survivor man.” Hugh extended his hand and patted Jack on the back. “Man, you have one cool job.”
“Thanks, but it doesn’t compare to yours. Congratulations on your award.” Jack didn’t seem nervous at all, and for that, Savannah was thankful.
Josh hugged Savannah and whispered, “You look happy. So I take it dating Jack is a good thing?”
“A great thing.”
Josh held out a hand to Jack as Riley snuggled against his side. “I’m Josh, Savannah’s younger brother. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you, Josh. I recognize you from the picture in Savannah’s living room. I appreciate you having us over tonight, and I hope we’ll see more of each other since we’ll be neighbors.”
Savannah cringed and noticed that Treat and Dane were eavesdropping. She hadn’t had a chance to mention to her family that they were moving in together.
“Neighbors? Do you live nearby?” Josh asked.
Savannah was about to jump in when she felt a heavy hand grip her shoulder. She turned toward her father, glad for the break in the conversation. His deep tan set off his dark eyes, and Savannah noticed a little more gray in his five-o’clock shadow. He was as handsome as ever. Even at his age, he still had a commanding presence.
“Hi, Dad.”
He hugged her tight. “I’ve missed you, darlin’.”
“Me too. Dad, this is Jack. Jack, this is my father, Hal Braden.” Savannah had called her father and told him about Jack moving in. She wanted to give him a chance to say whatever he felt he needed to in private instead of springing it on him. She’d also told him about Jack’s wife and how difficult her death had been for him. Her father’s response was more than she could have hoped for—and then some. You mother always knew that you were destined to change someone’s life, and that day you told me about Jack was the day I knew that she’d been right. She wished she’d known her mother better. She and Jack had talked that morning about families, and Jack wanted to have children as much as she did—only she hadn’t even realized how badly she’d wanted them until she’d seen Jack with Aiden.
She watched Jack offer his hand to her father, and her father opened his arms. “Son, in this family we hug.” He patted Jack on the back and then pulled him out of earshot of her brothers, though Savannah took a step closer to hear what her father had to say.
“That’s my little girl, Jack Remington. She’s stubborn and smart and she’s the light of my life. If you hurt her, I will have no qualms setting those men on you, you hear?”
Savannah froze. She’d never heard her father speak like that to any man she’d dated.
Jack drew his shoulders back and looked right at Savannah as he spoke. “Sir, if I ever hurt her, I’ll sic them on me myself.” Then he looked at her father and said, “I adore Savannah, and I will make you proud that I’m with her.”
Her legs grew weak, and she was thankful for Treat’s arm as it wrapped around her.
“He’s a keeper, huh?” Treat kissed her cheek.
“Definitely,” she said.
Dane appeared by Jack’s side. As the founder of the Brave Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission was to educate and advocate on behalf of sharks, Dane and his girlfriend, Lacy, traveled often and sported year-round tans. Dane spent time researching and tagging sharks, and Lacy worked remotely for World Geographic as an account manager developing marketing plans for nonprofit organizations.
Dane put his arm around Jack’s shoulder, and Savannah loved to see him embracing Jack into the fold of their family.
“I know a secret,” Max said as she sidled up to Savannah’s other side with Lacy in tow. Max’s dark hair had grown just past her shoulders, and it looked much fuller than it had the last time Savannah had seen her.
Lacy handed Max a glass of water and whispered to Savannah, “I know what it is, too.” Lacy’s blond corkscrew curls hung thick and heavy over her sun-kissed, lean shoulder.
“That’s not fair,” Savannah said. She moved in close to Lacy. “Tell me,” she whispered in Lacy’s ear.
Lacy whispered, “No way.”
Max grabbed Savannah’s hand and squealed. “Oh my God. You have an infinity ring? Lacy, look. Riley, you’ve got to see this.”
Savannah felt a flush run up her neck and spread over her cheeks, still thinking about Max and Lacy’s secret. Jack wrapped his arms around Savannah’s waist and kissed her cheek.
“I feel like I’m on display with all of you looking at me.” She put her hands on top of Jack’s, took a deep breath, and said, “I asked Jack to move in with me, and he asked me to marry him.” She couldn’t stop her smile from lifting her cheeks as she added, “And I said yes.” Her brothers’ dark eyes locked on her. Each one more serious than the next.
Max, Riley, and Lacy rushed in and hugged her, laughing and oohing and aahing over her ring. Savannah gushed while sharing the meaning behind the ring, “Jack said, Diamonds, so you know how much I value our love, and the infinity symbol because my love for you is endless.”
The girls squealed, while her brothers turned hot stares at Jack.
Jack rose to his full height. “I know it seems sudden. I have a little sister, too. Siena, she’s twenty-six.”
“Is she hot?” Hugh asked.
Savannah punched him in the arm.
“Yes, actually. She’s one of New York’s top models,” Jack said with a proud smile.
Savannah rolled her eyes at Hugh. “You’re such a pig.”
“What? Just because you’re biting the marriage bullet doesn’t mean that I have to,” Hugh said.
Jack continued. “I know it’s impetuous, and I would worry about any man who moved in with my sister and claimed to love her after such a short time, too. I understand if you’re concerned, and all I can do is tell you the truth.” He took Savannah’s hands in his. “I adore your sister. She’s the most loving woman I’ve ever met, and—”
“We don’t need those juicy details,” Dane said.
Lacy poked him in the side as he put his arm around her.
“Caring—that’s probably a better word. Generous, empathetic, funny. You all know who she is, and I love her for all the same reasons you do.” He shrugged. “That’s all I’ve got.”
Savannah couldn’t believe her brothers weren’t congratulating them and welcoming him into the family as they’d welcomed Riley, Max, and Lacy. She felt her heart deflate, and as she turned to make sure Jack was okay, she wondered why he had a stupid grin on his lips. “Why do you look so happy?” she asked in a harsh whisper.
“Savannah, I’m an older brother, too. Do you really think I’d ask you to marry me without first speaking to each of your brothers?”
She spun around and saw cocky-ass grins on her brothers’ faces.
“And your father?” Jack added.
“You…I don’t understand.” Savannah looked at her brothers’ guilty faces. “Treat?”
Treat threw an arm around Jack’s shoulder. “He’s telling you the truth, Vanny. He called Dad; then Dad gave him our numbers. You have all of our blessings.”
“But? What about those stares you guys gave him? And, Josh, what was that ruse asking about where he lived?”
Bursting With Love Page 27
