by MJ Duncan
“Love you too,” Joss murmured. She smiled and dropped a playful kiss to the tip of Maeve’s nose. “Now, stop distracting me. I have to go get your present, and you’re holding things up.”
“Oh, well, in that case, I apologize.” Maeve’s eyes twinkled with mirth as she captured Joss’ lips in kiss that was deeper and hotter than the one before.
Joss swayed on her feet when the hold on her sweater disappeared, and blinked her eyes open when the kiss eventually broke. “Wow…”
“Indeed.” Maeve winked as she turned on her heel and sashayed out of the room, putting an extra sway in her hips because she knew that Joss would be looking.
“Fuck me,” Joss muttered when Maeve had finally disappeared down the hall toward her office.
George head butted her leg and looked up at her with wide eyes.
Joss nodded. “Right. It’s show time, George. You ready?”
George sneezed.
“Good enough,” Joss chuckled, grateful for the comic relief as she gave her thigh a couple quick pats. “Let’s go.”
George followed at her out of the living room and up the stairs, and sat down to wait beside the fireplace that divided the master bedroom and sitting area while Joss rifled through her sock drawer for the satiny red ribbon she had bought for the occasion. She lifted her head when Joss knelt in front of her, and held perfectly still as the length of ribbon was slipped through the metal loop that held her tags on her collar.
“Good girl,” Joss murmured as she fished the ring from her pocket. She held it up for George’s inspection. “Do you think she’ll like it?”
George leaned in and gave the ring a quick sniff before daintily licking the point of Joss’ chin.
“Good. Me too.” Joss looped the ribbon around the diamond studded platinum band that had a stunning, single carat princess-cut diamond as its focal point, before tying it in a bow. George looked quite dapper with the bow on her collar, and Joss smiled as she straightened it out.
“You look good, George. The bow tie suits you.”
George cocked her head and gave Joss a big doggy grin.
“Right.” Joss rubbed George’s head. “Do you remember our plan?”
George chuffed softly.
“All right then, buddy. Let’s go.” Joss pushed herself to her feet and brushed her hands off on the seat of her jeans.
They made their way back down the stairs, and Joss double-checked her reflection in the mirror in the foyer before they turned toward the living room. Maeve had pulled the quilt they snuggled under at night while watching television off the couch and spread it out beside the tree, creating a cozy little sitting area.
Joss smiled. Okay. Yeah. That will work quite nicely.
Maeve eyed Joss’ empty hands and arched a brow in surprise. “I thought you were going to go get my present?”
“Who says I didn’t?” Joss retorted as she sat on the blanket beside Maeve. She glanced at George and pointed at the ground, which was their signal for her to lie down, and was pleased when the Dane did it immediately. The last thing she needed was Maeve noticing the ring before she was ready for her to. Joss ran a hand through her hair as she looked back at Maeve, who had a shirt box wrapped in glossy red and white paper on the ground beside her, and quickly considered her options. It seemed weird to propose first and then sit back and open whatever Maeve had gotten for her—never mind the fact that the only thing she wanted for Christmas this year was to see the ring she had picked out on Maeve’s finger—so that meant she had to get Maeve to go first. “Is it okay if I go second? Please?”
Maeve’s brow wrinkled in confusion, but she nodded. “Of course.” She picked up the box and handed it to Joss. “This is for you.”
“Thank you.” Joss took the package, which was so light that it felt like it was completely empty, and arched a brow at Maeve as she gave it a shake. She could hear the faint sound of paper quietly rattling against the sides of the box, but that did nothing to help her guess what was inside, and she smiled as she slipped a finger beneath a flap of paper to rip it open.
“This isn’t a present you can use right away,” Maeve explained as Joss slipped the box free of its paper. “But I thought it’d be fun.”
“I’m sure it will be,” Joss agreed as she lifted the lid off the box and looked inside. There, nestled atop candy cane patterned tissue paper, she saw a picture of a catamaran that had the name Veritas emblazoned on its hull. She picked up the picture to look at it more closely, and that was when she noticed the plane tickets. “Maeve?”
Maeve smiled and pushed her glasses back into place. “The Veritas is a charter yacht that sails around the Virgin Islands. I booked us a weeklong vacation on it in April after the winter season is over. I thought it’d be a nice—”
Joss cut her off with a kiss, completely blown away by the gift. “That sounds amazing.” She grinned and kissed her again. “Thank you.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it,” Joss enthused, capturing her lips in a tender, lingering kiss. “I love you,” she breathed when she finally pulled away.
“Love you, too,” Maeve murmured.
“Good.” Joss flashed what she hoped was a confident smile and took a deep breath. My turn. She looked at George, who was watching them through sleepy-looking eyes, and nodded. “Ready to help me out here?”
George scrambled to a sitting position, lifting her head up and puffing out her chest, just like they had practiced. Joss could not have been more proud of her if she tried, and she held her breath as she looked back at Maeve, waiting for the moment she noticed the sparkling platinum band hanging from the red bow on George’s new green collar.
And then she did.
“Joss?”
“Well,” Joss began as she reached for the end of the ribbon and gave it a tug, letting the treasure it held fall into her hand. She palmed the ring and smiled shakily. “I thought it would only be appropriate to have George help me with all of this since she’s the reason we met.”
Maeve let out a small gasp and covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes filled with tears.
“It’s not a super-awesome vacation,” Joss hedged as she tried to remember the speech she had planned out. But instead of those carefully crafted words, all she saw was Maeve smiling at her, shaking her head in disbelief, waiting for the question she knew would be coming. “I wrote a really good speech to do this right, but I can only remember the end…”
Maeve choked out a laugh and nodded as tears trickled down her cheeks to collect in the upturned corners of her lips. “I’m sure the end will be more than good enough.”
“I hope so.” Joss took Maeve’s hands into her own and smiled as she smoothed her thumbs over the backs of Maeve’s knuckles. The feeling of Maeve’s hand in hers calmed the majority of her nerves, and she suddenly remembered the words she had planned.
So, even though Maeve seemed happy for her to jump right to the end, she went back to the beginning instead.
“Of all the places I might have reasonably expected my life to change, it was certainly not sitting in the dirt in front of the cottage looking up at this beast of a dog that was trying to lick me to death. But that’s exactly what happened. Because then you showed up, looking all pink-cheeked and out-of-breath and beautiful, and I felt like I had my legs knocked out from under me all over again.” She smiled and shook her head at the memory. “I find myself continuously in awe of your strength, your humor, your passion, and your beauty, and I fall more and more in love with you with every day that passes. Heaven, for me, would be a lifetime spent loving you, because I honestly can’t imagine my life without you by my side.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart for the finale of her speech as she stared into Maeve’s eyes. The answer to the question she had yet to ask was written plainly in the watery smile that lit Maeve’s entire face with happiness, and she blew out the breath she had been holding as she beamed back at her and placed the ring at the tip
of the appropriate finger on Maeve’s left hand. “Maeve Dylan, would you please make me the happiest woman in the world and say that you’ll let me be your wife?”
Maeve nodded. “Yes.”
“Thank you,” Joss murmured as she slid the ring home.
“Oh, Joss,” Maeve breathed, looking at the ring on her finger for only the briefest of moments before she leaned in and captured her lips in a sweet saltwater kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you.” Joss smoothed a hand over Maeve’s cheek and guided their lips together once more, smiling into the kiss.
Not to be outdone, George took advantage of their being distracted and pounced, knocking them onto the ground and bathing both their faces with slobbery kisses. And, as Joss laughed and wrestled the dog away from Maeve, she had to admit that George barging in was the perfect end to her proposal.
After all, if it were not for her, who knows what would have happened.
Epilogue
Four years and five months later…
“What are you doing here?”
Joss looked up at Scott, who was trying to safely set his almost two-year-old daughter Nora on her feet despite the fact that she looked hell-bent on diving from his arms to the floor, and laughed. There were two weeks of peace and quiet left before the summer season revved up, so there was really no reason either of them should have been at Atramentum. “Forget me. What are you doing here?”
“We were going for a walk and saw the lights on in here.” Scott ran a hand through his hair as Nora squealed and bolted toward the small coffee table in the sitting area at the store that was now perpetually covered with coloring books and crayons, her short auburn curls flopping with every step.
Joss smiled as she watched her own daughter Molly—a perfect mini-Maeve with striking green eyes that were more beautiful than her mother’s—wave at her friend and offer her a blue crayon. George watched the toddlers from her spot in front of the fireplace, while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—the British shorthairs she had adopted not long after Willy Shakes and Dickens finally joined Helen in the big bookstore in the sky—took off for the safety of the high ground. The cats were fine with George, who had mellowed considerably in the last few years, but they did not have the patience for the girls’ not-so-gentle affections as the Dane did. “When did the girls get so big?”
“Hell if I know,” Scott chuckled. “Seems like only yesterday we were both walking around here like zombies from being up all night with them. Oh, and before I forget, Michelle wanted me to see if you guys wanted to do a joint birthday party for them again this year.”
Joss nodded. Nora had been born three days before Molly, so they were enrolled in all the same classes and had all the same little friends, and so it just made sense to save everybody’s weekends and combine the two celebrations into one. “I’ll have to check with the boss, but I think it’d be fun.”
“Cool. No rush,” Scott said and, in the same breath, continued, “Nora, we don’t color on George.”
George just closed her eyes and remained still, resigned to the blue Mohawk Nora was drawing on her head.
“I’m so sorry.”
“You should see her toenails,” Joss said, waving him off. “Maeve and Molly had a great time painting them bright pink last night.”
“I swear to God, man, your dog is a fucking saint.”
Across the room, the girls began chanting, “Futting… Futting…”
Joss laughed. “You are so lucky they don’t that ‘K’ sound down yet.”
“Tell me about it,” Scott chuckled. “So, anyway, seriously—what are you doing here? Don’t you and Maeve need to get going soon?”
Joss checked her watch. It was only four, and their flight was not until five thirty. She shook her head. “Nah. Our flight isn’t until eight and her they’ve arranged a charter for us out of Sky Airport.” Maeve had just won her third Gold Dagger award in a row, and her publisher was flying them to New York so Maeve could do the morning talk show circuit to promote her books. She could have made the trip on her own, but by Joss tagging along, the trip also netted them a nice little weekend away where they could celebrate both Maeve’s success and their three-year anniversary in style. “Besides, she’s busy putting some finishing touches on her comments to the scripted questions the talk shows’ll be giving her, and her parents are still driving up from Denver, so me and Molly and George got out of the house for a bit so she could have some peace and quiet.”
“Makes sense, but she loves spending time with her mini-me. Why couldn’t she work on that kind of stuff on the plane?”
“Two words.” Joss waggled her eyebrows. “Private. Charter. We have other plans for the flight to New York.”
Scott grinned and held up his hand for a high five. “Nice.”
“I know.” Joss smacked his hand. “It’s just going to be nice to get away for a few days. I’m gonna miss those little buggers”—she tilted her head at Molly and George—“but I am really looking forward to having Maeve all to myself for a bit.”
“I hear ya on that one, sister,” Scott commiserated.
Joss smiled as her phone that was laying facedown on the counter beside the register buzzed with an incoming text. Mom and dad just got here and are demanding their grandchildren be brought home ASAP. “Our presence has been requested back at home,” she shared as she slipped her phone into her pocket.
Scott checked his watch and nodded. “Yeah. We should probably get going too. I’ll come by while you guys are gone and take care of the cats.”
“Thanks for that.” Joss picked up Molly’s green zip-up hoodie from the counter. “Molly. George. Time to go home and see Mommy.”
George barked and Molly squealed excitedly as they took off for the front door.
“Coat, Molly-girl,” Joss said, stepping in front of the toddler. She smiled as she helped her into the hoodie and then zipped it up. “All done.”
“Thanks, Momma!” Molly beamed and kissed her cheek.
“You’re welcome, sweet girl. You want to walk George to the car?” Joss asked as she clipped a short, nylon leash to George’s collar.
“Yeah!” Molly cheered.
“I walk George too!” Nora said.
“We share!” Molly said, nodding.
“Looks like you guys are walking us to our car,” Joss chuckled as she handed Molly and Nora the leash. “Wait on the sidewalk, girls, okay?”
“Otay,” they chirruped.
George aroo-ed her understanding as well, and together the five of them exited the store. Scott kept an eye on the kids while Joss locked up, and then they all made their way slowly across the street. The sight of the girls walking George, a dog they very easily could have ridden tandem, never failed to make Joss smile. George had been great with Molly from the moment they brought her home from the hospital—they had a picture of the giant dog sleeping with Molly curled up beside her on the mantle that both her and Maeve swore would never be replaced—and she kept her head on a swivel as they crossed the street, looking for cars while her handlers chatted happily away beside her.
“Good girl, George,” Joss said when they reached the far sidewalk. “Now, wait…”
George barked once and stopped to partake in the bouquet of scents on the fire hydrant.
“Thank you for helping, Nora,” Joss said.
“You weltome,” Nora said. “Bye, Molly!”
“Bye, Nora!” Molly waved, the extra leash dangling from her fist flapping in the air beside her.
“Later, Heitz,” Joss chuckled.
“Get some, Perrault,” Scott quipped. Joss laughed and shook her head as Scott smirked at her and took Nora’s hand and started walking down the street. “You wanna go get Mommy some flowers?”
Nora nodded vigorously. “Yay!”
“We get Mommy flowers too?” Molly asked.
“Not today, baby girl,” Joss said as she gave George’s side a light tap and started for their car, knowing that the Dane would bring M
olly along with her. “We gotta get home. Grandma and Grandpa are waiting to play with you!”
Molly cheered, and George looked at her excitedly. Joss laughed as she took the leash from Molly and let it drop to the ground so she could lift the toddler into her chair. “Yes, George. They’re waiting to play with you, too.”
George barked and danced in place next to Joss as she buckled Molly in, and then let out a thunderous aroo when Joss opened the passenger door for her. George still refused to ride anywhere but shotgun if the seat was available.
Joss shook her head as she slammed the door shut and hurried around the back of the car to get behind the wheel. “So, who’s the most excited to go see Mommy, Grandma, and Grandpa?”
“Me!” Molly yelled.
George barked.
Joss grinned and turned to look at her daughter. “No, I am!”
“Are not!”
“I don’t think you’re right,” Joss retorted with a laugh as she turned back around and started the car. Once they were on the main road headed for home, she called Maeve to let her know they were on their way back, so when they finally pulled up to the house, Maeve and her parents were sitting on the front porch waiting for them.
“There’re my grandkids!” Elizabeth Dylan cheered when Joss let Molly and George out of the car.
“Nice to see you too, Elizabeth,” Joss chuckled.
“Psht. We didn’t come for you,” Ben said as he swooped Molly into his arms and spun her around while Elizabeth rubbed George’s sides in greeting. “Don’t you have a flight to catch or something?”
Joss shook her head as she walked over to Maeve and pulled her into her arms. “At least we know where we stand,” she said as she watched Maeve’s parents with their kids.
“Right?” Maeve chuckled as she brushed their lips together. “The pilot called a couple minutes ago, he’s at the airport and ready to go whenever we are,” she whispered huskily.
