Lessons of the Heart

by Jodie Larson

  My row stands and we start making our way to the side of the stage. I twist my fingers in front of me, anxious and nervous all at once. Crossing that stage is closing a door in my life. But when one door closes, another opens. And I’m excited to walk through it.

  Mr. Leonard calls my name and I can hear the embarrassing sounds my family is making. My cheeks flush with color as I walk across the stage, giving them a small wave. I look to my right and finally I’m able to see James sitting in the second row behind the podium. He gives me a wink and I beam at him. I take my diploma from Mr. Leonard, shaking his hand before walking around him and switching my tassel from one side to the other on my cap.

  As I retake my seat, I silently watch my friends and classmates do the same. We’re graduates. Adults. Creators of our own destinies.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the graduating class of 2016.”

  Hats fly into the air. Loud cheers drown out any noise not coming from the field where we’re standing. Confetti and silly string cling to my hair as they fall around me. I join in with the noise makers and hug everyone around me. The crowd erupts in laughter and joins us on the field to partake in the festivities.

  Am I going to miss this?

  Probably.

  Am I looking forward to the future?

  I catch James’s eye and blow a kiss to him.

  With my future directly in front of me, I know it’s going to be one crazy, exciting adventure.

  One Year Later

  “SO WHAT ARE YOU PLANS for the summer?” Tracy asks me. She has been the best roommate ever for my freshman year and I’m sad to see her go back home to Louisiana.

  “I’m moving into James’s place and getting a really cool summer job.”

  She laughs and shakes her head. “Starbucks?”

  “Probably. There isn’t a whole lot to choose from, being a lowly undergrad and all,” I say, laughing a little.

  “But you’re going to write me often, right?” she asks while sitting on her suitcase so she can zip it.

  “Definitely. And you’re going to send me pictures of your backpacking trip through Europe?”

  She smiles and hugs me. “You’re number one on my list.” We hug for a few more moments before breaking away. “I’m going to miss you.”

  Tears well in my eyes and I blink them away before they can fall. “I’ll miss you too. But hey, we’ll see each other in a couple of months. I mean, we’re both still in the pre-med program. We’re still going to have classes together.”

  “But it won’t be the same if we’re not living together. Are you sure you want to move in with James?”

  I nod. “Absolutely. He promised me that we’d revisit the issue after my freshman year so I think we’re both ready to move on to the next step.”

  Tracy sinks into her chair and sighs. “You two are so cute together. And the story of how you came to be is just the most romantic in the world.”

  I sit across from her on my bed with my legs crossed beneath me. “It took a lot of work, but it was totally worth it. James is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  “Even if it meant I kept knocking you down on your ass?” I hear a familiar voice call out from the doorway.

  James walks in, dressed in his casual jeans and t-shirt, which clings to every inch of lean muscle on his body.

  “Is that your way of saying you swept me off my feet?” I ask, patting the bed next to me.

  He sits and laughs. “No, that’s my way of saying you don’t pay attention to your surroundings.”

  Tracy laughs with him. “I can second that motion. I think I’ve been to the campus clinic more times with her than I’ve been to my own doctor my entire life.”

  I scoff at the both of them. “I am not that clumsy. And it was one time we had to go to the clinic. One time!”

  “Yeah, but that one time was because you were running across campus and looking at something over your shoulder and didn’t see the giant tree in front of you.”

  “Geez, you get one lump on the head and all of a sudden you’ve been labeled a klutz for life.”

  James smiles and kisses my forehead. “Just promise me that you’ll be more careful when there’s a scalpel in your hand.”

  I stand and grab my bags at the end of my bed, wanting to end this conversation. “Well if you two are quite done with the Britta bashing, I think we should head out.” I turn to Tracy for one last hug. “Drive safe and call me when you get there.”

  She squeezes me back and brushes a tear away from her face. “I will. Bye, James. It was nice to see you again.”

  They shake hands and wave goodbye as James helps me with the last of my things. We’ve been slowly moving my stuff into his house over the past week, leaving only the basic necessities, which are all packed in these bags now.

  “You know, it’s a good thing I found a large two bedroom house to rent because with all your stuff, there won’t be any room left.”

  I shove his shoulder as he loads the suitcases into the bed of the truck, shutting the tailgate and fixing the cover on top. Climbing into the passenger’s seat, I wait for James to slide in next to me.

  Grabbing his neck, I pull him gently toward me, needing to feel his lips on mine.

  “Hey,” I breathe.

  He tucks a strand of hair behind my ears and smiles. “Hey. Did you miss me?”

  I sit back and buckle my seatbelt. “Always. But I didn’t give you a proper hello up there so I wanted to make sure I did that.”

  A mischievous smile appears on his face as he reverses out of the parking spot. “I can think of a better way to say hello when we get back to our place.”

  Our place.

  Finally we have a place to be together, and alone. Where we can be ourselves and worship each other and make dinners together while dancing to the stereo playing in the background. We’ll lay on the couch and he’ll read to me while stroking my hair or I’ll massage his shoulders after a long day at work and take care of his every need.

  “What are you thinking about?” James asks as he pulls into the driveway.

  “Oh, I’m just daydreaming about what we’re going to do tonight.”

  We drop the suitcases to the floor as we enter the living room. Suddenly I’m scooped up into his arms and he walks us back outside with me clinging to his neck and squealing in surprise.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to carry you into our house,” he says. We cross the threshold and he gently places me down in the living room.

  “You’re crazy. I thought only newlyweds did that?”

  “We’re kind of like newlyweds, just not official yet,” he says.

  My heart doubles its beats at the thought of being his wife. Yes, we’re young but what’s the point in waiting when you know what you want?

  I walk over to the bookcase and admire the pictures while James goes into the kitchen to start making us dinner. My finger trails over a photo of the two of us at the top of the Empire State Building, fulfilling one of the promises that James and I made. He told me he would take me to New York, just the two of us. And he did. Of course, we visited Penny while we were there but to see the sights with James was absolutely incredible.

  My homecoming queen tiara sits on the shelf as well, along with a photo of me that he snagged from my mom in my dress. James comes up behind me and wraps his arms tightly around my waist. He rests his chin on my shoulder and I lean my head against his.

  “You looked so beautiful that night,” he whispers into my ear. A shiver runs down my spine as his lips make contact with the skin of my neck.

  “Remember sneaking our kiss in the hall that night?” I ask, tilting my head to allow him better access. His warm lips continue to trail along my skin, running up and down the pulsing vein, beating in time with my desire for him.

  He places a kiss behind my ear and pulls away slightly. Reaching over, he grabs the tiara and puts it on my head. “I believe someone promised me a rainch
eck for a dance with the queen.”

  I bite my lip and smile. “I believe I did.”

  James quickly walks over to the stereo and selects a song from our collective playlist. A guitar plays, soon followed by a piano. It’s a familiar song, but I’m having a problem remembering the title.

  He holds his hand out to me and smiles. “May I have this dance?”

  I nod and fold myself into his arms, melting completely into him until we are one. He guides us across the living room, swaying in time to the song and whispering his love into my ear. My body is so hyped up that I don’t even hear the music anymore. All I can hear, all I can feel is James.

  I lean my head against his chest and feel his heart beating against my cheek. It’s pounding faster than usual, causing me to look up in concern.

  “What’s wrong? Your heart is racing right now,” I say, placing my hand on his cheek.

  He wraps his hand around my wrist, slowly bringing it down. “Nothing is the matter. Everything is perfect.”

  We stop swaying and stand in the middle of the room. He holds my hands in his and without breaking eye contact looks straight into my soul.

  “Remember you had asked me before about all the promises we’ve made to each other and how we’re going to remember what they were?” I nod. “Well, I remember each and every one of them. I remember the promise to dance with the homecoming queen so we can check that one off right now. Then there was the promise to take you to New York. We can cross that one off the list as well. We’re also free now to be together and have been for the past year so we can cross that one off too. Then there’s the promise to love each other until the end of time.”

  I squeeze his hand and smile. “That we can cross off because there’s no one else I will ever love but you.”

  He releases a hand to run it down my cheek. “I know, sweetheart. And now that you’re moving in here we can keep the promise of never separating because you’re never leaving my side.”

  “So that’s all of them, right?” I ask because I honestly don’t know how he remembered all those things that we promised in the heat of the moment.

  “Almost.”

  He sinks down on one knee and pulls out a ring from his pocket. A beautiful diamond solitaire sits on a platinum band, surrounded by several smaller diamonds. It must be about one karat in weight at least. My hands fly to my mouth and shake slightly at the sight of it.

  “Britta Rosalind Fosse, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. The day I found you was the happiest day of my life. All the trials we were put through only solidified my feelings for you because if we could survive it all, I knew we were meant to be together. You are my love, my match, my promise to keep, and I will love you until the day I die and then forever after that. So I’m asking you if you’ll take my hand in marriage and be my wife. Marry me, Britta.”

  He slides the ring on my finger and the tears start to fall. His green eyes shine as I nod my head, unable to find the words.

  “Yes,” I squeak out. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  He stands and cradles my face, kissing me with every ounce of his being. I wrap my arms around him and return his love tenfold. The crown falls off my head and rolls across the room as we move to the couch. We fall into a heap with him underneath me, our lips never once breaking our connection.

  “I love you,” he whispers. His eyes are wet but are smiling at the same time.

  “I love you too. I told you I’d say yes if you asked.”

  His hand travels up my side, touching the skin beneath my shirt as it wanders across my body. “Yes, you did. Now we just have one more thing to cross off our list before we make a new list of promises to each other.”

  “And what’s that?” I ask.

  He deftly rolls us over so I’m pinned to the back of the couch. He lifts my shirt off, tossing it carelessly to the floor. “I do believe there was a promise of resuming a particular couch activity a while ago.”

  Heat crawls across my skin as I vaguely remember the night he’s talking about, the night he rescued me from Drake’s party. “Oh yes, before we were rudely interrupted by my brother’s phone call.”

  My bra and shorts are the next to come off, leaving me just in my panties. I pull his shirt over his head while he works on the button of his jeans, sliding them down his legs and kicking them off. We work the last remaining pieces of clothing off before adjusting so I’m directly underneath him.

  “I can’t believe in all the times we’ve been together we’ve never christened this couch,” he says, sliding a hand between my legs. I’m wet and ready for him, aching to feel more than his touch, craving that connection that makes us one.

  “Such fools we were,” I gasp as he hits the spot which drives me wild.

  “Not anymore.” He guides himself inside me, sliding in inch by inch until he’s completely sheathed. I gasp at the fullness and then sigh, clinging to his back as he slowly rocks back and forth into me.

  We worship each other’s body, moving into several positions, kissing each available inch of skin that our mouths can reach. James brings me to orgasm twice before finding his own release inside me. We lay there with me sprawled on top of him, sweaty and panting while kissing him slowly and reverently.

  Life can be complicated and hard at times but with his love, I know we can overcome anything. And we keep proving it over and over again, making sure that nothing ever gets in our way.

  Words cannot express my proper gratitude to everyone who has helped in making this book. There have been some ups and downs, tears and laughs, excitement and heartache. But each and every emotion I felt was completely worth it in the end because this book turned out beautifully.

  To my husband, who gives me the support I need to keep writing these stories. His constant encouragement, letting me know how proud he is of me, lifts me up on the days where I question my sanity. Thank you for being my sounding board when I need to vent and telling me that I can do anything as long as I put my mind to it.

  Billie – Again, you’ve helped me in more ways than I could have ever dreamed of. You’ve read this book chapter by chapter from day one, giving me feedback, even though it wasn’t your favorite type of read. But, when you said that you loved it, that it was perfect and nothing needed to be changed, I knew that you were right. You’re my rock and I love you every day for it!

  Stacy – Thank you for always being there for me, for reading my drafts and giving me exactly the feedback I’m looking for, whether it’s where I’ve turned wrong or where it’s right. I can’t thank you enough for it!

  Megan – Thank you so much for talking me off the ledge towards the end. Your support means so much to me and I wouldn’t have been able to get to here without you.

  Ashley – My book sister! I’m so glad you loved James as much as I did and was willing to be an early reader for me. Thank you for believing in me, for talking me down and picking me back up when I needed it. I love you!

  Melinda – Thank you so much for editing my baby for me. Your notes and emails picked me up when I was the most nervous after my confidence was shaken toward the end. I can’t thank you enough.

  To my girls, my VFFL, your friendship means the world to me. Your constant support keeps me believing in my dreams. I love you all more than you know!

  To my fellow Vixen writers, you are all a bunch of amazing, talented writers and I’m thankful every day that we found each other.

  Murphy – Once again you have designed a beautiful cover for me. You have such an incredible talent for creating beautiful designs. I’m in awe of your abilities and I’m so glad you’ve been able to make my book beautiful!

  To all my friends and family, thank you for everything that you do for me each and every day, whether it’s with a phone call or just a quick message to say hi. Your love and support mean the world to me.

  To my readers, thank you so much for taking a chance on my book. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to do this. Each and every one of you
brightens my day and reminds me of why I do this. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

  Jodie Larson is a wife and mother to four beautiful girls, making their home in northern Minnesota along the shore of Lake Superior. When she isn’t running around to various activities or working her regular job, you can find her sitting in her favorite spot reading her new favorite book or camped out somewhere quiet trying to write her next manuscript. She’s addicted to reading (just ask her kids or husband) and loves talking books even more so with her friends. She’s also a lover of all things romance and happily ever afters, whether in movies or in books, as shown in her extensive collection of both.

  Other books written by Jodie Larson:

  Fated to be Yours

  Fated to be Mine

  You can find Jodie at:

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