“Sorry to wake you.” She slipped into the office and shut the door, so that once Lucky finished in the shower, he wouldn’t be able to hear her.
“Madison, is that you? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I know you’re probably exhausted, but I need a friend.” Guilt stabbed through her heart at knowing she was one of the reasons Gwen would be tired the next day. It was selfish, but she needed someone to confide in.
“You know I’m always here for you. What’s up?” Gwen was a little more awake now.
“I’m falling back in love with Lucky.” She blurted it out before she could rein herself in. “I mean…I never stopped loving him, but being so close to him this past week makes me want to make up for all our lost time.”
“Forgive me. It might be the mommy brain, but I don’t understand what the problem is. So…you love him, and want to make up for lost time. Do it. I mean, unless there’s another man you’re hiding somewhere. What’s the problem?”
Madison was already neck deep, so she might as well take the full plunge. “I’m pregnant.”
“Wait, what? It can’t be…his.”
The way she said his made Madison wonder if Ace had just woken up, but it didn’t matter because he’d find out sooner or later. Most likely after the phone call. “No, I’m just over eighteen weeks pregnant, so it’s not Lucky’s. It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you someday, but this only complicates things further.”
“Does he know?”
“Yes to both parts. Like I’ve said, things have happened this week, and although we haven’t fallen into bed or anything like that, it’s clear we are in love with each other. He also knows I’m pregnant because I told him a few nights ago.”
“And?” All the sleep was gone from Gwen’s voice.
“What do you mean and? I’m pregnant with another man’s child, yet I’m thinking about picking up with an ex. It’s complicated.” She suddenly wished she had called Wynn instead, especially since she knew Gwen’s own story. “Plus, it means giving up my job, moving to Virginia. It’s all bad timing.”
“When you told Lucky you were pregnant, did he tell you about Roulette, that Ace isn’t her biological father?”
“Yes, but this is different.”
“I don’t see how.” Gwen stated as if it was clear. “You saw Ace with our daughter.” She stressed the our part to make sure Madison understood.
“I did.” Images of the two of them together flashed before her eyes. “But it’s a complete change of lifestyle. What will I do for work? I’ve got to be able to provide for my child.”
“Public relations is always in demand so I know you can find something.” Gwen shuffled the phone and it sounded like she’d readjusted in bed before coming back on the line. “Do you love him enough to change your life for him…if it means spending the rest of your life with him?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation. She’d give up everything to be with him. To have what Gwen and Ace had.
“Then the answer is simple.” A baby cried in the background, announcing the end of their conversation. “I’ve got to go. Madison, I’m happy for you. Don’t let this chance pass you by. Grab him, and hold on tight. Love’s a ride you won’t forget, full of ups and downs, but having him on that journey with you will make it all worth it.”
After she’d hung up, she sat there and considered things. She was tired of overthinking the situation. If he was willing to be with her even though she was pregnant with another man’s child, why should she doubt it? He had always told her that their love was strong, that they’d be able to get through anything. She didn’t believe him years ago, but now she did. They were worth fighting for.
Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she decided to go to him. With each step, her confidence grew, until finally she reached the top of the stairs. His door was open but the lights were off. Even that didn’t stop her from going inside.
“Lucky?” She whispered from the doorway, not wanting to wake him if he had fallen asleep after his shower.
“I’m up.” He didn’t bother to turn on a light. “I just got into bed, but if you need me to come downstairs, give me a minute and I’ll get dressed.”
“No. Umm, can I come in?”
“Sure.”
He leaned up against the headboard, and the rays of moonlight streaked in the window, illuminating his body. He was so much more physically fit than he’d been in high school. He was more toned than he’d been back then, making her want to run her fingers along his chest to feel the differences.
“I love you.” As she moved farther into his room, the view of him shirtless had her nervous. Everything she had considered before she stepped through the doorway had suddenly disappeared from her thoughts.
“I love you, too, Maddie, but are you okay? You seem off tonight.”
“I was off because I was considering what was happening between us. I’ve decided something…”
“Come here.” He held out his hand to her, and when she went to him, he nodded. “Go on; tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I’ll come back to Virginia if you still want me. I’ll travel anywhere…if it means being with you.”
“How could I not want you there with me?” He pulled back the covers. He smirked at her when she glanced under the blanket to make sure he had something on. “Don’t worry, I’ve got shorts on. Come here. Just let me hold you.”
Without hesitation, she slipped onto the bed beside him. “Tomorrow I’ll put in my three week notice.”
“Three weeks?”
“Whether you win or not, I have to see this competition through. That means those additional two weeks with the winner. If it’s you, then that’s wonderful. If not, I’ll join you in Virginia two weeks after that. Well, maybe three weeks. I’ll have to return to D.C. to sort out my office and condo, pack my stuff. Plus, I have a doctor’s appointment.”
“We’ll work everything out. D.C. isn’t that far from Virginia Beach, so we can get your stuff down there when I’m not on duty. As for your condo, what about renting it out? There’s always a demand for places there.”
“Yeah, I was thinking that. I have a friend who’s a real estate agent who can handle it. I’ll rent it furnished, and then I won’t have to deal with any of it.”
He ran a hand down her arm. “We haven’t actually discussed it, but I’d like you to move in with me. Not just down to Virginia Beach. My condo is two bedrooms, so if you don’t want to sleep with me you can always have that room. But I want you with me. I want to come home every day and see you there.”
“Every time I agree with you on something, you want to take it one step further.” She turned toward him, pressing the front of her body against the side of his. “You’re never satisfied, Lucky Diamond.”
“I’ll be satisfied when you agree to marry me.”
Marriage? His expression announced that he was completely serious, and she had to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat before she could speak. “Is that a proposal? Because you’re going to need to do better than that if you want me as your wife.”
“Maddie, I know you, and I know you’re not ready to say yes. I’m going to wear you down, and sometime soon you will say yes.”
“You’re so confident.” She tried to relax her body, but every muscle within her seemed to have a mind of its own and stayed rigid.
“I am, and I plan to have you as my wife before the baby is born. That gives me just over four months.”
The very thought stirred excitement and nervousness within her. He was right on one thing. She wasn’t ready to agree to marriage. A week wasn’t enough time to determine if they were still compatible, let alone if they were still in love. The feelings he stirred within her might just be left over from what they had once shared. Even as she thought it, she doubted it. If she knew one thing, she knew she loved him with everything that was in her. But was love enough?
Morning came with the blaring ringtone of a cell phone.
Thinking it was hers, Madison cursed as she rolled over to grab it off the nightstand, slamming straight into Lucky. “What? Oh, hell!” She didn’t have time to consider things further as she realized it was his phone going off and not hers.
He brought it to his ear without even checking the caller ID. “Hello?”
As she began to wake up, her memories of how she’d ended up in bed with him returned. They had talked until she began to doze off. She couldn’t remember what he’d said, but he had convinced her to stay curled up against him and sleep.
“Hold on, she’s right here.” He pulled the phone away from his ear and held it out to her. “It’s Wynn. She wants to talk to you.”
“Me?”
“Take it before I verbally tear her limb to limb for spoiling my perfect morning. One I’ve dreamed of all these years. Instead of waking up and snuggling with you, I’m woken up by the phone.”
Relenting, she took the phone. “Hello.”
“Madison, it’s Wynn. I spoke to Gwen this morning and planned to call you, but I forgot to get your cell phone number from her. Since I’m already down at the store, I thought I’d call Lucky.”
“I thought you weren’t working much at the shops, just designing?”
“I am, but that’s not why I called. One sec.” Wynn mumbled something to someone on the other end before coming back to the phone. “Sorry about that. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you right away. I’ve got a solution to your problems.”
She glanced at Lucky. “Umm, I think it’s okay now.”
“Oh, so you aren’t moving here?” The disappointment was clear in Wynn’s voice.
“I am.” She curled back into his embrace. “Word travels faster than a speeding bullet, apparently. I just spoke to Gwen a few hours ago.”
“Gwen?” Lucky questioned.
“Quiet, I’ll tell you later.”
“Did I interrupt something?” Wynn sounded embarrassed. “If so, I really don’t want to know what you and my brother are doing.”
“Actually, we’re just cuddling in bed. There’s nothing wrong with that. He also knows I’m moving there. I told him last night, which is how I ended up in bed with him.”
“Seriously, I don’t need to know.” Wynn’s voice was higher than normal. “My two best friends and my brothers, it makes me want to say yuck and spit out my tongue. Whatever the two of you see in them, I’ll never understand. They put me through hell growing up, but I still love them.”
“Wynn, was there a reason you called at the crack of dawn?”
“To offer you a job.”
“What?” She eyed Lucky, but he couldn’t have known about this since he had been snuggling with her all night.
“My husband, Boom, and I have been discussing this for a while. I’ve wanted to bring on a public relations expert to handle the marketing for Roll of the Diamond and Heart of a Diamond. Who better than you?”
“What do I know about marketing clothes?”
“More than I do.” Wynn laughed. “I just wanted to design them, which is why I opened my own store. Then New York came to me, and things have been crazy ever since. I need some help, and I want it to be you. We can learn together, and more importantly we’ll all be together again. Come on, what do you say?”
“I’ve already agreed to come there. As for a job…can I have time to think about it?” She was truly honored, but with all the changes happening so quickly, she didn’t want to jump in with both feet before considering it.
“Sure. I’m going to email my marketing plans and some other information to Lucky’s email account and you can look over them. I’ll include all the details of the job, and if there’s anything you want to change, just let me know. This is a learning curve for me as well. But I want you on this project with me.”
“Okay, I’ll look over them this evening. I’ll let you know within the next forty-eight hours. Umm, Wynn…did Gwen tell you I’m pregnant?”
“Yes and congratulations.”
“No, I mean…I understand if you want someone else for the job.”
“Don’t be silly. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no one better.” There was a man’s voice in the background, before Wynn spoke again. “Boom just arrived. We’re off to find paint for the nursery, so I’ve got to go but I can’t wait to see you.”
“Okay. Have fun. I’ll be in touch.” She hit the end button, and let her head fall back against the pillows.
“What’s this about a job?”
“Wynn is nuts.” She chuckled. “She wants me to come and work for her as the public relations manager. I guess she spoke with Gwen this morning and found out I was considering moving back home to be with you.”
“So, are you going to take it?”
“She’s sending all the information to your email. If you could forward it to me, I can consider things further this afternoon. But…maybe. It sounds like it could be interesting.”
He rolled to his side and propped himself up on his elbows. “There’s something else I should tell you.”
“Hmm?” She let her eyelids fall shut so she could enjoy the moment in his arms.
“When your parents wanted to move to Florida, I bought your old family home. Before you bitch about it, they didn’t tell you because I asked them not to.”
“But why? Why did you buy it?”
“Because I wanted it. You loved that house, and I thought someday you’d come back to me. I thought we might move in and raise our own family there.”
“What about all these years? You had to have figured I wasn’t coming back.” She remembered how much she’d loved the house she grew up in, and how devastated she was when she found out her parents had sold it. She hadn’t even gotten one final visit home before they closed the deal. No one had told her they were even thinking about it until after the sale was complete.
“I admit I lost hope that we might ever be together again, but I couldn’t see someone else owning that home. It meant so much to you, and therefore it meant a lot to me. I’ve kept it, but I couldn’t bring myself to live there. Not without you. I’ve rented it out. Currently, I have it rented to a family that had lived on base but wanted to have a place of their own. They just received notice they’ll be moving. Before you showed up in Graves’s office, I had considered selling it, but now that you’re here, I want us to move in there. We can raise our child there, and when I’m deployed Ace and Gwen will be right around the corner.”
“Raise this child in my old home…” Tears swam in her eyes. “Oh, Lucky, I can’t believe you.”
“Is that a yes?”
“But what about your condo? Ace said you love that place.”
“I do, but I’d rather be in a house where our child can run around, play in the creek, visit their aunt, uncle, and cousin just over the creek. We can make that a home for our family.”
“Your determination is showing through again.” She smirked. “Let’s do it.”
“Another one down, only one more to go. Next up to bat…marriage.”
She swatted at his chest, but he caught her hand before she could make contact. “We’ll see about that.”
Lucky’s part of the competition was over. Now they just had to wait. Sergeant Major Graves had called that morning to wish him the best. It had been the first time they’d spoken since Lucky had been called into his office and given his new orders. It had also been the first chance he had to ask why he hadn’t been told that Kyle had been the one who recommended him.
I didn’t want it to put you off your game. Seeing Phillips was better than me telling you. It was his recommendation, so he needed to be the one to explain why. The words played in his thoughts again, and even though he had the answer, he didn’t care.
Maddie ran her hand along his thigh as she did her best to distract him, but nothing could keep his mind from what the judges were doing now. He had been the first contestant to cook for the judges, and the hours since had gone by at a sna
il’s pace.
“This is the first time in weeks we don’t have an interview, and you don’t need to spend the evening cooking or testing new recipes. Why don’t we take advantage of it? Maybe we should go out and celebrate my new employment.”
“I still can’t believe Wynn talked you into taking on the public relations for her designs. Before you know it, she’s going to be global.”
“I can’t believe it either.” Excitement laced her voice, and she couldn’t keep the smile from curling up the corners of her lips. The future would be nothing like her yesterdays, and for that she was thrilled. Challenges were what she enjoyed, and her new adventure would be full of them. “I just hope I can do the job the way she wants. Marketing clothes is very different then my previous experience. Especially since so many of her designs are aimed at military families. The patriotic line is amazing, but I’ll need specialized marketing to highlight it. I’ve got some ideas, but I need to give it some additional thought.”
“I’ve no doubt that you’ll be amazing at it.” He ran his hand along her body. “Though I won’t deny that I’m excited that you found something because it means you’ll be in Virginia with me.”
“Come on, Lucky.” She rubbed his shoulder. “You’re too uptight. Whatever is going to happen will happen. You need to relax.”
“How am I supposed to keep my mind off what’s coming next? If I don’t win, I’m plane bound for Virginia tomorrow, and you’re off on a whirlwind of two more weeks of commitments. If that happens, it’s going to be the longest two weeks since boot camp.”
“We’ll get through it.” She curled against his body on the sofa. “Then, when it’s over, we’ll be together.”
“I’m not letting you get away from me again.” He kissed the top of her head. “Actually, I think it’s time.”
“Time for what?”
In answer, he got down on one knee in front of her. He gave her a moment to realize what he was about to ask her. “Maddie, I fell in love with you when you first came splashing around our creek. Your reddish brown curls flying in the breeze and your carefree personality won me over. The brief moments when you’re mad and your temper flares allow me to see a different side of you. One that’s just as fiery as your carefree side. It gives you the nickname I’ll forever call you by. My Maddie, I want you as my wife. You’re my other half, the one I want to spend the rest of my life with and grow old with. I love you with everything in me. Will you marry me?”
Lucky Chance Page 8
