by Dee J. Adams
Terry hadn’t told anyone about that encounter. Telling her parents would cause an immediate rift between their families and telling Jay might hurt his relationship not only with his parents, but, according to Lou Ann, with her too.
Standing up to her peers had never been a problem, but holding her own with an adult was a different matter. Her parents had drilled her to respect her elders, so dealing with Lou Ann had been like tiptoeing through a minefield.
“Whatever,” Marcella said, breaking into Terry’s thoughts. “I’ve got to book. Later.” She disconnected without letting Terry get another word in.
Jay strolled into the kitchen with Jess in his arms. “Peanut here wants to help me make pancakes,” he said.
Terry didn’t hear what else he said because she noticed her daughter’s white shirt covered in pink hearts. A ripple of unease raced down her spine. It was the same shirt Jess had been wearing in her dream. Both grandmas loved to buy Jess clothes, so she had a closet full, but that Jess picked this shirt today felt like more than coincidence.
“Terry, something wrong?” her mom asked as she walked into the kitchen.
“Um. No.” She reached for Jess. “C’mere, Boo. Let’s change your shirt if you’re going to cook with Daddy. Don’t want to get this one dirty.” She’d use any excuse to change outfits. Especially since Jess was particular about her wardrobe choices each day.
“No, Mama. Like hots. Pitty pink.”
“I know you like your pretty pink hearts, but you don’t want them to get dirty do you? Let’s save it for another day.”
Jess thought about it for a few seconds and looked at her shirt. “Okay.” But her bottom lip came out in rare display of sadness.
Terry went in for a kiss on her cheek and gave her a raspberry instead. Jess squealed with laughter. “That’s my girl. Let’s change and then you can help Daddy.”
Terry set her down and Jess barreled to her bedroom, her little legs hurrying to get back to her daddy. When they returned to the kitchen, her mother was gone and Jay already had an apron on to protect his suit. They all knew the hazards of cooking with a toddler.
While Jess stood on her step stool and focused all her energy stirring the batter, Jay stood behind her, but narrowed his gaze at Terry. “So tell me about this dream you had.”
Terry sighed. “My mom tell you about it?” She kept her voice low.
He nodded. “She said you were pretty freaked out and that it involved Jess.”
“It’s not so much the dream that scared me.” She reconsidered her words. “Actually, that’s not true. The dream did scare me. It was the vividness that scared me. The fact that everything was so clear. The colors, the smells. Everything. And the last time I had a dream like that, it came true.”
“What do you mean?”
“I never told you this—probably because it makes me sound all ‘woo-woo’” She wiggled her fingers in the air. “Plus you’re all ‘pre-law, just the facts ma’am’ guy. But a long time ago, I had a dream just as vivid and it came true the next day.” Terry pulled two glasses and a plastic cup for Jess from the cabinet. “I was like eight or nine. In the dream, my mom came home with a new full-length blue dress for me and I tried it on. I went around the block to show my friend and on the way home I started running and I fell. I tore the dress and bloodied my knees really badly. I ran home crying.” Terry set the glasses on the table and put Jess’s cup on her tray table. “The next day, my mom brought home a new full-length blue dress. I wasn’t thinking about my dream. I was thinking about running around the corner and showing my friend.” Terry finally looked at Jay. “It wasn’t until I was running home that I remembered things were happening just as they had in my dream. I started crying because I was scared. I noticed I was at the same house where I wiped out and the next thing I knew, I got caught up in the dress and fell. I was more scared that the dream had come true than the fact that I’d ruined the dress or skinned my knees. I got up and raced home, totally freaked out.”
“You never told me that before,” he said quietly.
She shrugged. “Like I said, it was a long time ago. I haven’t thought about it.” She took a deep breath and looked in Jay’s understanding eyes. “But that wasn’t the only time it’s happened.”
His brows lifted. “No shit?” He looked totally fascinated.
Terry nodded. “A couple years after that one, I had a dream I was in the grocery store with my mom. I was pretending to be blind and walking around with my hands out, trying to feel my way around. I walked into my mom’s arms. Except when I opened my eyes, it wasn’t my mom. It was a stranger. And she wrapped her hand around my mouth, picked me up, carried me to her car and drove off. I remember seeing the license plate. The numbers burned into my brain before she tossed me in the back seat. I remember the squeal of the tires as she took off.” Terry cleared her throat. “The next day, I ended up going to the market with my mom. I decided to pretend I was blind and I walked around with my arms outstretched. I sensed I was closing in on someone—my mom—except at that exact second, I remembered—I realized—my dream was coming true. I opened my eyes and saw the woman from my dream. And she had her hands outstretched ready to grab me. I stepped back and ran to my mom a couple aisles over. But I looked out the big glass windows and saw the same car. With the same license plate.”
“Holy shit,” Jay murmured, reaching out and pulling her close for a hug. “I don’t think you’re ‘woo-woo’ or nuts. Not everything in the world can be explained, even by a lawyer.”
“I mean, it’s not like I’m planning for last night’s dream to come true.” She shuddered at the thought. “I just don’t like when they’re that vivid.” Because it seemed like the worst kind of foreshadowing on the planet.
Jay looked down at her, his face solemn and sweet. “Tell me what happened.”
“It started at the edge of a lake.” Terry lowered her voice and heart raced faster as the pictures rolled in her head like a horror movie come to life. “You were lying near a boat. There was blood everywhere. I was sure you—”
“Dada, awms huwt.”
They both turned to see Jess, holding the spatula, covered in pancake batter. Bits of it stuck to her hair with some smeared on her cheeks and clothes.
“Uh oh, Peanut. Looks like Daddy fell down on the job.”
Terry scooped her up and held her at arms’ length. “I’ll clean her up and I have to get my shower in. You finish breakfast.”
“Got it.” Jay went back to work on the pancake batter, but turned at the last second. “You’ll tell me later?”
“For sure.” Terry headed out, glad she hadn’t had to relive the whole thing. The less she talked about it, the happier she’d be. Maybe if she kept Jay distracted enough, he’d forget to bring it up. Right now she needed to stay focused on her psych test.
Chapter Two
After breakfast, Jay took a few minutes on the tan den carpet to play with Jess. He pretended to accidently knock down his house of colorful blocks, and Jess’s high-pitched laughter rang through the room like it was the funniest thing since Caddyshack. Nothing made him happier than hearing that sound. Although hearing Terry call his name as she climaxed ran a close second. He’d be hearing it tonight once they put Jess to sleep and had some alone time. The gnarly surprise he had planned for her was going to blow the roof off that cabin in the mountains.
He’d already proposed a couple of times and got the I want you to marry me because you love me and not because I had your baby speech. He’d decided his mistake had been making the question too casual. They loved each other and had a baby together, so getting married seem like the next natural step, but apparently getting the right response to the M-word required more planning. He needed to make it official and vowed that the next time he proposed, he’d do it right, do it with a ring and make sure she understood that she was stuck with him for a lifetime.
From the minute he’d laid eyes on her, her knew she was the one. Her laughter had caught
his attention in class, her twenty-on-a-scale-of-ten body had made him a believer of heaven on earth, but it was her sense of humor, her adventurous spirit and her fierceness that sold him on forever. Not once did he regret choosing Terry over football, even if it had cost him some friendships. And so what if he hadn’t sat at his drum set once in over a year or if his workout time had been cut in half. The important things were right here, right in front of him now.
“Did you talk to your dad?” Terry asked quietly as she scooped the blocks toward Jay so he could repeat the build-and-destroy process that his daughter loved so much. Her parents had left the room to talk about their plans for the weekend. “Did he say how the internship is looking?”
Jay made a so-so gesture and sat on the sofa. “He’s not supposed to tell me anything, but if I read between the lines, I have an equal shot at the position as long as I don’t tank the interview. Hiring me means they have an intern longer than they would if they hired the other guy because he’s a couple years older, so apparently that’s a factor in the decision.” He continued to stack blocks as he perched on the sofa’s edge.
Terry’s smile flashed bright white and her blue eyes danced in excitement. “You can totally ace an interview!” She pounced on him and Jess scrambled over to make it an official family pileup on the couch.
“Dada! Get Dada!” she squealed, her joy contagious. Her laughter filled him with more happiness than throwing a winning Hail Mary pass and he wanted more than ever to have their family together under one roof.
Jay pretended to be pinned by the two ladies in his life. “Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?” He could see wrestling like this every night, the three of them, laughing and making memories. He couldn’t wait to teach Jess how to throw a ball or swing a bat.
Terry looked at Jess. “What do you think, Boo? Should we let him go or should we give him sloppy kisses?”
“Soppy kisses! Soppy kisses!” Jess shouted and began pecking Jay’s face with baby kisses.
“No, no, not the soppy kisses!” Jay said, angling his head away from Jess with no luck. Minutes later, they were all laughing and panting for air as they wrestled on the sofa. “I give up! I give up!” Jay said, holding both girls back with one hand each. Terry could’ve easily overpowered him since he had Jess squirming in his right hand, but she pretended she couldn’t get at him just like Jess.
“Okay, Peanut,” Terry said, using his nickname for Jess and pulling her away from him. “Let’s give Daddy a breather.”
Jess’s eyes rounded. “Uh oh, Mama.” She crinkled her eyes together and clenched her tiny fists in front of her. She looked like the pretty version of a real life Cabbage Patch Doll.
“You need to go to the bathroom?” Terry asked. She had that knowing-mom look on her face that Jay had come to respect.
Jess nodded vehemently and crossed her little chubby legs.
Terry laughed. “Then go. Go! Hurry!” She scampered behind Jess until the girl had raced down the hallway. “Call me when you’re done and I’ll help you.”
Jay might’ve been instantly attracted to Terry’s red hair and petite figure when they’d met in history class, but her confidence had won him over just as quickly. Motherhood had made her even fiercer and he’d fallen more in love with her as the months wore on.
Wait a minute. “Hey, how did you know she had to go to the bathroom?” Jay straightened his trousers and sat back on the sofa as Terry moved toward him.
“I recognized that crinkle face. She waits too long to go then she can barely hold it in.”
The news hit him like a slap. “Since when can she go by herself? That’s totally new.”
“Last week.” She sat next to him. “She wears those new pull ups in case of an accident. Sorry. I should’ve told you. I forgot.”
Another moment he’d missed with his daughter. There were so many and he hated it. It was the reason he wanted them under the same roof. The reason he worked so hard to be together.
“Pretty soon you’ll be there for everything. I promise.” Terry leaned in and touched her mouth to his. Her soft lips brushed across his in a tender caress, her sure fire method of apology. Pulling back, she cocked her head to the side and picked up something between the cushions. “What’s this?”
“What’s—” Shit! The velvet pouch with her ring! He’d kept it in his pocket so he wouldn’t forget it for later. It must have slipped out as they wrestled. “It’s nothing,” he said, reaching for it.
She held it away from him, her eyebrows lifting. “If it’s nothing, you won’t mind me peeking inside.”
“No!” Jay made another grab for it, but Terry was too quick and she hopped out of his grasp.
She faced him from the middle of the room. “Must be something good,” she mused, running her fingers along the pouch strings.
“Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t.” Jay stood and closed the distance between them. “Hand it over.”
“Maybe I don’t want to.” She waved it in front of him, her devilish blue eyes dancing with mischief. It was so Terry.
He’d fallen in love with her playful side and he usually loved to tease her back, but he didn’t want to blow tonight’s surprise. “Terry…” Hand out, he waited for her to replace the pouch.
With a resigned sigh, she put the velvet bag in his palm, but the excitement in her eyes was enough to change his mind. Chances were she knew exactly what the little pouch held and the smile on her face demolished his patience.
Jay looked at the pouch, and back to Terry, then back to the pouch. His thudding heart bounced around like an out of control medicine ball. He turned the bag over, and out dropped the totally choice half-carat diamond ring. It wasn’t big, but it was perfect. Just like his girl. Terry was small—only five foot two and just over a hundred pounds—but so damn mighty.
Just like that, all his plans for the night changed. Instead of proposing with flowers, soft music and perfect mood lighting with dozens of candles in the cabin, now it was just the two of them in her parents’ living room, because suddenly he couldn’t wait. Not anymore.
Her gaze flashed up to meet his, her eyes bright, her cheeks flushing. “Jay,” she whispered.
The way she said his name changed everything. He loved that look on her face. The surprise, embarrassment and yes, love. Jay did the only thing he could do. Lifting the ring from his palm, he got on one knee and took her left hand. “I was going to wait until tonight,” he said, his voice shaky and a little husky since he hadn’t planned on the impromptu proposal. “But since you probably already figured it out…” He gazed into her eyes. “The last couple of times I did this you told me no. So, I waited until I had a ring, and waited until I thought you really understood that I love you and Jess with all my heart. I want us to be a family. I want to live together. I know it’ll be—”
“Yes,” she said softly, her eyes shining with emotion.
Jay’s chest constricted. “I haven’t even asked you yet.” But that didn’t stop a grin from sliding across his mouth. “Terry, will you marry me?”
She paused, staring at him. Even though she’d already said yes before he’d asked the actual question, now the look in her eyes seemed almost hesitant. Like she’d remembered something and had a reason to say no. But she smiled and said, “Yes.”
He didn’t expect the instant tightening in his chest as he slid the ring on her finger. Terry didn’t wait for him to stand up, she got on her knees in front of him and kissed the holy hell out of him, sucking the wind from his lungs like she might die if she didn’t have it all.
That worked for him. And all that soft music, mood lighting and flowers would be the perfect setting to celebrate the occasion.
Jay’s blood ran straight below the belt in record setting speed. “My parents are going to let us move into the guest house, until we can find a place of our own.” That meant Jess’s daycare wouldn’t change too much. “I can’t wait until I live with you,” he breathed, because then he could d
o something about the raging hard-on in his pants. He could strip them both of clothes, put his mouth on every part of Terry’s supple body, drive her crazy with pleasure then sink inside her and relieve the burning need that came so quickly when she put her mouth on him. It took him a few seconds to realize that she’d frozen, almost as if she’d stopped breathing.
She pulled away. “The guesthouse at your parent’s place?”
She should’ve been more excited than this. That guesthouse was more beautiful than most regular houses in Los Angeles. It wasn’t giant, but it was updated, affordable—since it would only cost him utilities—and a great place to start their life together.
“What’s wrong?” He knew her too well to think everything was fine.
Shaking her head, she blinked and gave him her luminous smile. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s kick ass. I can’t wait. It’s going to be kick ass.”
A whole lot of ass kicking in there, but she seemed sincere. Maybe the whole idea of marriage had her a little nervous. “You can count on it.” In one swift move, Jay pounced and pinned Terry to the carpet, his body covering every inch of hers. They hadn’t been together in days and the withdrawal was killing him. Maybe that was the problem with her lately too. Maybe they just hadn’t had enough skin time. “I miss you so much.”
“I miss you too.” She eased her fingers into the short strands of his hair. “I can’t wait for this weekend.”
Jay bent his head and kissed her, taking his time to savor the taste of her peppermint mouth from the mints her mom kept on the coffee table, the way her tongue dueled with his as she cupped his ass and wrapped her legs around his thighs, locking him to her.
