The world swam out of view as Pepper surrendered to Jim’s long, tender kiss. She clutched the ring box in her hands, stretching upward to meet his questing mouth, to touch him, his heart, his wonderful, thoughtful soul. As awareness that everyone was watching filtered in, embarrassment flooded her. Knowing how private a person Jim was, she realized how difficult it must have been for him to give her these rings in front of everyone, not knowing what her reaction might be. Easing her lips from his mouth, she smiled up into his anxious gaze, touched with his own tears.
“I love you, Jim Woodward,” she quavered, sliding her hand upward to touch his clean-shaven cheek. “With my life….”
Much later Pepper sat staring down at the ring box, its lid open. Everyone had gone to bed, and it was past midnight. Jim sat with her on the couch closest to the fireplace, his arm around her shoulders. The house was filled now with a wonderful, peaceful silence. The satisfaction and contentment she felt in Jim’s arms had no comparison, Pepper decided. She was dressed in her pink velour robe, her feet bare, though Jim still wore his clothes from the day. She lay back, resting her head on his broad shoulder, and closed her eyes.
“I never thought I could be so happy,” she murmured.
“I didn’t, either,” Jim admitted quietly, looking down at her firelit profile. The house was dark, just the fire offering subtle warmth and light. The shadows dancing across Pepper’s face underscored her strength and shouted of her vulnerability. His mouth pulled into a slight, tender smile as he saw her continue to caress the rings in the box. “So you like them?”
“Like them?” She roused herself and faced him, her knees drawn up against his thigh. “I love them.” Reaching out, she touched his strong jaw. “And I love you, too.”
He met and held her somber gaze. “I didn’t expect that from you, you know.”
“What?”
“You didn’t have to say you loved me earlier this evening. I didn’t really expect it, Pepper. I know how you felt about the past. About John and never falling in love again. I gave you the rings because I wanted to let you know the depth of my love for you—the commitment I wanted to work toward, hoping you would want the same thing someday.”
With a sigh, Pepper rested her brow against his temple. “I saw how scared you were when you handed me the gift. I couldn’t figure out why.” Kissing his cheek, she murmured, “Now I know. That was a hell of a risk you took with me. When I saw the rings, I understood.”
“You had every right to say no. To give them back to me,” Jim agreed, tunneling his fingers through her loose, dark hair.
Pepper eased from him to meet his serious eyes. “With that group hanging around me oohing and ahhing? I thought Maggie, Dana and Molly were going to grab them right out of my hand. Did you see the wistful looks on their faces?”
“Yes,” Jim said, “I did. They were happy for you. For us. I saw it in their eyes and the way they looked at us after seeing my grandmother’s rings.”
“I know,” Pepper said with a sigh, sliding her arm around his neck and placing her hand in his lap. In the light from the flames, the rings sparkled like their own barely contained blaze. “They are gorgeous. Prettier than any I’ve ever seen.”
“I had a hell of a time getting them out here,” Jim groused good-naturedly. “You remember I left the cabin that one morning and didn’t get back until late that evening?”
“Yes.”
“I made a call the day before, after you’d gone to the grocery store, to a friend of mine who’s keeping an eye on my condo. I told him what was going on, told him where to find the rings and asked him to send them by overnight courier. Well, I got to Anaconda, and the place that was supposed to have them hadn’t received them yet.”
“Oh, no…”
“Yeah, well, I was more than a little upset,” he assured her. “That snowstorm that hit us a day earlier had grounded all planes coming out of Chicago, and that’s where the package was stuck. So I had to wait another eight hours for the plane to finally make it into Anaconda. Luckily, the rings were on it.” He shook his head. “I was really sweating.”
“No wonder you looked so tired and harried when you got back that night,” Pepper soothed. “I almost asked you what was wrong, but that look you gave me told me not to.”
“I was a little out of sorts by that point,” Jim admitted apologetically, sliding his hand up her arm, feeling the soft, firm warmth of her skin. “On top of that, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. I knew how you felt about admitting your love for me after what had happened to John. I knew it was rushing things in one way—but in another, I felt it was the right time.”
“Betwixt and between.”
Grimly, he chuckled. “More like ‘caught between a rock and hard place,’ if you ask me.” He picked up the ring box and stared at it. “Today I felt tortured. I was seesawing between giving them to you and waiting. I was afraid you’d say no. That you’d turn them down.”
“What made you do it?” Pepper asked softly, kissing his cheek, loving him with a fierceness that continued to amaze her.
Laughing wryly, Jim handed the box back to her. “The fact that I didn’t have another present for you. I mean, I couldn’t sit here with everyone trading gifts and not have something for you. I saw how Molly, Dana and Maggie were covertly watching us.”
“Hey, they’re old married ladies,” Pepper teased, “and we’re the new couple on the block. Of course they’d be watching to see what gifts we gave each other.”
Jim chuckled. “I figured as much. Still, I felt more on a hot seat this evening when you started to open that gift than when my chutes didn’t open on that first HAHO.”
“Mmm, that’s pretty serious,” Pepper agreed. She took out the engagement ring. The gold band held five small diamonds. It might not be an expensive ring set from the size of the stones, but they were precious beyond belief to her because she believed family meant everything. How could she help but cherish these special items, handed down from one generation to the next?
She placed the engagement ring in Jim’s hand. “Will you slip it on my finger?”
He sat up straighter and turned. “You have the most beautiful hands I’ve ever seen,” he told her conspiratorially. “They’re so long, capable and slender.” And wonderful at touching him, making him feel hot with longing, when she caressed his body, he added silently. Taking the lovely fingers of her left hand in his, Jim gently eased the ring forward. “My grandmother was tall and spare, like you. She had work-worn hands with large knuckles, so I figured this ring just might fit you.” And it did, perfectly. Satisfaction soared through him as Pepper eased her hand from his and held it out for them to admire. The firelight danced off the small diamonds like rainbows—just as she was his personal rainbow, he thought.
“It’s so beautiful,” Pepper said with a sigh. She turned, sliding her arms around his shoulders.
“Like you,” Jim murmured, meeting and matching the warmth of her lips. She tasted of the wine they’d shared earlier, a toast before everyone, except them, went to bed for the night. Her breath was like the breath of life itself to him. As Jim eased back and met her lustrous gaze, he whispered, “Let’s go to bed.”
Pepper walked with him, arm in arm, toward the staircase. The house was warm and quiet. Outside, snow fell gently in large, soft flakes, twirling through the darkness of the Montana night. Sliding her hand along the oak banister as they moved up the creaky, carpeted stairs, she smiled gently. The ghosts from the past had finally been laid to rest. All of them. Life wouldn’t be easy for them in one way. They still had serious questions to answer about their careers. Jim had twenty years in the corps. Would he want to continue being an officer? Being in the military? And she had to look hard at her career. What did she want? Pepper knew that in another five years she would probably be relegated to a desk job instead of jumping out of planes. The physical demands were just too extreme, and by thirty-five, most smoke jumpers were taming desks instead of forest
fires.
She leaned languidly against Jim as they topped the stairs and turned down the carpeted expanse to her room at the end of the hall. Their room. The ring felt natural and right on her hand. Never could she have dreamed that she would meet a man like Jim on an unexpected mission that came out of the blue. When she’d lost John, she’d barricaded herself against loving. It had been the wrong decision, Pepper now admitted, but she understood why she’d done it. Still not believing her own fortune, she knew that no matter what, she and Jim had their love to help them compromise and work out their life together. Forever.
*
Morgan's Wife Page 27
