It was plain that Delphine was crying, and that her tears were happy ones. “Oh, darling, that’s wonderful.”
“And Jesse has promised not to try to keep me away from Liza even if we don’t end up as a family.”
“You will,” Delphine said with certainty. “I swear, this Christmas is just like in the movies. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there was an angel involved somewhere.”
Glory watched her daughter’s glowing, animated face. “There’s an angel involved, all right. Merry Christmas, Mama. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”
Delphine made a sound she called “kiss-kiss,” bid her daughter a magical night, and hung up.
Liza was about to hang up her stocking, when Glory returned from making a call. It was an enormous thing, almost as tall as its owner. Jesse lifted his daughter by the waist so she could reach one of the special hooks set into the underside of the mantel.
The knowledge of those hooks eased a tightness in Glory’s heart. Knowing Seth Bainbridge had once been a little boy, eagerly hanging a stocking above this same fireplace, washed away the last of the bitterness she’d held toward the old man. Even better was the relative certainty that other Bainbridge children would celebrate their Christmases here, too. Her children and Jesse’s.
“I’ve got to get back to work,” Jesse said with a sigh when he’d set Liza on her feet again.
Liza nodded, evidently used to his erratic schedule. Then her eyes shifted to Glory. “You’ll stay, won’t you? You’ll be here in the morning, when I wake up?”
Under any other circumstances, Glory would have gently refused. She didn’t have any compunctions at all about sleeping with Jesse—as far as she was concerned, he was already her mate—but she hadn’t planned on sharing his bed with Liza in the same house until after the wedding. Still, Liza had been through a great deal in her young life, and she deserved to have her mother nearby on this special night.
“I’ll stay,” Glory said with a shy glance at Jesse.
His dark eyes smoldered with teasing passion as he gazed at her, making a blush rise from her breasts to her face. After kissing Liza good-night and sending her off to find a favorite storybook, Jesse took Glory’s hand and pulled her close to him. “I’m going to make very thorough love to you tonight,” he vowed quietly.
Glory trembled against him, feeling the promises his body was making to hers. “Jesse—”
“I know,” he interrupted, his lips almost upon hers. “It’s only for tonight, and you’re not moving in until after the wedding. Which is not to say I won’t have you at your place whenever I get the chance.” He kissed her, his tongue seeking entrance to her mouth with gentle insistence and then breaking down the barriers to conquer her utterly and give her a foretaste of what awaited her.
When he finally released her, Glory was clinging to the front of his shirt with both hands just so she wouldn’t slide to the floor. “D-do you still sleep in the same room?”
Jesse grinned. “No, ma’am. That room is Liza’s now. I’m in the big master suite at the other end of the hall.”
Glory blushed and swallowed. Where this man was concerned, she had no pride, at all. But then, she’d always known that. “I’ll be there waiting when you get home, Jesse,” she promised.
He took a teasing nibble at her lower lip before responding, “Don’t expect one ride over the moon and the proverbial long winter’s nap,” he warned, his voice throaty and low. “We’ve got a lot of time to make up, and I intend to show you what you’ve missed.”
She let her forehead rest against his shoulder for a moment, then looked up at him with a soft smile. “You enjoy the idea that I’ll be thinking about all the things we’re going to do, and wanting them, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation, and then he kissed her again, swatted her once on the bottom and went out.
Moments later, Liza returned, her storybook gripped in both hands. “Will you read this to me, please?” she asked hopefully. “It’s A Visit From St. Nicholas.”
Sitting down in Jesse’s chair and pulling the child onto her lap, Glory uttered a silent prayer of thanks and began to read. Ilene crept in, with hot buttered rums for both herself and Glory, and listened to the old favorite with a smile on her face.
When she’d completed the poem, Glory just sat, reveling in the fact that she was holding the daughter she’d once thought she’d never see again. It was pure bliss knowing they wouldn’t have to be separated anymore. And then there was the sweet certainty that later, when the presents had been set out and Christmas Day was about to dawn, Jesse would take her to his bed and make love to her.
Presently, Liza laid her head against Glory’s shoulder and yawned hugely.
“I think somebody needs to say good-night,” Ilene observed gently.
Liza looked up at Glory’s face. “But you won’t go away, will you, Mom?”
Glory touched the tip of Liza’s nose with an index finger. “I won’t go away,” she promised. “Not only that, but I’ll tuck you in and hear your prayers, too.”
A few minutes later, mother and daughter climbed the stairs, with their intricately carved banister. Jesse’s old room had been so thoroughly changed that Glory wouldn’t have recognized it. Pink-and-gold striped paper covered the walls, and there was a four-poster, billowing with lace and ruffles, where Jesse’s waterbed had been. Teddy bears and dolls lined the window seat, instead of model airplanes and copies of Popular Mechanix.
After brushing her teeth and putting on a flannel nightgown in the small adjoining bathroom, Liza knelt down beside the bed, and Glory took a place beside her.
“Thank you, God, for letting me have a mom and dad again. And thank you that it’s Christmas. You’ve been real good to me, so if Santa Claus—” Liza paused here to looking meaningfully at Glory, letting her know she was speaking in the figurative sense “—if Santa Claus doesn’t bring me a Nintendo game or a Prom Date Barbie, I’ll be perfectly happy. Good night, God, and Merry Christmas.”
Glory rested her forehead against her folded hands for a few moments to hide the tears in her eyes. Although they sprang from joy, not sorrow, she was afraid Liza would misunderstand them and be worried. “Thank you, God,” she echoed in a broken voice.
After that, Liza climbed into bed, and Glory tucked the covers in around her and gave her a sound good-night kiss.
“I’m so glad you came back,” the child whispered.
“Me, too,” Glory answered, her voice shaking. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love—you,” Liza replied, stopping once to yawn.
Downstairs, Glory found that Ilene had reheated her buttered rum, and she raised it gratefully to her lips. “This has been quite some day,” she told her friend.
Ilene smiled. “Yes, it has.” She paused to sip from her cup and gaze at the glowing embers in the fire. “Jesse was planning to roust Judge Jordal from his bed and force him to marry the two of you this very night.”
Glory laughed as an image of Jesse strong-arming an old man in a flowing nightshirt and matching cap filled her mind. “We’ve agreed to wait six months before we get married. Not that I have any doubts. I want to show Jesse that I’m in for the duration this time.”
Ilene reached out to pat her hand. “You’re a wise woman, Glory Parsons. By the time June rolls around, our stubborn Jesse should be in a very flexible frame of mind.”
The two women sat and talked for about an hour, and then Ilene excused herself. “Liza will be up early, tearing into the presents,” she said. “Therefore, I’m off to get whatever sleep I can.”
Glory nodded and, when Ilene had been gone for a few minutes, she went to the fireplace and threw in another chunk of wood.
A little after midnight, Jesse returned, smiling when he saw Glory sitting there, enjoying the quiet, the fire and the lights on the tree.
He approached and pulled her out of the chair just long enough to sit in it himself. Then he placed her carefully on his
lap. “I stopped a fat guy for speeding tonight on my way home,” he told her, looking solemn as he traced her jawline with a chilly finger. “He was driving a sleigh, if you can believe it, pulled by eight tiny reindeer.”
Glory laughed, thinking if she loved this man any more, she’d burst like an overfilled balloon. “I don’t believe it, Sheriff. I think you must have been hallucinating.”
He shifted and pulled a small velvet box out of the pocket of his coat. “If I was hallucinating,” he reasoned, “how come he gave me this?”
Glory stared at the object. “Is that…?”
Jesse attempted to look very exasperated. “Of course it isn’t the same ring I bought for Adara. Don’t you think I have any class, at all? I persuaded Harvey Milligan to open the jewelry store.” He set the box in her palm.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she lifted the lid. Immediately a cluster of diamonds caught the lights of the Christmas tree and the flicker of the fire and held them fast. “Oh, Jesse, it’s beautiful.”
He took the ring out of its little slot and slid it onto her finger. Only then did he ask, “Will you marry me, Glory?”
She kissed him, treating him to previews of coming attractions. “Yes,” she finally answered. “Next June, just like we planned.”
Jesse sighed philosophically. “Next June,” he agreed. Then he gave Glory a swat and set her on her feet. “Let’s get busy, wife-of-Christmas-future. We’ve got a stocking to fill, and toys to set out. Then I’m going to take you upstairs and do right by you.”
He peeled off his jacket and tossed it aside, then removed his gun and holster and locked them carefully away.
Glory had never had so much fun as she did filling Liza’s stocking with an orange and a candy cane and a variety of other goodies. She helped Jesse set out the video-game center Liza had wanted, along with the Barbie doll she’d asked for, a set of delicate little china dishes and a huge stuffed horse.
Jesse and Glory stood holding hands for a while, admiring their handiwork, then Jesse checked the screen on the fireplace and turned out the Christmas-tree lights. Glory was caught by surprise when he swept her into his arms, Rhett Butler-style, and carried her up the stairs and along the hallway.
The master suite was enormous, with its own wood-burning fireplace and room enough for a couch and two chairs, not to mention the bed. There was a table, too, beside bay windows, and Glory dreamed of sitting there, watching the moonlight play on the snow.
“Do you always work nights?” Glory asked.
Jesse set her down and immediately started unbuttoning his uniform shirt. “My hours are crazy,” he sighed. “Sometimes it’s nights, sometimes it’s days, sometimes it’s twenty-four or forty-eight hours straight.” He bent his head and nipped at one of Glory’s nipples, causing it to push against the fabric of her bra. “I guess you’re just going to have to figure I’m going to be making love to you at some very weird times. I can promise you one thing, Glory—it’ll happen often. Want to share my shower?”
Glory nodded, and her eyes drifted closed as Jesse began unbuttoning her shirt. He stripped her slowly, pausing to kiss and nibble on everything he bared, and Glory was trembling by the time he took her hand and led her into the bathroom.
After making sure both spigots in the double shower were spraying warm water, Jesse stepped into the stall and pulled Glory after him.
She knew if she didn’t take the lead right away, Jesse would, so she reached for the soap and a large sponge and began to wash him gently. He gave a low groan and braced himself against the wall of the shower with both hands when she reached his manhood and knelt to rinse him under the spray.
He cried out like some magnificent, wounded beast when she began treating him to some very deliberate attentions. “So long,” he moaned after several moments of hard breathing. “Oh, God, Glory, it’s been so long…”
“Ssh,” she soothed, and then she made a circle with her tongue and Jesse’s buttocks tensed under her hands.
He pleaded raggedly, and she gave him what he asked for, along with a series of little bites and kisses calculated to drive him crazy. Finally, in a fever, he hauled Glory to her feet and devoured her mouth in a kiss that left no doubt who was in charge.
She was dazed when he’d finished, and nothing could have made her protest when he turned her and set her hands on the steel safety bar affixed to the inside of the shower. He set her legs apart, and she drew in a deep breath because she knew actual intercourse with Jesse was going to be better than anything her fantasies could offer up.
His hands caressed her naked breasts for a few moments, then went to her hips, holding her firmly, setting her in position. “Do you want me, Glory?” he asked, his lips moving against her neck, the warm water streaming over both of them.
“Oh, yes,” she answered. “Yes, Jesse.” And she felt him at the center of her femininity, seeking entrance.
He gave her an inch of himself, just enough to tease. She was expanding to take him in, and the sensation was urgent and sweet. He continued to taste her neck. “I could make you wait,” he reflected sleepily. “I could make you wait for a long time.”
“No, Jesse—I want you—I need you now—” Because she was not without power herself, Glory gave a little twist of her hips and wrung a long groan from Jesse’s throat.
He muttered words of surrender, and love, and then he drove deep into her, and she welcomed him with a gasp of joy.
At first their movements were slow and measured, but as the friction of that most intimate contact increased moment by moment, passion drove them before it, like a giant, swelling tide threatening to swallow them up.
When they were breathless from the chase, Jesse suddenly stiffened and uttered a warrior’s low cry, his hands tightening over Glory’s breasts. Glory felt his warmth spilling deep inside her and welcomed him, and in the next instant she went soaring over the precipice herself. Hoisted high on his shaft, his fingers working her nipples, Glory quivered repeatedly and then collapsed against the shower wall, exhausted.
But just as he’d promised, Jesse was far from through with her. He vowed to spend fifty years making up for the ten they’d sacrificed to pride and youth, and Glory looked forward to every minute.
After they’d gently washed and dried each other, Jesse took his bride-to-be to his bed and laid her there, watching the firelight play over her skin with solemn, hungry eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped, “and I need you so much.”
Glory put her hands behind his head and pressed him to her breast, where he drank hungrily, while his fingers trailed over her thighs. Presently, Jesse caught Glory’s hands together and held them high above her head, and she whimpered at being made more vulnerable to him.
It was only the beginning of vulnerabilities, and of pleasure. Over the course of that night, Glory surrendered again and again as Jesse put her through her paces, changing their positions and his demands regularly. Sometimes it was Jesse who submitted, but more often it was Glory.
And during those brief moments when her thoughts were at all coherent, she wondered how she had survived ten years without Jesse tuning her body and then causing it to play symphonies.
They slept for an hour, but then Jesse awakened Glory in a most delicious way and had her thoroughly, all over again. She was allowed to shower in peace only when Liza was up and around.
Her suitcase was lying on the bed when she came out wrapped in a towel.
“I stopped by your car and picked this up on the way home last night,” Jesse said, watching her with those brazen brown eyes of his. “Can you imagine the speculation that must be going on? I can hear it now: ‘I tell you, Mavis, she parked her car at the graveyard and disappeared without a trace.’”
Glory laughed and took out clean underwear, a pair of jeans and a roomy aqua-blue cable-knit sweater. “Give the gossips their due, Jesse,” she said, beginning to dress. “They’re saying I’ve been in your bed all night, and they’re right.”
He stopped her as she would have hooked her bra and gave each nipple a warm suckling before snapping the front catch himself and pulling the straps up onto her shoulders. “I love you, Glory.”
Her cheeks heated as she looked up at him because, after all of it, she found herself wanting him to lay her back on the bed and take her again. She didn’t know how she was going to wait six months to share this room with him on a regular basis, but she was determined to do it, because she wanted their marriage to be long and unshakably solid. “Oh, Jesse, I’m so wanton.”
Jesse laughed. “Patience, Glory. There’s always tonight at your place.”
She smiled and put her arms around his neck to kiss him, teasing his lips with her tongue. “Since it’s my bed, Sheriff,” she said, “I’m going to be calling all the shots.”
Reluctantly Jesse backed away, but not before Glory lightly touched the front of his jeans and found him reaching for her.
They went downstairs separately, Glory first, and Jesse about five minutes later.
It snowed on New Year’s Eve, but that didn’t stop Harold and Delphine’s guests from attending the wedding. The church was still decorated with poinsettia plants from Christmas, and candlelight flickered romantically.
Glory stood at the front of the church, wearing her royal blue bridesmaid’s dress. Happy tears dropped into her bouquet of roses and carnations, and soon the vows had been exchanged and the bride and groom were hurrying down the aisle to strains of joyful music. As Glory turned to follow, she made eye contact with the man who would be her groom when summer came, and six months seemed to be a very long time.
On the other hand, when you compared it to forever, half a year was nothing. Glory and Jesse had arranged for special counseling with the pastor, for themselves and for Liza, and they were already working hard at learning to be a family.
She’d messed up badly once, and Glory didn’t intend to make the same mistake again. She knew now that love doesn’t just happen, it has to be nurtured and cared for.
Glory, Glory Page 16
