Letters to Jane
By
Brooke Miller
Copyright 2016
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any format.
All production design are trademarks of Brooke Miller
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Acknowledgements
To my family and my wonderful editor, Jina who helped make this book a reality instead of a dream.
Prologue
Peter Donovan sat down on the steps of his apartment building, cooling down after his run when a moving truck came down the street. It stopped at the vacant duplex across the street before backing up; its back-up warning sounded threw the morning air before stopping at one side.
As he stood to go inside, the truck’s occupants got out, stretching as they looked around the area. The driver was a woman, petite with dark hair, but as she turned to look in his direction he got a good look at her face. The air rushed out of his lungs in a rush and he nearly dropped back onto the steps in shock. The woman was someone he hadn’t seen since he was eighteen, but he was certain it was the same girl. Jane Hunter. The girl he once loved; the girl who had broken his heat. The one he never got over.
Chapter One
Peter Donovan stood in front of his closet door, trying to gather his wits about him. And his courage if he was honest with himself. He let out a disgusted sigh, and opened the door, and reached up on the top shelf for a large shoe box. Taking it down, he walked over to the bed and sat down, opening the lid. Inside this box was every letter he had exchanged with Jane from the very first one, until the very last one.
Sifting through the box, he found the last one; the scorch marks where he started to burn it in a fire after she sent it to him, still there. The week after he turned eighteen and he hopped on a bus to Raleigh, North Carolina, where she had been living at the time. She was just as beautiful as her pictures showed her to be. They spent a week together; and at the end, when he got back on the bus to Mississippi, he was so in love with her, and he thought she had been too. Then he got her last letter.
He also didn’t have to read it to know what it said, he remembered every word, “The last week we had was incredible, but I can’t see you again. Maybe it’s best we lose touch with one another……. I’m six weeks pregnant.” He was devastated. He held up the last picture she sent him, of her in her academy sweats. Smiling after having completed the physical obstacle course.
He continued to look through the box until it was time to leave for his shift, coming to a decision. For so many years, Jane had haunted every relationship he had tried to have. If this was her who had moved across the street, maybe he could try to meet her and maybe put what they had to rest.
Jane Hunter sat the last box down on the kitchen counter and looked around her new home. It took a healthy chunk of her savings and her cousin’s divorce settlement, but they bought the old historic duplex. Thankfully, the previous owners had renovated all the rooms in both sides; though if not for the water damage in one of the rooms in her upstairs, they could have never got this place for the price they bided on it. It was going to be a new start, not just for Alex, but her and Luke too.
After being shot in the line of duty, her cousin’s already strained marriage snapped under the added weight of Alex being injured. She had become distraught after the divorce; not being cleared for duty had also weighed on her. And with the teasing her son endured beginning to escalate, this in mind the cousins decided a change was needed.
Nadriem, Mississippi was decided to be a new start for all three of them. She walked back out to the truck as Alex was hauling out a box with her name on it. “Is this the last box to go in your side?” Alex nodded, at five-ten with honey blond hair and blue eyes, many would be surprised her model gorgeous cousin, was in a tough field like law enforcement. “Yep, this one is for the kitchen.”
“I don’t know why you’d bother with a kitchen. You’ll be over in mine eating sooner or later.” Alex made a face, “I resent that. It’s not my fault all the cooking talent in the family went to you and Aunt Jo.”
Jane snorted, “That don’t stop Aunt Rose from being a good cook. Just admit you’re horrible in the kitchen. Now, let’s just get this stuff in the living room so we can go find some place to eat, I’m starving.”
They set the remaining boxes down and locked up, before unhitching and getting in Jane’s Charger, “So, Janie when is the contractor coming, I know you want the upstairs finished before Luke gets here.”
She thought for a moment before speaking, “Tomorrow. I hope the realtor knows what he’s talking about this guy being able to do preservation. I don’t want some hack going in there not knowing what they’re doing and fixing the rooms.”
***
Several hours later and what felt like a thousand boxes later before both women could get to their makeshift beds. Jane collapsed back on her air mattress with a grateful sigh, she was asleep in seconds.
She was awakened to the feeling of being wrapped in strong, warm arms. The warm arms enclosed around her, held her tight against a muscular chest; and she knew the warm, solid body wrapped so tight around her was Peter. She felt his morning arousal pressed against the backs of her thighs, making her arch closer to him, making him press against her in his sleep. Drawing a moan from her as she felt the head of his erection press against her center.
He pulled her back against him, nuzzling the soft skin between her neck and shoulder; turning her gasp of surprise into a moan of pleasure as he pushed himself threw the wet folds of her sex. He ran his lips back up, gently nipping at the lobe, before murmuring a soft, “Good morning” in her ear. He shifted, pushing further into her. A low moan escaped her. Good morning, indeed!
He pushed into her, groaning as her heat encased him. Slowly he moved in and out her of her tight sex; he moaned as she began to move against him, growling as he sped up. Her hand went around him, her nails deep into his thighs and ass. He went wild.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulled out of her, smirking at her disappointed moans, as he left the wet heat of her body. Peter then pulled her to the foot of the bed, pushing her onto her knees, before pulling her back to him, as he positioned a pillow under her hips. Seeing the bronzed expanse of her back against the white sheets, he couldn't resist running his fingers over the slender curve of her spine, indentions of her slender waist and generous curves of her hips and buttocks; his light skin- a contrast against her darker hue. Where his fingers trailed, his lips followed making as fiery path up to her neck, pinning his front over her back. He entered her again, making her moan at his entry. This was their sweetest and hottest love-making session to date.
His mouth found her neck as he moved over her, bringing his chest in contact with her back as he began a slow rhythm, enjoying her moans as he brought her closer to release. Smiling against her neck as she moved under him. They moved in time. In sync, as they made love. His hands held hers over her head as they moved against one another. The sound of their moans and cries filled the room as he brought her to the edge, with a cry she went over the edge; crying his name as she did. Making him join her, his groan of pleasure, hot, against her ear as he laid over her, pinning her to the bed. But, unable to care that he was pressing her against the bed. Jane could feel his lean muscular body against her soft one, his hips still rocking softly as the pleasure continued to rocket threw their bodies. Slowly he stirred, his hands let go of hers as he slowly moved them into a more comfortable position; their bodies still intimately connected. She was now on her side facing him. A sweet smile pres
ented over his handsome face as he gently stroked a large hand drew her long locks off from her face, feeling the long length wrapped around them. Her hands went up to cup his face.
Looking down at her, "I love you." She leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to his mouth, smiling sleepily up at him. "I love you too, Peter."
Jane awoke with a gasp, and then fell back on the mattress with a heavy groan thinking about the dream she awoke from. Fighting to keep the tears at bay; this dream always had this kind of effect on her. Memory of her last night with him. Peter. A boy she’d use wrote to since her early teens; he’d been a friend when she needed one. The boy whose heart she broke while crushing her own.
She angrily brushed away the tears running down her cheeks, she burnt her bridges with Peter a long time ago; there was no point in dwelling on it.
She rolled onto her stomach, grabbing her cell phone off the pillow next to her and groaned when she saw the time. She would never get back to sleep now. With a tired huff, she threw back the blankets and went about the task of getting ready for the day.
It was mid-morning; Jane was on her third cup of coffee when a knock at the door signaled the contractor had come to see the upstairs. She walked over to the door and opened it; and nearly dropped her coffee cup in shock. The man on the other side was someone she recognized, he was older than he was in the pictures her mother had of him when she was a teen, but it was him. Connor Donovan; honorary big brother to her mother and aunt, as kids and best friends with her father and uncle.
Chapter Two
Jane stood in the hallway as Connor stood in the doorway to the second bedroom, “So, you’re Jo and Shawn’s girl?” The surprised look on her face made him shake his head, “You look like just like Amy…or how she would have…” he trailed off. She broke the awkward silence that lingered, “I know about my dad’s late sister, Mr. Donovan. My parents didn’t have secrets from one another.”
He looked up from the crumbling sheetrock he was examining, “Call me Connor, please. Your mother sent me a letter shortly after she turned eighteen and told me she had you right before Shawn died. I know her and Rose lived up in New York for a time, do you still live there?”
She sipped her cooling coffee before speaking, “No, we moved back to Anderson right after we turned twelve. Lived there ever since.”
He paused during measurement he was taking, “I heard Rose had twins with Cole. They move up here with ya?”
She shook her head, “Alex moved up here with me, said she needed a fresh start after her divorce.” Tears blurred her vision briefly before she blinked them back, “And Cole just lost his wife, and he ain’t gonna anywhere right now.”
Connor grimaced before going back to what he was doing,
“I’m sorry. How long were they married?”
Jane gave a faint laugh, “Nearly ten years. They were high school sweethearts, married right after high school and were joined at the hip more than him and Alex.”
He saw the tears shimmering in her dark eyes and decided to change the subject. “So, this room and the roof is the only thing that needs the repairs. You’re lucky it wasn’t the master suite.”
She gave a quiet laugh, “Not that lucky, I still need this room ready in six weeks.”
He looked up, “Oh, you have a guest coming out then?” She shook her head, “Nope, school will be out then. My son will be coming out here in six weeks; I want to have the room ready for when he does.”
She excused herself and went back downstairs. He stood there after she left for a minute, stunned. Finally, he shook his head to clear it and finished the measurements he needed for the room, shaking his head as he thought back over her words, “Well I’ll be damned, one of us is a granddaddy.”
***
An hour later, Connor was getting his crew ready to come back and start work on the roof and Jane was telling Alex about it all as she cooked.
“So let me get this straight, the contractor working on our roof and your upstairs, is the same man who was friends with our dads and acting big brother to our moms. Is that it?”
She turned briefly from the stove, “No you missed something. He’s also an alien.”
Alex shook her head as she drank her coffee, “Smart ass.” Jane chuckled, bringing the skillet over to their plates, “I know, but you love me anyway.”
Alex took a bit of her eggs, “Perfect as usual.” Jane smirked, “Of course, unlike yours, they aren’t burnt or rubbery.” Alex pouted before turning her attention to her plate. “I can’t wait to see the look on mom and Aunt Jo’s faces when we tell’em whose working on our house.”
Jane speared a slice of tomato before speaking, a grin on her face, “Me neither. Let’s hope Cole or Sim will video it and sent us the show.”
The sounds of men shouting, arguing, and cussing brought Alex back to a place she hoped she never would be in again. Her breathing picked up, and her heart pounded until she thought it would pound out of her chest. As she fought not to go back to that place she was in for so long. She was suddenly rooted to the spot in the middle of her kitchen, with a stack of wrapped plates in her hands. It was early noon and she had been unpacking her kitchen boxes when she heard them above her on the roof.
She couldn’t go back there; she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. In, out. In, out. She felt herself slowly start to calm down as the shaking stopped and the sounds of hammers pounding above became louder over any shouts. She was unwrapping the last one to be put away when she heard shouts again and footsteps pounding down the ladder outside the window and was brought back to a night she tried with all her might to forget.
The sound of a plate crashing to the floor startled her and her stomach churned as she flinched, thinking of another time she dropped a plate and broke it,
“Clumsy bitch, can’t you even put a fuckin plate up without messin that up!”
She flinched and felt her mouth water and ran down to the hall bathroom, barely making it in time before she heaved over the toilet, vomiting until there was nothing left, and began to dry heave.
When it was over, she fell back against the wall, feeling weak, with tears running down her face. She didn’t know if she could do this. Especially, after all that happened. She thought she could just go out in the world and act like nothing had happened. That she was normal when she wasn’t. Her agonized sobs were drowned out by the sounds of the roofers overhead.
Peter was drawn from his thoughts when a shove from behind propelled him into the diner. He turned and saw his partner and gave him an annoyed look. “Dang, Donovan ogle the new girl later! I’m starving and there ain’t no telling when we’ll get a call out.”
He shook his head and sank down into an empty booth. “Sorry, man I thought she looked familiar to me.”
He chuckled, “From what I heard from my sister, unless you’ve been up to North Carolina, that ain’t possible.”
He went still inside; Jane had been from North Carolina. Every time he saw her, he was more convinced she was the same Jane.
“What do you know about this woman?” Jimmy grinned and shook his head, “Forget it man. Sissy heard she’s single, but she’s got a kid.”
Jimmy chuckled at the surprised look on his face, “Yep, said she saw her over at the school the other day registering him for the next school year.”
“Do you know what grade she was registering him for?”
He did the math, the baby she was pregnant with, would have been born that December and would be eight this year.
Jimmy frowned at him, “I think she said third grade, but she also said the kid was going to have to have placement tests; something about him being real smart. Why?”
Jane was very intelligent; she was one of the few people that could keep up with him in the brains department; it would make sense her son was smart too.
He shook his head, “Nothing man, listen I gotta go to the library and look something up. Grab me something will ya?’ Before he could reply, Pete was headin
g across the street to the library. It was time to find out just what Jane had been up to since that fateful week they had together.
***
Flights were called and canceled over the loud speaker around the airport as Jane anxiously awaited her son’s flight. It had been six weeks since they came down and the house was on schedule, they could move Luke’s stuff in his room in the next couple of days - when she got a call from her mother saying Luke and Aunt Rose could come out a few days early.
Finally, she heard their flight’s arrival and waited by the gate to see them come off the plane. He hadn’t changed, but at the same time, he had. He held onto the hand of Aunt Rose.
When he saw her, he broke free of the woman and leaped at her, “Momma!” he yelled, knocking her back before she caught her balance.
She hugged him to her, “Well, hello to you too! How’s my favorite guy?”
“Oh you know him, Janie. Talk, talk, talk, like alittle Chatty Cathy doll,” the older woman frowned at him good-naturedly, “I was wondering if I needed ear plugs!” Her frown turned into a smile before embracing Jane, “Hi, sweetheart.” She smiled back at her aunt; looking at her you won’t expect her to have two grown children and a granddaughter. Not a speck of grey was seen in her thick, brown hair. A faint laugh line or two graced her brown eyes and smooth face, and she could easily have passed for Jane’s older sister instead of her aunt.
Luke, giggled bringing her out of her thoughts, “I’m not a Cathy, I’m a Luke! And I’m fine, Momma. Is Aunt Ali with you?” He looked around the room, frowning.
She shook her head, “No sorry, buddy she ain’t. But she’ll be at the house when we get there. Are you ready to go see it?” he nodded eagerly and wiggled until she sat him down.
Letters to Jane (Mississippi Book 1) Page 1
