AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“All’s well that ends well,” Stafford declares, clearly on some sort of adage kick. Next he’ll be telling us that you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs or that there’s no use crying over spilled milk.
“I’m sure you remember that I broke my fair share of rules when Emily got accused of murder,” Montgomery reminds Jack.
“You know as well as I do that Mel never should’ve been a part of that murder investigation at her stepbrother’s wedding,” Anderson adds.
“I may never have involved Lucy in a murder investigation,” Stafford says, “but I only call in favors to get middle schoolers off the hook for minor vandalism when those middle schoolers are related to Lucy.”
“Our point being, we’ve all bent the rules for the women we love,” Anderson summarizes and my heart does a little pitter-patter. Jack hasn’t said he loves me yet. It’s silly really, to get caught up on those three little words. After all, he said he wants us to stay married—that heavily implies that he loves me.
Still, I’d like to hear the actual words. I guess I’m greedy like that. Although the replay of him saying he needs me will keep my heart dancing for quite some time.
He needs me.
The most self-sufficient man I know needs me.
And I need him right back.
We’re symbiotic like that.
“But now back to my original question—what are you two going to do now?” Anderson crosses his arms over his chest, waiting expectantly for an answer.
“Now we’re going to start our married life together,” Jack states like it’s as given a thing as the sun rising in the morning. He places a kiss on the top of my head and security washes over me. How could I have been afraid of this?
“This is so great.” Stafford grins. “You can join the couples vacation Lucy just started planning. For some reason she texted that she wants to go to Antigua.”
“Antigua, huh?” Jack looks down at me, his face crinkling into a smile. Hysterical laughter bursts out of me.
“Stafford, I think you should call Lucy and let her know that it turns out Nora didn’t kill Ian Wharfman.” He gives my waist an affectionate squeeze. “Antigua sounds like a great location for a honeymoon, but I’m worried your wife might be trying to book us all one way tickets.”
Chapter 28
Jack
THE THIRD TIME Anderson finds Nora and me kissing he tells us we’re free to go, then forcefully adds, “So leave.”
Which we gladly do.
It’s not that I don’t care about whatever drug scandal is going on at Nora’s work or about who was trying to frame Nora for murder— but I’m newly married to the woman of my dreams. I’ve got some other things on my mind.
Well, just one thing actually: her.
It’s extremely difficult to focus on driving with her in the passenger seat, my wife in the truest sense of the word. No longer just out of necessity.
I know not everything between us is fixed and that at some point we’ll have to talk more about what went wrong between us three years ago, but right now I’m too caught up in her to have that discussion.
As if she can read my thoughts—or hopefully because hers are on the same wavelength—Nora reaches over and runs a hand over my arm. She lets out a happy sigh and I want that sound–the sound of Nora happy and content–to be my life’s theme music. Her hand settles on my forearm, tracing lazy circles there.
Nora’s phone rings loudly, interrupting my blissful state, but she ignores it, her fingers traveling down to my wrist.
Then her phone rings again.
“Ugh,” she says, reaching into her purse. “Let me just silence it.” Her hand freezes around the phone. “It’s Stella,” she tells me. “Should I answer?”
As much as I want to say no, to tell her I’m sure whatever it is can wait an hour or two, the worry crease on her forehead checks my baser instincts.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
She nods and accepts the call, placing it on speaker. Before she can even utter a word Stella’s frantic whisper travels through the phone speaker. “Nora! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I was wrong! So wrong!” She goes on talking, picking up speed so that her words become almost unintelligible. I think I catch the words balcony and Frank.
