The Reluctant Romantics Box Set (The Fall, The Mind, The Heart)

I got no response and minutes later Dean pulled up to Dallas Love Field airport where Jack waited with two suitcases in hand. Realization dawned as I looked over at Dean with wide eyes.

“Go on, Rose,” he said with a chuckle as I exited the car and raced toward my husband.

“Jack, what is this?”

“Remember when you told me you would never be able to do this as a doctor? Just up and leave at the drop of a hat? I believe the words were ‘Not in your lifetime.’ ”

“Yeah,” I said with panic in my voice.

“Well, Doctor,” he said as he leaned in and took my lips in a slow kiss. He pulled away as a smile crept over his face. “I just made a liar out of you.”

“Jack, my patients—”

“You can save the world when you get back, Dr. Sawyer.” Jack gave me a wink as he took a step toward the sky captain and lifted our bags on the carousel. I followed behind him, completely stunned as he pulled out our passports and then guided me through the doors. I looked to Jack, who kissed my cheek and pulled me close to him, as close as two people could be.

“Two minutes, beb.”

Moved beyond words, I let him lead as I studied him. Jack loved me beyond my career, beyond the family I had, and the home we made together. Jack loved me, heart and soul, and refused to let me forget it.

I looked down to see a text from each of the two Js. The first was a picture of Jack and Rose from Titanic, both at the bow of the ship, hands in the air. It had been the theme of my wedding shower, and they both thought it hilarious. I still hadn’t forgiven them, but I couldn’t help the smile that crept up on my face.

“Ready, babe?” Jack said as he guided us to the gate. I remained speechless.

This is your life, Rose. This is your husband. This is your reality.

As my husband guided me down the jet way, I realized people enter your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

David, the first man I’d given my heart to, had thrown it carelessly away. For that reason, I knew our relationship was meant to be a learning experience, and nothing more. Looking back, I knew I wasn’t truly in love with him. I was in love with the idea, and he was far from deserving of my future. Thankfully, he knew better.

Grant had been in my life for only a season. He’d reawakened my romantic heart and renewed my faith in not only men but in humans in general. He was uniquely beautiful and our season, though short, was perfect. I could never regret my time with him or the heartache loving him had left in his wake. It too had shaped me into the woman I’d become.

I looked at my lifetime as he guided me to my seat, amazed at how much life he’d given back to me. Baffled by the road I’d traveled to get to Jack, I remained thankful I’d kept my romantic heart because I knew without a doubt, his had been waiting for mine.

Jack and I clasped hands as the plane began to speed down the runway. I looked over to him with clarity.

I knew who I was without a shadow of a doubt.

I was a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, an accomplished surgeon, and as I looked down at my passport stamp and then to the lightning strike to my right, my list grew—world traveler.

THE END…Well almost…

FOUR YEARS AGO

Laura

I’ve lived a life that I would be jealous of. If someone would have told the twenty-one-year-old homeless me that I would meet, fall in love, and lose the man of my dreams and eventually reconnect and marry him fifteen years later as a wealthy business owner, have children, and remain happily married to him for over thirty years, I would have laughed in that someone’s face.

That girl so lost in that park years ago, confused and completely alone, caught the eyes of the man who would spark that exact chain of events. A man both so loving and infuriating he could still bring me to my figurative knees. And still, I loved him like that lost girl did so many years ago… fiercely, unconditionally, and forever.

That man was now walking our youngest daughter down the aisle toward a man so similar in character, I wondered if she’d even thought of it.

The strawberry curls I’d dug my hands into endless times were now cropped short and tinted gray with age. His strong build still remained along with the jade green eyes that had captured me heart and soul what seemed like several lifetimes ago.

And by his side, looking more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen, was a woman

in love. A woman created from our love. A woman who we’d cherished and raised and could never let go of. Rose, dressed in white satin, my finest and most carefully picked yellow roses in her hands, dark red hair cascading down her shoulders, looked for me and found my eyes. Her smile was breathtaking, and I hoped with all my heart she could see the elation and the pride in my eyes.

My baby.