Without seeing my face, I can feel my expression is one of total suffering. My woman. My life. How can I leave her alone at a time like this? Still, she’s right. I have to put my money where my mouth is or my words meant nothing. And she needs to know I’ll never say anything to her I don’t believe one hundred percent. I’ll be one hundred percent for her or nothing at all. She can do this. She has my full faith. “I’ll come home to you, do you hear me?” I manage around the lump in my throat. “I’ll come back to you and the kingdom you build, Naomi. Tell me you know that.”
“I know that,” she says, my confidence causing her to bloom right in front of my eyes. “I know you’ll come back to us. We’ll be waiting.”
She clings to the collar of my jacket and works her hips up and back, the chair creaking beneath us as we speed faster and faster toward the fulfillment we’ve both been missing. Needing. Craving. And groaning, helping her move with both hands on her backside, I’m lost. Lost in the beauty of Naomi, our future. Even the obstacles ahead are beautiful, because this woman will be on the other side of them. I can’t wait to live every second of this life with her.
EPILOGUE
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Naomi
Seven months later
I press a hand to my sore lower back, groaning in gratitude when Birdie takes over the task, pressing her thumbs into my ache and massaging in circles. I’m actually a very agile and active pregnant woman—or so my doctor tells me—but we’ve been standing on the airport tarmac for two hours now and my stamina is waning. My excitement, however, is not.
Jason is coming home today.
Lord, I’m actually a little nervous. I haven’t seen my husband in person in six months. He’s not going to mind that my stomach enters a room a full minute before I do. No, we managed to Skype him during my last sonogram two weeks ago and he told me several times that my mountainous belly and I were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life. That was so nice to hear, wasn’t it? So sweet. It really was—
A tissue appears in front of my face. “You’re crying again,” Birdie says. “Get yourself under control, would you? Jason has seen enough water over the last six months.”
I take the tissue and press it carefully beneath each eye, careful not to smudge my makeup. “It’s a losing battle, I’m afraid. I cried at a cat food commercial this morning.”
Birdie shakes her head, then sighs. “Aw, you know I think it’s cute. Cry away.”
I well up again on cue. “Thank you.”
Seven months ago, Jason came to Charleston and brought me back to St. Augustine—still wearing my silver ball gown. We spent a week there…reacquainting, so to speak. Vigorously. There are still grooves in his bedroom wall behind our headboard thanks to the hours we spent vigorously acquainting.
While Birdie was in school, of course.
At night, while she was home, we planned. Jason and Birdie’s parents genuinely seemed disappointed to lose their chance to make things right with Birdie, so visits were scheduled. Since Jason was deployed, Birdie and I have flown to Dallas a few times to see her mother and father, also known as my new in-laws. At first, there was awkwardness between them and their daughter. It took a visible effort for them to separate Birdie from Natalie and their grief, but Birdie impressed the heck out of me through it all. Something settled in her the day of the pageant and she’s matured in a way that makes me prouder by the day. I don’t know if I could have survived Jason’s absence without her. And I’m not sure she could have survived it without me. We’re a team.
All three of us.
As if summoned, my little man twists and turns inside my stomach, cozying into his favorite place—atop my bladder. I settle a hand on him, marveling at the miracle of life Jason and I created that night so many months ago. Lord, I miss my husband’s touch more than I ever could have imagined. I reach for him in the night, talk to him under my breath during the day. He’s my missing half, and as happy as I am to have this new life growing inside me, I need him back. Now. He hasn’t even landed yet and I’m already being stitched back together.
Jason. Mine. My husband.
That month before he left, we lived like we had all the time in the world, splitting our time between Charleston and St. Augustine. Since Beauty Queens Unlimited is based in Charleston, we rented an apartment, staying there on the weekends while waiting for Birdie to graduate. During that time, Jason took me scuba diving. To bed. A lot. And on dates. So many dates. Understanding my desire to experience new things, these dates were somewhat…unconventional. We went swimming with dolphins, drove to the Georgia State Fair and went on every single ride. Indoor rock climbing was my favorite date because of the feeling of accomplishment it gave me, and I’ve even been back several times since Jason left. Before he was deployed, I was thisclose to convincing him to participate in the next body art festival in Daytona Beach. My mission is still in the works, but I think he’ll cave.