Promise Me (Book One of the Kirkland Family)

Promise Me: Chapter 42

"Apparently."

"No, Daddy,” she whispered.  “I don’t want to go with her.”

“And you won’t,” he said, cupping her face through the open window.  “I won’t allow it.  Remember, she doesn’t have any hold over us anymore.  We’re a team, and we’ll fight against her together, if we must.”

“Is she coming here?”

Justin promised himself he would never lie to his daughter about Beth ever again, but he hated the fearful pain in her eyes.  “Yes.”

“When?”

“I don’t know...soon, I think.”

Tears welled in her eyes.  “But...but you’re leaving for Savannah tomorrow!”

“I know, I know.”  F*ck!  Could anything else go wrong today?  “I guess you’re gonna have to come with me,” he said.  “I can wait a few days until you’re head is feeling better, but we’ll have to fly.  You okay with that?”

She nodded.  “Can Hannah come with us?”

“We’ll ask her, but I don’t know,” he said.  He bent and kissed her forehead.  “Come on, let’s get to Hannah’s house and we’ll talk about it there.”

When they arrived at the Victorian, Hannah’s rose bushes were secured away in large terracotta planters beside the gardening shed, and the workers had cleared most of the old roofing tiles from the top of the house.  The front porch was in the process of demolition, and more people were measuring the windows for new ones.  But Hannah was nowhere to be seen.  Rufus said she was inside the house with the “tall, mouthy blonde.”

Justin and Josie went around to the back and entered through the kitchen.  They found Hannah and Kim in the living room, pouring through catalogues of baby items.  Hannah looked up when she heard them come in, and her face immediately widened at their twin, upset expressions.

“What happened?  Are you okay, Josie?” she asked.

Josie nodded.  “I’m fine.  I’m tired.  Can I go lay down?”

“Sure, honey,” Hannah said, standing to take charge of his little girl’s comforts.  “It might be a little noisy upstairs with the workers on the roof, but if you want, I have a small television we can hook up for you to watch.”

“Okay,” Josie said and climbed up the staircase.  Justin followed behind her with her bag of clothes, leaving Lady in the kitchen to deal with later.  After Hannah found the small television and got all the cables and wires situated for Josie to skim through the channels while tucked comfortably in Hannah’s old bed, he shut the door to the pink bedroom and turned to the woman he loved.

“What happened?” she asked again.  “And don’t tell me nothing.  The two of you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Justin scrubbed his hands through his hair.  “More like ‘heard from the b*tch.’”

Hannah blinked for a moment, confused, but she was quick to understand.  “Beth?”

“Yeah...she called me a little while ago.”  He pulled Hannah into her bedroom and told her about Beth’s call.  Hannah turned white in the cheeks as her mouth thinned out in anger.  She sat down on her bed and stared at him.

“Well...crap,” she said.

“Not the word I used, but yeah,” he agreed.  Exhaustion had worked it’s magic on him, and he flopped down on the mattress next to her, his face buried in her pillows.  They smelled like sunshine...like Hannah.

“What are you going to do?”

He shifted his head far enough so he wasn’t talking into the softness under his nose.  “I’m still going to Savannah, but I’m taking Josie with me.”

Hannah jerked.  Hope died in her voice.  “Oh.”

He smiled to himself.  She thought he was leaving her for good.  “I don’t mean it that way,” he replied.  “I still need to figure out my job problems, but I think I’ve got a good idea on that -- actually, it was Josie’s idea.  I’m going to ask Chad to train for a manager position.  He said he didn’t want to do a lot of traveling with the job, and this will be perfect.  The best solution for everyone.”

“So...you’re coming back?”

He reached up, grabbed hold of her elbow and pulled her down next to him.  Cradling her into his arms, he said, “I’m coming back.  But I have to take Josie because I can’t leave her here unprotected if Beth decides to show up while I’m gone.  And it looks like I’ve gotta go see my new lawyer while I’m there...or get another one, since this one doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, especially if he allowed Beth to get temporary custody.”

“So...you’re coming back?”

Justin chuckled and kissed her.  “Did you have so little faith in me?”

“I want to believe you, I do, but...”

“But I’ve not given you much reason for it?”

“Oh, Justin,” she breathed and pressed her cheek into his neck.  “I never wanted any of this to be so difficult.”

“That’s life, sweetheart,” he said softly.  “It’s not pretty or neatly packaged, but it’s the good and bad that makes it worth living.”

“I’ve had my share of bad,” she said, a slight pout to her lips.  “I think I’d like a little good now.”

He tipped her face up to him and kissed her hard, his lips demanding that she see the good, the great, between them.  He shifted and brought his body on top of hers, rocking their pelvises together.  “Oh, that’s good,” she moaned, “but we can’t do this now...Josie’s in the next room.”

“Songbird,” he said, nibbling his way down her neck.  “That can’t be avoided.  I plan to do a lot of this with Josie in the next room.”

“Oh, really?  And why is that, Jack?”

“Because...damn, you taste so good, right here...because I’m coming back.  Actually, I won’t be leaving you at all.  We want you to come with us, to Savannah.”

She jerked her head back.  “But, I thought you said...no, I told you, I’m not leaving.”

He laughed at her reaction and pulled her mouth back to his.  “I mean for you to come with us so I can get my work stuff done, and see my lawyer.  I have a few selfish reasons for wanting you with us.  It’ll make my meetings go a lot faster and smoother if you’re there to watch over Josie, and I don’t like being away from you a whole lot.  Haven’t you noticed?  I keep coming back to you, running after you, even when you’re pissed off at me -- I keep coming back.  So, come with us, and then we can come back home together.”

“Home?”

“Yes, silly, home...here,” he said softly, looking deep into her beautiful hazel eyes.  “I wasn’t going to say it -- not until I knew if I had a right to keep you -- but...I love you, Hannah.  I want us to be together, forever, right here, in this house, a family.”

A silly, happy grin graced her lips.  “Really?  You love me?  You're finally saying it?”

“So much faith,” he groaned sarcastically, and kissed her again.  They touched each other, moved against each other, breathed into each other, and soon, clothes were beginning to fall away from body parts.

A timid knock broke them apart.  “Um, guys?” Kim’s voice called.  “Did you forget the lonely, pregnant lady downstairs?”

Hannah let out a small laugh, pushed her shirt back into place and went to open the door.  Justin barely had time to stand and button his jeans before Kim was peeking over Hannah’s shoulder at him.  She grinned.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Kim said.

“No, you’re not,” he grumped.  But he gave her a smile.  They’ll be seeing a lot of Kim in the near future.  No need to get on her bad side so soon.

*****