Finding Jessie: A Mystery Romance (32 page)
Read Finding Jessie: A Mystery Romance Online
Authors: Eve Paludan
“I’m glad you’re so happy, Jessie. I want you to be happy.”
“It’s been a lifetime coming. Literally.”
“I know. Not now, because I want you to resolve all of your identity issues as you settle in with your grandmother’s upper-crust society life, and deal with your post-traumatic stress disorder, but when you feel comfortable in your own skin, and with
who
you are, I am going to ask you to marry me.”
“Oh, my gosh! The guy who doesn’t believe in marriage! For real?”
“Yes. I’ve been thinking. First, I want you to feel confident in who you are, and that my marriage proposal won’t again rob you of owning your decisions and that sense of self that escaped you for so long. And then, when and if you’re ready, you can tell me when you are ready to make the commitment of marriage. And we’ll do it, Jessie. We’ll
totally
do it. It’s what I envision for us for the long haul. Marriage. I want you to feel loved and secure, cherished, wanted.” He paused. “If that’s what
you
want to do.”
“I do! I do!” she said, and he chuckled at her pun.
“We’ll do a pre-nuptial agreement so you’ll know I’m not a fortune hunter.”
“Oh, shut up. You took me in off the street with not a cent to my name. We don’t need a pre-nup and anyway, I am going to ask Grandma to give all her money, when she dies, to rescue stolen children and help them to recover. Perhaps now, I can get a college degree to learn how to run a nonprofit foundation to make that happen.”
“That’s an incredible idea, Jessie.”
“Maybe I have a little angel on
my
shoulder, too.” She covered his face with kisses and they hugged each other tightly. “I want to live a purposeful life.”
“You already do.”
“
More
purpose. Not worrying about bathtub rings or burnt toast, but somewhere between those things and saving the world from getting sucked into a black hole would be living a purposeful life.”
“I get it. You want to chase the greater good. I’m with you, Jessie.”
“Thanks for ‘getting’ me.”
“I try.” He kissed her lips tenderly. “Okay now, I’m ready for the rest of the story book and then the rest of our lives.”
“Me, too.”
He read the rest of the book like that, with them snuggled on the couch and the fire crackling, and with her turning the pages with rapt attention for what would happen next in a fairy tale that was deep enough for adults.
They passed the time like that, both entrenched in the story and leaning into each other’s warmth.
Finally, Sam read the last line on the page: “
If you ever knew a story finished, all I can say is, I never did. Somehow, stories won’t finish. I think I know why, but I won’t say that either, now.”
She turned the page and the next one was blank. “That’s it? That’s the end?” she asked.
“Apparently. I guess the author either wrote another book about the characters or he just wanted to let the reader read the tea leaves of the denouement.”
“You are so sexy when you use those ‘writerly’ words.”
He chuckled, his silver hair falling over his forehead. She smoothed back the hair affectionately.
“Are you ever going to write a book again? When we met, you said you wrote mystery romance novels.”
“As you know, I’ve been a little busy,” he said. “But I have an idea for a new murder mystery. You see, there’s this older man and he falls head over heels for this much younger woman, and they have all of these crazy mixed-up adventures that are called
life
.”
“I can’t imagine where you get your book ideas,” she teased.
“Cute. Very cute.”
She closed the book and took it from him gently. She was radiant. “Our story’s not done either, is it, Sam?”
“Not by a
long
shot, Jessie. Not by a long shot.”
They kissed tenderly. He drew the couch throw off the back of the couch and wrapped it around them. They cuddled closer in front of the fire, watching it burn down to embers.
“I should get up and put another log on the fire.”
“Stay,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to lose this moment. It feels so good to just be us. The
real
us.”
“Yes, it does, sweetheart.”
“I loved it that you read a kid’s book to me. Like a parent would.”
“Well, growing up, you never knew your real parents, and…it was my pleasure, Jessie, to be close to you and share a great story that would touch you, as it did me.”
“You don’t think it’s silly? An adult reading a children’s book to another adult?”
“Not at all. Way back before the internet, and back before electricity, people read to each other by candlelight and passed many happy hours sharing all kinds of books with each other—they took turns being the reader of the evening.”
“Okay then, next time, it’s my turn to read aloud to you.”
“Sounds good. Tomorrow?”
“Yes. What would you like me to read to you?” she asked.
“Hmmm. Good question.” He paused for a moment, looking into the firelight. “Oh yes. I know what I want to hear in your lovely voice.”
She chuckled. “What?”
“First of all, I like this linear progression…how reading books leads to reading other books. And not just because I’m a bookseller.”
She laughed.
“Jessie, did you know that George MacDonald was a big fan of C.S. Lewis?”
“No, I didn’t. But now that you mention it,
The Princess and the Goblin
has a few shades of Narnia-like qualities.”
“You guessed it, sweetheart. I’d love to hear all of the seven Narnia books read aloud. We can take turns reading the chapters though, so we don’t wear out our voices. What do you think?”
“I loved them when I read them decades ago. It sounds like a wonderful winter of entertainment, but truthfully, reading the whole series aloud, and stopping for commentary and snacks…well, it could take
years
.”
“We have years, though, don’t we, Jessie?”
“Yes, Sam. We have
years
.”
THE END
***
BOOKS BY EVE PALUDAN
SINGLE TITLES (non-series)
Finding Jessie
THE GHOST FILES (series)
Ghost Fire
(Book #3)
Ghost Tattoo (Book #5) (coming soon)
THE ANGEL DETECTIVES (series)
The Man Who Fell from the Sky
(Book #1)
The Man Who Rose from the Sea (coming soon)
RANCH LOVERS ROMANCE (series)
Taking Back Tara
(Book #1)
Tara Takes Christmas
(Book #2)
Tara’s Little Wedding (coming soon)
Zane’s Little Secret (coming soon)
Tara and Zane Forever (coming soon)
BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE (series)
Burning (Book #1) (coming soon)
by J.R. Rain with Eve Paludan
COLLECTIONS AND BOXED SETS
The Ghost Files Boxed Set
(also with books by J.R. Rain, Scott Nicholson, and Evelyn Klebert)
(contains
Taking Back Tara
and
Tara Takes Christmas
)
NONFICTION
The Romance Writer’s Pink Pages: The Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Romance Novel Published (3 paperback editions from Prima – out of print)
Eve Paludan lives on the west side of Los Angeles, California. Her first agent sold her first book,
The Romance Writer’s Pink Pages: The Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Romance Novel Published
, to Prima (now Random House). The book went on to become a popular series (three editions) and two editions became #1 bestsellers for Writer’s Digest Book Club. After stints in the software and technology industries as a content editor/writer, a web designer of commercial sites, an editor of scholarly work at a state university, and a newspaper employee, she has returned to her true passion: novelist. She also edits for bestselling novelists including J.R. Rain, H.T. Night, April Reign, J.T. Cross, P.J. Day, Elaine Babich, and others. Please follow Eve Paludan on Facebook, Twitter, and check out her website at:
www.evepaludanbooks.com
.
Go to Eve Paludan’s Author and Books Page on Amazon
Return to the Table of Contents
by
Eve Paludan
Rain glistening on his dove-gray Stetson and pooling on the brim, Zane McKenna knocked on the door of the vintage Airstream travel trailer, which tilted at an awkward angle in the middle of the dirt road, right where the axle had broken the year before.
Tara had bought the trailer from a junkyard after her second husband had burned down their house with himself in it. She’d gotten it just over the cattle guard on her dead husband’s ranch before the axle broke. She’d lived in it, ever since, right in the middle of her dirt road.
“Tara Lee Turner,” Zane said her maiden name, “It’s your first husband.” He paused. “Don’t shoot at me this time, okay?” The last time he’d come out, she’d shot at him. Well, she’d shot up in the air, but still, it had not been a neighborly welcome from his ex-wife.