Indiscretion: Volume Four (20 page)
When it dawned on me what it was, I stood and spun around to wrap my arms around him. “It’s beautiful, honey. It’s all our birthstones, isn’t it?”
“It is.” He gazed down into my eyes, brushing a gentle hand along my collarbone where the new gift sat. “I’m so proud of you for all your hard work on this project. It’s really going to make a difference in these people’s lives.”
I played with the hair at the back of his head. “You had just as big a part in it,” I argued lightly. It was true. He never gave himself enough credit.
“This building is your vision.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “You did good, gorgeous.”
I smiled and leaned in to kiss my husband. Even after ten years, this man’s kisses still got to me. I pulled back and looked down at my necklace again, loving the meaning behind it.
“Oh no.” I frowned. “Honey, one of the diamonds fell out. Look, there’s one missing right here.” I pointed to the spot in question.
“It’s not missing,” he insisted, a sly grin on his face.
I dropped the necklace back to my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean?”
“I purposely left it open.”
“But why would you…” And then it hit me. My hand flew to my chest in an automatic reaction. “Max, do you want to have another child?”
He shrugged and looked at me a little sheepishly. “The thought had crossed my mind once or twice.”
I laughed. “You don’t think we have our hands full with the two we have?”
“Not particularly.” He leaned in and gave me a chaste kiss.
I blew out a breath. “You realize I’m almost forty, right?”
He laughed this time. “It’s forty, not eighty.”
I thought for a second about what it would be like to add another child to the mix. Truth was, I loved my husband and the family we had and having another child seemed like just another extension of that love.
I pursed my lips at him, mulling it over for another second. “Let’s call the clinic in the morning and see what they think my chances of conceiving are.”
When Max had undergone chemotherapy, he’d frozen some of his sperm in case the chemo knocked out all his swimmers. For each of our previous children, I’d undergone in vitro fertilization to get pregnant.
“Really?” God, I loved when I was able to make his face light up like that. There was nothing better in the world.
“Really.” I gave him a meaningful look. “But you better hope it’s a boy. I’m not sure I can handle another female.”
He wrapped his arms around me and dipped me low, kissing me fiercely. “You really are my everything, you know that?”
I ran a hand through his hair. “As you are to me,” I said, feeling breathless.
He kissed me again, deeper this time, and all the responsibilities of the evening fell into the background.
We had an amazing life together, full of love, laughter, and commitment. All the difficult times we’d faced, both separately and together, had brought us to where we were. And we were right where we were supposed to be—in each other’s arms.
The End
Writing this book was in a lot of ways a cathartic experience for me. In the past several years I’ve stood on the sidelines as many people close to me have struggled with various forms of cancer—three individuals specifically with some form of leukemia or lymphoma. Some won their battles, and some despite a brave fight, did not.
In 2011 a close friend of my husband and mine was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma. When he finished his treatments and was told he was in remission in September of that year, we were so happy. Overjoyed, really. We thought that his battle was over and he’d go on to live his life, find himself a wife, maybe have a kid or two, and pursue a career that utilized his talent for drawing. In October 2011 he developed an infection in his abdomen. On February 15, 2012 he passed away less than a month before his thirty-fifth birthday.
It was tragic and senseless and the fact that he was so young and had gotten essentially a clean bill of health months prior seemed to make it hurt that much more.
It’s in large part because of Scottie’s death that I began taking my writing seriously, and started to pursue my dream of being an author. The senseless loss of our young friend was a wake-up call to me that there may not always be a tomorrow. I’d told myself I could get started on my dream after the kids were older, when I had more time in my life, when I’d lost that extra fifteen pounds of baby weight I couldn’t seem to shed. His passing put the ticking clock on my radar and pushed me to get started.
I keep his picture on the side of my fridge as a reminder to myself to follow my dreams, and to spend my time, energy, and love on what matters most to me. I hope you do the same in your life. <3
On a happier note…I set this story in Maine because I fell in love with it when my husband and I vacationed there in the summer of 2010. I took creative liberties with a few things, but for the most part all the places mentioned throughout the story do exist. We did stay at the Harborside and go to Geddy’s when we were in Bar Harbor, the ravioli at The Corner Room in Portland really IS the best meal I’ve every had (ask any of my friend’s—I’ve raved about it for years), Portland Head is as pretty as a postcard, and Acadia National Park is even more beautiful than I could ever describe here.
xoxo,
El
P.S. - If you've been affected by blood cancer in your own life and would like to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society please consider visiting my developmental editor, Angela Smith's, fundraiser page! Donations big and small are all appreciated! You can find it here:
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Elisabeth has a soft spot for happily ever-afters and a hot spot for alpha males. If she’s not curled up somewhere with a romance novel in one hand and chocolate in the other you can probably find her typing madly on her keyboard creating her next story. She currently lives outside Toronto, Canada with her husband, two small children, and a killer cat.
Questions? Comments?
I love to hear from readers! Feel free to connect with me via e-mail at
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at any one of the social media platforms listed below. I love talking books – even if they aren’t my own! Also, if you enjoyed what you read and think you may want to join my Street Team, please drop me a line!
First I’d like to start by thanking all the readers who were so enthusiastic about Max & Chloe’s story as each volume released. I hope you feel I did their story justice in the end! It’s your emails, PM’s on Facebook and posts on my wall that keep me going when I’m falling asleep over my keyboard late at night. When you take the time to reach out and let me know you connected with something in my story…I can’t even describe how happy and uplifted it makes me. You truly have my gratitude for giving my story a chance.
Angela Smith – Developmental Editor Extraordinaire - I owe Mia Sheridan big time for passing my name onto you, Angela. My heartfelt thanks for all you hard work and passion on this project. They say that no one will care more about your work than you will, but I’m not sure that’s true. You cared every bit as much about this story as I did. Thank you for pushing me to do better, and dig deeper, and for talking me off the ledge a time or two when it felt like this story would never end and the work would never be done. Any success that this book might find is in large part due to you.
Megan Hand – Line Editor – You worked me woman! You forced me to put more emotion onto the page. Emotion! Emotion! Emotion! Thanks for ridding this manuscript of its ‘Canadianisms’. LOL You pushed me and brought this manuscript to the next level. It was a pleasure working with you!
Roxana Madar – Beta Reader – Thank you for your honesty! You’re never afraid to tell me like it is, which I adore!! I feel so fortunate to have found a sister-wife in you. We will make David happy for years to come! ;)
To the people who proofread for me at various stages of the game…Brooke Cumberland, Shawna Donner-Gavas, and Melanie Cesa. Thank you for seeing what I could no longer pick up on. I’m so grateful for your time and effort.
Tara Gonzalez – Public Relations Representative, InkSlinger – Thank you for taking on the tireless task of multiple cover reveals, release days, and a blog tour. I’ll be honest…I didn’t envy you. LOL And thanks for all the ‘nudges’ along the way! ;)
Bloggers – to all the bloggers that participated in all the above mentioned events—THANK YOU SO MUCH! You girls all works so tirelessly for your love of the written word and probably get too little credit for what you do.
Regina Wamba – another phenomenal set of covers. I couldn’t be more in love with them if I tried—all five of them!
J
To anyone who shared a post, liked a post, told a friend about the book, or left a review—my deepest gratitude goes out to you. It’s because of you that new readers have discovered my work. Much love goes out to each and every one of you! <3
To all my author friends – thanks for letting me cry, vent, laugh, and ogle man candy alongside you. Authors who support other authors are a special breed and I’m lucky to have so many in my life!