Read Marine Ever After (Always a Marine) Online
Authors: Heather Long
Tags: #Always a Marine - Book 14
Marine Ever After (Always a Marine) (14 page)
And she would be there alone, with the baby still due.
And that’s what I want to do
. But it wasn’t. No matter how much she couldn’t reconcile herself to the nomadic lifestyle again, her stationary home held even less appeal…because Paul wouldn’t be in it.
Nothing made that plainer than waking alone on Christmas morning and seeing a stocking propped on the nightstand next to the bed. A beautiful rose poked out of the top of it and with an eagerness she hadn’t experienced since she was a baby, she pulled the stocking over and peeked inside.
The rose had a bracelet wrapped around it. Beneath that were two novels she’d mentioned liking, a copy of the Bourne movie they’d watched on Skype, and a homemade Dummies Guide to Loving a Marine.
Setting aside all the others, she flipped open the cover on the notebook and read the inscription.
Apparently there’s a project going on at Mike’s Place where all the spouses and significant others have been swapping stories. Rebecca asked them to put this together for you, so you’d know exactly what you’re getting into. Apparently being a military brat is different from being a military wife. I want you to have all the facts.
Your Marine, Paul
A tear splashed the back of her hand. Each page included a note or a letter from a Marine’s significant other. Some were just lists, others went deeper. Some had been military brats, and some like Rebecca were made widows before they were wives, abandoned by the love of their life for duty and country. But Rebecca added some key details to the story that Lillianna knew so well.
I get that this isn’t the life for everyone. But Luke didn’t give me a choice in it. I would trade every empty year without him for deployments, homecomings, and the worry in between. The choice of being there for someone you love is as important as the job they do being there for our country. It’s not the easiest road, but it’s far from the loneliest.
She didn’t know how long she sat reading, every story gripping her. The artist who waited for her boyfriend, the attorney who wasn’t sure if she could commit to a life that might involve having to say goodbye, the best friend who would take on anything if it meant staying with the man he loved, and the retired Marine husbands who were in similar positions. The status of being a spouse came with its own unique challenges and benefits, but they didn’t believe they were alone—ever. Because they kept the home fires burning together—a private club where they understood the trials and the tasks and helped the new arrivals ease into that life.
Climbing out of bed, she carried the book into the living room. Paul sat next to the tree, staring at it with the most thoughtful of expressions. She padded across the room and slid onto his lap and he adjusted immediately, helping her find a comfortable spot and wrapping his arm around her.
“Merry Christmas,” he murmured.
“I love you.”
He smiled slowly. “I love you.”
Her heart pinged in her chest. “Do you really think we can do this?” She held up the book. The look on his face melted her.
He nodded. “I know we can. I know I don’t want to go back without you.”
“I thought we were just a wedding fling.” That’s what she’d told herself when it got too hard.
“You were never a one-night stand for me, or any kind of fling. I spent four months trying to figure out how to see you again when you called and told me you were pregnant. I haven’t touched another woman since you and I don’t want to. You’re my girl.” He rubbed her lower back. “Marry me.”
“You never give up.” A quiet sense of awe filled her. His confidence and charm were the facets that attracted her in the first place, but they filled her with an inexplicable comfort and sense of security.
“Nope. You see, good things come to those who know to go and damn well get them. You’re the best thing to happen to me since the Marines. So, I’m telling you. You’re going to marry me. It’s just a matter of when.”
“Well, when you put it like that…what do you think of New Year’s Eve?” She couldn’t stop her lips from twitching.
Paul whooped. “Sold.” He kissed her and she melted into him, holding on for dear life because she was throwing her hat into the deep end. Pressing his forehead to hers, he murmured. “I love you, Lillianna Hansen-soon-to-be-Torres, forever and ever. Marry me.”
She knew an order when she heard one. And this time, she wouldn’t break the rules. “Yes.”
Epilogue
“You can do this.” Paul held fast to his wife’s hand. They’d had her take the wedding ring off when they checked into the hospital, and it hung on a chain around his neck with his dog tags.
Lillianna leaned forward, her face straining as she howled her way through another contraction. “I hate you,” she murmured and sagged back, panting.
“Me, too,” he agreed cheerfully. “Ready? It’s time for another one?” Her water broke as he’d walked in the door from class, and he applauded their child’s effort to wait for him to get there. He’d never moved so fast in his life to get her to a hospital. They’d been in Germany just five weeks. They also had to promise their respective parents a bigger wedding sometime later in the year, but the justice of the peace who married them on New Year’s Eve was fine by him.
“Ow!” She sat forward and strained, pushing. Her fingers locked on his, digging into his hand and he took it. If he could ride the pain out for her, he would. She’d skipped the epidural, citing too many studies of potential stroke, and she wanted to remember every minute of the experience.
He’d imagined she would change her mind, but not his wife.
God, I love the sound of it…wife
. Somewhere between a night of flagrant passion and the delivery room, he’d fallen in love with her. Head over heels via phone calls, text messages, and Skype. He treasured every single moment of their time together, especially the birth of their child.
Even if she was close to breaking his hand.
“Here we go.” The doctor looked up from his position between Lily’s legs. “Another hard push.”
“You can do this.” Paul held her gaze, pouring all of his encouragement into the look they shared. Her face strained and twisted, the doctor said something, and then a baby’s loud wails filled the room.
The doctor laid the baby against her belly and Lily sagged.
“Congratulations, folks…it’s a boy.”
Paul grinned. “It’s a boy. I win.”
Lily laughed and he kissed her damp forehead.
“You did fantastic, sweetheart.” He kept a close eye on the doctors as they clipped the cord and cleaned his son.
“Lucas,” Lily murmured and he glanced down at her.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He might have been a jerk. But he married one of my best friends and introduced me to the love of my life. I can forgive him long enough to name our boy Lucas.”
Pride bloomed in Paul’s chest. “Lucas Jorge Torres.” Named for his captain and his father. It didn’t get better than that.
At least he didn’t think so, until they put his son in his arms. Glancing from the baby’s deep brown face to his wife’s, he grinned wider.
It did get better.
“I love you.”
“Yes,” she whispered, eyes shining. “I don’t need happily ever after. I just need you.”
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel.
You can visit Heather at:
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