Rookie Playing For Keeps #Wattys2015 #NewAdult

Chapter 11 Part 2

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November

            Jackson helps me up into the truck after Thanksgiving dinner at my father's house. I love having the house full again. It's amazing what change a year can bring, and watching my father talk so joyously with his children fills me with love and peace.  

             "I had the best time today. I don't think I've ever been happier in my life." I blow out a big breath and sink into my seat. "I think my mom would have loved the family we've become." I have been thinking about her all night and missing her like crazy.

            "I never met her, but I can't see how a woman who loved her family as much as you say she did wouldn't be happy about everyone's year. It's been pretty memorable." He turns his head and watches me for a second before returning his eyes to the road. It's just starting to rain and it's finally beginning to look like fall in our little part of California. The roads are clear, as many people are probably still locked in tight, celebrating the holiday from the safety of their homes.

            "I wish all the time that I could talk to her. Taking over her work has given me a unique perspective into what her life must have been like and who she was when she wasn't with us." I watch a small drop of rain racing down my window, gathering with the other moisture before falling out of sight. "I found a little love note my dad must have written her tucked into one of her notebooks the other day." I smile just thinking it. She must have kept it because it had moved her somehow.

            "Really? What did it say?" Jackson reaches forward and turns down the music so he can hear me better.

            I giggle a little as I picture the worn paper and my dad's slanted handwriting. "It said he was thinking about her and he was sorry he had to slip away so early for work." I see Jackson's smile falter a little and I know he feels bad that the recent merger of our two companies is taking him away from me a lot. I laugh and love the way he turns and looks at me suspiciously.

            "It also said that he had a great night with her and he'd be thinking all day about the way she looked that morning." I tug on Jackson's hand, bringing it into my lap. "It's like finding tiny scraps of a romance novel, like watching them fall in love."

            "I love that their story lights you up the way it does."

            "Remember when we found that letter in my mom's old jewelry box?" I ask. Jackson nods. "It was so sad to think she had lost her true love before marrying my father. Now I can see that maybe he was her first love, but my father was her true love." I pause. "You know, some of these little notes I'm finding I wouldn't even be able to show you. I'm saving them all and I'm thinking of giving them back to my dad." I turn my attention back to the window, noticing how the lights of the road are streaking through the water, being distorted in the most beautiful way. 

            "I think your father might die knowing you've read them," Jackson jokes and I see a little flush stain his cheeks. "Sometimes it's easier to write things we feel than to actually say them." His eyes move to mine and I see the heat in them. "Sometimes I want to tell you how I'm feeling, but then you look at me and I just can't find the right words." I must be the luckiest girl in the word to be married to this man. 

            He moves his eyes back to the road as we turn onto our street. "Like tonight, Rookie. I was sitting there with Brandon talking about the latest issues with the Hawaii build, but then I caught a glimpse of you sitting by the fire, laughing at something someone had said, and my heart felt like it might burst. It was almost painful."

            It isn't often that I get this sentimental side of my husband and I love every minute of it. My lips rise into a smile and my pulse quickens. He pulls into our driveway and cuts the engine. He doesn't turn to meet my gaze, instead just looks out the windshield at the house we have happily made into a home. "If we have a little girl, I hope she will know how much I love her mommy. I want her to know that she should wait for a love like ours. I want her to fight for it and experience it with someone who is willing to fight for it with her." He turns then, and looks at me with those amazing eyes that first hooked me outside my apartment in the dark of the night.

            "I love you, Jackson Rider." It's the only thought I can form as his words turn my brain to complete mush.

            "And I love you, Madeline." He unbuckles his seatbelt and leans over, letting his hand slide up the side of my face and his fingers weave into my hair. "Every minute of every day, for the rest of this life and the next." His lips find mine. In the cramped cab of the truck, with the rain pouring down and the greatest miracle of life between us, he kisses me. I know in this moment that there could never be another love story as perfect as ours. 

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