Joshua's Grace

Chapter 16 (3)

"Not now Zac." Joshua said without even looking away. He stood by the French doors, looking sightlessly out at the garden.

Now that she was in, what should she do? Her courage was beginning to desert her. For most of her life she had taken control, knew what to do and how to deal with situations. But with this man, she was always on the back foot. She didn't know how to tell him she loved him. She couldn't just blurt it out, could she? Grace shut the study door and took another step forward.

"I said.." his voice petered away when he turned around and saw Grace standing there. He saw the look of hesitancy, "What do you want?" He questioned quietly, his eyes holding hers.

She squared her shoulders and looked directly into his eyes, "You." The word was defiant.

"Then come and get me." He told her as his heart hammered. Grace rushed at him and he hauled her to him. The bear hug was ferocious. "About bloody time."

"You're squashing me Joshua." She breathed.

"I'm about ready to throttle you." He told her. "Do you know what you do to me? I can't even think straight when you're around. Me. I'm the most logical person, that's how I write such bloody good computer programs, but around you, I can't even reason properly." Several minutes later they were sitting on a couch that Grace remembered from her first visit to this room. "She kissed me." He told her

"From where I was you didn't seem to be fighting her off." "She does nothing for me. She knows."

"You call that logic?" She squirmed against him. She kissed his jaw line, "Josh, if you ever let her kiss you again...." She threatened.

"Your father will beat me to a pulp."

"What?"

"He said I'd need a dentist."

Grace laughed. "Good old dad." She burrowed closer to Joshua. "Did Craig come and get her?" Grace asked him.

"Yes. He loves her."
"What do you think will happen to them?"

"That's up to them." Joshua told her, "I'm more interested in what happens to us now." 

"What d'you mean?" She turned to face him. There was something in his tone that worried her. He sounded worried. He was worried. She could see it in his green eyes.

"I want to marry you."
"So?" She frowned at him. Why was he anxious?
He laughed nervously, "So, do you want to marry me?" "Yes." She burst out automatically. "What did you think?"

"Think? You don't mind us making love, but you weren't too impressed when I asked you to marry me the last time. I wasn't sure if you just wanted us to go on the way we have been." He pulled her closer, "I don't want to just sleep with you Grace. I want to share your life and I want you in my life. I want you to have my children." He thought she was going to cry. "Don't cry Grace."

"You didn't ask me to marry you last time. You told me. And that was because you thought you'd made an ex-virgin pregnant." She tried to smile and he kissed her wet eyelids closed.

"I love you Grace. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much. Please will you marry me?"

"Hmm, well, that was better put." She feigned pointed deliberation, and he cuffed her chin, "Yes." She kissed him over and over, interspersing each kiss with the word yes.

They were married one month later.