Divine Charity(Divine Creek Ranch 18)(2)

“Tell me what’s been troubling you,” he whispered before kissing her again. The pulse in the base of her throat quickened beneath his lips and he lifted his gaze to hers expectantly.

A slight smile curved her lips and she sighed. “I can’t hide from you, can I?”

“No, and I don’t want you to. What’s on your mind?”

She reached up and stroked her index finger over his eyebrow. “Do you ever regret marrying so young? I’m not asking if you regret marrying me, just…do you wish we’d waited, put off having a family so young? Our childhood ended with high school graduation when lots of our friends were going off to four more years of social life and partying at college. The ink was barely dry on your high school diploma when you went to work for your dad and uncles full time.”

“You made the same kind of sacrifice, babe. I enjoy what I do and I was never cut out to be a college boy. I knew what I wanted.” He ran his teeth up the column of her throat and she shivered and gasped. “I’d do everything the same if I had to do it over again, and the benefit of having kids so young is that they’re nearly grown and soon we’ll have an empty nest and lots of time to make up for.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, but you’ll be making up for lost time with an old chick with sagging breasts and stretch marks.” He growled in warning and she continued. “I’m just worried about losing my appeal. Not today, or tomorrow, but in ten years…twenty years…”

“You’ll still be the woman I love.”

“Yeah, and you’ll still be aging so damned gracefully and young women will still be attracted to you. Women I won’t be able to compete with.”

“Women who could never hold a candle to you. I want to grow old with you and you alone. You’re worried but time will prove what I’m saying. And don’t be too hard on this body, babe. Remember, it was me who knocked you up in the first place.”

She giggled and nodded. “Everyone thought I was pregnant when we got married right out of high school.”

“I wouldn’t have minded if you had been.”

He could still recall the night she’d given him her virginity. To everyone else, she showed her strength, determination, and her will, but it was to him she’d given her vulnerability and trust. He’d known way back then that their first moonlight tryst on the leafy bank of the Divine Creek would never be enough. He’d wanted a lifetime of nights with her.

Charity said, “Some people were betting that we wouldn’t make it. They didn’t think I’d finish vocational school and that we’d wind up moving back home.”

“Yeah, except for Val and Ransome.”

A distant look came into her eyes before she made eye contact with him and smiled. “And Grace,” she added, stroking his chest hair. “She knew we’d be okay, too. And when the kids came along, it was because we were ready…or at least we thought we were.”

He stroked the underside of her breasts with the backs of his fingers and leaned down to nuzzle her breast with his lips and murmured, “I remember watching you nurse Beau.” She giggled again and he laughed along with her. “Remember that first day home when your milk came in?”

“I was huge! I remember asking you ‘what the hell am I supposed to do with these?’”

“But you figured it out just fine.”

“Yeah, with your help.”

He could still recall the uncertainty in her eyes as Beau had wailed while she leaked breast milk all over her shirt and the blanket she’d been trying to discreetly cover herself with. Trying like hell to hide his own “new father” anxiety, Justin had gently removed the covering from her and had done what he could to ease her nerves. The love in her eyes as she’d allowed him to help her position the baby more comfortably had signaled a new level of trust developing between them. When Beau had finally latched on and gotten down to business, she’d shed relieved tears and kissed Justin in gratitude. From that first scary night, she’d never hidden herself from him again.

“You’re a good mom. But you’re more than that. I thought you were beautiful when you fed our babies and I loved watching you do it.”

She scoffed. “With dark circles under my eyes, sore nipples, hormonal, and a jelly belly?”

Justin shook his head. “That’s not what I remember. I recall the way you’d stroke them and sing to them. I remember the way you’d look at me sometimes while holding them.” A lump formed in his throat and he stroked her nipple with his tongue. Her breath caught and her nipple tightened to a beaded peak. “Unspeakably beautiful. I have no other words. I really meant it when I said I’d do anything for you.”