“I think I love you,” she says, her words barely a whisper.
“That’s good because I know I love you.”
Amiya
Six Months Later
“Keep them closed.”
Lennon leads me down the steps of the deck on the back of our home and out to the beach.
Grandma passed away at the end of the summer.
After the wedding, I returned to Atlanta and was blessed to have three weeks by her side, holding her hand and reading her favorite Jane Austen novels to her. Lennon even surprised me a week later when he flew in for the weekend. He said he didn’t want to miss the chance to meet and thank the woman who raised me. He sat up all night reading Pride and Prejudice to us while I lay in the bed beside her and cried myself to sleep. The next morning, she opened her eyes briefly and I swear she smiled at him as he kissed her forehead before leaving for the airport. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. As if she rallied one last time just to let me know she approved of him.
It was a peaceful transition, and though I’ll miss her forever, I thank God that she’s no longer in pain and that she is finally reunited with the grandfather I didn’t know but who she talked about often.
After she was laid to rest beside him, Sebastian and Avie came to help me pack up my things and move me to Sandcastle Cove. I spent a month in the cabana but decided that I’d prefer a place with more room and quieter surroundings, so Lennon talked to Wade. After he proposed to Eden in October, she officially moved in with him, and I began renting her home. The brand-new beachfront house is a far cry from the tiny apartment I called home for so many years, as is having friends and family a stone’s throw away.
But my favorite part of this new adventure is the fact that Lennon’s contract is up at the end of this month and his transfer will be official the first of the year. He’ll have to return to Virginia one more time after Christmas, but then I’ll have my favorite roommate back for good.
If you had told me this time last year that I’d be moving in with the brooding sailor that I was sitting around stewing over because he hadn’t contacted me yet, I’d have called you a lunatic. I never saw myself ever settling down and having a family of my own, but like the poem Grandma loved to quote by Robert Burns says, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Because Lennon Harraway has made his intentions of making lots of babies abundantly clear.
We’re still hammering out the definition of “lots of.”
“If you think you’re leading me out here to make out with me, you’re out of luck, Sailor. Sex on the beach is only good as a shot. You’re not getting salt and sand in my naughty bits just because it’s Christmas,” I say as I stumble blindly behind him, holding his hand tight.
He stops suddenly, and I can smell the aroma of wood burning and feel the warmth on my legs.
“Okay, you can open them now,” he says.
I open my eyes and blink a few times to adjust my vision, and I see a small fire beside a blanket that’s spread out on the beach. There is a basket sitting on the blanket.
“What’s this?” I ask.
“It’s a Christmas Eve picnic,” he says as he takes a seat and pats the spot beside him.
I follow him down, and he pulls me between his legs, so I lie back against his chest.
“You hungry?” he asks as he kisses my neck.
I nod, and he reaches for the basket and opens the lid.
I look inside, and there is a bottle of red wine and two sandwiches wrapped in paper. He pulls one out and hands it to me.
I peel it open and gasp. “Is that peanut butter and honey?”
“Chunky peanut butter,” he says as he reaches up and wipes a tear from my cheek.
The End
