“You know I love you, right?”
She doesn’t give him a chance to respond before dipping her tongue into his mouth for a taste. His arms around her tighten, and his penis starts to harden as she moves her legs to straddle his waist.
“I love you more,” he manages to sneak in between kisses.
She hums, taking hold of either side of his face as she breathes, “I love youmost.”
He doesn’t argue. He doesn’t need to. She’s right. No one’s ever loved him more.
“Be right back,”says Jessica, leaning across the short distance between them for a kiss.
“Take your time. We’re not in a hurry.”
Her heart swells at his response, and she doesn’t deny herself another kiss before she steps out of the backseat of the Maybach. She offers Atzel a smile in thanks, then makes her way through the cemetery with a fresh bunch of flowers. It’s only been a couple days since her last visit, the first anniversary of Beth’s death having just passed. Still, she never comes without flowers—and she couldn’t wait. Not for this.
When she reaches the familiar headstone, she kneels down and arranges the new flowers among the existing blossoms in the cemetery vase. It’s late enough in the day that the dew from morning has evaporated, so Jessica doesn’t hesitate to sit for the conversation she’s been waiting for all morning.
“Hey, mom,” she murmurs.
Jessica never feels silly talking to her mother’s headstone. Beth is gone, but she chooses to believe her spirit lives on. That’s all the hope she needs, and her visits comfort her.
“The love of my life asked me to marry him last night.” She pauses to look down at the huge rock he slid on her finger at the restaurant after dinner. Speaking through a smile, she confesses, “I said yes, of course. I mean—there was no other answer, you know? I’m his. I always have been, and I always will be.
“I wish you knew him. I’m sorry I kept him from you. He’s…he’s become my whole heart. He sees me, mom. He sees me like no one else does. And he believes in me. He supports me. No way I’d be choreographing for Miah’s dance studio if it wasn’t for him. When I was still part-time? Making less than I did when I was tending bar at Moby’s Dive—god, remember that hell hole? Anyway, without him, I would have been working at least two other jobs to make ends meet; and if I was working all the time, I couldn’t have focused solely on dance, and I wouldn’t have made it.
“I don’t know. I guess what I’m trying to say is, he’s special. Man like him? Smart and driven and successful—a businessman who can command a room because he’sthatgood at what he does? Not to mention, mom—he’shot.It’s unique for a man of his caliber to look at me and believe in my talent. And I don’t mean that, like, I don’t have any pride in who I am and where I come from. But I’d be naïve not to admit, I don’t come from much. I’ve had to work really hard to get where I am; and it took the pain of losing you for me to really break out of my shell. He knows that. He understands it. He tells me all the time that I amaze him. And the way he watches me when I dance—I think you’d love him just for that. I do. For that and so many other reasons.”
She pauses, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of the car. After they leave the cemetery, she and Khalohn are planning on meeting a few friends for cocktails at a rooftop bar in Midtown. Porter will be there—he always is when Khal invites him out—and he says he’s bringing Naomi, since she’s in town. This, Jessica is convinced, will make Stefano’syear. Kierra will be there, too, with the guy she’s been seeing the last several months.
Returning her gaze to the headstone, Jessica admits, “I’m happy, mom. I miss you like crazy, but life is good. It’s full. And in a few weeks, I’ll be aMrs. Khal and I agreed on a short engagement. I don’t want a big wedding. Not without you. Besides, if we go big, we might end up in the society pages or something. I kind of hate it when that happens. Khalohn does, too. To the outside world looking in, I’m just his arm candy. They have no idea what we have. How real it is. How beautiful…
“Anyway, we’re going to go to City Hall. I’m going to ask Stefano to be my best man. But you knew that. I’ll invite Jackie, too. I promise. And I’ll be back—on whatever day our wedding falls, I’ll come see you. I know, if you had any other choice, you wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Jessica stands, wiping at the back of her sundress before she frees a sigh. She then presses her fingertips to her lips, kissing them before using the same hand to touch the top of Beth’s headstone.
“Bye, mom. Love you.”
