I loved the excited grin on her face at the idea of getting out and seeing some of London. I was going back primarily to tell Thomas and Lauren our news but I was also determined to make this trip full of memories. I was looking forward to showing my home to her.
I waited while she hugged Freddie and Chrissie and she was taking my hand again as we made our way throughDepartures.
“Are you excited?” I asked her as we made our way through the groups of people.
“I am.” She led me to a coffee shop and as we took a seat, I saw that she was biting her bottom lip.
“What is it?” I asked her. I placed our clasped hands on the table and rubbed my thumb across her knuckles. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.” I cocked an eyebrow at her disbelievingly and she rolled her eyes at me in response. “I’m nervous,” she said while shrugging her shoulders self-consciously.
“What? Why?” I asked. “Why would you be nervous?”
“They are your family. I want them to like me.” She sounded like a lost little girl as she said that.
“They will love you.” I tightened my grip on her hand and brought her knuckles to my lips. “Trust me. You’re impossible to not love.”
She smiled at me and I wanted my words to erase any doubt she had. She still didn’t understand how much she had changed things. She could never erase my past and the trauma of a bomb going off and making me partially deaf but she had changed my future. She had taken the scared, medically discharged soldier and turned him into a man that now knew what he wanted.
I wanted a future with her, a family. I wanted us to have at least three children and for them all to have her grace and the ability to chase their dreams. More than anything, I wanted us to be happy and that all lay with her. Her love for me made me finally know what I wanted to be. I now knew what I wanted to do and the first step on that path was introducing her to Thomas and Lauren. I wanted them to love her just as much as Luke did.
* * *
Ihad expected the plane ride to be longer and it most likely would have been but with Isobel, she made sure to keep me entertained. She had a playlist for us on her iPod, TV episodes downloaded to her tablet and after I had turned down her offer to join the mile high club, she had broken out a pack of cards where she schooled me in the game ofgin rummy.
I grabbed her hand as the plane began to descend. I hated plane rides for this exact reason. I was okay during takeoff and while the plane was up in the air but touchdowns always made me nervous.
She turned her palm over and entwined our fingers. “Are you okay?” she asked in a quiet tone.
I closed my eyes and nodded my head while gritting my teeth. I pushed my head back against the headrest and waited until the plane’s wheels landed safely. As the plane taxied up the runway, I blew out a breath and opened my eyes. I expected her to tease me but she just looked at me with concern.
“I’m okay.” I leaned over and kissed her.
“I didn’t know that you were afraid of planes.”
“I’m not.” I chuckled as the plane came to a stop. “I’m afraid of falling to my death.” I grinned at her and unclipped my seat belt as the sign lit up to tell us all that it was safe to do so. “Ships sink but I can swim.”
She giggled at me when I said that. “Good point. You’d need wings if the plane took a nose-dive.”
I laughed as she said that and I quickly stood and held my hand out for her to take. She quickly did so and stepped out into the aisle in front of me. I grabbed her bag from the overhead compartment and as she placed it on her shoulder, I moved my hands to her hips and followed her as we joined the line of passengers.
I kept her hand in mine as we departed the plane and during the whole walk toArrivals. I had no intention of letting her go in these crowds. While we waited for the conveyor belt to bring our luggage around, I could feel her fidgeting at my side.
“Hey.” She raised her face to mine and I could see that the tenseness had returned to her features. “We talked about this.” I squeezed her hand in mine. “Stop worrying. They are going to love you.” I leaned down and kissed her softly. “Luke, Nina and James love you. Thomas and Lauren won’t be any different.”
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too.” I leaned down and kissed her again before we were interrupted by the conveyor belt starting back up. “Wait here and I’ll grab our bags.”
I stepped up to the front of the line and waited patiently. After a few minutes and still no bags, I turned around to take a quick glance and froze when I saw the man behind me checking her out. I expected to feel a little jealous at the sight of another man checking out my woman but as I watched the way her ass hugged those jeans, I couldn’t blame him.
She turned around as we both continued checking her out. She looked straight at me, not even noticing the other man watching her and blew me a kiss, following it up with a flirtatious wink.
I chuckled and as I turned back around to face the conveyor belt. After only a short moment, our bags came around—mine green and hers pink—and after grabbing them, I was back at her side.
“Ready to face the music?” She grabbed the handle of her bag and pulling it behind her on its wheels, I watched as she straightened her shoulders and gave me her megawatt winning smile.
“Let’s do this.”