Love Survives (50 page)

“Don’t make me stop, Brooks. We have all night.”

I corrected her, “No, Kat, we have forever.”

We flipped around again and I watched Kat sinking down between my legs. The idea of her tasting her own arousal on me sent me into a frenzy. I grabbed her body and pulled her up until her pussy was right in my face. From there I began my decent, licking and sucking until I felt her body spasming over mine.

After that I knew I was running out of time. I repositioned us, getting up on my knees to wrap her legs around my waist. There was no need to look down to enter her.

My pace was unhinged, provoked by my own desire to lose absolute control. I could feel my own rapture as I lost control over my actions, falling down when euphoria left me to explode inside of her.

Afterwards, I pulled her to lie on top of me. We kissed as she stroked my sensitive skin. I took her hand and kissed it gently. “I’ll move my clothes in tomorrow.”

Then I saw the smile I loved so much taking over her whole face.

Right before she started to fall asleep, I began laughing. Getting caught up in something she had said before.

“What’s so funny?” She asked.

“I was just thinking how you said I wouldn’t get any action on this bed.”

She let out an air-filled laugh and reached between my legs. “We’re just getting started.”

Chapter 59

September 11
^th
2013

“I can’t believe
it’s been twelve years,” Kat said as we stood together looking down at her parent’s headstones. B was running around Branch and Melissa with a small bouquet of yellow roses. Since it was also her birthday, she was dressed for the occasion.

I took Kat’s hand and squeezed it reminding her that she’d never have to do this alone. “They’d be proud of you.”

“I know they’re watching over us. In my heart, I know they gave us B. Her being born on the same date they left me can’t just be a coincidence.”

“It’s fate,” We heard my mom say as she and my dad made there way over to us. “It has to be.”

It took us a couple weeks to get over the shock of what my mother had told us. I still think there is a little animosity between she and Kat, not that they ever let anyone see it.

It took a call from my dad to help us see that we needed to put it all behind us. If he could forgive her, then so should we. For me, I was just angry she’d kept the truth from Kat, when I knew in the long run it had only helped her.

We all had skeletons in our closets and it wasn’t right to judge.

My brother came up behind us and put his hands on both Kat’s and my shoulder.

“I think it’s time we go back to the house and have sour beef and dumplings. The past two years Mom refused to make them, because you weren’t there, Katy. We had some craptastic chicken instead.”

“In my defense, it was an award winning recipe,” our mom added.

I turned my attention back to Kat. Not only was it already a special day for a couple reasons, but I had something else planned that I needed to tend to. It was a special surprise, one that required me to separate from my one and only for a little while. "I need to go get B's cake and pick up a surprise. Are you good riding with Mel back to the house in our car? Branch is going to drive me.”

My mom had ordered a cake from a fancy treats shop in the heart of the city and they’d decorated the entire back yard in balloons, including some floating in the pool. B hadn’t seen it yet, but Kat and I knew she was going to go crazy over it.

Since I’d recently been released from duty from the Army, I had been spending a lot of time job searching, amongst other things. Thankfully, I’d managed to get an offer I couldn’t refuse. The only stipulation was that I’d have to relocate. With the help of my father, I’d also been looking at homes in the area, hoping we could move back to where it all began. It was obvious that Kat didn’t want to live in a town where everyone treated her like crap. Personally, I hated it.

With having time off, it was easy to get caught up with my girls. B was the apple of my eye. I woke up every morning to her bright smile.

Buying her a ring was never in my plans. Unlike my brother, I knew what Kat wanted most in the world was to wear her mother’s wedding ring. Since it had been stored safely at my parent’s house for years, I knew exactly where to find it when I was ready to pop the question, and boy was I prepared. It was all part of a big surprise I had planned. With the help of my family I was pretty close to pulling it off. All I could hope for was that when I presented it to her, she’d say yes.

“Earth to Kat.” She finally looked up from the gravesite to see me waving my hand in front of her. “Do I get a kiss goodbye, or are you going to stand there in your weird trance?”

She raised her brows and leaned in. “Sorry.”

When a little peck wasn’t enough, I held the back of her head, shoving my tongue in her mouth for added result.

Branch started making gagging sounds. “Can we go before I puke?”

Kat pulled away and wiped off her face
while
B came running in my direction. “Daddy, I go.”

“Daddy’s got to get you a surprise. Go home with Mama and I’ll see you there. Okay?”

B stuck out her bottom lip. “No. I go with Daddy.”

I kissed my little girl on the forehead
and
turned to Kat for some assistance at getting away. Ever since the first night I moved in she’d made it impossible to go anywhere without her.

Once I was in the car with my brother, I took a deep breath before pulling away from the parking spot. “I’m nervous.”

“What for? You’ve been married to Katy in your mind since we were kids.”

“What if she’s not ready?”

“It’s not like you’re asking her to marry you today, Brooks. I’d be more worried about the other part of the surprise. I mean, you really went all out.”

I smirked thinking about how hard my parents and the contractors I hired had worked to get the house next door ready for the big reveal. As soon as I saw that it was up for sale, I knew she was meant to have it. Luckily I managed to get a good deal on it, plus we’d have built in babysitters at our disposal one house over.

I think the biggest part of the surprise was going to be our daughter’s room, which happened to be Kat’s. I needed every detail to be perfect, but still wondered if I’d gone a little overboard. I mean, who buys a house to propose in?

“Don’t fret. I’m sure she’ll say yes. Apparently you’re the man of her dreams.”

I chuckled to myself after what he said. Branch and I had been getting along better in the past month or so. I think it helped that Melissa and Kat had buried the hatchet. They spoke almost daily. Little B really loved them, and I wasn’t the type of brother to keep my family away from my daughter. She deserved to be loved by all of them.

Nearly twenty minutes after we left the cemetery, we pulled back up in front of the house. I carried the cake in, praying to God that all this wasn’t going to blow up in face and be a disaster. The last thing I needed was to make Kat upset in any way
though
I was nervous how she would handle being back in that house again after so long.

“Katy, Katy, Katy. You’re about to shit your shorts.” Branch taunted Kat, purposely to get to me. I flipped him my middle finger.

My mom tossed a dish rag in his direction
.
“Cut it out. You aren’t kids anymore. Let your brother have his moment for once.”

When I walked up to Kat and extended my hand, it was obvious she knew something major was about to happen. “Come with me,” I requested.

“Where are we going?” She asked.

“Close your eyes.”

Just to make sure she didn’t peek, I tied a handkerchief over her eyes to prevent her from seeing anything. “Seriously, what are you doing? Why can’t you show me inside?”

I kept pulling her along, walking her out of the house. “I have some surprises for you. The first one is that I wanted to tell you that I got a job. It’s a good one, Kat. I won’t ever have to travel and I’ll be home for dinner every night.”

We came to a stop as we were facing the front of her childhood home. “The next surprise you may not like, but I want you to hear me out before you say anything. I’ve spent a lot of time and money on it, but if you don’t like it, for any reason, I won’t get angry. Branch said he’d take it off of our hands.”

“Is it a car? Did you buy me a new car?”

I kept walking her toward the house, spinning her a few times to confuse her. Once we were standing at the threshold, I loosened the fabric from her eyes.

It only took Kat a few seconds to realize where we were. We walked inside, noticing right away how empty it was.

I didn’t give her time to look around
since
I was already leading her up the stairs. “Where are we going? Did you ask the realtor if you could see this place? I don’t understand.”

“We’re almost there. Keep walking.”

When we reached her old bedroom, I put my body in front of her before opening the door. I’d had a painter come in and put butterflies on the walls
and
added Brooklyn’s name in wooden blocks. We’d purchased furniture and rugs, matching the
décor
on the walls. To make the room suitable for our little princess, I’d gone all out and bought her a royal bed.

While she was taking it all in, I placed my hands on her shoulders.

“Kat, my job is here and so is our family. You don’t have to run anymore, so I thought if it’s okay with you, our daughter could grow up in the house that your parents built to raise you in. We can take old memories and make new ones with our own children. I know I took a huge leap, but I know you and I-”

She shoved her mouth against mine, preventing me from finishing. After a few minutes, I backed away. “
So,
it’s okay that I already bought it?”

She nodded. “Yes, it’s very okay. It’s the most beautiful present, aside from B, of course.”

I agreed. “Of course.”

Kat walked up to the pink four-poster bed. “It’s beautiful.”

“This room was all Mom and Dad. They hired someone to come in and make it perfect. Do you think she’ll like it?”

“She won’t want
to ever go
home.”

I could tell it had finally sunk in that we were going to have to move. Her other house would go for sale. “We can talk about it later.”

“No. We’ll sell it. I don’t even care how much I get for it. There’s not another house in the world that could mean as much as this one does to me. I don’t even know what to say right now.” I followed behind Kat as she made her way into her parent’s old bedroom. For several minutes she stood there as if she were reminiscing about them. I finally wrapped my arms around her. “I think they’re happy we’re here, Kat. They’re watching us, you know. I think they always have been.” I spun her around to be facing me. “I never told anyone this, but there were so many times that I could have died, that I should have died. I swear someone was keeping me safe while I was out there. Now I know for sure, that it was them. I think they brought us back together.”

“Thank you for waiting your whole life for me.”

I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. “Maybe in our next life you won’t make me wait so long,” I joked.

“Let’s enjoy this one first.”

I waited until the bedroom filled with people to get down on one knee. It was important that everyone was around for this. “There’s just one more thing, Kat.” I popped open the old velvet box and watched her eyes light up. As we stood in her parent’s room, I was proposing with the same ring her father had given to her mother.

“I’d very much like it if you had my name. What do you say, Kat? You think you might want to be my wife?”

She dropped to her knees and let me put the ring on her finger. She kept kissing me, all over my face. “Yes, of course.”

I could count on my hand the moments in my life that mattered to me. This was one of my top events. I’d never forget the way it felt to have her accept my proposal, or to hold my daughter while we celebrated it.

A little later, downstairs in the kitchen, we popped open a bottle of wine and each held up glasses. “Here’s to coming home.”

In unison the rest of the family announced, “cheers.”