Page 66 of More With You

“No, it’s not. But you’ve got to understand; where I come from, we’re told the south is full of things that’ll try to kill you: snakes, sharks, alligators.”

“My mother.” He chuckles, clearly forgetting that we’ve got a meeting with her later this afternoon. I delayed it by a day, wanting to give us one whole day to enjoy as newlyweds. It was a pretty good day, if I say so myself: breakfast at The Beach Pit, followed by a walk through the wilderness trail; crawfish at Lucky’s for lunch, then a nap for Grace and a “nap” for me and Ben. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, before a barbecue for dinner, bedtime stories by Grace, and a long, intense night of Ben and I exploring each other in the way newlyweds are supposed to. Grace slept through any “strange sounds,” but I’ll probably be conscious of her accidentally bursting in, for a long while to come.

“Don’t worry,” Ben adds. “We rarely get gators around here.”

“Snakes?” I raise an eyebrow.

“We don’t get them, either.” He pauses, mischief glinting in his eyes. “Except in the water.”

I scream so loud that the stoic blue heron, always stalking the reeds opposite, takes flight in alarm. Wriggling out of Ben’s arms, I try to struggle to the shore of the inlet, but he grabs me and pulls me back into a tight hug. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Relax. You’re safe with me.”

“Do you swear?” I watch the water like a hawk.

He nods. “On my heart.”

“I hope you know; your mom probably is going to kill me.” I allow myself to relax. Ben’s way bigger than me. If something comes slithering along, they’ll take a bite out of him first. As long as I keep clinging to him, I’ll be safe, just like he said.

He laughs, but it’s tight in his throat. “She won’t. She’ll kill me.” He turns a slow circle, the water dragging against my legs. “I don’t want you to worry about that, or anything. I… uh… spoke to a few people today.”

“People?”

“My accountant, my lawyer, a few others,” he says sheepishly. I smell a rat.

“You shouldn’t keep secrets from your wife.”

He sighs. “No, but I don’t want you to kill me. Leave that for my mom.”

“What do you mean?” I tilt my head to one side, seeking the answer in his nervous expression. Clearly, he’s done something he wasn’t supposed to.

“I paid your grandma’s bills.” He swallows loudly. “Just for six months. After that, once you’re settled in a new job, you can go ahead and pay for it yourself, just like you were doing, or you can ask me to keep paying. Either is fine by me. I wanted it to be a kind of… wedding present.”

My jaw drops. I don’t know whether to smack him in the arm or plant a smacker on his lips. Although, part of me knows I should’ve expected something like this. He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to let the woman he loves struggle through her difficulties alone, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked me to marry him.

“That’s…” I do the math as quick as I can, “fifty-thousand dollars, Ben!”

He shrugs. “I had some of my grandpa’s inheritance left. It was gathering dust.” He hesitates. “Just in case you were worried that it’d come from my mother and father.”

“I’m worried that it’s fifty-thousand dollars and you’ve got a daughter. Please, tell me that wasn’t part of her inheritance or something?” I don’t know how that sort of thing works, since wills aren’t a thing in my family and inheritance is a non-existent notion.

He shakes his head. “She’s got the rest of my grandpa’s money, and a trust fund that my mother and father have set up. Even if I took fifty-thousand from her inheritance, which I haven’t, she’d still be a multi-millionaire when she hits twenty-one.”

“Whoa.” I need a minute. To my childhood and current self, that’s beyond my comprehension. “I guess we should’ve talked finances before we got married, huh? All you’re getting is debt.”

He smooths his hand up my back, loosening the knot of my bikini top. “You can talk to my accountant whenever you like. He’ll tell you everything. Any money I have is ours, now. So, I guess you’re stuck with a comfortable life.” He laughs. “And when I’m dead, which will be long before you, because I’m not going to be the one living without you, you’ll have a very comfortable retirement. Sucks to be you.”

“Yet, you want to drag me into the shark-infested waters of your parents’ house? Did you take a life insurance policy out in my name? Is this a scam?” I raise an amused eyebrow, more in love with this man than ever. I know he’s not going to back down on this, but he’s given me the choice of continuing to fend for my grandma alone. A gesture I appreciate. In all honesty, I can feel the weight of so many years, fighting tooth-and-nail by myself, sloughing away from my shoulders. Even if I keep paying for my grandma out of my pocket, there’s a reassurance in knowing that he’ll always be there to help, if there comes a month when I struggle.

He unfastens the knot at the nape of my neck, swiping the bikini top away. “You’re right. Terrible idea. But sadly, I can’t do anything about my parents. Why wouldn’t I want them to know that I married the woman I love?” He wades back through the water with me, carrying me up onto the inlet.

Picking his way through grass and rocks, to the flat expanse of sand, he lays me down on the patchwork of towels that I arranged earlier. His mouth is on mine in a heartbeat, hot and heavy and tasting of salt and summer. I kiss him back, wrapping my legs around his waist once more, pulling him flush against me.

“Don’t think you can… distract me with…” I trail off into a gasp, as he grasps my bikini bottoms and slides them down my legs. Let’s face it, he can distract me, and he is. Honestly, I don’t mind. We’ve got half an hour until Grace needs to be woken up, and I’m planning to make the most of every second.

I tug down his board shorts, grateful for the barrier of shrubs and bushes and trees that hide the inlet from the road and any accidental bystanders. Our mouths move in a desperate hunger, our bodies undulating to the same rhythm, as if this might be our last time. It won’t, but there’s a thrill to thinking it might be, especially with Mr. and Mrs. DuCate awaiting our surprise revelation.

A moment later, we’re breaths and moans and gasps on the breeze, joined together in one future, one union, one promise of forever. For the first time in my life, I have something worth holding onto, and I swear to the fates that brought us together that I’m never, never letting go.

BEN

---