Page 119 of Forever Fascinating

Jana clicked sendthe moment her brother walked in the kitchen with Matthew. Both were laughing and cutting up, shoving each other lightly, each holding a cup of spiked eggnog.

Oh yes, she knew it was spiked, because Matthew always got those slightly pink cheeks when he was tipsy, like in Greece with the Ouzo.

“No more eggnog for you…” she smiled knowingly, shaking her finger playfully at him.

“Everything okay?” Jace grinned. “You know, I don’t know how Matt does it, but I think the jerk is cheating at darts. There is no way someone is that good…”

“It’s called skill,” Matthew corrected, smiling. “Did you tell X-Ray and Em’ ‘Merry Christmas’from all of us? How are they doing?”

“Good,” she smiled. “I told him we’d send pictures of everyone in a few days and that I wanted to see some of them – I also told them to come visit again. It’s been too long.”

“Where’s Karen?” Jace said suddenly, looking around.

“Mom made a last-minute run to the grocery, and Karen said she had a few more things to pick up before we made gingerbread houses tonight. Claire just woke up from her nap, so the timing was good.”

Jace smiled happily, plopping down in a chair nearby, and Matthew did the same. Both men were obviously enjoying their time together and the holiday, because she was pretty sure her brother was loaded on eggnog too.

“You two are complete goobers…”

“It’s a holiday, Jana,” Jace muttered, fist bumping Matthew, and grinning. “Can’t we have a little fun too? I mean, sheesh, we barely get to see each other anymore since you two ended up in Mississippi.Duuuuude,” her brother drawled lazily. “You’ve got some terrible luck, Vapor…”

“Don’t I know it,” Matthew muttered, emphatically. “I almost got stuck with Ghazni again and can’t believe I got a billet for Kessler. Who wants to go to Newscom, anyhoooo… other than another Beantown boy wanting to go home? I’m just glad I got to pick fifth, because there were a few unhappy flyboys that day!”

“That was much too close, wasn’t it?” Jana agreed, meeting Matthew’s eyes and remembering that day.

He’d called her immediately after the selection process was over, so they could put their plan into place, never imagining they would end up in Mississippi after all. She had been looking at getting her license online for Louisiana, just in case… only to have to shift that focus due east.

Putting the house on the market was both painful and liberating, because it was giving them the freedom to move forward together as a couple.

Yes, their parents were in Massachusetts… but with her brother firmly entrenched in Texas, she knew someday that she would want to be much closer so she could get to know her baby niece a little better.

Claire was a little over a year old and the apple of her brother’s eye. Large dark eyes, golden blond hair, and those distinctive Sorensen dimples on the cheeks that both Jace and her father had, made her adorable.

Karen and Jace were so in love with their little girl, who was always dressed in sweet frilly gowns, complete with ruffled diaper covers that always seemed to match whatever she had on.

In fact, when Karen and her mom left for the grocery, Claire had been sporting a set of green and red ruffles on her bum, with white little tights, red fuzzy socks to keep her toes warm, and a little bright red velvet dress for Christmas.

“How was Cairo, you two?” Jace asked suddenly, looking between her and Matthew.

Their eyes met across the table – and she felt her heart swell in awareness, just like the first time she’d laid eyes on Matthew. Every smile, every time they laughed or kissed, it was magical between them.

Cairo had been an unexpected adventure between them, a last-minute escape, when airfare had dropped unexpectedly. They had been talking about taking another trip just to get away and reconnect, but there was always so much to do, places to go, people to see, or he couldn’t get off of work… something was always in the way – until Cairo.

No, those last-minute tickets had deposited them in the bustling city with each of them carrying a backpack only. Four days over Thanksgiving had them riding camels in the desert, sleeping in an alarmingly small hotel room overlooking the merchants in town, and taking a tour into one of the pyramids.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen.

The stars were so insanely bright in the midnight sky, and the pyramids were like silent monoliths in the distance. There was so much to see, so many museums, and truthfully? Soooo many people, that even both of them just needed to retreat to keep from being pawed or shoved by the crowd.

The trip also brought a turning point in their lives. They had started discussing having a child of their own eventually… stopping all birth control usage between them.

She adored Claire and the photos emailed to them from the rest of the team in Texas who had new children appearing all the time. Alpo and Glory’s twins were getting so big now and Valkyrie was sporting a child in each arm in the last photo. Firefly’s daughter with shockingly blond hair waved ‘hi’ to everyone for the picture. Even Reaper’s boy was in the photo with a very pregnant Sophie once again, making her remember Jace’s wedding and Matthew’s request of the picture to share with the pilot.

“Cairo was incredible,” Matthew said softly, reaching across the table to touch her hand. “I had no idea that I could love someone so much.”

“Uh, bro… we are talking about the city – not my sister.”

“Cairo was incredible, wasn’t it?” Jana replied, not acknowledging her brother, and couldn’t pull her eyes from her husband’s warm gaze.

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