Love Under Two Jessops (33 page)

“We’re going to have such a good life together, Chloe-doe.”

“Yes, I believe that we are.” She could see the future stretching out before her, a future that held good days and bad. She had no rose-colored glasses when it came to life. She knew that bad things could happen, and at some point, probably would.

But she also knew that
here
, right here with these men, there was a sanctuary, a sacred place where the three of them, together, became more than they could ever be, apart.

“What are you thinking right now?” Grant asked.

Chloe grinned. “I was just thinking what a lucky woman I am. I get to spend the rest of my life making love under two Jessops. And that’s the best Valentine’s gift—or any kind of a gift—any woman could have at any time,
ever
.”

Grant caressed her face and then leaned over her and kissed her. “We’re the lucky ones,” he said.

“We are,” Andrew said. “And we’re going to happily spend the rest of our lives showing you how grateful we are to have you.”

It sounded like a damn good deal to her.

She hadn’t had a party thrown in her honor since her Sweet Sixteen, and that was oh, so long ago.

Chloe accepted the fact that as fond a memory as that last party was for her, this one was going to be an even better one.

Lusty Appetites
was officially closed for business on this first Saturday in March, but the place certainly wasn’t empty. Standing on either side of her, and in front of the large table moved to the right of the door especially for tonight, Chloe knew that here was another new chapter opening for her.

“What has you smiling so wide, there, Chloe-doe? Aside from the fact that you’re engaged to marry the two of us?”

Andrew could be so funny sometimes—especially when he pretended to be conceited, which, of course, he was not. “I was just thinking that tonight is a kind of another new beginning for me. Like I’m now a member of the families of Lusty.”

Her men looked at each other, and she wondered what they would have said if another voice, soft, almost melodic, and already beloved, hadn’t spoken.

“Sweetheart, you’ve been a member of the families since you came to live here.”

Chloe hadn’t seen her approach, and didn’t hesitate to reach for her honorary grandmother. Kate Benedict possessed a strong, dedicated hug that belied her ninety-two years.

“Grandma Kate! You’ve certainly
always
made me feel as if I belong here. But tonight—I don’t know, it feels as if tonight it’s official.”

The nonagenarian patted her cheek. “Sometimes, it takes a while for head knowledge to become heart knowledge,” Kate said. “You’ve been a blessing to us since the first moment you stepped foot in this town. I know you don’t like to talk about it, but the truth is you saved the life of one of our own—and that made
you
one of our own.”

“Thank you. Thank you for accepting me as a member of your family. After too many years, I know now that I’m finally home.”

Kate’s smile bloomed bright and sweet. “You’re more than welcome, sweetheart. And yes, Lusty is your home now, as much as it’s anyone’s.”

“Amen to that.”

Adam Kendall came in to the restaurant with his family and obviously heard what Kate had just said. Chloe blushed, as she always did when faced with Adam’s gratitude. He hugged her, and then passed her to Jake. He and Ginny each held one of the twins, and Chloe wasted no time in relieving Jake of the baby he held, after he gave her a one-armed hug.

“That’s Martin,” Benny said. He came to stand beside Chloe and watched carefully as she held his little brother.

Clearly the young Mr. Kendall—Benny’s adoption had become official just after Christmas—took his duties as big brother quite seriously.

“Hello, Martin. Look how you’ve grown!”

“They are, both of them—
all
of them, growing so fast,” Ginny amended as she looked down at Benny.

Chloe hugged Ginny and then tickled Nick’s little chin. He began to make fussy sounds and Ginny sighed. “I wanted to feed him before we left the house, but he wasn’t interested
then
.”

Kate cooed over the babies, and by their reaction to her voice, Chloe knew that Kate must be a regular visitor to the Kendall home. “You boys need to get Ginny a seat and then a nice cup of tea,” Kate said.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Jake said.

Chloe turned Martin back over to his father, and watched the very loving family move further into the dining room. Benny sat beside his mother, his attention rapt. Jake sat on the other side of her, and Adam went off, likely in search of some tea for his wife.

Grandma Kate turned her attention to Grant and Andrew. “You’ve got yourselves a wonderful woman, here, gentlemen.”

She giggled like a schoolgirl when each of them in turn hugged her, lifting her off her feet.

“Thanks, Grandma Kate, for watching out for our girl before we had the privilege to do so ourselves,” Grant said.

“I knew she was meant for the two of you, that very first time I set eyes on her.”

Kate made her way over to a table in the back where both Tracy Alvarez-Kendall and Julia Benedict James-Wakefield were surrounded by their husbands. Their very worried-looking husbands, Chloe thought. Both women were a week past their due dates, and looking as big with child as Chloe had ever seen any pregnant woman look, ever.

Julia had confided earlier, when she’d arrived, that David Jessop had detected more than one heartbeat early on in her pregnancy. Her eyes had twinkled when she said that she and David both believed she was carrying triplets, but that she hadn’t shared that insight with her men.

“Navy SEALs, you’d think they’d be fearless. But nothing could be farther from the truth. When they heard David say “more than one heartbeat” they immediately assumed he meant twins and went into panic mode. They’ve been in panic mode ever since—and that was six months ago!”

“They’re men,” Tracy had said. “Mine are just as bad, and I’m only having one!”

“I don’t know,” her friend had chided, “you look awfully darn big to be carrying just one baby.”

Chloe still wanted to laugh now, a half hour later, at the way Jordan and Peter, who’d overheard Julia’s comment, had all but carried Tracy to her seat. And then she did laugh when both men rushed over to intercept Lusty’s ob-gyn just as he came into the restaurant—presumably to ask him why Tracy’s baby bump was as large as that of a woman carrying “twins.”

“It’s kind of funny,” Grant said, “watching all our big, strong, he-man type cousins falling apart because of a baby.”

His mother laughed, indicating she heard what Grant just said. She, James, and Adam Jessop had come in behind their eldest sons.

“You just wait, boyo,” Pamela Jessop said. She hugged Chloe, then turned her maternal gaze on her sons. “Your time will come. Then we’ll see how calm, cool, and collected a couple of big, strapping firemen can be when their wife is carrying their child.”

Chloe grinned. The sight of otherwise sober men acting like nervous Nellies around their pregnant wives was something she’d seen time and again. “It always seems to level the men, when their women carry their children. Pregnancy is so natural, and yet
so
unsettling to them.”

“We’re both doctors,” Adam Jessop said, “and yet every time our Pammy was expecting, we felt the miracle of it. A man’s always humbled in the face of such a miracle.”

Chloe hugged her future fathers-in-law and grinned when they in turned hugged their sons.

“You’ve picked a good woman,” James Jessop said. “We’ll be keeping an eye out that you treat her right.”

“I don’t have anything to worry about,” Chloe said. “They spoil me rotten as it is.”

“There is no spoiling,” Adam Jessop said. “There’s only cherishing, which is as it should be.”

Chloe just shook her head, smiling, as her future in-laws moved off. “That sounds like something my dad would have said.”

“It did.” Carrie stepped forward, as she and her husbands, Chase and Brian Benedict were next in line. “You know, it’s the strangest thing. But since getting married, and settling down, and daring to think about the past, I’ve begun to remember stuff I’d forgotten.”

Chloe held her sister’s hands. “I’m so glad. I have such wonderful memories of Mom and Dad. You deserve to have some those memories, too.”

“We need to talk more about them.” Carrie’s expression turned serious. “I know you tried to, with me, before. And I always put you off.”

“You weren’t ready,” Chloe said. “Now you are. Maybe I’ll sit down and write a memoir. Something we can both read, and maybe pass on to whatever children we have.”

“I would love that, big sister.” Carrie hugged her again. “We’re closer than we’ve been in ages, and I’m so glad of that. And you’re going to be living right here in Lusty.”

Chloe guessed her refusal to think in terms of home, before, bothered her sister more than she knew.

Chase and Brian both hugged her, and then joked with her men. They were not only cousins, but good friends as they’d apparently spent a lot of time in each other’s company, growing up.

Samantha Kendall and Abigail Benedict had come into the restaurant ahead of their husbands, and had been waiting behind her sister.

Samantha Kendall wrapped her arms around Chloe. When she stood back, she cupped her cheek. “You’ll be coming shopping with us in the spring,” she said. “We’re going to take one of the jets to New York City, and hit the stores.”

She’d already been told of the massive event being planned for the first week of April, right after Easter. “I’ve never been much of a shopper.”

“That’s what your sister said,” Abigail said, nodding toward Carrie, who was grabbing a seat with Kelsey, Matt, Steven, and little Amanda Rose. “I’ll tell
you
what I told
her
. We’ll teach you all you need to know about shopping. We’ll make experts of you in no time!”

“I think the best part about that trip will be spending time with y’all.” Chloe grinned. “That, I’m
really
looking forward to.”

“You sound just like our Ginny,” Samantha said.

Their husbands came in next, and Chloe thought she was getting rather used to getting hugs from every quarter. Every single one of the older men who greeted her welcomed her to the family and then gave Grant and Andrew admonishing stares and orders to “treat her right.” When she frowned at one point, Grant laughed and hugged her himself. “It’s family tradition,” he said. “I was actually looking forward to that part of tonight.”

Chloe supposed it had to do with continuity, and if anyone could understand the allure of continuity, she certainly could.

Someone turned up the CD player that Kelsey had recently added to the restaurant, replacing the radio she’d used previously. She smiled as the sounds of Luke Bryan’s
Tailgates & Tanlines
CD began to play.

“Our turn, finally.” David Jessop and his brother Robert approached and bestowed hugs on her and those painful-looking backslaps—that men always seemed to give each other—on her fiancés.

“Welcome to the family,” David said. He looked up at his two younger brothers, who were both taller than he. “You did good. Didn’t they, Robbie?”

“Amazingly so. They don’t deserve you, of course, Chloe. We’ll be sure to remind them of that fact every now and again. Just to keep them on their toes, and walking the straight and narrow.”

“I don’t know.” Now that Chloe understood this teasing was tradition, she eagerly joined right in. “I’m pretty sure that
I’m
the lucky one in this relationship.”

Jillian grinned and hugged her. Chloe was already good friends with the newlywed—enough that she’d been learning about what life with a couple of Doms was really like—and what all,
exactly
, they did when they visited that club in Houston.

As Chloe had thought, more than once, she wasn’t interested in being a sub. But there were things she’d been hearing about that might make for some intriguing bedroom games.

“Another sister!” Rebecca grinned as she joined them. “I think I like having sisters.”

Chloe didn’t know the youngest of the Jessops all that well yet. Rebecca’s being an artist, and living out at the cabin for the time being, meant she didn’t get to see a great deal of her almost sister-in-law. Still, they’d had lunch together a couple of times, and Rebecca had come in for a pedicure the first day the spa had opened.

Chloe nodded toward her right front hip, above her jeans.

Rebecca had gone to see Seth Carter over in Divine and had indeed gotten a tattoo. The work had been completed about a week and a half before.

“How’s the tat healing?” Chloe asked.
The black vines looked intriguing and Chloe looked forward to the day Rebecca showed her what she’d had done.

“It’s itchy as sin. I can hardly wait until this particular stage is over.” She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a small tube of moisturizer. “Meet my new best friend, Lubriderm.” She wrinkled her nose. “Robert got all Super-Doc big brother on me when he heard I was getting the tattoo, until I told him who was doing the work. Then he was all, ‘okay, fine, you have my blessings,’ with it. So thanks for the recommendation—even if there is a part of me that would have loved to have picked someone Robert didn’t already know about.” And then, as if something just occurred to her, she said, “By the way, how
did
he know about Seth Carter?”