I'm so excited about this! I just LOVED the last book! I really hope that you enjoy this story!
1.
"Why?" Zach asked again. "Why isn't the other house good enough for you?"
I smiled and shifted Josephine slightly in my arms. "I already told you. There are people that are bound to know that Joe has a residence somewhere near there. I wanted away. For her." I looked down at the daughter in my arms and smiled. It was my job to protect her from anything that could cause her harm. And I was taking that job very seriously.
He sighed and continued to unpack the books and put them onto the shelf. "And I suppose it's out of the question for you to unpack these while I hold Josephine?"
I smiled and once again looked down at my beautiful daughter. "She's only two weeks old, Zach. I just can't relinquish her for that long yet. Call me selfish."
"You're selfish," he muttered under his breath, but he smiled as he said it.
"Not so selfish that I won't spare you a bottle of water," I told him. We had gotten every room unpacked and settled except for the living room, and that would be done in an hour or so. "I'll go get one."
"Thanks."
I made my way to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, and headed back into the living room where Zach was shoving the last book into place. "There."
"Very nice," I told him and handed him the cold water.
"What else would you say?" he asked as he unscrewed the cap. "You can't complain; otherwise you'd have to do it."
I reached out and ruffled his hair. "You know you wouldn't make me do that." I was the wife of the man he adored, which made him adore me as if by association. He would do anything I asked and he would do it with a smile. He was like my little brother, even though we were closer in age than Joe and I were.
"Test me," he said with a wink.
Josie woke up and began to cry softly. She was a surprisingly good baby, though; she rarely cried. When she did cry, it was because she needed to be changed or fed, and when that was over, she grew quiet. It was easier than I had thought it would be. "I'll go change her."
"Good," Zach said and turned to the next box. "I wasn't about to offer."
I laughed as I moved down the hall and into the room that I had given to my new daughter. Zach had helped me paint the walls a soft green color and he'd assembled the crib and the changing table all by himself. I had found the rocking chair in an IKEA store that I had insisted on going to. I had tons of money stored up from my assassin missions, so why not use it on family?
I set my daughter down and as I began to change her diaper, I thought about my husband. Joe. It had been two weeks since the explosion and he hadn't woken up yet. Of course, I wasn't going to give up hope. He was my husband and I would be faithful and loving to him all of the days of my life. But sometimes the thought did cross my mind… But, no, I wasn't going to think that. He couldn't die. Not a man like him. He wouldn't die and leave Josie and me all alone. He just wouldn't.
I finished putting on the new diaper and my daughter looked up at me with wide, curious eyes the exact shade of her father's. I choked up a little bit as I pulled her gently up into my arms and held her close, fighting back the tears. It had only been two weeks, after all; he could wake up anytime. And I had to hope for that. I had to.
I walked back out into the living room to find Zach pushing furniture around. The walls were red, and the furniture that I had purchased was black. Every room was different, vibrant and alive. I wanted my daughter to grow up in a house that was happy, not one like I had grown up in, depressing and silent. She would know the love that I had never known until I had met Joe.
"A little to the left," I told Zach in reference to the couch that he was pushing.
He looked at me and gave me a teasing grin. "Is this going to be like those cartoons where someone is moving something really heavy and the instructor tells them to move it a little to the left, a little more, a little to the right, and so on until it ends back up in its original position?"
I rolled my eyes but smiled. "Zach, I just want the couch a little to the left."
He pushed it.
I rolled my eyes. "My left."
He sighed and moved it the other way. I smiled. "Thank you."
He plopped down onto the couch that he had just moved and sighed. "Well, what's for supper?"
I raised an eyebrow. "What are you making?"
He sighed again and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. "I guess I should head back to the school. Check on Cammie…"
"Are you still upset that she won't run away with you?"
When he looked at me, I could see the pain in his eyes. "She doesn't understand, Katelyn. I could keep her safe."
"I know you could," I told him honestly, shifting my daughter in my arms. "But maybe Cammie thinks-"
"You ran away to be with Joe," he told me.
Joe. I missed him so very much. Stop that, I told myself sternly. He isn't dead and he isn't going to die. I looked at him and didn't care that a tear fell from my eye. Didn't care that I sounded broken. "I wasn't running away from anything then, Zach. I was running to."