Chapter Fourteen
Author's Note: I wasn't going to write this chapter….I figured I'd leave Jordan's "Welcome Home, Farm Boy" greeting alone and let the reader's imagination take the rest of the story wherever they wanted it to go. But I got more e-mails telling me that if I did that, people were going to be disappointed. And I hate to disappoint…so here's the ending….and if you're not crazy about it, don't read this chapter. End with chapter thirteen.
Many, many thanks to the folks that review me. You keep me going. Now please supply me with a few ideas…My muse has taken a vacation (long over due, but I love writing W/J stories…after teaching physics and language arts all day, it frees my mind).
Special thanks to JBwriter….you keep me on track (SMILE).
"You moved your office," Woody stated as he entered the morgue later to pick up Jordan's preliminary reports on the homicide she was at with him earlier today.
"Yeah," she replied, digging the reports out from under the stack on her desk.
"Why?"
"I found myself staring at too many memories when I saw the couch." Her new office only had room for a couple of chairs.
"Oh." Woody ran his hand down the back of his head, and looking around…so much had changed. Her office. Her. Him. Them.
"Here you go…the reports?" Jordan said, bringing his mind back to the present.
"Uh, thanks…sort of like old times, isn't it?"
Jordan sat on the edge of her desk facing him. "Sort of. Why'd you come home, Woody?"
"You asked me to…"
"Was it just because of that?"
He walked up to her…unsure of just how much Jordan would welcome his closeness….she had said she wanted him to come home, but countered it in terms that indicated she was over the hurt he had caused her…not that she wanted him back to pick up their relationship where they left off.
"No, Jo. It wasn't. I was hoping that…maybe someday…if you want to…we could try to be friends again."
"I am your friend, Woody. Always will be."
He frowned. She wasn't getting it. "I mean…something more than friends," he finished gently. "The whole time I was gone in Springfield, my feelings for you didn't change. I still love you."
Jordan caught her breath. The whole time she had been pregnant…every time they had made love, he hadn't said that to her. "You love me?" she questioned, incredulously.
He looked puzzled. "Of course. Didn't you know?"
"You never said it…I just assumed that you were staying with me because of the baby."
"No, Jordan…I love you. I thought I showed that to you."
She got up off the side of her desk and closed the distance between them. "A girl likes to hear it, Farm Boy."
"I love you, Jordan Cavanaugh."
She closed her eyes for a minute, letting the words sweep over her.
"I'd kind of like to know how you feel, too." Woody said, interrupting her thoughts.
Her whiskey brown eyes opened and looked into his blue ones. "I've loved you for a long time, Woody. I've just been too afraid to admit it…scared that you'd leave me…for good. Everyone I've ever loved has left me at one time or another…but that's a risk I'm willing to take with you."
"I'll never leave you again…I'm sorry I left after the miscarriage, but you were so distant…I couldn't break through, and I thought that if I left, you wouldn't be reminded of everything…everyday. You could get on with your life."
"I can't do that without you in my life."
Woody gently put his hands around her waist. "So what do we do now, Jordan?"
"There's no couch in my office now," she teased, lightly tracing his cheek with her finger.
"We could borrow Nigel's office…he has a couch," he teased back.
"Ewww….no. No telling what's happened on that couch."
"Then here's what I suggest," he continued, pulling her closer. "You mentioned time heals all wounds…let's just give ourselves some time…see where we go…and not rush anything. What do you say?"
"I think that's a good idea," she replied somewhat breathlessly, as one of his hands skated up her back to pull her fully against him and his lips sought hers. It was a sweet kiss, completely chaste, but full of promises that only time could fulfill.