Chapter Twelve

I Do

They overslept the next morning. Badly.

After spending the night wrapped in each others arms…when they finally did go to sleep, they slept soundly…so soundly that Woody's cell phone alarm went unheard, unheeded, and unanswered. Instead, he woke suddenly around ten and nearly had to drag Jordan out of bed in order to make their plane at noon.

Two hours…two hours left alone in that cabin and not one word was said about the previous night. There was an unvoiced awkwardness in their movements…the furtive looks they would give each other when they thought the other wasn't looking.

But no words of endearment…passion…love….

He must regret it, after all, thought Jordan as they sat on the plane together, flying back to Boston. Back to their jobs. Back to their old lives. Woody was dozing in his seat, still not having uttered one word to her about last night.

Last night. Jordan closed her eyes are relived the memory. Woody had carried her upstairs, ignoring her protests about hurting his back. He had slowly let her slide to her feet in front of him once he got in the bedroom and had kicked the door closed.

Then he had reached for her again, kissing her until the room spun. Jordan had no idea that just the simple act of kissing could make her head turn like a top. And when he knew she couldn't string two coherent thoughts together, he had just as slowly reached for the end of the sheet that had been tucked between her breasts and pulled it free, letting the material fall in a soft puddle at her feet.

The cold air in the room had made her gasp at first. But the look in his eyes had warmed her. He had pulled her closer, kissed her again, and then tugged her to the bed.

Jordan had no second thoughts…no urge to run…Her thoughts had only been of him…and loving him. She wrapped her arms around him in surrender and urged him on …and just when she thought it couldn't get any better, it did. She found her body responding in ways to Woody that she had never dreamed of.

Until finally sleep had claimed both of them.

And then the cold, gray, light of dawn brought on a rushed effort to get back to Boston. Jordan sighed as she looked at the sleeping detective beside her. They were still married…legally and in everyway now. She was wondering if he had thought of that when the air steward came on the intercom and announced they were landing in Boston.

Woody pushed the curtains aside and looked out the window of his apartment as he took a long sip of the Scotch that was in his glass. He had done it. He had solved the case – determined who had poisoned the heroin and why. Arrests had been made. Justice prevailed.

He let the curtain fall back down over the window. He really wasn't watching the landscape anyway. He was thinking about the other ramifications of this case.

He had made Jordan his wife. In every sense of the word. Several times, if his memory served him correctly. God knows, his body remembered…it was already responding to the thought of her warm body wrapped around his…her soft sighs…the feel of her lips…

But somehow, the things he had wanted to tell her afterwards just got caught in his throat. He was blaming it on the fact that they had overslept. The rush for the plane. The exhaustion that he gave into on the flight.

Then the chaos at both of their offices once they got back. They had parted ways – he went to the nineteenth precinct and she was called into the morgue. He had slipped his wedding ring off in his pants pocket while at work, but found himself putting it on again once the day was over.

He remembered his confusion at the end of his shift when he went back out to his car and didn't know where to go…her apartment or back to his. After all, they were still married…but somehow, a "Honey, I'm home," statement just didn't sound right for them yet…They hadn't talked about last night. As a matter of fact, the last time they had really discussed the marriage was on the lawn of Antioch Church in Coldwater. It wasn't supposed to be permanent. It was just a temporary fix…to help his back.

So, he drove back to his apartment. And waited for a call from her that never came. He had tried her apartment, but only got the answering machine. Ditto for her cell phone. It went straight to voicemail.

Tomorrow, he vowed. Tomorrow we're going to talk this thing over…and find out exactly where we're at…are we divorcing…or maybe, just maybe she wants to keep my ring and my name…

Tomorrow didn't come for several days. Parker Lowell Thomas was extradited to Boston to stand trial for the five deaths in that city. In a plea bargain for his knowledge, he had ratted out several higher ups in the drug chain.

Woody had been kept busy with warrants, arrests, and all the paper trails that followed the aftermath of a drug sting.

And then homicide had welcomed him back with open arms. His life was back on track…back to where he wanted it….

Only a certain whiskey-eyed medical examiner was strangely absent. The few times he had chance the morgue, she hadn't been there. And he had been too chicken so far to try her apartment.

He was still wearing his wedding ring at home during the evenings. It stayed in his pocket during the day, where he could finger it…it was a tangible link to what they had. Once he was back at his apartment, he'd slip it on…look at it…and remember.

Finally the Thomas case slowed down a little…he made the transaction back to homicide…and simply couldn't stand it any longer. That Friday night, he drove to her Pearle Street apartment. He had checked…she wasn't on call.

A strident knocking on the door woke her up. It had been a hard week…one of the longest she could remember. She was making up for lost time at the morgue…and desperately trying to put her wedding ring in perspective. She was still Mrs. Woodrow Wilson Hoyt…but hadn't heard anything out of her husband all week.

Not that she was looking to. She was pretty sure he regretted what had happened between them…and was looking to get rid of her as soon as possible…

Her heart, which had never fully disengaged itself from him, was back at that precipitous place of breaking all over again. She didn't know how he would react if he knew how much she wanted to keep his name and his ring that she wore on a chain around her neck, underneath her shirt.

Now the banging on her door brought her out of her sleep and dreams of him…she had been dozing on the couch. "Woody?" she asked when she opened her door and saw him propped against the door frame.

"Hi…honey…I'm home?" he said, hoping to keep the atmosphere light until he could gauge her emotions.

A smile flitted across her face. "Have a hard day, dear?" she joked back.

"It was a hard week…" he replied pulling away from the door way to stand in front of her. "May I come in?"

"Sure." Jordan moved aside to let him through. Woody wandered inside and stopped at the end of her kitchen bar, turned, and faced her.

"I'm back in homicide," he said softly, his hands in his pockets. Somewhere along the day, he had left his suitcoat in his office and his tie was loose around his neck.

"Good for you. I'm so glad ….I know how badly you wanted it," she said, clasping her hands in front of her and smiling at him.

"Thanks…but I couldn't have done it without you, Jo."

She shook her head. "You had a pretty strong case without me, Farm Boy."

An awkward silence followed…both of them looking each other over, like wary prize fighters, both wanting to win but waiting for the first jab to be thrown at them. Finally it was Jordan who made the first move. "I called Kim's office Tuesday when we got in…"

"Kim?"

"My friend that's a lawyer…"

"Oh…"

"She's on vacation in St. Thomas. She won't be back for two weeks…I'll call her as soon as she gets back." Woody's still looked like he wasn't following her train of thought. "You know…a divorce…." she said softly and slowly.

"Yeah…a divorce….I guess that's the best thing…I mean we can't get an annulment now.."

"No …not since we slept together…"

"Even though only we know that we did …still…I guess we need to make sure it's all legal…" Woody continued.

Another awkward pause. Woody shifted his weight from foot to foot and Jordan carefully examined the patterns on her carpet. Finally she sighed and pulled the chain with the ring on it from around her neck. She unclasped the necklace and slid the ring off. "I guess you'll be wanting this back." She held the ring out. Woody finally took it in his outstretched hand. "I mean…you can't get your money back from Mrs. Thomas for the ring, but I guess you could pawn it…and I'll make up the difference. That's the only right thing to do," Jordan said, turning away from him so he wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.

But he heard the catch in her voice. Jordan no more wanted out of this marriage than he did.

"You know what?" he finally asked.

Oh please don't say you want me to keep the damn ring…I want it out of my sight…I don't need to remember something I was never meant to have in the first place…" she thought. Then was startled out of her thoughts when she felt Woody's fingers tighten around her wrist and turn her to him, opening her palm in the process.

"You know…" he said.

God, no…Jordan just knew his next words were going to be just keep it…She closed her eyes waiting on the impact.

"Put it on…"

Jordan opened her eyes wide and looked at him in disbelief.

"You heard me. Put it on. It's obvious that you want this marriage just as much as I do."

Jordan felt his arms encircle her waist…vaguely….far off from somewhere…she continued to hear him talk. "I've missed you more than I thought it was possible to miss anyone these past several days, Jordan. I guess what I'm trying to say is…I want you to keep on being my wife…that is…if you want to.."

"If I want to?" she asked, still not sure she heard right, but was glad her head was now resting on his chest.

"Yeah…" his voice rumbled low and even in her ear. "Do you want to, Jordan? Do you still want to be my wife?"

Looking up into his blue eyes, she whispered, "I do…" and felt Woody slip the ring back on her finger.

"Then what are we waiting on? We've wasted too much time for too many years…"