So, for some strange reason some of my readers think that this marks the end of the book. Why on earth would you think that?

Read on, McDuff.

A special thanks to ..., Anniebellpink, BlindingDarkness1,

c a s e y c a m p l i n, First Generation Scot, icecreamsodapop,

and RandyKeithOrtonFan,

for adding me to you Favorite Stories list. You have made my day.

And

Last but not least, thank you toalli for breaking out of your shell! Happy graduation, college girl!

SURPRISES

"I'M READY TO SEE MY SURPRISE!" I said barely able to contain my excitement.

Ian escorted me towards the door. "Sit."

"Sit?"

"Please." I sat in the chair closest to the door. Nate came to us carrying a pair of my sneakers. Ian took off my heels and placed the sneakers on my feet."

"Where are we going?"

"For a walk."

"Where?"

"You'll see."

He pulled me to my feet and helped me to put on my long pea coat. He pulled out some gloves and handed them to me. He took a light scarf and wrapped it loosely around my head and neck like an Indian would wear. He put on his own coat and gloves and led me out the door as the crowd waved good bye to us.

We walked silently towards the cave.

"You're not going to bring me to Nate's room again, are you?"

"No."

We passed the cave and headed towards the ball field.

"It's too cold to make love on the ball field."

"I know that."

"Then where are we going?"

He stopped and turned to me. "You know you ask too many questions. Be quiet woman."

I didn't like being ordered around and I was bit put off by his attitude. We passed the field and went deeper into the woods.

"Do you remember when we watched the movie 'The Notebook'?"

"Yes, we were on shaky ground and I wasn't sure I would take you back. You sat next to me but you didn't touch me."

"Do you remember what I said?"

"No, I don't. I'm sorry."

He pointed into the woods. There was a light ahead.

"I said I'd build you a house." He paused. "It's not completed yet but the bedroom and the bathroom are done. We will finish it in the spring."

"What?" With each step closer I could make out the silhouette of a building. The light I saw was coming from a window. I could smell wood burning. "You built me a house?"

"I built us a house. I love you Babydoll."

"Oh my god!" I stopped dead in my tracks; my eyes fixated on the house that stood in front of me.

"There's no heat except for the fireplace and an electric heater in the bathroom. The electricity works. The bedroom is finished. Nate and Burns helped me."

"This is the special project?"

"Yes."

"Ian, I can't believe you did this!" I was in a state of shock. The whole idea of me having my own home still did not sink into my brain.

Ian took me by the hand and led me to the door. He scooped me up into his arms.

"If you would turn the knob for me." I turned the knob and the door opened. He carried me into a big unfurnished room that I could only assume would one day be a living room. We passed through the room to a hall at the back and he carried me to another door. "One more door, my love." Now I was shaking. I reached the knob and turned it. He carried me into a dimly lit room with a roaring fireplace. It was toasty in this room. A queen sized bed was against the side wall. "Welcome home, Mrs. O'Shea."

"Oh, Ian." I started to cry. "I love you." I kissed his lips tenderly and he placed me gently on the bed while I was still kissing him. "Do you want to see the rest of the house or do you want to make love?"

I laughed through my tears. "That's an unfair question. I want to do both."

He smiled. "Well, which do you want to do first?"

"Considering I still have my clothes on, I think I want to see the house."

"It's dark, there's not much to see."

"You said there was electricity," I reminded him.

"Electricity but no lights."

"Are you trying to sway me?"

"Is it working?"

"This is so not fair!"

"Okay, okay, Mrs. O'Shea." He got up and flipped on the light. The room was painted almost a mint green. The carpeting was dark green. The bed was gorgeous. It had tall spires with a canopy with sheer curtains that were tired back. The dressers matched the deep wood of the bed. The fireplace was made of stone. The whole room took my breath away.

"I can't believe you did all this. It's beautiful. When did you have the time?"

"We started this a long time ago, before the breakup at the caverns. I was surprised that Nate never showed you this when you were here alone with him but I guess if I had been in his shoes, I wouldn't have either. When Burns rented the back hoe to dig the hole for the septic tank for the bunkhouse we used it to clear the land here and dig for the septic tank here. It took about two weeks. We split the man power between the bunkhouse and here. Burns did most of the digging. I think he liked working the back hoe. We managed to pour the foundation and the frame was almost completed when…"

He stopped in mid sentence. I kissed him tenderly and he found his voice again. "After you agreed to marry me the last time and we came back, I couldn't work on it until you left for the caverns."

"That's why you didn't seem as upset by my leaving."

"I worked myself to death while you were gone. Nate, Burns, my Dad, and I spent our mornings and part of the afternoon here and then we ate a late lunch and worked on the bunkhouse. We could work into the evening since there was power to that building. You thought we were hanging out in the game room but most nights we were still working."

He walked me to the door. "We need to move fast because it's cold out there and we don't want to lose the only heat we have." He opened the door and ushered me quickly through it. The only light was a work light hanging from the ceiling. It was two rooms. "This room will eventually be the living room and the kitchen." He walked to a spot on the floor. And using his hands and arms he created an imaginary corner. "Up here will be the kitchen. Back here will be the living room. We are going to put another fireplace back here. The one in the bedroom was a real bitch to put in." He walked to where the fireplace was to be placed. "Stay right there." He walked around the wall and another light clicked on. He came back and took me by the hand and led me into the other room. This space will most likely be two rooms. One will be a bedroom and the other will be a dining room since it is closest to the kitchen."

"I take it you only want one child then?"

He walked up to me and took my face into his cold hands. "I can add on."

"Oh."

"Are you disappointed?"

"No the house is wonderful." I trilled.

"I meant that I wanted more than one."

"I….'m just scared."

"Don't be. You'll be a terrific mother when the time comes. You'll be ruling the roost. I'll be at your command."

"Right. I see that happening," I said sarcastically.

"Babydoll, we are a team now. This is our future. Come on. Let me get you back to where it's warm."

"What about the bathroom?"

"Eventually we will have our own bath but right now only the main bathroom is done. Well, usable anyway." As we walked back to the bedroom door we passed another door. He opened it and clicked on the light. "This is the main bath." It had a bath tub with a shower and a large sink. There was a vanity mirror in a lighter colored wood with drawers. The toilet was between the shower and the sink. It was a decent sized bathroom. The walls were unfinished and the floor was still concrete. The tub had a shower curtain. "I have doors for the tub but we haven't had the chance to put them in. We just ran out of time."

"It's cold in here."

"Hold on."

Ian left the bathroom and went to the bedroom and came back with a space heater. He plugged it in under the sink and set it to medium heat. "Remind me to put it on low once the room is warm."

Ian shut the door behind us as we left the bathroom. In the bedroom, Ian helped me off with my coat. He stood behind me and kissed my bare shoulders. "I love you." He pulled my hair back off my neck and kissed my neck from behind while his hands traveled from my waist to my stomach to my breasts. He caressed me gently as he continued to suckle on my neck. I was already aroused by this. "Take off the dress," he whispered.

"It unzips on the side," I informed him. He reached under my arm and slowly unzipped the dress to the waist and helped me to slip out of it. Only now did he see the white corset I had been wearing under the dress that went with the white lace top thigh high stockings and white lace panties.

"Mmmmmm. Purity at it's best. Can ask you a favor?"

"What?"

"Would you put those heels back on and dance for me?"

"There's no music."

"I could sing," he offered.

"How would you like a lap dance?" I said teasing.

He grinned. "Even better."

"Okay but no cheating this time. You keep your pants on."

There was a single chair in the room. Ian pulled it to the center of the room and sat in it. "Come to papa."

I pulled the twenty or so pins out of my hair and let it fall wildly over my shoulders. I gave Ian the lap dance of his life. I teased him until he could take it no more. He grabbed me around the waist and picked me up over his head and I thought he would slam me onto the bed but at the last minute he used his brute strength to slow my body until it lay gently on the bed. Ian slowly removed his own clothes and he strutted while he did it. I thought this is what a male stripper must look like. He climbed over the top of me. "I've never made love to a married lady." He slowly brought his lips to mine and we kissed for a long time as he pressed his body against mine teasing me now. Eventually he lay down next to me and began to touch me in all the ways he knew set me off. Our love making lasted most of the night. We snuggled after each orgasm and talked about our visions of the future. At one point he had to get up and add wood to the fire. He ran outside in his birthday suit and returned with champagne in a bucket with ice.

"I forgot about this."

"Ian! Someone could have seen you!"

"Well there was a raccoon. I think it was a female because she looked like she wanted me," he said smugly.

We finished off the bottle. When we were both satisfied and had stopped trying to arouse each other, we laid next to each other on the bed on our stomachs with our bodies propped up on our elbows. I looked at my rings in the firelight. The wedding ring Ian had gotten was an insert that apparently had come with the original ring. It was all diamonds that surrounded the sapphires.

"I can't believe I'm seventeen and married."

"I can't believe we are finally married, which reminds me. Jeb drew up a binding marriage license that we need to sign in his presence and he has to sign as well."

"When are they all leaving?"

"I think they are going tomorrow night."

"We should make sure we say good bye to all of them. When are we going back?"

"A. You aren't leaving this building for three days. I have food being delivered till then. This is our honeymoon. B. Why would we leave? You have a house here."

"Ian O'Shea! You made a promise. You said we would spend the winters in the caverns. Are you going back on your promise?"

He sighed and flipped onto his back. "No. We can go back." He sounded defeated.

"When?"

"How about after Christmas?"

"Okay, I can wait till after Christmas." I was still a bit angry. "Besides, you said yourself that you can't do anything more to the house until the spring. Melanie is about to have her baby. I want to be there to help them. Maybe it will help me to come to terms with having one of my own." I was on a roll. "I was hoping to persuade Sunny to have one too."

"Okay, Okay! Come on, get under the covers. The sun will be up soon. Let's get some sleep." Ian got up after a few hours when the room was getting cold and he threw more wood on the fire. When he climbed back into the bed he was cold and he wrapped himself around me and woke me up when his cold body touched mine.

"Ah! Are you crazy? I was asleep!"

"Warm me up Baby." He squeezed me tightly and I soon fell back to sleep.

We slept late. It was afternoon when we woke up. I should say it was afternoon when I woke up because Ian had gotten up twice more to put wood on the fire and had showered. He was in the bed propped up on one elbow watching me sleep when I opened my eyes. "You missed breakfast," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Your boyfriend delivered breakfast at ten o'clock this morning."

I sat up. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"I thought Nate was your 'friend'?"

"He is but he's not a boy," I snapped.

"Oooo. Okay, your man friend."

I cocked my head to the side. "Are you trying to push my buttons?"

"Is it working?"

"Yes."

"Good I love it when you're all riled up. It makes for great sex."

"No sex. I'm hungry."

"But you missed breakfast."

"Then I'm going to the kitchen."

"No, you're not."

"Would you have me starve?"

"Nope. Lunch will be here soon though. It's already one o'clock."

I got up and looked out the window. It looked like snow.

"You had better change into something more than that. I really don't think you need to greet your 'man friend' wearing that."

"Fine, I'm going to take a shower."

"I'll be right here waiting for you."

"Do I even have clothes?"

"Well, I considered keeping you naked the whole time you were here but I thought if we took a walk in the woods it might be a bit cold for you." He chuckled. "Your clothes are in the dresser."

At two o'clock, Nate came to the door with our lunch. Ian, who was wearing pants but no shirt ushered him in through the door. "Greetings newlyweds. I brought you sustenance. I thought you might want to know that they are expecting a snow storm tonight. Anywhere from six to twelve inches. Our guests have opted to stay another couple of days. Jeb felt that putting them on the road could be dangerous and I agree."

We were more than a mile from the house. "Well, maybe we should go back to the house then and stay in our room," I suggested.

"Can't," Nate said abruptly.

"Why not?"

"Didn't Ian tell you?"

"It didn't really come up," Ian remarked.

"What are you two talking about?"

"Kyle and Sunny. They are in your room," Nate blurted out.

"Get out!" I was excited. "Ian, why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't do a whole lot of talking last night."

I turned to Nate. "Ignore him. He's exaggerating."

Ian glared at me and left the room. I assumed he was headed to the bathroom.

"Well, I'll make sure you have dinner tonight. Tomorrow may depend on how bad the storm is. I'll see if whoever brings dinner makes sure there's extra beverages and food for the both of you."

"Thanks Nate. By the way, I love the house. Thank you for all the work you put into it."

"Anything for you. As long as you are happy." He looked out at the door where Ian had gone. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine."

"I'll see you in what two more days?"

I smiled at him. "Absolutely."

He stepped forward and hugged me. As he pulled back he looked at me seriously. "Are you sure everything is all right?"

"I'm positive," I assured him.

Nate left and I watched him through the window as he walked away. I saw Ian outside grabbing more wood from the pile that had been left for our use. He looked angry.

He came back in carrying an arm full of firewood. He dropped it on the floor next to the fireplace. "You mind telling me what the hell that was all about?" he growled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Ignore him? He's exaggerating? What, you don't want him to know that we screw like bunnies?"

"Ian. It's none of his business."

"He knows every other damn thing that happens in your life but the fact we made love more than we talked on our wedding night; that he doesn't need to know." Ian grabbed his sweater and pulled it over his head. He grabbed his coat and his gloves.

"Where are you going?"

"For a walk. I need to clear my head. Apparently I see things differently than you do."

"Ian!" He closed the door behind him. I didn't know if I should follow him or if I should just wait for him. I was starving and I knew Ian had eaten the breakfast that had been brought to us earlier. My hunger outweighed my want to follow him. I was upset because I didn't know what I had done wrong. I couldn't understand why he would still be jealous. We were married now. When I finished my sandwich, I curled up on the bed. He came back after about twenty minutes. I lay on the bed fully clothed with my back to him.

"Wanderer, are you awake?" he asked from across the room.

"Yes," I responded but I didn't turn around to face him.

I heard him cross from the door to the fireplace. I heard him messing with the fire.

I rolled over to face him. "Ian?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry. Maybe, I'm stupid, but I don't understand why you're mad at me."

"I still harbor a lot of jealousy when it comes to Nate."

I sat up on the bed. "Why? I married you."

"I don't know. You know how if you were in a car crash…" He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Crap. Okay. Let's say you were the sole survivor of an accident. How would you feel?"

I started to cry. "I felt awful." He came to me and held me. "Why did you feel awful? It wasn't your fault."

"I felt like why him and not me?"

"Exactly! Nate has got himself together. He's good looking and smart and he always treats you like a princess." He paused and then continued. "Look at me. I've tried to kill you twice. Why the hell did you marry me?"

"Oh my god!" I was blown away by his insecurity. "I married you because you are the one I am in love with. How can the hottest guy on campus be so insecure?"

"Easy. He's got the hottest girl on the planet."

"Look at me, Ian O'Shea. I am your wife. Your property. Period."

Ian stood up and walked to the bed. "I'm sorry."

"I'm getting a headache from being cooped up in here. I need some fresh air. Will you take a walk with me?"

"Sure, it's cold as hell out there though."

I sat up grabbed his arm. "I've got you to keep me warm."

We left the house and walked towards the baseball field.

"Ian?"

"Yes?"

"Can I make a request in regards to the house?"

"You don't like the house?"

"It's not that. You said you could add on."

"It's not big enough?"

"Would you shush for one minute? I wanted to know if you could add on a laundry room. It's like a mile and a half to the house. I'm not thrilled about schlepping laundry on foot all the way to the root cellar."

"Good point. Okay, I'll add a laundry room."

"And the other thing…"

"There's more?"

"You said you were going to add a bathroom for our bedroom. Can you add a walk-in closet?"

He stopped dead in his tracks and stared it me. "You want a walk-in closet?"

"Yes. I had one in my room growing up. I like knowing that everything is stacked in neat little rows."

"Where the hell did you grow up? In a mansion in Beverly Hills?"

"No. It wasn't a mansion, really."

"Did you have a pool?"

"Yes, but so did you," I said in my defense.

"Ours was above ground. Was your pool above ground?" I didn't answer him. "What does your father do for a living?"

"Do we have to talk about this?"

Ian refused to walk and he held my hand so I couldn't walk either. "I think we do, Pet."

"I'm not Pet, I'm Wanderer," I said adamantly.

"But Pet is a big part of you. I want to know."

"We can walk while we talk." I took a step and he follwed. We continued walking the perimeter of the baseball field. "Before the takeover he was the CEO of a company that made parts."

"Parts for what?"

"Airplanes."

"There are no airplanes anymore," he pointed out.

"Well, he's an ambitious man; he jumped into parts for air shuttles."

He nodded his head. "You grew up a rich kid."

"Rich is a relative term considering there is no money. It's more about position and status," I explained.

"So, let me get this straight. It's like a cast system with you souls. How do you break out and move up?"

"The same way humans do. You have to have the ambition and the schooling to change your position."

"So, what would have happened to me?"

"You were on a course to be a baseball player. You would have done that. That's where your ambition is."

"And Nate?"

I laughed. "Nate probably would have been the president of the United States one day."

"What school did you go to?"

"Blair Academy."

Again he nodded his head proving that he understood the implications. "A private school."

"Yes."

"So what would you have done with your life?"

"I have done exactly what I wanted to do with my life."

"How can you be so sure? We kidnapped you. You had no choice."

"That's easy. I am not Pet. Pet would have gone to some prestigious college and found herself a husband."

"A husband like Nate," Ian again pointed out.

I took a deep breath. "Probably. I'm not Pet. I'm Wanderer. I'm the girl who's been to nine planets and never found a reason to want to stay. I'm the girl whose body was battered and beaten but still found the one reason to never want to leave this planet. Ian, that reason is you."

"But you still carry Pet's memories."

"I do. I still want some of the finer things in life. I admit that. That's why I like to shop, but I haven't come home with any 'Prada' shoes or clothes by 'Michael Kors', or handbags from 'Dooney & Bourke'."

"What about the shoes you wore for our wedding?"

"Okay, they were 'Jimmy Choos', but it was my wedding!"

Ian started to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You just had to have the best."

"That's right and I got the best. I got you."

"How am I ever going to keep you happy?"

"Just keep loving me, that's all I ask."

"That and a laundry room and a walk-in closet."

I grinned. "Right."

Ian enveloped me in his arms and he kissed me. It was a slow burn kiss. Again I felt cold drops of snow landing on my face as I leaned up to kiss him. "You've got to stop doing that."

He creased his eyebrows. "Doing what?"

"Making it snow every time you kiss me!"

"I thought you like the snow."

"I do!"

Ian smiled and kissed me again. I was in heaven.

I was starting to shudder from the cold. "We should get back."

"I guess you know how to ski," Ian commented.

"I love Aspen!"

Ian just shook his head.

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