***Chapter 4***

***Willow Pond***

Jennifer had fallen asleep on the couch. She was so wiped out that she hadn't heard Jonathan come in the front door. He found her on the couch, and covered her with a blanket and then put her feet over his lap and grabbed her hand and just held it.

He sat there looking at her for about 20 minutes, until she woke up.

She saw him and sat up some.

"Hi. How long have you been here?"

"About 20 minutes. You were sound asleep".

"I'm sorry. I haven't been sleeping very well".

"Neither have I".

He was absent mindedly giving her a foot rub. She noticed but she decided to let him continue.

"Jonathan, I hope you know I didn't vote against you to hurt you".

"I don't think you did it to hurt me. I think you did it out of spite".

"That's not it either".

"Then explain it to me".

"Ok, but only if you are really going to listen".

She got up and went to the study and got the documents, and then came back to the couch.

She got settled again and put her feet across his lap again, and noticed that he had refilled her cocktail.

"Thank you".

She started from the beginning.

"I am doing this article that someone emailed me about. The first email was just stating that there was a company that was fleecing its customers and the employees who worked there were planning on exposing the fraud of their CEO, and then raising money for the victims. So, I started investigating. And it turns out the company in question was Kayser Incorporated".

"That's ridiculous".

She continued.

"So, I called a friend from college who works in finance. She put me in touch with someone who works there, and that person became my lifeline as far as exposing all of this. That person was Charlotte, or Charlie, that you met yesterday in your office. She has been sending me all kinds of documents. She is the ex-wife of one of the sons, and the CEO is her son's grandfather. She confirmed to me yesterday in your office that she is the one who called the CEO. When I left here to go to San Diego, the original plan was that I was going to tour the offices and she was going to get me a job there, but then she said that would be too risky. So, she copied these documents and brought them to me at my hotel, and then she said she would mail me the rest. But she thought better of using the mail, so she sent her dad, Jason, to pretend to be Charlie, and he delivered the documents to me. And this afternoon, I had the news on, and they said the SEC whom she called yesterday, was raiding their office and removing tons of documents. If you look at this file, the CEO of Kayser and his sons, are taking money from their clients in exchange for insurance, and putting it into their personal accounts. If you look at this file, it's statements from other clients who tried to use their insurance that they had paid for in good faith, and were denied coverage. And this file, is the employee handbook. She highlighted in there where they were told to deny every claim. So, I didn't vote no out of spite and I didn't vote no because I wanted to hurt you, I voted no because I was trying to protect you from losing the company".

"Then why did you refuse my calls at the spa?"

"I didn't refuse your calls. I was never told that you did call".

"I called and they said that you had asked that you not be disturbed".

"They have a no electronics rule, and don't allow phone calls, or any electronics to be used. I never told them I didn't want to be disturbed but they wouldn't have disturbed me anyways".

He nodded.

"While we are asking questions, why haven't you been coming home at a decent hour?"

"Because I have been working late trying to get this deal going, so that maybe after it was over, I could take some time off and not feel bad about it. It was supposed to be a surprise".

She swung her feet off him, and leaned forward and grabbed her cocktail.

After she took a drink, she sat upright on the couch, a little closer to him.

"Did you bring dinner?"

"I thought we could have it delivered".

"Well, are we going to order it?"

"What do you want?"

"You pick."

"Whatever you want is fine".

"No, seriously, you pick. I don't want to nag you about it".

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean it".

He kissed the top of her forehead.

"I think we have both done and said some things in the past few weeks that we shouldn't have. I hate that we got to this point, we are better than that".

"I agree".

She took another sip of her cocktail.

"So, I guess we should talk about who gets what".

"No".

"No? That's why you came over here, is it not?"

"Jennifer, I am not doing that".

"Jonathan, you have nothing to worry about. I am willing to give you everything, but the beach house".

"Jennifer, is that all you know how to do, walk away? Seems like every time we fight, you file papers. I don't want any of this unless you are with me".

"Jonathan…." She dropped her tone. "We can't keep doing this to each other".

"I agree".

"I only file the papers because I want to make you happy".

"You make me happy. We used to make each other happy".

"So, what are we going to do?"

He opened his arms and pulled her close for an embrace.

He rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"I'm sorry for being a jackass. You mean more to me than anything, and if I don't have you, I have nothing at all. I love you so much, babe."

"I love you too. And you weren't a jackass, you were just distant."

"I'm sorry".

She sat up and looked at him.

"Did you really think I was cheating on you?"

"No, I didn't. I only said that so that you would tell me what was going on, I was too prideful to ask you".

He could see that she had tears in her eyes. He leaned forward and tenderly kissed her.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything".

"Why did you stay with me when I was being so horrible to you?"

"Jonathan…what would I have done?"

"Most women would leave and find someone else".

"I am not most women. I would rather fight with you than sleep with someone else. I love you, don't you know that?"

"I do know that. And I believe it. It's just, that I get so wrapped up in trying to give you a good life that I get frustrated when I feel like nobody else sees that".

"Jonathan, you already give me a good life. You don't have to prove anything else to me, or anyone else for that matter".

"I just don't want you to ever want for anything".

"Well, these past few weeks, I did want for something. I wanted for you. The rest is just details, you are what matters to me".

"I don't deserve you. You are kind and empathetic to a fault, you know that?"

"And I don't deserve you, but I am so glad you are mine. That is, if you still want to be".

He grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her passionately.

She returned the kiss in kind, and wrapped her arms around his neck. After they both came up for air, she looked him deep in the eyes.

"I'm sorry darling. How about we call a truce?"

"I'm sorry too. Forgive me?"

She nodded.

"I just couldn't let you buy that company, I hope you understand that".

"I do understand it. I just wish you had told me, but I didn't exactly make talking to me easy, did I?"

"Nope. After you rejected me, I knew that I wouldn't be able to talk to you before the meeting. So, I just went to the boardroom".

"What do you mean I rejected you?"

"The outfit I was wearing is the one that you always say makes me irresistible. And you didn't even so much as nibble".

"Babe, every single outfit you own makes you irresistible, darling."

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do."

She snuggled up against his chest.

"Darling, why did you tell me to go fly a kite?"

"Because, when you didn't find me irresistible, it hurt my feelings. So, I wanted you to remember our second date when I told you that, and I thought maybe it would rekindle some feelings".

"Ahh… very clever".

"Darling… I know that I don't say it enough, but I appreciate everything you do for me, for us. I love our life and I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else. You are everything I ever wanted and then some".

"Darling…you don't say that to me, you show it to me. And I feel the same way about you. You and Max, you two were all the family I ever needed. You are the best thing that happened to me, aside from finding Max, and you are the reason that I do everything I do, to make your life better. You make my life better just by being in it".

He kissed her.

They both sat there and thought about Max for a minute.

"Hey Max".

"Miss you Max".

Things weren't the same without him.

She stood up and sat in his lap.

As she ran her fingers through his hair, she looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Darling, do you think he's watching down on us?"

"If he is, he's about to get one hell of a show". He started kissing her neck.

"Jonathan! Be serious".

"I think he spends his days watching out for us, playing poker with the greats, and attending the best horse races there ever could be".

She nodded in agreement.

"So, I think we have resolved everything except one problem".

"What's that?"

"We never decided on dinner".

"How about we have dessert first?"

"Oh, that's a great idea".

He kissed her passionately and then picked her up and carried her upstairs.