"You have a surprise for me?"
"Yes, I do".
"Do I get it now?"
"Yes. Get comfy".
He got comfy in the bed.
"Ok, I'm comfy".
"Close your eyes".
He closed his eyes.
She turned out the lights and leaned down close to his face.
"Turn over, darling".
He rolled over and she straddled his back.
She put some massage oil on his back and gave him a really long deep tissue back rub. He was moaning and telling her how much he was liking it.
"Oh baby, that feels so good".
"Well, you deserved it. You quieted the chaos and kept me from going nuts myself".
After his massage was over, he rolled over and she started kissing his neck.
She laid on top of him and kissed his chest.
He began to run his hands up her nightgown.
She sat up and took it off. He reached up and grabbed her breasts and lightly pinched both of her nipples at the same time.
"Oooooh".
He rolled them till she was on her back, and started kissing her neck as he ran his fingers through her auburn curls.
He reached over and grabbed a condom out of the nightstand, and then after he had put it on, returned his focus to her.
He took one breast in his mouth and one in his hand, as she gripped his shoulders.
He quickly penetrated her, and they moved their hips together as he crushed her lips with his.
He picked up the pace and gave her the most powerful orgasm she had ever had, and then followed with one of his own.
He laid in her arms afterwards, lightly kissing her neck and shoulders.
"I love you, Jennifer Suzanne".
"I love you, Jonathan".
She stared at him, with a puzzled look on her face.
"Charles. My middle name is Charles".
"Thank you".
She kissed him a few times.
He got out of bed and went to the bathroom and then went and got each of them a glass of water.
He settled back in bed and put his pajamas back and then she snuggled up to him.
"Darling, I want to tell you something. While you were relaxing earlier, i had a chat with the kids about not taking you for granted. But it's not just them, it's me too. For whatever reason, the universe has put us through hell this week, but it has really opened my eyes that I need to appreciate you more. This ship would have sunk a long time ago without you in it. I promise I am going to appreciate you more each day".
"Darling, I appreciate you too. I know that I wasn't that enthused in the beginning because of the issues that you and I had, but I realize now that there's nobody else I would rather do this with".
She kissed him passionately, and then they fell asleep together.
***A few weeks later***
It was almost the end of January, and Jennifer was dreading the next week, because that's when Abby and Mike were coming to get the kids.
They had rented a house nearby, and were going to renovate Caroline and Patrick's house before they moved in.
Jennifer didn't want to say goodbye. She craved alone time with Jonathan, but not at the expense of the kids.
He could tell that she was worried about it, and was trying to make it better.
Jennifer sat the kids down and told them that in a few days, they would be going to live with Aunt Abby and Uncle Mike in a new house.
"When are we going to see you?"
"I'm not sure, but we will work something out. They will have our address and phone numbers and you can call us whenever you want".
"Will you send us a mail?"
"Yes, we will, lovebug".
"Do we still get to be in the wedding?"
"Of course you do. I don't want to have a wedding without you three".
Savanna was extra clingy, but she didn't cry.
Jennifer spent a lot of time writing down special things for Abby and Mike to know. She was making a baby book for McKenna, and photo books for Luke and Savanna.
Jonathan came home that night and had picked up dinner for everyone.
After dinner, he and Jennifer and McKenna were sitting on the couch. She had just tucked the other two into bed.
Jonathan was singing the Batman theme song to McKenna.
"Da na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Batman, Batman".
McKenna just erupted into laughter.
He did it again.
"Da na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na-"
"Bahman, bahman".
Jennifer was shocked.
"Did she just say Batman as her first word?"
"I think so".
He sang it to her again, and again, she said "Bahman, bahman".
"That's so adorable!"
"Jonathan, her first word is supposed to be Dada, or Mama, or baba, not Batman".
"Well then nobody can say she's not unique".
He picked her up and held her like an airplane and ran her through the house making airplane noises.
She was laughing.
When they got back to the couch, McKenna started blowing raspberries at him and flapping her arms.
He ran her through the house again, and then they came and sat down on the couch.
Jennifer got up and got her bottle, and Jonathan fed her.
She fell asleep on his shoulder and he went and put her in the crib.
Jennifer reluctantly wrote down in her baby book that her first word was Batman.
They watched a movie together in bed, and he gave her a backrub.
"Darling, what if we tell Abby and Mike that we want to come visit the kids for a weekend every other month or so?"
"That's a good idea".
He rubbed her back for about an hour, and then held her for a little while.
They made love and fell asleep together, and Jennifer dreamed about Caroline all night long.
***The next morning***
Savanna came downstairs crying and all she wanted was Jennifer to hold her and rub her back.
She didn't want to eat breakfast, or get dressed, or anything.
Jennifer finally talked her into getting dressed and eating breakfast.
By the time they got to school, she was ok.
Jonathan came home at lunch time, and said he had the worst headache ever and went straight to bed.
He slept till the kid's bedtime.
He woke up hungry, and wanting a shower.
Jennifer heated up his dinner that she had saved for him, and then sat with him while he ate.
He barely gave McKenna a kiss before she went to bed.
"This little one has a dr's appointment tomorrow. Want to go with us?"
"I can't. I have a meeting".
"Ok".
Jennifer got McKenna down for the night, and then did the dishes from Jonathan's dinner.
She locked up the house and turned out the lights and headed to bed.
He was laying in bed watching TV.
She climbed into bed and was snuggling with him, and fell asleep on his shoulder.
In the wee hours, he turned the tv off and put his arms around her and held her as he fell asleep.
***A few days later***
Today was the day that Abby and Mike were coming.
Jonathan and Jennifer were packing their clothes into suitcases and their things into boxes.
Jonathan had hired a moving company to come get their things and deliver them to his penthouse apartment.
Abby and Mike showed up right on time.
Jennifer had packed each of the kids a big suitcase of clothes, and a couple boxes of toys.
She gave Abby the baby book for McKenna, and the photo books for the kids.
She also gave her the notebooks she had written on each kid that had detailed information.
"Something we discovered recently is Savanna cannot under any circumstances have oral dexamethasone as a medicine. She goes completely and totally insane on it. Her doctor put that in her file as well, and flagged it".
"What does she do on it?"
"Well, we only gave it to her once. But she was jumping on the couch like a bunny rabbit, talking back, being disrespectful, running back and forth across the room and touching the walls endlessly, climbing the bookshelves and jumping off, coloring like her arm is about to fall off and making a noise that sounds like a rabid hyena being electrocuted, and just generally being defiant when it comes to medicine and going to bed and putting on pajamas. And by the way, everything I described took place in about an hour's time".
"Holy…"
"Yeah. Don't give it to her".
Savanna was laughing and playing with Jennifer's ring.
"Aunt Jeffer is going to marry Uncle Jonathan".
"What? When did that happen?"
"On Nude Year's Eve".
They both laughed.
"It's too cute to correct. And yeah, we are engaged and we want them to be in the wedding. McKenna too".
"Just let us know when".
"We also want to visit them every other month or so, for a weekend. We want to give you guys a break".
"We would love that."
"McKenna had her doctor's appointment this week, and he gave the ok to start her on solid food. I haven't done it yet though, because I thought it would be too chaotic. But, once you guys get settled, you could start her on it. He recommended avocado to start, or mashed bananas."
"Perfect. I will start that tomorrow or the next day".
Jonathan and Mike loaded the car, and Mike said he would come back and get whatever he had to.
"Ok kiddos, it's time to go. Say goodbye to Jonathan and Jennifer".
Jonathan and Luke shared a hug and a high five.
Luke came over and hugged Jennifer tight.
"Love you my Lukey".
Savanna latched on to Jennifer.
"Oh lovebug, you be a good girl, ok? Be a good listener, and be nice. Even if you don't feel well. Aunt Abby knows what all the songs are, so she can sing them to you if you ask her to, ok?"
"Ok".
"And you guys can call us whenever you want, she has our numbers. And we will send you mail and see you as soon as we can. We love you".
"I love you too, Aunt Jeffer".
Savanna went and hugged Jonathan for a long time, and Jennifer was holding McKenna and giving her kisses.
After they were gone, Jonathan hugged Jennifer for a long time.
They were both sad, and missed the kids immediately.
Jonathan loaded their suitcases and boxes into the Explorer.
The plan was he was going to drive the Explorer and Jennifer was following in the Corvette. They had given the keys to the Mercedes to Abby and Mike.
It took them about 30 minutes to get to the city, and they parked in the parking garage for his penthouse.
They came in and got settled, and ordered dinner from a restaurant across the street.
Jennifer decided to go ahead and move with Jonathan to California, so she contacted her boss.
"You have two vacation days left".
"Ok, pay me for them, and then put me down as resigned. I'm moving to California in a few days anyways".
"It's a shame to lose you, but we wish you well".
"Thank you".
"Darling, we have a choice. We can spend the night here and fly to California tomorrow or we can fly to California tonight."
"I'm fine either way".
They hemmed and hawed and finally decided to fly in the morning.
She went and got her nightgown on, and then came out and started looking at a bridal magazine.
She started making lists of what she wanted, such as songs and colors.
She fell asleep with her head on his lap around 10.
He watched the news till after 11, and then woke her up to come to bed.
"Jennifer, darling…wake up. Let's go to bed".
"Hmmm?"
"Come on, let's go to bed".
"Ok".
She took his hand and he led her to bed and climbed in next to him.
"I love you, darling".
"I love you too".
She fell back asleep with her head on his chest.
***The next morning***
Jennifer and Jonathan slept till 8, and then made love till 10.
She felt like a new woman, and he felt totally rested for the first time in forever.
He called and ordered them lunch to go from Create A Bowl, and had it delivered.
They took it with them to the plane.
Jonathan was having the Explorer and the Corvette shipped to California.
They got settled on the plane and after they took off and were allowed to move about the plane, Jennifer took her seatbelt off and scooted closer to Jonathan.
He was reading some reports for a deal he was trying to close.
"Darling…do you have to read those right now?"
"No, I don't suppose I do".
He put them away and unbuckled his seatbelt.
She was staring at him and intermittently kissing him. She laced her fingers through his.
He leaned over and kissed her, and then stopped suddenly.
"What is it?"
"Back of my head is throbbing".
"Why don't we go lie down?"
He nodded.
Jennifer closed the door behind them and pulled the covers back on the bed.
She took her pants and shoes off and slipped her bra off and got comfy before she climbed into bed next to him.
She pulled herself up close to him.
She started to rub his temples in small circles.
She started kissing him on the cheek.
"I bet I can make your headache go away".
"I will try anything."
"Put your arms around me".
He put his arms around her, but not seriously.
"Honey, really put your arms around me".
"Darling, I can't do this right now. Please…"
"Ok".
She climbed off him and laid next to him.
They both fell asleep and slept for a couple hours.
She woke up first and got dressed and went back out to the main cabin.
About a half hour later, he came out and sat next to her.
"Darling, you are having an awful lot of headaches".
"I know. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of the antibiotics I am on is headaches".
She went back to reading her bridal magazine and making more lists.
They landed about an hour later, and Jonathan had arranged for a rental car to be waiting for them.
He drove her to the townhouse and they went inside.
"Max, you home?"
"In here, Mr. H."
He took her hand and led her into the kitchen.
"Max, this is Jennifer Edwards. Jennifer, this is Max".
"Pleasure to meet you my dear".
"So wonderful to meet you, Max".
"Jennifer is going to be staying here with us for a bit."
"Wonderful. Well, I made some heavy appetizers, because I didn't know when you would be home. I have a poker game tonight, so I will stay out of your hair".
"You don't have to leave on my account".
"I'm not. I'm leaving on account of hopefully getting rich".
She chuckled.
"Mr. H., did you bring the kids that you were watching with you?"
"No, we didn't".
"Good. Max don't do no ankle biters".
"Good luck at your poker game, Max".
"Yes, good luck".
"Thanks. You two have a lovely evening".
"Thanks".
Jennifer leaned forward and kissed Max on the cheek.
Jonathan took her hand and led her to the living room and gave her a tour of the rest of the townhouse.
"Down that hallway is Max's wing-he has an office, a master bedroom and bath and a guestroom."
He led her upstairs and showed her his floor.
"Up here, I have my own master bedroom and bath, office, guest room, tv room and library."
"It's very nice".
"Once you and I get married, we can get something bigger, but for now, it's perfect".
He went and got their bags and brought them upstairs.
"Ok, so we can do whatever you want to, we can drive up the coast, we can go grab dinner, whatever you want".
"I just want to spend time with you, darling".
She leaned forward and embraced him.
He held her for a few minutes and then they went downstairs.
"How about a movie marathon?"
"Sure".
They snuggled up on the couch and found an old movie to watch.
Jennifer laced her fingers through Jonathans and laid her head on his chest as they watched the movie.
After the movie was over, she sat up and went to the bathroom.
When she came out, he took her hand and led her to the garage.
"Let's go for a drive".
"Where do you want to go?"
"Just up the coast a bit."
He opened the door for her and helped her in.
They drove up the coast and stopped at the public beach access.
"Jennifer, I want to tell you something. I never thought I would say this to any woman, much less the one that I'm engaged to. But recent events have made me question things, and I can't deny how I truly feel any longer".
"Jonathan, what are you saying?"
"I want us to call Abby and Mike. I want us to get the kids and keep them full time."