Chapter Two – Yule Blessings

Part One – Surprise

Morri couldn’t believe it was actually Jon’s arms holding her, his face snuggled into the curve of her neck, his hand in her hair. She’d so longed for this moment, but had never really, fully believed it would happen, and certainly not like this. Hearing the giggles coming from her girls – she pulled away from his embrace, and stepped around him to close the door.

“When…how…what are you doing here?” The questions were whirling in her head, some which she knew she could never ask. Or would never ask. Like why was he here. “How’d you get the girls? How long have you been home?”

“Whoa, let me get my stuff off before I get interrogated. Since when did you become a cop anyway?” Jon shrugged his jacket over his shoulders and pulled his shoes off. “You know, there isn’t any snow out on the coast? It’s still above freezing. We were getting rain when I left.” He turned to face her only to find her back was turned to him, and she was trembling. “Hey girl, don’t do that…what’s wrong baby?” Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her hands from her face. For a moment he was glad he was standing behind her, he didn’t think he could handle seeing tears in her eyes again. He knew she couldn’t handle letting him see her cry either. She leaned her head onto his chest, and just gave in to knowing he was there. Really, truly there. For the moment, she didn’t care why.

“You know your ex. I called, told him I wanted to see the girls and that I’d be by to pick them up, and bring them here. His only question was whether or not I would be staying with you. Girl, if I didn’t know you better, I’d swear you two had something going while I was gone. He sounded jealous.” At that, she turned to look at him, saw the teasing grin, and lightly slapped his chest.

“You do know better. I wouldn’t go back to that man if he were the last one on earth. What did you tell him?” Morri stepped away, and started to walk towards the kitchenette, but Jon grabbed her hand, and spun her around.

“I told him I’d be staying with you over the holidays, and that I would be talking to some folks around here before I leave after New Years. If everything goes well, I’ll be back a couple of weeks later, and then we’ll talk about getting married. I didn’t know your divorce isn’t actually final yet…I thought you were going to get that done in the summer…” She heard the words, looked in his eyes to see the truth that would be hidden there. The girls had stopped clamoring in the background, and had come running across the floor to grab him in tight little hugs. They’d heard him too. Oh gods, if he wasn’t serious, it’d break their hearts again!

“You aren’t serious are you?” she whispered, hands over her mouth. She needed to sit down. Yes, this was what she wanted, but she had no idea it would happen, or that it would happen so fast. It felt different this time, so very different, actually, than all the other times he’d mentioned marriage before. She turned before he had time to reply, and sat down in her chair, putting her head down on her arms.

“We don’t have much time with the girls. He wasn’t in the mood to be too cooperative, and I wasn’t in the mood to be too pushy. I don’t really want to talk about this right now, it’s not the right time.” He bent down and gave the girls each a squeeze before he pointed them in the direction of the tray of cookies on the counter. Given a choice between Jon and cookies, the girls chose cookies. They seemed to know he’d be there for a while. Conspirators, Morri thought to herself.

“I don’t understand Jon…” she began, before she felt him take her hand and slide something on her finger. She looked down – it was a Triskele ring, almost exactly like the one she’d lost while with him in the summer. They’d searched in the sand at the beach for an hour before giving up. This one was a little different though, it seemed…smaller. Daintier.

“I want you to marry me, Morri. I want to be with you, I want to be in your life, and in the girls’ lives. I want to be happy for whatever time I have left. You know I wasn’t really happy, living like I was. You made me happy.” He was looking deep into her eyes, scared she’d say no again, scared she’d ask him to leave. Scared she didn’t love him. “I love you Morri. I didn’t think it was different this time. I thought, it’d be like with the others – once I was away from you for a while, it’d go away. The longer I stayed away this fall, the more it hurt. When we were together before I moved, I thought I could stay. But..” he stood suddenly, and walked away from her. Morri watched him pace for a moment, and then stood and took his arm. Turning him to face her, she reached up with one hand and slid her thumb across his cheek.