Chapter 17: Hearts Joined

After taking Juli out for dinner, David drove his truck to the parking lot for the public pier that jutted out into the Sewanee River by US 19. He held her hand as they walked out to the end of the pier beyond the ramp down to the floating dock.

He spun Juli to face him and took both her hands in his. “Juli, I’m not the most romantic of men, I know that. But you have opened my eyes to see something that has been inside of me for quite a while, that I kept denying, and refusing to admit. I’ve fallen in love with you. Completely in love with you. That doesn’t mean I don’t still love Abi; I will always love her. But I’ve come to the point where I can’t imagine having you in my life all the time. Not just as my neighbor, but as my best friend, my lover, and, I hope, my wife.”

David reached into his jacket pocket and quickly knelt in front of her, pulling out a small jewelry box and opening it, revealing a large diamond ring bracketed by smaller emeralds. “Will you marry me, Juliann?”

Juli put both her hands in front of her mouth and gasped as tears began to stream from her eyes. “Oh, David, you do realize I come as a package deal?”

“I know. I want very much to be a father and daddy to those three girls. I know that my relationship with them is a bit distorted after the past couple of days, but you also know I love them very much and have for a long time.”

“Then my answer is yes, David. Absolutely YES!”

David quickly stood as Juli threw herself in his direction, catching her in an embrace as their lips met hungrily. After a few minutes, Juli pushed him back and said, “If we don’t stop now, we’ll both get arrested for public indecency. C’mon, let’s go home.”

The two walked together with arms around the other’s waists. David felt an immense sense of contentment and hope as the came to his truck. He assisted Juliann in climbing up into his truck before stopping and standing between her slightly spread thighs in the open vehicle doorway.

“There are some things we need to talk about, Juli, when we consider the role I will play in each of your, no, our girls lives going forward.”

“I know.” Juli reached out and gently cradled David’s face in her hands, before kissing him gently on the end of his nose. “We need to talk about whether you’ll be Leah’s first, as you were so wonderfully for Ruth and Jennifer. We need to talk about whether we’ll allow what has happened between you and Ruth and you and Jennifer to ever happen again, and if not, why not, and if so, why, and under what specific circumstances.”

“We need to talk about what all that means to and for us as a family. We need to talk about how all of this, all of us, are going to continue to be a loving family, with the level of intimacy and trust we already have between us being preserved and expanded. Oh, there are many things we need to talk about, and the girls need to be a part of that conversation.”

“Wow!” David responded, before kissing Juli on the end of her nose. “I’m just beginning to really see what a wonderful mother you are, and what an amazing wife and partner you’ll be.” He reached down and under her dress cupping her pubic mound. “But right now, I really, really want to take you and your body and worship you.”