“Jesus, Jack, I do not need a full-time nurse.”
He helps me out of the car and inside, all the while continuing to fuss over me. I may need that fishing spear after all.
I was discharged from hospital today after being in there for three nights. Jack was also in there for three nights. He refused to leave. The nurses on the ward I was moved to after ICU fell for his charm. I’m fairly sure from what Will has told me, the nurses in the Emergency Department and ICU didn’t meet his charm. I’m just glad he made it through my stay without completely losing his shit.
“I’m not so convinced about you not needing the nurse,” he says, depositing my bag at the bottom of the stairs before helping settle me on the couch.
I look up at him. “I will not let you put your dick anywhere near me if you get me a nurse.”
He only takes a moment to process that before saying, “Well, I’m not sure your lungs are up to sex at the moment, anyway.”
My eyes widen. “I’m not kidding here, Jack. No nurse.”
“Fuck,” he mutters. “You and my mother are the fucking same. She’s refusing to let me take her to the doctor now.”
Bronwyn called me yesterday to see how I was. She told me she’d take herself to the doctor. I did encourage her to let Jack take her, and I think she should, but I find it highly amusing watching Jack deal with her.
My phone sounds with a text.
Mira: How soon is too soon for Auntie Jessica to have visitors?
Jessica: If you ask your favourite person, he will tell you a month or more. If you ask me, I will tell you it is never too soon.
Mira: He is now no longer my favourite person.
Jessica: I knew I could get you there.
Mira: We’ll drop over later this arvo. Love you xx
Jessica: Wait, tell Will I know what happened to my inhaler.
He and Jack have been going over and over this for days.
Mira: What?
Jessica: It was in my car on the floor. It fell out of my bag.
Mira: I imagine Jack is investigating a range of new bags for you to stop this happening again.
Jessica: God, yes. The man is too much.
“That was Mira,” I say to Jack’s questioning look as he sits next to me. “You have been rightfully removed from the top of her favourite people list.”
“So long as I’m at the top of your list, I’m a happy man.”
“You won’t be if you hire a nurse.”
“The nurse is struck off my list.”
“What else is on that list?”
“Rest. Lots of it.”
“I told Ashton I’d go into work tomorrow.”
“I told him not to expect you for at least a week.”
“I can work from home.”
“Not if you’re sleeping, you can’t.”
“I can sleep at night.”
“Your doctor told you you’ll likely sleep a lot the first few days at least.”
“I’m young and healthy, Jack. I really don’t think I’m going to be sleeping for days.”
He stops and looks at me with pure frustration. It’s laced with so much love, though, too, that it puts my heart on standby to do that blinking thing it’s started doing. “Sweetheart, I’m good with you arguing over every last thing with me. Usually. But not this. This is too serious for me not to fight back over.”
“I know it’s serious, but I don’t do well being fussed over.”
“That’s because you haven’t learned how to be fussed over. I’m going to teach you.”
And there goes my heart, rapid blinking all over the place.
“Well, you can start by gathering me some cake,” I throw out. “And making me one of your gourmet sandwiches for lunch.”
He grins. “I see you’re intent on me breaking my back during your recovery.”
I don’t touch the fact he intends on carrying me upstairs all week. Seriously, this man really is too much. “I’d also like you to wear your grey shirt while you do that.”
“I’ve asked my new assistant to order me a wardrobe of those shirts.”
I stare at him. “You have a new assistant?”
“Yes. I hired her yesterday.”
“You were with me yesterday. Why do I not know about this?”
“You were napping most of the day.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s the woman you had at the top of your list you sent me. Michelle.”
I stare at him some more and suddenly my world is shifting right in front of me. It’s like the pieces of a puzzle I haven’t been able to put back together for six years are sliding into place.
This is me and Jack fitting back together.
I know we’ve been slowly doing that for weeks, but I feel it so much more now.
It’s us arguing over the little things.
And the big things.
It’s us helping each other.
Supporting each other.
Driving each other crazy.
It’s us sharing our families.
Sharing our ups, downs, and everything in between.
It’s us loving each other.
To the stars through difficulties.
I loop my hands around his neck. “I love you, Mr Kingsley.”
His hands come to my waist so he can pull me onto his lap. His lips come to mine and he kisses me for nowhere near long enough because he’s worried I’ll have trouble breathing. Damn that fussing of his. And then, in a voice I’ve never heard from him, but want to hear a million more times in my life because it unleashes so many butterflies in my tummy, even though I am not usually a butterfly girl, he says, “I need to be able to say that back to you.”
“You can say that back to me any time.”
“No, I can’t. I can only say ‘I love you, Miss Calvary’.”
And damn if those butterflies don’t flap up a storm.
I was never the girl who needed a man. Or a woman, for that matter.
I never imagined marrying Prince Charming.
I didn’t dream about the perfect wedding or think about honeymoon destinations.
So, I never, in a million years, thought I’d feel what I’m feeling now.
I tighten my hands around Jack’s neck. “What do you need to be able to say to me?”
His eyes crease with the kind of lines that reach deep into my soul. “I need to be able to say, ‘I love you, Mrs Kingsley’.” He cups my cheek. “I planned how I was going to do this, but I can’t wait a second longer.”
“Tell me.”
He smiles, letting go of my cheek. “When you felt better, I was going to fly you to our beach. I was going to book out that restaurant you loved there so it was just us having dinner. We were going to eat pasta. We were going to dance. We were going to talk late into the night. And then, we were going to walk down to the beach where I was going to charm you into saying yes to being my wife. We were going to spend the next week in Venice and Rome. And then we were going to fly home to Australia where I was going to marry you straight away before you could change your mind.”
I blame the medication I’m on for the swoon I’m experiencing.
I slide myself closer to him, needing every inch of that closeness. “Do you know what I loved the most about what you just said?”