He leaned back. “I thought we were past that.”
“We’ll be busy in September.”
“Twenty-five is a milestone birthday.”
“So is thirty-five.”
“My milestones are only important because of you. Without you, they’d be empty days.”
Julia buried her face in his chest. “Do you have to be so sweet?”
“Since I’ve eaten sour for most of my life, yes.” With his mouth, he explored the curve of her neck and the soap-slicked skin of her shoulders.
“Then I guess we’re having a party in September. We should celebrate Labor Day weekend.” She kissed his pectorals before facing forward once again. “What did Richard say when you spoke to him tonight?”
“He’d like to move back, but he doesn’t want to buy the house. I think he was counting on the money for his retirement.”
“He can live here without buying it. You don’t care, do you?”
“Not at all. I’d rather he lived here. But he feels badly about taking advantage of the renovations.”
“Now he can enjoy them. The only problem is what to do with the furniture. There’s no room for it back in Cambridge.”
“We could give it to Tom. His furnishings have seen better days.” The Professor sounded prim.
“You’d do that?”
“I’m not going to lie, Julianne. Your father is not my favorite person. But since you are . . .” He kissed her.
“Richard has things he bought with Grace that he doesn’t want to part with, and there’s some of the furniture he left behind that we put into storage. We’ll have to move the new furniture out to make room. We could offer it to Rachel, if you’d rather.”
“I think it would be nice to offer it to my dad. He and Diane are talking about getting married.”
Gabriel tightened his arm around her middle. “How do you feel about that?”
“She’s good to my dad and she’s good to me. I’d like him to have someone to grow old with.”
“I hate to break it to you, darling, but your father is already growing old. We all are.”
“You know what I mean.”
He moved her so she was facing him, bringing her legs around his waist.
“Lucky for you, I’m not too old to keep you up all night. I believe this is a room we haven’t christened—yet.”
Chapter Six
Sometime after midnight, Richard felt the mattress dip as someone crawled under the blankets. He rolled over, spooning the body of his wife. Her figure was familiar and soft, and he sighed loudly as he pressed against her.
She sighed equally in contentment, as she always had in such moments, nestling into him.
“I’ve missed you.” He stroked her hair, kissing it. It didn’t seem strange to him that her hair was long and straight, the way it had been before chemotherapy.
“I’ve missed you, too, darling.” Grace reached for his hand and wound their fingers together.
Richard felt her wedding and engagement rings tap against his wedding band. He was glad he hadn’t removed it.
“I dream about you.”
She kissed where their rings touched. “I know.”
“You were so young. We had our lives ahead of us, so many things we wanted to do.” His voice caught on the last word.
“Yes.”
“I miss this,” he whispered. “Holding you in the dark. Hearing your voice. I can’t believe I lost you.”
Grace freed his left hand and pulled it toward her chest.
Richard steeled himself for the feel of the concave impressions where her breasts had been. Although he was sorrowful over her scars, it never bothered him to look at or touch her there. But she wouldn’t permit it.
She’d been planning on having reconstructive surgery, but the cancer returned, making surgery impossible. She was always beautiful to him, always enchanting, even at the end.
As she brought his hand up, his palm met round, full flesh. He hesitated, but only for a moment. She placed her hand over his and pressed.
“I’ve been healed,” she whispered. “It was more wonderful than you can imagine. And it didn’t hurt.”
Richard’s eyes pricked. “Healed?”
“No pain. No tears. And it’s so, so beautiful.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were sick.” His voice caught again. “I should have paid attention. I should have noticed.”
“It was my time.” She reached down and kissed the back of his hand. “There’s so much I want to show you. But not yet. Rest, my love.”
The next morning, Richard awoke to an empty bed and the knowledge that he’d been given a very precious gift. He felt lighter, more at peace than he had been in a long time. He breakfasted with his family and began making arrangements to resign from his research position in Philadelphia.
In the next week, he put his condo up for sale and hired movers to return his things to the house he’d bought with his wife so many years ago. Gabriel insisted that the items they’d placed in storage also be returned to the house.