When Honor slid behind the wheel of her car, she realized how draining the long day had been. Longing for the sound of Josh’s voice, she dialed his cell.
“Is your meeting over?” he queried.
“Yep.”
“Well that’s perfect timing. Are you hungry?”
Honor was confused. “Now that you mention it, I’m starving. Why?”
“Because I ordered your favorite stuffed pizza here at Giordano’s about a half hour ago, and they said it would take about an hour before it would be ready. I planned to bring it to your place to surprise you, but since your meeting is already over, you can just meet me here at the restaurant.”
Honor was stunned. “You’re in Chicago?”
“Yep…the southern boy is in Chi-Town,” Josh laughed.
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t want you to be alone if the meeting turned out worse than you expected. So this morning I dropped Cody off with James and Lisa and took the redeye flight.”
Honor’s eyes filled with tears as a lump formed in her throat. “You flew here just for me?”
“Well, I’ve also been craving a good pizza.”
Honor rolled her eyes, smiling. She sniffed and wiped away her tears.
Josh misread her reaction. “Don’t cry, Honor. Everything will be okay.”
“Yes, it will,” she agreed. “I’ll be right there to pick you up.”
***
Honor lit the gas fireplace in her living room, opened a bottle of wine and lay against huge cushions on the floor while they ate and discussed the future.
“I stand to receive eight million dollars from the sale of Soft Fix, over time. I could retire, but I think I’d rather invest it in The Circle. If I work from home, I’ll still have plenty of time to bake cookies for Cody. What do you think?”
“I think it’s pretty convenient that you waited to tell me you’re loaded until after I paid for the pizza.”
Honor laughed. “Be serious.”
“Okay. I want you to do whatever makes you happy. I’m just thrilled you aren’t going to have to commute. How long do you think it will take to wrap things up here and move?”
“Not long.”
Josh chewed a bite of pizza and looked around. “It doesn’t look like your condominium needs much work before you put it up for sale.”
“Yeah, I guess I really never did much to personalize the place.”
Josh teased, “Still, you better make a checklist so we don’t forget anything.”
Glancing around her living room, it dawned on Honor that she had never been truly happy in this room until tonight. She recalled the deep loneliness she felt here, grieving her mother’s death and the collapse of her marriage.
“Come back to me, Honor…you’re miles away all of a sudden,” Josh cooed, interrupting her thoughts.
She gave him a warm smile. “I love the feeling I get every time I realize you’re not just a dream.”
He grinned, “Good one! You’re forgiven.” Josh kissed the tip of her nose. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“I was thinking my entire life is completely different from the one I had so carefully planned out, but I wound up with more than I ever dreamed.”
“So, it’s time for new dreams—what do you want to accomplish down the road?”
Honor considered the question as she rolled the five pearls back and forth on her gold chain. “Well,” she said, “I guess after we restore our beautiful home and create two outrageously successful companies, we could devote our time to raising our son and four daughters.”
“What daughters?”
In lieu of an explanation, Honor pointed at her necklace.
Josh smiled. “Sounds like a plan. I figure they’ll be named Darcy, Hannah, Hope and Faith, right?”
She winked at him. “Absolutely. Hey, if we name a couple of them ‘Jubilance Darcy’ and ‘Joy Hannah,’ we could maintain both of our family’s naming traditions.”
Josh laughed out loud. “Hopefully, we’ll come up with better names than that.”
He put his arms around her and pulled her close, gazing at her in the firelight. He brushed a loose curl from her face and murmured, “Wow.”
Honor smiled back, remembering the first time he said that to her on the porch of the Belleview Biltmore Resort. The erotic memory was so strong that it took her breath away. She whispered, “Yeah…wow,” and leaned forward to kiss him.
They made love on the floor in front of the fire and then fell asleep, wrapped tightly in one another’s arms, content and knowing whatever was to come, they would be together.