Solid Foundation (By Design Book 3) Read online

  “The only thing I am birthing right now is a beer. Once I find it,” Michelle said as she wandered off to the kitchen. “Come on preggo,” she called back to her sister. “I’ll pour you a nice glass of milk.”

  “Little shit,” Marianne griped as she made her way toward the kitchen.

  “Grab me a cold one too!” Rick called out.

  “He meant milk!” Marianne’s voice carried.

  Candace shook her head and flopped back onto the couch beside Jameson. “You do know what you are getting into tomorrow?” she asked.

  Jameson leaned in and captured Candace’s lips in a tender kiss. “I knew a long time ago you had a thing for lunatics.”

  Candace chuckled. “That in a fortune cookie too?”

  “Nah, but you fell in love with me. Something must have paved my way.”

  Candace placed her head on Jameson’s shoulder and her hand on Spencer’s back and closed her eyes. Jameson leaned back and closed hers. Marianne stopped in the doorway and smiled. She turned and beckoned her husband and sister to the doorway.

  “They look good like that,” Rick said.

  “Yeah, don’t get any ideas,” Michelle whispered. “Jameson has an aversion to ankle biters. I think you two will have to provide the new additions.”

  Marianne looked at Michelle. “Now, you know, you are telling us that story.”

  “Okay, but let’s wait for Jonah.”

  “That good?” Marianne asked and pointed toward the kitchen.

  “I went shopping with Jameson. Trust me. It’s good. Like fireside, beer drinking kind of good. J.D. hates shopping, has deemed Mom’s campaign manager Gollum, and actually asked mom if they could get married in Vegas,” Michelle said as the trio slowly walked down the hallway.

  Marianne shook her head. “Why do I always have to be pregnant when there is an occasion for beer?”

  “Don’t look at me!” Michelle laughed. “No itty bitties for me. I practice safe sex.”

  “Shell, you are a lesbian,” Marianne said more loudly than she had planned.

  “Where there is a will, there is a way,” Michelle chimed. She took a long pull from her beer.

  “I don’t want to know what that means. Backyard now,” Marianne ordered.

  “God, you’re bossy,” Michelle complained.

  “And you are annoying. Go!”

  Jameson felt Candace shaking with laughter against her. “Gollum?” Candace asked.

  Jameson groaned. “She really should just rent billboards to embarrass me. It would be easier.”

  “Don’t give her any ideas,” Candace said. “Now, really? Gollum?”

  Jameson groaned. “It’s like this…”

  ***

  “You ready?” Candace called. Jameson turned and nodded. Candace smiled and approached Jameson slowly. “Still have time,” she said.

  Jameson shook her head. “I might be a lunatic. I’m not stupid,” she said. She took Candace’s hand and led her through the back door.

  Jameson looked out at their family. There was no fanfare, no music, no tuxedos, not even an expensive dress, only some simple flowers. Candace walked hand in hand with Jameson to stand under a large oak tree in the back yard. She had purchased an elegant, ivory pant suit that complimented the navy suit that Jameson had chosen. Pearl stepped beside Candace and Michelle to stand with Jameson. Candace could sense the photographer behind her. Life was full of compromises, even on this day. Jameson had a close friend who agreed to photograph the wedding. Candace had asked one of her dearest friends to officiate. Justice Bevins had been appointed to the Supreme Court just three years earlier. Candace had known the colorful judge in law school. Jameson was more than happy with the arrangement. It had quieted “Gollum’s” concerns. Candace chuckled as they stood before the judge recalling Jameson’s explanation as to Candace’s campaign manager’s nickname. She took a deep breath when Jameson turned to her to speak her vows.

  “We said simple,” Jameson said. “I have been trying to think of a way to explain how I feel right now, today. You are the one who delivers speeches. I design buildings. I have even built them. That got me thinking. Anything that lasts starts with a strong foundation. It is simple. I love you. It’s that simple. I don’t want to think about my life without you in it. It’s that simple. No one has ever made me laugh more. No one has ever understood me better. No one has ever accepted me so completely. No one has ever made me feel safer. No one. I’ve never been as honest with anyone in my life as I am every day with you. You were my friend before you were my lover. You’ve become the foundation of my life. There is no more, my future. There is only our future. I don’t want a future without you in it. You are the rock that is my foundation. The strongest person I know. The most loving. It’s that simple, Candace. I promise you that no matter what, I will remember the simple things. The fact that I love you. The fact that I miss you when we are apart, that you make me laugh, that you accept me, that you trust me. I’ll do my best to build this marriage into the strongest part of both of our lives. That is what I do. Nothing has ever meant more to me than building our relationship, our marriage. Not one thing. It really is that simple. I love you.”

  Candace smiled. “Jameson…For many years I thought I understood life and love. I learned many things raising my children, working, losing people that I cared for. I seem to learn something new from you each day. I look forward to coming home, not because this is a house filled with sentimental memories, but because you are here. It isn’t the house. It isn’t the state. It’s you. I’ve spent too many years dwelling in the past. I forgot that the past is really just the memories we make today. I want a life full of colorful memories with you. I want to look back one day and know that I lived every second of our life together loving you and letting you love me. It makes me know that I am alive. You remind me in every moment why I fell in love with you. The truth is, Jameson, I fall in love with you every day. Each time I see you talking to Jinx. When you are mulling over a problem at your desk. I fall in love with you when I see you holding Spencer or laughing with Shell. I watch you and sometimes I have to remember to breathe. When you hold me, everything in the world fades away. I’m home, exactly where I am meant to be. I promise you I will never forget what comes first in our life. You and me, our family. That’s what you’ve given me, a whole family. I promise that I will cherish that for the rest of our lives. You are right. It is that simple.”

  Michelle handed Jameson her mother’s ring and kissed Jameson on the cheek. “I’m glad she found you, J.D.”

  Jameson smiled. She was startled to see that Michelle was crying. Pearl was crying. Why was everyone crying? She looked at Candace and Candace chuckled. Jameson was deliriously happy. She had thought she would choke up. She and Candace had both cried the night before. They had been talking about the next day. Their conversation wound its way around Rick and Marianne’s request. It had taken them both back several paces. It was all the proof either needed that they were creating a family. It might have been different from what many people would envision, but it was their family. In many ways, Jameson felt she had spoken these vows to Candace a million times. She slipped the ring on Candace’s finger with a smile.

  Candace accepted Jameson’s ring from Pearl and slipped it onto Jameson’s finger. She held it in place for a moment and looked into Jameson’s eyes. “I love you, Jameson.”

  Jameson brushed her lips against Candace’s forehead. “I love you too.”

  “It seems the senator and her wife are determined to lead this ceremony,” Justice Bevins joked.

  “Is she?” Jameson asked.

  “What?” Justice Bevins responded with a chuckle.

  “My wife? Is she my wife now?” Jameson asked to the sound of laughter.

  “Yes, Jameson. She most certainly is, so I suggest you kiss her and make it official.”

  Jameson ignored the laughter surrounding them. She took Candace’s face in her hands. “Thank you for marrying me,” she said before
kissing Candace tenderly. Jameson pulled back and Candace wiped some lipstick off of Jameson’s lip.

  “You’re welcome,” Candace said. She leaned into Jameson’s ear. “I will thank you later.”

  Jameson beamed. She hugged her parents and Pearl, then each of Candace’s kids. “What do you all say we go enjoy a glass of champagne?” she suggested. “Except you, Marianne. You and Spencer get apple juice.” She took Candace’s hand and walked off with her mother and Pearl beside them.

  “Jonah?” Michelle asked her brother.

  “Yeah?”

  “Is your tent still in the barn?” she asked.

  “I think so. Why?” he responded.

  “I think we might want to camp outside tonight,” she suggested.

  “You can camp outside. It’s hot and besides, Mom has people coming to set up at six in the morning. I need my sleep,” he replied.

  “Oh? You think getting up at six will be more traumatic than sleeping in your old room?” she asked him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, then I hope you have earphones. Because, Jonah – some things you just can’t ‘un’ hear,” she said with a smirk and scurried off to catch up with Marianne and Rick.

  Jonah stood still for a moment until his sister’s meaning took root. “Wait!” he yelled after her. “Shell! Wait up! You are helping set it up!” Michelle turned and stuck out her tongue at her brother. “And, you better find Mom’s bug spray!” he called.

  “What on earth are those kids yelling about out there?” Pearl asked.

  Jameson peeked out the back door and motioned for Candace to join her. Jonah was racing Michelle toward the barn and Spencer was trying with all his might to toddle behind them. “Tent,” Jameson said.

  “What?” Candace asked.

  “Bet you a back rub they are getting Jonah’s tent.”

  “Why would they do that?” Candace asked.

  “Oh, Candace,” Maureen Reid said a bit dramatically.

  “Oh God,” Candace groaned.

  “I think I might recall hearing that too? Was he visiting last July?” Maureen joked. “Duncan?” she turned to her husband.

  “I think I’ll go help the kids,” he said.

  “Chicken,” Maureen called.

  “Mom!” Jameson swatted her mother. “Watch it or you’ll be out there with them,” she warned.

  Candace laughed. “How exactly do they think they got into this world?”

  “It wasn’t me.” Jameson held up her hands.

  Candace rolled her eyes. “Lunatics. All of you.”

  “Yeah, well…get out the strait jackets, Mrs. L. You are the head of this asylum,” Jameson said.

  “Can’t be worse than Washington,” Candace laughed. She kissed Jameson and let her lips linger. “Don’t look now but your ward is on its way in.”

  “Mm. Can we put them to bed without dinner?” Jameson whispered.

  “No, but we can send them outside to play afterward,” Candace promised with a playful kiss. She walked away and joined Pearl at the kitchen table.

  Jameson waited a moment and followed. “I don’t care if Shell goes on CNN,” she laughed. “Hope that tent is sound proof.”

  ***

  Jameson moved behind Candace, who was looking out the window and caressed her shoulders. “Watching the kids?”

  “Mm,” Candace answered. She leaned back into Jameson and closed her eyes.

  “Did you have a good day?” Jameson asked as she nipped lightly at Candace’s neck. Candace reached for Jameson’s hands and held them around her. “Candace?”

  “I had a dream like this once, a long time ago.”

  “A dream like what? That we got married?” Jameson asked. She moved Candace’s hair aside and kissed her neck gently.

  Candace sighed. “No, a dream that you came up behind me, wrapped your arms around me, and told me that you loved me. I realized when I felt you there, in that dream, that I was in love with you.”

  Jameson pulled Candace closer. “I do love you.”

  “I know,” Candace said. She brushed her fingers lightly up and down Jameson’s arms as Jameson’s hands drifted upward and cupped Candace’s breasts. “I think you might have done that too.”

  “Oh?” Jameson asked. She nibbled softly on Candace’s earlobe and grazed over Candace’s nipples with her thumbs.

  “You definitely did that,” Candace moaned.

  “Tell me more,” Jameson said.

  “Mm. I wish I could. Something woke me up right after I said that I loved you.”

  Jameson turned Candace in her arms. “When did you have this dream?”

  “The day you first kissed me,” Candace confessed.

  Jameson stroked Candace’s cheek. “You were so beautiful that night. I remember walking in and thinking I would pass out. I wanted to tell you the moment you walked up to me that I was in love with you.”

  “I knew,” Candace said. “And, I knew that I loved you…so much, Jameson. So much, it hurt. Like right now.”

  Jameson kissed Candace softly. She felt Candace melt into her. There was no urgency in their kiss. It was longing, a desperate, penetrating need that went far beyond physical attraction. Jameson could feel the light trembling in Candace’s body and she held her close. “Shh,” Jameson whispered. “Why are you crying?”

  “I don’t know,” Candace admitted. “It just hit me, just feeling you behind me.”

  “What? That we’re married?”

  “No. The truth is, I’ve felt more married to you since the first night you slept beside me than I ever did to Jonathan,” Candace said. She reached up and kissed Jameson tenderly. “Maybe it’s just that I know where I will be for the rest of my life; where I was always supposed to be.”

  Jameson kissed Candace and led her to their bed. She began unbuttoning the ivory blouse that Candace was wearing, taking the time to trace along the sides of Candace’s breasts. Her kiss moved gently over Candace’s throat as her hands pushed the soft material off of Candace’s shoulders. Candace held on to Jameson’s head, her fingers combing through Jameson’s hair as Jameson lowered her to the bed. Jameson hovered above Candace, looking down at her in admiration. “You have no idea how beautiful you are,” Jameson said.

  Candace smiled up at Jameson and touched her cheek. “That is just how you see me,” she said.

  “No,” Jameson replied. Her fingers skimmed the softness of Candace’s cleavage and she bent down to capture Candace’s lips in an ardent kiss.

  Candace moved her hands over Jameson’s back tenderly. She was overcome by the intensity and honesty of both Jameson’s words and her touch. There was a unique exhilaration in feeling completely safe even as every hidden vulnerability they each possessed surfaced against their will. Candace felt Jameson remove her bra and the softness of Jameson’s lips fall over her breast. She struggled to inhale a full breath against the familiar ripples that traveled over and through her. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to float on the wave of desire that she knew would continue to surge until it finally crested and pulled her under.

  Jameson was lost in her exploration of Candace. She never tired of the woman beneath her. Making love to Candace was intoxicating. Jameson felt transported into a foreign world that existed only for them. The sound of Candace’s sensual sighs, the feel of Candace’s fingers as they tugged gently at Jameson’s curls, the warmth that emanated from the body beneath her; it encompassed Jameson’s senses, banishing everything that surrounded them. She closed her lips around Candace’s nipple and circled it slowly. Candace moaned. Jameson continued teasing Candace. The way Candace was moving in time with her stoked the embers of a simmering fire in Jameson. Jameson had been intent on letting the warmth between them smolder. Now, she felt familiar sparks igniting. She raised a hand to brush over Candace’s throat just as Candace threw her head back in submission.

  Candace could feel her entire body tingling with anticipation when Jameson began raining faint kisses across her abdomen.
Amid the fire burning between them, it felt a great deal like cold raindrops. She shivered slightly. Jameson pulled her closer, her kisses continuing their path lower. Jameson pulled off Candace’s pants swiftly and moved still lower. Her fingertips grazed the tips of Candace’s nipples. Candace trembled. Jameson’s lips reached Candace’s center. The cool caress of Jameson’s kisses was swiftly replaced with the blazing heat of her tongue and Candace cried out.

  Jameson was instantly on fire. She had lost an inclination to maintain a slow burn. She tasted every inch of Candace. Candace began to writhe beneath her. Jameson tugged gently at one of Candace nipples while her tongue danced over Candace and dipped inside of her. She was startled when Candace pushed away and then pulled Jameson up to her. Jameson looked at Candace in concern. She was met with a hungry gaze. “I need to feel you,” Candace told her. Jameson was still puzzled. She searched Candace for her meaning. Candace grabbed the bottom of Jameson’s blouse and pulled it over Jameson’s head. It was the only explanation Jameson required. She closed her eyes as the rest of her clothing was stripped away and Candace’s mouth enclosed over a straining nipple.

  “Jesus,” Jameson cried out. Candace could feel the warmth of Jameson’s arousal on her stomach. It stirred her passion further and she arched her back in response. She was reeling from the steady pulse that throbbed in her core. She needed Jameson. She needed to feel her, to taste her, to lose herself in Jameson. Jameson sensed the urgency in Candace and pulled back slightly from her touch. She kissed Candace deeply, a searing kiss that swallowed both their cries. She deliberately shifted their positions, placing Candace above her.

  Candace smiled and arched a fair brow at her wife. Jameson’s eyes had glazed over and darkened into a lustful haze. “What do you want?” Candace asked seductively. “Tell me, Jameson.”

  Jameson was often quiet when they made love. She sensed that Candace needed to hear her voice her need. “I want you while you take me,” she confessed.

  Candace leaned in and kissed Jameson urgently. She licked along Jameson’s neck and stopped at her ear to whisper. “Do you have any idea how much I want you?” she breathed. Jameson moaned throatily. “I’m going to take you someplace you’ve never been until you beg me to stop,” she promised.