Ballerina

Jake sensed the change then said, "I didn't mean to trivialize what you said, Morgan. I think I just wasn't expecting you to, you know, bring that up."

"I don't think I planned to," she told him as she looked straight ahead, feeling a little embarrassed that she had.

"I...I haven't been with anyone since..."

Morgan looked at him and waited, knowing she was about to be very surprised.

"Since Becca's mother."

"Wait. You...you haven't...?"

"No. No one."

"Jake. Are you serious?"

"Yes. I've just buried myself in work and raising Becca," he told her. "I had a...hook up...after Leanne and I called it off, but once I knew she was having my child, things like sex, and even dating, took a back seat to the really important stuff."

Stunned into silence, Morgan sat there and tried to imagine any man that attractive living a celibate life. Yes, she'd also been celibate since her husband's passing, but their situations seemed very different to her. And as she continued to look over at him, the compassion and respect she felt for him grew with each passing moment.

"It's been over three years for me," Morgan said quietly.

Jake glanced her way then held out his hand again. Morgan took it without hesitation, and after that, neither of them spoke until they had to decide where to go to eat.

As before, Morgan insisted he choose, and Jake knew just the place.

"Do you like Mexican?" he asked.

"I like everything," she told him.

Jake pulled off the freeway at an Auburn exit then headed for one of his favorite restaurants, La Posada. Waking Becca up wasn't what the little girl wanted, but Morgan said she'd hold her.

As they walked inside, Becca had her tiny arms around Morgan's neck, and she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so...whole.

The conversation during dinner was a lot less intense than it had been on the way back, and the food was delicious. But the thing Morgan found most interesting was when she realized she felt like...like this was her family. Anna, of course, would always be her family, but she couldn't shake the sense that being with Jake and Becca was were she belonged.

"You have something on your mind," Jake said as he watched Morgan's facial expression and the way she was looking at Becca.

When she looked at Jake, she also realized she didn't feel 'out of place' being here with him, their age difference aside.

"I...I don't know, Jake. I was just sitting here thinking how...right...this feels," she said, hoping he wouldn't laugh.

He not only didn't laugh, he said, "I couldn't agree more."

Morgan's flutter turned into something much deeper, and she couldn't hold his stare for fear he'd know what she was thinking.

"The...the food here is really good," she said, changing the subject.

Jake didn't push the issue. He was aware that things had changed yet again, and that this time, the change was good. And possibly even...very good.

Morgan invited them in when they got back to her apartment, and Jake accepted with the caveat that it only be for a few minutes.

"Of course. Becca has school tomorrow, huh?"

"Um, no. Actually, she doesn't," Jake told her when he remembered it was President's Day.

"Yay! No school for me!" Becca said as she climbed up on the couch and sat next to Morgan.

"Don't you like school?" she asked very sweetly.

"Yes. I do. But I like to be at home with my daddy," she told her in a very matter of fact kind of way.

Morgan ran her fingers through the little girl's hair and told her she was very lucky to have such a wonderful daddy.

"I wish I had a mommy," Becca said just as innocently.

"Honey, you have Aunt Kayla," her father reminded her.

"Yes. I know. But she can't go night-night with you."

Becca's answer surprised both her father and Morgan. She was sitting between the two adults when she got up and said, "Here. Sit next to Morgan, Daddy, okay?"

"Oh. I don't know, honey," he said as he looked at Morgan who smiled at him.

"That would be fine with me," she told him.

"See! It's okay!" Becca said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the beautiful woman in the black sweater and white blouse.

"Okay," he said as he scooted over. "Now what?"

"Now, you put your arm around her," Becca said, pointing to Morgan's shoulders.

"Like this?" he said, as Morgan cozied right up.

"Uh-huh. Just like that."

"Is that it?" Jake asked.

Becca started smiling and Morgan asked what was so funny.

"Well, now my daddy is 'posed to kiss you," the little girl said, embarrassed by her own words.

"Oh. I see," Morgan said as she turned toward her father.

"You're 'posed to kiss me," she informed him.

"I...I heard," he replied as their eyes met.

"So?" she said quietly with a beautiful smile.

"I 'pose I should then, huh?"

"Yes. Definitely," she replied as she forgot all about the little girl watching them as her father kissed her for the first time.

"Yay!!" Becca said as she clapped, startling Morgan back to life.

"I think someone approves," Jake said.

"That makes two someones," she told him very sweetly.

"No, that makes...three," Jake said just as quietly before kissing her again.

Becca giggled again, and this time her father pulled her up on his lap. She only stayed for a second or two before asking Morgan if she could sit on hers instead.

"Of course you can, honey!"

Morgan pulled her over and wrapped her arms tight around the Ballerina. Becca was all smiles as she turned her head around and said, "I love you, Morgan."

Almost instantly, tears welled up in the older woman's eyes as she said "Ohh! I love you, too, sweet girl!"

"Do you love my daddy, too?" she asked.

Morgan kept smiling and answered as she looked at her father.

"I'm...getting there."

"Really?" Jake asked, his heart now beating faster.

"Yes. Really," she told him as she leaned over to kiss him.

Becca followed her lips all the way to her father's, and she never stopped smiling. Until her father told her they should probably be going.

No one wanted to leave, and Morgan asked Jake if he could maybe stay a little while longer—since there was no school, of course.

When Becca heard, "Sure," she clapped for joy.

But watching grownups kiss wasn't very exciting, and Becca ended up in front of the TV set with the cartoon channel on for entertainment.

It was nearly ten o'clock when Jake realized how badly he'd lost track of time as they sat and talked and held hands and occasionally kissed.

"I wish you didn't have to leave," Morgan told him understandingly.

"You do?" Jake asked, not sure he heard correctly.

"I know it's very soon to be saying this, but..."

Morgan looked away and stopped talking, so Jake gently brushed her hair back and said, "Tell me."

"No. You'll think I'm...crazy. Or worse."

"Why would I think that?"

"Because...well, who asks someone to...stay...when they barely know each other, and when...when his daughter is there with him, and..."

"Morgan. Are you sure?" Jake asked.

She finally found the courage to look at him then managed a weak smile.

"Jake. I haven't met anyone since my husband died who's even remotely interested me. And...well, I...I was thinking that if you wanted to, you know, end your um...dry spell...as badly as I do, then..."

"I'll stay," he said very quietly. "If you're sure."

"I'm positive," she told him as she pulled him to herself and kissed him more passionately than they had so far.

Becca was sound asleep on the couch, and Jake realized that was the closest he'd ever come to feeling like a neglectful parent—by letting his daughter fall asleep while watching cartoons.

"The sofa is also a bed," Morgan told him as he picked the sleeping ballerina up.

She grabbed some sheets and quickly made up the sofa bed, then laid a pillow down and a blanket on top of her then kissed her rosy cheek.

"She's...beautiful," Morgan said as she put her arm around Jake's waist.

"So are you," he told her as he turned to face her.

"Thank you. I have no idea why you think I am, but I love hearing you tell me you do," she replied very quietly.

"Are you kidding me? You're...freaking gorgeous!" Jake told her causing her to have to stifle a laugh.

"Okay," she replied. "I believe you. Or at least I believe that you believe that."

"Morgan?" Jake said.

"Yes?"

"Can you stop? Please."

She smiled happily then said she could.

"Come on. Let me show you to the bedroom," she then said as she took his hand and led him off to break two very long, sexless periods of time in their lives.

An hour later, Morgan lay there happy and satisfied and said, "It really is like riding a bike, huh?"

Jake rolled over, smiled at her, then said, "Um...no. You're not quite like any bike I'm ever ridden."

"Oh! So you liked riding me?" she teased.

"Yes. Very much," Jake said as he touched her pretty face. "I like everything about you, Morgan."

"Everything?" she asked hopefully, still concerned about being so much older.

"Oh, yeah. Every thing," he assured her as he straddled her again.

He was already hard again, and Morgan purred as she reached for him.

"I kind of like...every thing about you, too," she told him as she pulled him back inside her then moaned softly when he filled her.

Jake left around 4am and Morgan helped him get Becca up and into the truck. She had no idea she'd mostly spent the night, and her father had no intention of ever telling her she had.

"Jake? If you need me to watch Becca today, you can bring her back over when you go to work," Morgan told him. School was out, but work wasn't.

"No. I can't do that to you," he told her.

"To me?" she asked as she shivered in the morning cold. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Nothing?" Jake teased as he held her to warm her up.

"Okay. Almost nothing," she admitted. "And I could take her to ballet. If that's all right."

"You'd do that?" he asked.

"Yes. I'd do that. I'd love to spend the day with her. Just text me what I need to know in case of an emergency."

"This can't be be happening," Jake said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"That's my line," Morgan told him.

"I can't believe how amazing you are," he told her.

"No, that would be you, but thank you for saying that."

She was freezing and very tired but still didn't want to let him go.

"Okay. I'll bring her back around 7:30. If that's okay."

She looked up at him, smiled, then said, "Jake. In case you haven't figured it out, I kind of love that little girl."

"Well, in case you haven't figured it out, I'm kind of falling for you."

"Yeah. Same here," she told him sweetly before they kissed one last time.

Morgan did take Becca to ballet that Monday. The little girl was so excited, she never stopped talking on the way there or back home. Wearing a real ballet tutu sent her over the excitement edge, and Morgan found herself smiling the entire day.

With her father's permission, she enrolled Becca in a beginner's class and took her again on Wednesday and then on Saturday, and three days a week from then on. As Becca learned the basics under Connie's tutelage, Morgan began learning short and then longer routines.

She also continued seeing Jake nearly every day after work, and spending all day with him from Saturday evening through late Sunday.

Within a month, she'd met Jeff Wheeler, who liked her as much as his son loved her, and it was around that same time that Jake first used the 'L' word; a word Morgan said back to him immediately and without hesitation.

Even Kayla found herself unable not to love his brother's older girlfriend.

Anna, who'd had some reservations, liked Jake from Day One, and she loved his little girl from the moment she laid eyes on the pretty little Ballerina.

Becca's first recital was scheduled for the week after school let out in early June, and her entire family was there to watch, along with Anna and Morgan Anderson, who sat next to the younger man she so dearly loved.

When the recital ended, and Becca curtseyed along with the other little girls in her class, the parents blew up the room with applause. Connie thanked them all for coming, then said she wanted to introduce someone very special to her.

When Morgan's name was called, she gave her old friend a puzzled look then said to Jake, "I have no idea what she's up to."

"Go on, honey. Take a bow," he told her as her nearly pushed her to go up front.

"Folks? This beautiful woman is one of my dearest and old...dearest friends."

There was some polite laughter before she continued.

"Several years ago, she lost her husband, and back in February, she moved back here to the area where she grew up from Spokane to be near her daughter, Anna, who's sitting here tonight with little Becca's family."

Connie had introduced each of the girls before the recital and shared Becca's love of all things ballerina.

"Morgan was a very accomplished dancer in her day, and she's since returned to ballet and is making unbelievable progress. She's buying a home that's nearly complete in a local development, and as I understand it, she's even fallen in love."

Morgan's eyes opened wide as her friend smiled at her.

"In fact, I believe her very handsome boyfriend is here with us tonight, so...Jack? Would you come up and join your beautiful girlfriend, please?"

Morgan's heart began beating out of her chest when Jake got up and moved toward her.

"I'll uh...I'll let Mr. Jake Wheeler, of Wheeler Excavation, take it from here."

The business plug got a chuckle, too, and no one moved, as most of the adults had a pretty good idea what was about to happen.

"Hi. Folks," Jake said rather nervously.

"Hi, Jake!" most of the people replied.

"I'm uh, I'm not real good at public speaking, so I'll keep this short."

"Thank you!" his dad hollered out drawing a laugh.

"I love you, too, Dad."

"Ah, geez. Stop with the sappy stuff already and get on with it!"

More laughter followed before Jake continued.

"I've never been married or even in love before," he began. "But that changed this last February when my father, the wiseacre over there, dragged me to an open house."

He turned toward Morgan and took her hands but kept speaking loudly enough to be heard.

"That's where I met the most amazing, beautiful, kind, caring, and wonderful woman I've ever known."

Morgan's eyes were now filled with tears, and her hands were trembling when Jake let go of them.

"I fell in love with her, and now I can't imagine living a single day without her in my life. And I'm pleased to say Becca loves her just as much as I do."

He motioned to his little girl to come over and stand by him when he handed her a small, white box.

"You ready?" he asked Becca.

"Uh-huh!" she said, nodding her head up and down.

Jake got down on one knee as Becca opened the box.

But before he could formally propose, Becca blurted out, "Now you're 'posed to marry my daddy!"

Morgan was crying openly, and nodding as she bent down and held then kissed the pretty little girl she loved like her own.

"Then tell him I accept!" Morgan said through her tears.

"Morgan says she's axe ceps, Daddy," Becca told him causing everyone to laugh as they burst into applause again while Jake slid the large diamond ring onto her finger.

He stood up, picked up Becca, then the three of them hugged before Jake kissed his beautiful fiancé for the first time.

"Speech!" someone said to Morgan.

"No. No speeches. I'm speech...less!"

She held up her left hand and said, "This says it all. Well, this and these two people plus one more."

Morgan called Anna up to join them and introduced her before Jake asked his father and sister to join them, too.

Someone started singing the old 70s song, "We...are...fam..uh...lee! I got all my brothers and sisters with me!" and the everyone who knew the lyrics sang along, too.

A week later, Jake said he had something to run by his new fiancé.

"Shoot," she said as she sat there with Becca on her lap.

"How about we buy a bigger home?"

"But mine is going to done in two days, and I have a contract."

"But I know the builder," Jake countered with a smile. "Charlie says he'll let you off the hook if we buy a bigger unit. He keeps a thousand dollars and the house and can still sell it, while we get a bigger place."

Morgan's eyes got glassy again as she realized just how much her handsome, younger fiancé loved her.

"And..." Jake continued. "I spoke with Connie, and if you'd like, we can take over the business from her in another month or so."

"What? Are you...are you serious?" she asked.

"Yes. One-hundred percent," Jake told her.

"I don't know what to say, sweetheart," was Morgan's reply.

"Then say 'yes'. To both."

As the first tear fell, she looked at Jake then said, "How did I ever get so lucky to be this happy?"

Jake laughed then said, "Well. As I recall, this little Ballerina right here ran into the room where you were sitting and..."

Morgan laughed as she cried and said, "Just kiss me, okay?"

Becca smiled as her mom-to-be kissed her daddy, and for the first time in years, the pretty little Ballerina had a mommy that loved as much as the mother who'd loved her so dearly and given her life.