Lost & Found Ch. 06 Pt. 01

Joey relaxed, his momentary panic passed, his thoughts in a whirl as he digested what she'd said. Jonah was the closest thing she had to a father, and Joey knew what he'd do to any man who'd done to his daughter what he'd done with Luna, and Jonah knew so many more inventive ways to inflict pain, if even half the stories about the Hollister brothers were true...

Luna grinned and pushed Joey onto his back, sliding on top of him to lie along his chest with her face resting in the hollow of his neck.

"Baby, this was my choice, and Jonah respects that; he's got nothing but respect and admiration for your mom, and he likes you too. People around here think he's some kind of psychotic killing machine, and maybe he was, I don't know, but that was then. He was a marine, one of the best, and that's what they did, him and other men like him, and that's why we live free."

She grinned and tapped his chin with a graceful forefinger.

"But now he's past all that; now he's just the town handyman, my family, and he thinks you and your mom are family too. Did you know he used to babysit you? He told me how, after your daddy died, your mom was living here alone, and he used to look after you if she had to go someplace in a hurry; he's known you since you were a baby, so relax, he'd be glad I finally found you. You're the kind of guy he's always wanted for me, and luckily, I happen to think so too..."

Joey pulled her closer to him, their lips almost touching as she lay on top of him, smiling down at him.

"That's good to know. You're really okay with...this, all of this? You know I can't stay here forever, right? I finally found what Robbie told me to go look for. Now I have to go back to my little boy, so I guess I'm asking if you'll come back to California with me...?"

Luna grinned at him, her forefinger pressed to her chin in an 'I'm thinking...' gesture.

"Let me think, Joey, in fact, why don't you try asking me nicely?"

Joey smiled back, and slipped his hands down to gently squeeze her butt-cheeks.

"Miss Luna Hollister, will you please, please, pretty please with sugar on the top, come back to California with me?"

Luna pretended to consider his request, then grinned, her eyes dancing.

"Now why would I want to do something as crazy as that? The very idea! You actually expect me to go running off to the other side of the country with you, City-Boy?" she teased, then gasped and giggled as Joey squeezed and jiggled her buttocks, pulling them apart.

"Yes I do, because I love you, and you love me, and because I need you as much as you need me. That good enough for you?" he replied, nuzzling her neck.

Luna nibbled his earlobe and blew in his ear.

"That's true, can't deny that. Okay, I will. When were you planning on going back?"

Joey rolled onto his side, holding Luna tight and taking her with him, so they were now lying facing each other. Luna once more reached up and lightly tapped the end of his nose.

"Just so you know, I don't plan on being some kind of summer girlfriend; you're not some fling for me while you're here; I think you're the one for me and I have for a while now."

She pulled herself closer to look into his eyes.

"I'll give up all I have here to go away with you, because you asked me, and because I want to; but I need to know what you want from me, Joe Anderson. I want to hear you say it just this once, and I'll never ask you again; do that for me, and we can go today if you like!"

Joey stared at her in wonder, astonished and humbled, but also deeply moved and excited at her declaration of the depth of her feelings for him. His hands caressed her as he framed a suitable reply.

"Luna, the first time I saw you I felt something, it felt like the start of something, and I tried to push it away, because...well, you know why. But it wouldn't go away, and every day I saw you, I felt it more and more. I didn't know how to deal with what I was feeling, because all I wanted was Karen, she was my whole world, and even thinking about you felt wrong, so I tried not to; I tried, but it didn't work. Luna, I don't know how, or why, or what happened, but I know one thing; I never thought I could have that feeling again, I thought you only ever once got it so right, and I'd had my chance, and she was gone."

He paused to smile into the distance, his eyes glittering. Luna reached up and gently rubbed his eyes, blotting the single tear that ran from each eye. Joey looked back down at her and smiled, his eyes clear and direct.

"But I was wrong, Luna; I found you, and suddenly I found I could feel that way again, that perhaps, maybe, I was getting my second shot, the one I wasn't supposed to have; somehow you found me, and I found you, and I never want to let you go. Come with me, please, be with me, we can have a good life, a family, everything the world has to offer; I have a good job, a nice home, family who love and care about me, and I know they'll love you too. I can give you everything you want, just say you'll come home with me and be with me forever!"

Luna raised herself up to look down into his eyes, her own eyes glittering as she smiled at him.

"Yes Joey, I will go home with you, and stay with you forever, and we will have it all, I promise you!"

Joey smiled up at her, then his expression became serious.

"There is one more thing; I love my son, he's just over a year old now, and he's the most important part of my family; he comes as part of the package, so will you still take me, knowing that?"

Luna smiled back at him, her finger gently tracing the outline of his jaw.

"I knew that Joey, and yes, I will take you both regardless; babies need a momma, and that little boy's no different, so maybe I can be that for him, if you'll let me; besides, looking after little Joe's gonna give me some practice for when some more babies come along, right? I do promise you one thing, though; I will never be anything except his momma, and he will be our son, but he'll always know that Karen was his momma first, and that she loves him too."

Joey smiled and pulled her close, Luna responding by showering him with kisses. As she undulated against him, Joey could feel himself hardening. Luna felt it too, and her wriggling and grinding against him intensified as she kissed him even harder. Joey's hands roamed over her body, touching, caressing, fondling and squeezing her lithe, tight body, heating her up even as his internal temperature rose at her nearness.

Joey rolled Luna onto her back as he reared above her, looking down into her eyes. Luna grinned back up at him and nodded, her lip caught between her teeth as he slid into her, her eyes closing tight and her mouth falling open as he slowly filled her, gently stretching her open all over again. Her breath came in a soft "aaahhh!" as he slowly pushed his way into her, and her fingers dug reflexively into his back as he buried himself once more in her tight warmth.

As he slid out of her again, as a prelude to slipping back into her, Luna lifted her hips, meeting him as he plunged back into her, and so they made love, their sexes joining and pulling apart as they pleasured each other, their breathing quickening as the need for release rose wild and unquenchable inside them.

Luna gasped out loud as she peaked first, tightening around him as orgasm blew through her in a blast of heat and excitement, her nerve-endings alight with sensation as pleasure radiated out from her center. Pulse after pulse thrummed through taut nerves and stretched tendons, her entire body humming like a power-line on a quiet day as the pleasure coursed through her, a prairie fire that burned without consuming her, bathing her instead in a glowing heat that warmed her through and filled her with a deep sense of satiation.

Joey gasped at the sudden constriction, the catalyst needed to push him over the edge, and he too gasped, shuddering with pleasure as jet after jet of sperm hosed from him, seemingly endless spurts of hot semen flooding her, splashing against her cervix as he gave way to his feelings and needs, the pleasure heightened for him by the knowledge he was making love with the woman who had promised herself to him.

Joey rolled over to lie silently next to her, his chest heaving as the raging aftermath of orgasm controlled him, his muscles twitching and rippling as the adrenaline from his recent exertions slowly dissipated within him. His blood thundered in his ears, a lessening drum-roll as his racing heart gradually slowed to normal.

He turned to Luna as she turned to face him, her eyes a brilliant, sparkling green in the bright Midwest morning sun, and once again a memory surfaced briefly, the certainty he'd seen those eyes, that smile, before, but yet again it eluded him.

"Penny for your thoughts, Mr. Anderson." she murmured, her eyes dancing with amusement as Joey slipped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

"I was thinking I should go and talk to Jonah, then call my mom, then call Robbie. They're all going to be so happy, well, maybe not Jonah, but he's the least of my concerns right now. There was one thing I forgot to ask you, probably the most important thing."

Luan looked at him quizzically, again that so familiar lift of her eyebrow, then her eyes widened as she realized what he was talking about. Joey took her hands in his, and looked into her eyes.

"Luna, I know I already asked you to come home with me, but I don't just want you to live with me; I want more than that, and so do you, I think, so here goes. Luna Hollister, I love you, and I know you love me; will you marry me?"

Luna stared at him, at his eyes, reading him and seeing nothing but sincerity there, her serious expression slowly softening into a shy smile.

"Yes I will Joey, I would be honored to marry you and be your wife!"

Joey smiled, suppressing a sigh of relief; for a moment there he'd thought she was going to say no, that it was a step too far, too soon, but obviously Luna felt the same way he did.

"And now we tell the folks!" he grinned. "Let's go find Jonah, it's too early to go calling the West Coast just yet, and he deserves to know first. Are you okay with that?"

Luna grinned and nodded, seeing the sense of his words.

"But first, we need to go downtown," he continued, "there's something I want to buy you..."

While they showered and got dressed, Luna tried to get Joey to divulge what was so important they had to go downtown so early, but Joey just smiled and said nothing, and it wasn't until they stopped outside the town's only jewellery store that understanding dawned.

"Joey, you don't need to do this, I already said yes, I know we're engaged, that's all that matters to me!" she announced, but Joey wouldn't hear of it.

"I want people to know you're not available anymore; a beautiful girl like you is gonna attract plenty of attention in Daly City, believe me. I just want to make sure everyone knows you're taken!" he grinned, to which she had no answer, so she followed him into the store, to emerge with the most expensive thing she'd ever owned. Luna was almost speechless at how much Joey had paid for her engagement ring.

"Joey, you have a family, you should be saving your money, not wasting it on me!" she'd protested. "If you really needed to give me a ring, any old thing would have done; it's the thought and how we feel about each other, not the price that matters!"

Joey shook his head.

"This is the new beginning we promised each other, this is how I mean to go on; you'll never want for anything, I promise, and neither will our children; that ring is my pledge to you, and I mean every word of it."

Once they were out of the store and back on the sidewalk, Luna looked at him, her eyes once more searching his eyes, his face, looking for something, anything he wasn't telling her. Eventually she spoke, her voice low and throbbing with emotion.

"Joe Anderson, I've waited all my life for this moment, and I think you should know, for me, this means 'forever', no half measures. I want you, all of you, and you're all I want, but if you can't say the same thing, then please, take this back and go get your money back. For me, it's all or nothing, Joey, and I need you to tell me if that's how it is for you too!"

She paused to take a shuddering breath, her chest heaving with the intensity of her emotion.

"I meant every word I said, about loving you, about wanting you, everything, but if you can't tell me the same thing, honestly, before God, then at least I'll know, and I can walk away and not live to regret this; I can't live with the fear always lurking in the background that one day down the line you'll turn around and tell me I trapped you, or it was a mistake; that would kill me, so please be straight with me, right here and now, tell me you're sure, that this is truly what you want, and that everything I'm feeling is what you're feeling too!"

As she spoke, two tears ran down her cheeks, with more tears trembling in her sooty eyelashes, sparkling like diamonds in the bright summer sun.

Joey was almost rocked back on his heels by the gust of raw emotion that blew from her as she bared her soul to him, his heart slamming in his chest as he realized just how much he wanted this girl, how much he needed her, and the depth of her feelings for him.

He pulled her close, cradling her against his chest as he hugged her, trembling with the nearness of her, at the feel of her trembling against him as she cried silently. He led her to a nearby bench on the sidewalk, where he held her again while he waited for her to stop crying, dabbing at her eyes until she had her emotions back under control, then tipped her chin up so he could look directly into her glorious eyes.

"Luna, I meant every word I said, and more. Every part of me, every least, tiny little piece of me, needs you, and only you. I guess I knew that the first time I saw you; it was like a shock deep inside me, like something I always knew, but I was still so angry and lost after losing Karen so suddenly that I didn't want to even think about you; but I couldn't do that. The first night I was here I dreamed about you, and nights after that, and I couldn't understand why, I wouldn't understand why, because I was still too busy feeling sorry for myself."

He smiled, brushing his fingertip across her quivering lip, bringing a quick smile to her lips.

"I dreamed of you most nights after that, and gradually I realized I wasn't dreaming about Karen anymore; I was dreaming about you...and me. I'll never forget Karen; how can I when she was everything to me, when I see her every time I look at Joe junior? But people change, things change, so I hope you'll understand that I should never forget her, for Joey's sake, but she's gone, and now I have you, and you have me, all of me, if you still want me. I know I'm asking a lot from you, but I promise you I will never give you cause to mistrust me, or a second's worth of doubt. I love you, Luna Hollister, I want you to be my wife, to be my family, and make a family with me!"

He opened the plush ring box and took out the diamond-set platinum engagement ring.

"Luna Hollister, will you marry me, love me like I love you, and stay with me forever? I promise you all my love and everything you could ever want, just please say yes!"

Luna smiled at him, her lip still quivering, but it was a genuine smile, no reserve or unasked questions, just acceptance of the fact of Joey's honesty and calm decency. Love for him flooded through her all over again as she finally understood that they were together forever now.

"Thank you for that, Joey Anderson, and thank you for being you! Yes, I will marry you!" she whispered, her eyes sparkling as Joey slipped the ring onto her finger, then leaned over to kiss him and seal them together, their kiss developing into a long, drawn-out kiss, heedless of the smiles of the other early-morning passers-by along that stretch of sidewalk.

Eventually they surfaced, content and ready for what they had to do next.

Joey was silent on the drive out of town to the old Hollister place to break the news to Jonah, and get his blessing. Joey wasn't scared; he was more nervous than anything; Jonah was the nearest thing Luna had to a father, and it was important to him that Jonah accept him as her husband, not just his old friend's son.

Luna tried to convince him all the way there that he had nothing to worry about, that Jonah was expecting their engagement, but Joey was too keyed-up to let that sink-in, and it was therefore with a certain amount of trepidation that he pulled-up in the front yard of the Hollister farmhouse.

Jonah was waiting on the porch, his face set and impassive as Joey and Luna walked up to him hand-in-hand.

"Missed you las' night, Lu," he observed laconically. "I guessed you was safe so I didn't come looking fer you. Reckon you got somethin' you wanna be telling me, am I right?"

Luna smiled shyly and nudged Joey forward. Joey swallowed nervously, his mouth suddenly dry as Jonah stared interestedly at him, daring him to speak. He cleared his throat and pulled Luna closer.

"Jonah...I mean, Sir, earlier today I asked your niece to do me the honor of becoming my wife. I'm happy to say she said "yes", and I would therefore like to ask your permission..."

He trailed-off as Jonah grinned at him, looking in confusion at Luna, who nodded encouragingly. Jonah stuck out his hand and Joey took it instinctively.

"Joey, this is the twenty-first century, and I don't think you-all need to go asking anybody's permission 'cept the girl, but I'm glad you at least came up here and took a stab at it; it's good to see livin' in California ain't damaged your good manners none. Why don't we step inside and talk a little?"

Joey and Luna followed Jonah into the large, meticulously maintained farmhouse and sat on the couch indicated while Jonah sat in the fireside armchair. He picked up his pipe and took his time tamping tobacco into it, then lit it, before sitting back and eyeing Joey.

"It seems like only yesterday your mama was whaling me for hitting young Frank in the schoolyard, although it was an accident, I swear! Your mama and I been good friends a long time, through what she went through when your daddy passed away, God rest his soul, all that business with Frank and Caitlin, and all the while you were growin' up, so I know your family, and I know you too."

He paused to smile encouragingly at Joey.

"I know what kind of man you are, I knew from when you was just a baby just what kind of man you was gonna be; there's a lot of your granddaddy Martin in you, and I got to say, I think Luna picked herself a good one. I used to wonder what kind of life she'd have here, all alone, with no-one her age, especially after her mama died; none of the boys around here are worth squat, and I didn't want her wasting her life out here the middle of nowhere. Now, at least, she'll go out there and see some of the world. All I want from you is your word you won't hurt her; Luna ain't my daughter, but she's as close to me, and all I want is the best for her."

He knocked his pipe out on the hearth and stood up, waving them both back to their seats as he poured two glasses of clear liquid and handed one to Joey.

"To the happy couple!" he toasted, tossing his drink off in one.

Joey looked sideways at Luna, who mouthed "be careful!" and so he took a careful sip of what smelled and tasted like a cross between rubbing alcohol and kerosene. Joey tipped back some of the spirit, his eyes watering as he choked at the sensation of someone shoving a hairbrush down his throat. Jonah grinned at him.

"Smooth, eh? Best batch I ever made! Wanna refill?"

"Uncle Jonah!" gritted Luna, getting Joey a glass of water from the kitchen. She waited until the coughing stopped, and handed the empty glass to Jonah, glaring daggers at him.