Returning Home

"Yes. I was forever corrupted by one of my teachers who decided to take advantage of a poor, helpless student."

"I don't remember him complaining," she said with a smile.

"Oh, right. Good point," he said as he gently pushed her onto the bed.

Neither of them had ever done anything so slowly they'd wanted so badly in their lives. Every touch, every look, each kiss was an event to be savored and treasured. The sex itself was amazing and truly the icing on the cake, but for both of them, being together again was everything.

As she lay there with him, alone for the first time in so very long, she asked him, "Can you really ever forgive me, Hunter?"

He turned over and as he looked at her, he told her, "I already have. The past is the past. It can't be changed or undone. All that matters is being with you, Lana."

He kissed her softly then said, "And with our son."

"I'm so tired of crying, but when you say something like that...."

Hunter only smiled as he ran his finger along her beautiful face.

"It's like you haven't changed at all," he told her.

"Do you remember what a simile is?" she asked playing the role of teacher.

"Kind of," he said. "Metaphors and smilies, right?"

"Yes. Very good. We use the word 'like' in a simile. It's 'like' I haven't changed at all, but we both know I have. Hunter, if you don't want to get involved. If you just needed to find me, you can see our son as often as you like, and I'll understand if...."

He put his finger on her lips and said, "You talk too much. I know what I want. I've known since the first time we kissed nearly ten years ago. Nothing's changed, Lana. Time has passed, but nothing's changed. I still love you."

A tear fell from her eyes as she said, "There you go again."

"Speaking of 'going again' is there any chance we could maybe...go again?" he asked her.

"Well, if you're up to the task, I'd like nothing more," Lana cooed.

She reached for him, smiled, and said, "Oh, yes. You are definitely up for another go!"

Both of them had a hard time sleeping and were up at 5:30 having a cup of coffee.

"I suppose I should ask what you do these days," Lana said as she close to him on the couch.

"Nothing much. I make this plastic stuff. It's not all that exciting," he told her.

"Your card said 'Clear Technologies'. That sounds exciting to me," she told him.

"I guess that depends on your definition of exciting. It is to geeks like me, but you'd probably enjoy watching paint dry more than watching pieces of 'plastic glass' get made, cut up, and shipped out."

"Maybe you could let me be the judge of that," she said sweetly. "If it's important to you, it's important to me. Are you an engineer there or something?"

"Or something," he said rightly assuming she hadn't noticed his fancy titles on the card. "I can give you a personal tour if you'd care to see it."

Just as she was about to say 'yes', Bodie came out and ran straight to his parents.

"I knew you'd be here!" he said as he squished in between them.

"You better get used to me being here, because from now on I will be," he told his son.

"I can't wait to tell Alex!" he said still not fully awake.

"Alex? I have a lot to learn, huh?" Hunter said mostly to Lana.

"Do you want to go see where your father works today?" she asked.

"Don't I have school?" he asked now suddenly wide awake.

"I think we can both miss one day for something this important," she said as she hugged him and kissed the top of his head.

"Yesterday was great, but today is totally awesome!" Bodie said.

Hunter let Kelli know he'd be late, and the surprise in her voice was subtle but noticeable. When he said he'd be bringing his family in for a visit, she assumed he meant his mother and father and didn't think much about it until he walked in holding hands with a woman along with a young boy.

Kelli's disappointment was palpable as she tried her best not to stare at this woman who was obviously quite a bit older than her boss. That he'd referred to this as his family along with the fact he was holding her hand led her to the realization he was off the market for good. Unless maybe, just maybe this was an older sister.

She could tell the woman was older, but she had to admit she was still very attractive although Kelli couldn't understand why he'd prefer a woman like that to, well...her. Brooding was out of the question so she put her best smile on and welcomed them to Clear Technologies.

"This is my right-hand...person, Kelli. Kelli, this is...."

He looked at Lana, smiled, then looked back at Kelli and said, "The love of my life, Lana Car...sorry, Woods. And this good-looking young man right here is my son, Bodie."

Kelli nearly choked when she heard the word 'son' but saw the resemblance immediately. She stuck her hand out and shook the boy's hand and told Bodie he was very handsome—just like his father. So much for this being a sibling.

Lana smiled as she could tell this younger woman had a thing for her....hmmm. He wasn't her husband or her fiancé and boyfriend seemed so inadequate. Perhaps 'love of my life' was the perfect description for now at least.

"So can I show you around?" Kelli asked cheerfully.

"I'm confused," Lana said as she turned to Hunter. "I thought you said you work here."

"I do," he told her. "I practically live here."

"But you're not just an employee, are you?" she said as she watched Kelli smiling and looking at her then Hunter.

"Oh, I may have forgotten to mention one little detail," he said kind of sheepishly.

"Is this place...yours?" Lana asked as the light began coming on.

"Kind of," he replied. "It's an LLC, and I'm the sole member so...I guess I own it. But I'm also the um...president and CEO, but those are really just titles. What's important to me is what we do here."

"Oh, my goodness," Lana said as she took a real, first look around. "This place is enormous."

Hunter took her around both sides of the business and explained what they made there and what was done with the finished product.

"So while it saves our customers a lot of money, it more importantly has the potential to save a lot of lives," Hunter told her as they neared the end of the tour.

"Are you rich?" Bodie asked innocently.

"Well, not like Bill Gates," he said with a smile as he caught the look on Lana's face.

He led them to his office and Lana had a million questions. She asked and Hunter answered until she couldn't think of anything else to ask.

"I knew you were smart. Brilliant even. And I knew you'd be successful at whatever you did. I just had no idea you'd do something this incredible," she said with genuine admiration. "I don't want to bring up a sore subject again, but this almost makes me feel better about, you know...."

"Letting me go?" he said with a smile. "I have to admit that my work was my only relief from the pain and hurt, and I poured myself into it day and night. I also have to admit I got lucky. Not that I wasn't trying to find a product like this, but no matter how much effort you put into something, there's always an element of luck."

"You're just being modest," Lana said. "I think it was Edison who said invention was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Had you not worked as hard as you did no amount of luck would have made this happen."

"It was," Hunter said. "Actually, he said 'genius' rather than invention, but you're absolutely right. A lot of time went into this."

"Mom? Can we go home now?" Bodie said also very innocently.

His mom was about to tell him that was rude when Hunter said, "This is pretty boring, huh?"

"Well, kind of," his son said knowing he was treading on thin ice.

"Actually, we're probably keeping your father from something important," Lana said to their son.

"I really do need to get back to work, but I can have Kelli have one of our drivers take you home."

"One of your drivers?" Lana said. "Oh, my goodness. This is going to take some getting used to!"

"It really does," Hunter agreed. "I still can't believe this is happening."

"Hunter? I want you to know I had no idea about...all this. And it has no bearing on how I feel about...."

He smiled and said, "I never once thought that. I know you, Lana. Money doesn't motivate you. And it doesn't motivate me, either. Helping people does. Money is a side effect of 'all this', as you put it. When our product goes out, I see soldiers and Marines living rather than dying. I see buildings being made taller and stronger because they're lighter. I see families better protected in their cars and from damage during hurricanes."

He stood up then took her hands and helped her stand, too.

"But I'd give away every dollar I have to have the kind of love you give me," he told her in a way that nearly made her cry again.

"I don't have too many dollars I could give away, but I feel the same way about you. It's as though my life is finally complete. I feel...whole again," she told him as he put his arms around her.

"Are you gonna kiss my mom?" Bodie asked making a bit of a face.

"Is it okay if I do?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Bodie said. "Do I have to watch?"

His parents laughed then looked at one another the way two people in love do.

"You better turn your head, honey," his mom said without looking at him as the love of her life kissed her.

When it went on for several seconds, Bodie said, "Okay, okay. That's enough!"

After another laugh, Hunter said, "Let me walk you out."

Kelli was right there waiting to help and called for a car which pulled up less than a minute later. She forced herself to tell Lana how wonderful it was to meet her then wished them both a great day.

"I had no idea you had a family," Kelli said politely to Hunter as his family got in the car.

"That makes two of us," Hunter said.

Unable to resist, Kelli asked very carefully, "So...is Lana your wife?"

He smiled then said, "Not yet," before heading back to his office.

That evening, Hunter left around 4 o'clock and made one stop on his way to Lana's apartment.

After dinner, he casually asked her if she'd move in with him. He had what was, for a multi-millionaire, a rather modest 3,500 square foot home he lived in all by himself.

"Oh, and a pool," he added with a smile.

"Yes, of course I will," she told him. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Nothing?" he asked as he got down on one knee and opened the small box he pulled out of his pocket.

"Oh...my...goodness!" she said barely able to breathe.

"I can't tell you how much I missed you or how I felt so incomplete without you, Lana. Every day was like every other until I saw you again."

He saw her eyes filling with tears as he continued, "But since the moment I spoke to you in front of my parents' house, my life has had meaning and purpose again. Lana, I've never stopped loving you, and I can't stand the thought of living one more day without you. Will you marry me?"

She was crying and nodding and holding out her hand as he placed the monstrously-large diamond ring on her finger. The size was irrelevant. All that mattered was the man putting it on.

"Yes! Yes, of course, I'll marry you!" she said, her entire body shaking with emotion.

Hunter stood up, took her in his arms, and kissed her.

"How about we go tell our son?" he said with a smile.

"All he's going to hear is 'swimming pool'," Lana said as her fiancé took her hand.

"Cool!" Bodie said when they told him. "Do you have PS4 at your house?"

Lana laughed at having been wrong, but only by virtue of the thing Bodie focused on.

"No, but we'll bring yours," his dad promised. "Do you have a bathing suit?"

He looked at his mom then said, "I think so."

"It's too small," his mom said, "but we can probably find one somewhere on sale."

"Or you could just send someone out to buy it for you," Hunter said knowing how well that would go over.

"Not even if I was bedridden," she said trying to be stern.

"Mom?" Bodie asked. "Can I tell everyone at school I have a dad now?"

She tried not to cry again as she said, "Yes, of course you can."

Hunter bent down and said, "Would it be okay if I drove you to school tomorrow?"

"That would be SO awesome!" he said before hugging his father close.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I love you," Bodie said before hugging him again.

"I love you, too, big guy."

Bodie was all smiles as his very own father not only drove him to school, but walked him to the office with his mother who added him to the list of people authorized to pick up her son. Then they both walked him to his classroom where Hunter met his teacher and introduced himself to her.

Several other kids were already in the room, and Bodie's 'stock' went up a thousand percent as the tall, handsome man said hello to them before giving his son a hug goodbye.

"When you leave school today, a driver will be here to get you, okay?" his mom explained. She gave her son the man's name, showed him a picture of him, and made sure his name was also on the approved 'pick-up' list. She'd have preferred to get him herself, but she didn't get out of school until 20 minutes after Bodie, who'd always had to wait in the school's aftercare area.

"He'll bring you over to my school and up my room until I can leave, okay?"

Bodie nodded only caring that his mom and dad were together.

Lana realized she now had the option of quitting her job and being there for her son. For now, she thought she wanted to keep teaching, but should her fiancé want to have a child with her.... No...another child with her, she might just be willing to give up the job she loved to be a stay-at-home mom.

That same week, Hunter introduced his new family to his parents. He'd given them a three-day heads up to try avoid hearing his father blurt something out that might hurt either Lana's or Bodie's feelings. But as it turned out, he was not only a perfect gentleman, he was thrilled to have a grandson.

"You wanna go play catch?" he asked the boy almost immediately.

"I'm not very good at baseball," Bodie told him truthfully.

"Okay, what are you good at?" his grandfather asked.

"Video games!" Bodie said.

"Huh. Well, looks like we're gonna have to get some of those around here."

He looked at Lana and said, "Is it okay if I take my grandson out and buy one?"

"You don't have to that," she told him.

"Yeah, I kinda do," the older man said, his hand resting on the boy's shoulder. "I got a lotta time to make up for."

Lana and Hunter were both touched, and Carol had tears in eyes as she saw the sudden, unexpected change in her husband.

"Well, then I guess that would fine," she said.

"You like Walmart, Bodie?"

"Sure! They have PS4, XBox, Nintendo, Wii, and...."

"Whoa there! I don't even know what you're talking about," his grandpa said. "You just show me what you want and I'll pay for it. That's what grandparents do!"

"That's...awesome, Grandpa!" he said as he hugged his waist.

A little over two hours later, Ernie Decker was having the time of his life playing games he didn't even know existed. His wife, son, and future daughter-in-law watched as he twisted his body, leaned back, and hollered, "Oh, no!" whenever he lost a life.

"I've never seen your father so happy," Carol told her son. "Then again, I've never seen you this happy."

He put his arm around Lana and said, "You're right. I never really believed I'd ever see the love of my life again, let alone be engaged to her and have a son."

"Well, I'd say that returning home was the best decision you ever made then," his mother said as she smiled at them both, getting nods of agreement from each of them.

Lana didn't want a lavish wedding, but it was still a very nice ceremony held in the small backyard of her in-laws' home just three months later. Only a handful of their closest family and friends attended, but there was a huge reception at a place Kelli rented out for them later that evening.

Lana had been on a mission to lose as much of the nearly ten pounds she'd gained and although it didn't matter to Hunter, she looked even more amazing in the beautiful wedding dress she'd chosen. Just like him, Lana found it very difficult to spend money and was happy to settle for a very modest bridal gown even though they could afford any dress she wanted. The truth was, Hunter and a life with him was all she wanted. Everything else was just window dressing.

Orders kept pouring into the factory and yet Hunter's interest in managing and running the business waned with each passing day. He made finding a superb replacement his top priority and once he'd found...her...Hunter began spending as much time with the son he'd never known as he could as well as the women he'd always loved.

"How would you feel about having a little brother or sister?" Bodie's dad asked him shortly after his 9th birthday which had been the biggest party Bodie had ever seen with his entire class present to celebrate with him.

"I'd like that," he told his dad.

"You know I'll keep spending time with you, right?" Hunter asked needing his son to understand he wasn't being replaced.

"I know," he said. "I'm just glad to finally have a dad. If I have a little brother or sister, I'll enjoy spending time with them, too, so...sure. That would be just fine."

"You are such a mature young man," his father told him.

"Well, I am nine years old," Bodie reminded him very seriously.

"Yes, you are," his dad said making sure not to laugh. "But you're not too old to be...tickled!!!"

Hunter grabbed him and tossed him on the couch then tickled him until he begged for mercy.

Lana came in and stood there just watching them play and thought she might cry again. But this time she didn't care. She'd spent so many years missing this wonderful, younger man to whom she was now happily married, so she gave herself permission to cry tears of joy before going over and joining in.

The tickle fest ended in a family hug and Dad saying, "Bodie said he'd be okay having a little brother or sister."

"Oh, I see," his mom said. "Well, in that case, maybe we should see if we can locate a stork."

Bodie adjusted his glasses then said with a hint of annoyance, "I know where babies come from, Mom."

Lana's face registered a look of horror for a moment before she recovered.

"You do, huh?" she said as she looked at her husband."

"Yeah, they come from your tummy," he told her authoritatively.

"Ah, yes! Watermelon seeds, right?" she said trying not to laugh knowing Bodie didn't understand the reference.

"Mom?" Bodie asked.

"Yes?"

"Can you try not to give me a sister?" he said trying not to sound too mean.

She and Hunter managed not to laugh as she said, "I can't promise, but your father and I will get right to work on that."

Satisfied with their answer, Bodie asked if he could go play video games.

"Sure," his father said. "And...I think your mother and I are going to go take a little nap, if that's okay."

As their son bounded off to play, his mom and dad headed to their bedroom to play, too.

That night, Bodie's little brother was conceived, and nine months later he was born to two loving parents who couldn't have been happier.

Lana didn't return to teaching the following year. She was finally content to spend her days at home raising her children, working out in the little home gym they'd added on, and enjoying as much time with the love of her life as she could.

Lana Decker, and the recently renamed Bodie (no middle name) Decker, finally forgave herself for sending away the boy she'd fallen in love with and gave thanks often for the life she now shared with him.

Surrounded by her loving family, Lana shuddered to think what kind of life she'd be living had her handsome young husband chosen to start his company in Portland or anywhere else that hadn't involved his returning home.