Waiting to Come Home

What Jake said helped Renee feel better. It wasn't the words themselves so much, mostly it was just knowing that he didn't blame her or think badly of her for leaving Costas.

For Renee to love Jake, she was going to have to trust that he would never, ever, under any circumstances, intentionally hurt her, physically or through neglect, or otherwise.

For Jake to love Renee, he was going to have to trust that she could finally, once and for all, put all that past away and just love and trust in him. He was already beginning to love her, but he didn't think he could get there all the way until he believed that she could also love him, and love him forever as long as he didn't violate her trust and belief in him.

In addition to love, Jake and Renee were also spending a lot of time thinking about sex. Maybe because on Christmas Eve they'd jumped into it without thinking, before jumping back in they wanted to make sure they were ready. By the second week in January, they were already pretty hot for each other. The more time they spent together, the closer they got, the heat became impossible to ignore. They still hadn't spoken of that night on the couch. Jake wasn't going to bring it up first if she wasn't, and Renee, even though she couldn't forget it, was still content to maintain the fiction that it had never happened.

She actually told herself it was better that way. Because she remembered that night, and how she felt before her doubts suddenly hit her, she was strangely confident they would be more than just compatible between the sheets. She knew she liked his body. She knew he was a good kisser, and she loved the way he made her feel. When she was around him she felt good about herself.

Renee was very confident Jake would satisfy her completely in bed. He made her feel beautiful. He made her feel desirable. He was being very patient and respectful despite the totally slutty way she had surprised him that night. By mid-January, she decided it was time to fuck him.

If Renee had any doubts, it was only that she hoped she could be enough for him, that he would be happy with her for the long haul. Usually sex with her ex, and with the couple of other boys before him, had been good, but sometimes it had honestly just been "meh." When she thought back on it, the not so great times were mostly when she'd just been going along. She didn't even worry about being good enough for the man she was with. She wanted to be good for Jake. She wanted to fuck him so good he'd never even look at another woman.

Jake basically had one simple rule: She will let me know when and if it's time. The great thing about waiting over the last two and a half weeks was that the closer he felt to Renee, the more he wanted to make love to her, not just fuck her. She had a pretty face. He was attracted to her body, but he wanted to make love to Renee, not just the package, the whole woman.

It kind of surprised him, but Jake realized he would want to have sex with Renee if she had one leg, or got fat, or got her eyebrows burned off. He wasn't just craving orgasm, oh sure that was part of it, but more than just the sex, he wanted to share that special closeness with her.

As feelings were developing between the two, Beth grew impatient and decided to help things along. She called Jake and suggested he take Renee for a weekend at the beach. She and Jill could watch the kids. "January at the beach is perfect. It's too cold to do much outside. All you can do is sit in the room, look out at the ocean, see all those primal forces at work, and get inspired to let your own primal forces take over."

Jake laughed, and thanked her for her offer. "Beth, you're a godsend. Did I ever tell you Renee has a terrific older sister?"

"Just don't fuck it up, Loverboy."

Jake asked. Renee agreed, and they spent the weekend in a very nice, semi-secluded bungalow with a terrific view of the waves surging and crashing against the rocks. They made love that first night, with the window blinds open and looking out on the surf and the stars. It seemed...magical. Since Christmas Eve they hadn't really done much more than kiss. So after a long dry spell, for each of them the touch of the other's hand, and the soft closeness of skin on skin, seemed surprisingly unfamiliar, and all the more exquisite in their newness. Jake devoured Renee, delighting in learning how her body responded to him. Renee felt like her every nerve and muscle was alive when he touched her, and she loved the effect she was having on him. It was like she was completely tuned in to the passion they shared.

They made love until the sun came up, dozed briefly wrapped in each other's exhausted arms, woke and tangled again before a ravenous room service breakfast of eggs and waffles and fruit and bacon and champagne and orange juice and each other. The whole weekend was a glorious melange of sex and play and food and laughter and wine and talk and sleep and sex. Doubt was erased. The deal had been sealed. Jake and Renee were officially a couple.

On the drive back Renee said, "So what do we tell the kids? Are you my...'boyfriend' now or what?" She liked the sound of the word on her lips, and the feeling in her chest when she said it.

Jake thought it over for only about half a second. "Nothing would make me happier than to be your boyfriend."

"Hey boyfriend, aren't you going to kiss me?"

Jake didn't have to be told twice. He pulled the car over immediately and soon lost himself in the soft, warm, sweetness of her lips.

Over the next month, they settled into their new lives together. They saw each other nearly every day, sharing meals at one another's houses, going out to eat or places with and without the kids. Beth was a willing babysitter, but Jake also used his sister and an older lady Maddie stayed with before on a couple of occasions when work sent him out of town. They didn't want to take too much advantage of Beth's good nature and cooperation. Still, they were spending the night together a couple of times each week, and stealing a quickie during dates and lunch breaks when they could. Their time apart seemed too long; their time together seemed over too quickly.

Valentine's Day

On February 14, Jake and Renee both took the day off to be together. Cooper came to the breakfast table excited to talk to his mom. "In school yesterday we learned all about Cupid, and how he shot people with his golden arrows to make them fall in love."

"Yeah. Your sister made you wear that costume for Halloween, remember?"

"Oh yeah! Except Tara never told me the arrows had to be golden. Teacher said Cupid's magic doesn't work if he doesn't use the golden arrows."

"Huh. OK."

"Don't you remember? I shot you on Halloween. Except I didn't use golden arrows."

"Yeah I kind of remember. So...wait...you shot us on purpose? And Tara put you up to it?"

"Yeah. Tara and Maddie."

"Those two..."

"And it didn't work. Cuz I didn't use golden arrows."

"Coop, can you ask your sister to come in here please?"

With only a little prodding, Tara confessed the whole thing, right down to how they'd got the initial inspiration when Aunt Beth showed them that movie.

"So...I guess it kind of worked, cuz you guys like each other now, and you're boyfriend/girlfriend. But it didn't work all the way, cuz you're not married."

"Now, Tara, you know that's just a fable. It's not real. There's no such thing as Cupid or Venus or any other mythological beings like that going around mixing into the lives of real people here on Earth."

"Yeah, I know, Mom, but it was fun to pretend. And it did at least kind of work a little bit, even if Coop didn't have golden arrows."

Renee laughed. "Yes, I guess so. Maybe you should have used golden arrows. Maybe it would have worked faster." Then she got more serious. "But if...I repeat if, Jake and I get married someday—and we're a long way from that now—but if we get married someday, it's going to be because we love each other, and we decide we want to, and not because some little cherub casts a magic spell."

"I know, Mom."

Tara ran straight over to Maddie's house to tell her the truth was out, and about Cooper's discovery about the golden arrows. Renee called Jake to ask him to stop by her house early, so she could make him lunch and tell him some news about something the kids had done.

Later, while Jake and Renee talked around the island in the middle of the kitchen, just after Renee had a chance to disclose the details of the kids' Halloween plot, Cooper snuck in behind them dressed in his old costume. Fresh with the arrows the girls had spray painted in Maddie's garage just an hour before, Cooper pulled back the string on his little bow and arrow with the suction cups. He carefully aimed at Jake's ass, and then let fly.

Jake felt the arrow find its mark. He turned in surprise and laughed as the boy ran away.

Cooper really was normally better behaved than that. But he couldn't find it in his heart to hold it against the kid. It was clear the boy liked him. It was flattering he would want him to fall helplessly in love with his Mommy. Was it Cooper's now golden arrow? Was it his silly little grin? Was it the way Renee couldn't help but giggle when she saw it all go down? Who knows, but one thing Jake did know for sure in that moment is that he was, in fact, helplessly in love with Renee.

Renee felt the same way. He knew she did. They were together. They would stay together. He was sure. She was sure. They both felt it.

The next step struck Jake with a clarity like nothing had ever hit him before. He turned to face her.

"Marry me, Renee. Let's do it today. Don't think about it too much. Listen to your heart. What does it say?"

"Are you serious?"

"One thousand percent. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and with Tara and Cooper, and Maddie too, as long as they want to live with us. Don't think. Don't be practical. Just feel. If we want to throw a big party we can do it later. But let's do this now, just for us. Marry me. I can't wait to start the rest of my life with you. I don't want to spend even one minute more of my life without you."

Jake continued, "My sister works at the courthouse. I know she can fix it for us so this happens today. We can get rings at the Jeweler's next to Giuseppe's. I love you, Renee. I am so in love with you! Marry me. Be my Valentine, forever.

Renee paused just a moment. "Yes. Yes!" she broke down crying tears of shock and happiness and joy. They kissed.

And so they were married. Beth and Jill were witnesses. Maddie and Tara were flower girls. Cooper, aka Cupid, was the ring bearer. Jake and Renee were the final couple married that Valentine's Day. The sunset glowed pink as they walked out of the courthouse.

Ever since Sarah died, Jake had been waiting to come home, waiting for the feeling he'd had when she was still alive, that feeling that his heart was full, a center he could draw strength from, knowing no matter what the outside world might throw at him, that center would still be there and he'd be OK. Try though he did when it was just he and Maddie, it had only felt like half. Now, with Renee and the kids, his and hers, at last, again, his heart was whole.

For Renee too, it felt right. It was funny that by moving back to the town and the house and the life she grew up in, she was finally able to find what she'd been looking for when she moved away all those years ago. Renee and Jake and the kids found each other. They came home together, a family.