A Promise of Forever (37 page)

Their Southampton Estate was quite large besides having so much private beach frontage available to them it had an enormous yard for Jenny to play in.
They made time to come as often as possible.
“I’m happy for you and Brody.
I’ve never seen him so content.
I’m sorry we couldn’t make your wedding but it was impossible for me to travel.”
Katelyn was so happy that Brody and Eleanor had found each again.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the four of them had a lot in common.

Eleanor was glowing and everything about her today was a little different.
She looked elegant in the suit she wore and Katelyn was sure to tell her.
“You look great.
Something is different about you, I don’t know what?
Is this one of your designs?” she asked pointing to her dress.
It was one of her own designs and Eleanor was proud but she was glowing for different reasons.

“I’m trying out my new maternity line.
What do you think?” Eleanor asked proudly.

“You’re pregnant?” Katelyn asked, before congratulating her. “How wonderful, I can’t tell you how much a baby will add to your life she said staring down at her sleeping son.

Her eyes grew wider as her sixth sense clicked in as he walked into the room.
Nothing would ever change, the way he made her tremble with want when he was around.
Gianfranco came over to her and held her close.

“I offer my congratulations as well, Eleanor.
There’s nothing more rewarding than becoming a parent.
Believe me, I know,” he said as he kissed his wife on the side of the neck.
Eleanor gave them both a friendly kiss and left them alone.
Gianfranco followed her, locking the door behind her as she left.

He turned to his wife again and kissed her until he thought he would die.
“I’m trying, I really am.
I don’t think I can wait much longer.
The doctor did say that it was safe, didn’t he?” he said groaning.
He sighed and made a face of disgust.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be punishing you.”

“Everyone is waiting for us downstairs.
Do you think you could carry Kevin for me?”
She handed her sleeping baby to his father and followed him as they started down the stairs.
Jenny ran up and joined them while Jake came up and took his nephew and godson from Gianfranco.

Katelyn had a mischievous look on her face as her husband turned to her to take her hand.
“I’ve asked Maggie to care for Kevin and Jenny tonight.
I told her that we were in dire need of alone time.
She was only too happy to oblige.
She’s been dying to get him to herself since the day he was born.
I thought we’d excuse ourselves from the party at a reasonable hour.”
He stopped his descent down the staircase.

“Please, tell me you mean what I think you mean?
You did say ‘we’ when you mentioned sneaking off to our room, didn’t you?”
He was sure, from the smile on her face, that his life was about to get almost perfect.

Kevin and Sylvia, with Amanda in her arms, stood at the bottom of the staircase.
The baby was sucking on a toy rattle and Kevin was busy showing her off to anyone who would stop to talk to him.

Katelyn was so happy for all their friends and family.
It seemed as if this had been the best year for them all, with the exception of one tall, dark Indian who stood out in the crowd.
Jake had great power to love and she wondered if he would ever find a woman who would take that teakwood ring from him.
She noticed that Jake had always worn the ring around his neck.
He was a bit of a wild man but, with the right woman, she was sure he would willingly settle down.
Someday, he would find her, if he hadn’t already with no one the wiser.

Gianfranco walked over to Jake and tried his best to show his appreciation for everything he’d done.
“Jake, I want to thank you for listening to me and sharing your thoughts.
If it weren’t for you, I’m not so sure I wouldn’t have destroyed everything between Katelyn and myself.
I don’t need to tell you what that would have done to me,” Gianfranco said as he handed his friend a drink.
“I’ve been thinking about that article you wanted; I have an idea.”

“You’re the expert; I trust you’ll do the right thing,” Jake said as he gulped his beer.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.
It’s been a top priority since getting my own life in order,” he said as he peaked at his wife across the lawn.
He couldn’t stop wondering about the promise tonight held in store for them.
He wanted the same kind of happiness for Jake and he knew just the person for the job.

They all had their little secrets and Jake was no different.
He’d never told another soul, other than Gianfranco, about Joey Davis.
She was Joey Davis, alias Jocelyn Davis.
She was the daughter of the man who took in a young Indian boy when his grandmother died.
Joey was also the reason why Jake left home to go to college and later became a Navy Seal.

He hadn’t told Jake that he had found Joey or that he hired her.
Apparently, Joey had become a war correspondent and was quite good at her job.
Gianfranco wondered if Joey had been subconsciously searching for Jake all this time.
Up until he made the call to her to offer her a job, Joey had thought Jake was still a member of a Navy Seal elite squad.
She was happy and relieved to hear that he was back in the States and doing very well.
She didn’t give away too much information but Gianfranco suspected there was more to this story than she wanted anyone to know.
It was funny, even to him, how fast she accepted his job offer when she knew Jake was no longer overseas.
As far as Jake was concerned, Gianfranco decided to keep him in the dark about hiring Joey.
It was better, at least he thought so, he would let nature takes its course.

“Send me a journalist who will take the job seriously.
You know how important this camp is to me.
Whoever you send has to know, going in, that only our native tongue will be spoken and that includes in front of him or her.
I won’t make any exceptions to the rule, not even for you,” he added without haste.

“I know, if nothing else, I learned that the hard way.”
He remembered those long weeks spent at the camp helping Jake out.
Jake neglected to let him and Kevin know what they were in for.
They each learned to survive at a place where no one spoke their language so in order to get by they had to learn to adapt.
Nights at camp were lonely and all they had to get them through were pictures and letters from Katelyn, sent to Kevin.
They shared everything and those close friendships they formed taught them very valuable life lessons.

Yes, Joey will be the perfect reporter to send to the camp and Jake won’t know what hit him.
It would be even more interesting to see if he would keep her in the dark, just as Jake had done to them so many years before.
She will think she’s going right into the middle of an Indian reservation from the 1800’s.
If there is one person Gianfranco believed would be fair to the story, it would be Joey.
Soon they’ll find out if the sparks still existed between them and if there was a valid reason to keep them apart any longer.
Gianfranco wondered if that ring around Jake’s neck would be there for much longer.

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