Page 59 of Surrender

My sister blew her a kiss. When my father stood from his seat, we all waited to see what he would do. Much to our surprise, he reached for Kay’s hand. She hesitantly slipped it into his palm and allowed him to pull her to her feet. When he pulled her into a hug, she stiffened for a moment before finally hugging him back.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“All is forgiven, Mr. Mitchell.”

As they continued to embrace, he reached out for my hand. I grabbed his and he gave it a firm squeeze. Beside me, my mother swiped a tear from her eye. My heart felt lighter than when I walked in the door. Finally, I felt peace restored between us.

Now, there was the matter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis.

Another blissful week of marriage had passed us by. Jacob and I had settled back into our normal routine of work with the added chore of packing up both our places. I went to the office during the day while he worked on his books. On days where we were at his place, he’d read me what he’d been working on.

Whether it was a book or an illustration, I took a genuine interest in it. Though his books were on the shelves in my waiting room, I also made sure to add a few to my treasure chest from time to time. The kids were always excited to find one that they could take home.

Today was Saturday.

Jacob had woken me up bright and early with instructions to shower and get dressed. I wasn’t sure what the hell he had planned, but I drug myself out of bed and did as he requested.

Once dressed, he took me out for breakfast before we made our way to the downtown area. A look of confusion formed on my face when we pulled up to the library.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“I’m reading to a group of children today,” he answered. “It’s sort of like a book club. I usually do this two weekends out of the month. I thought maybe you’d like to join me.”

I smiled. “I’d love to actually see you in action with children.”

“Then let’s not keep them waiting. They can be quite impatient.”

“I bet.”

We piled out of the truck and headed into the library hand in hand. When we got to the huge round rug where story time was being held, there was already a group of children waiting with their parents. One little girl turned to see us walking toward them. When her eyes landed on Jacob, she gasped.

She ran over, and he immediately scooped her up.

“Mr. Mitchell!”

“Sakina. How are you doing, beautiful?”

“I’m good! We missed you. Where have you been?”

“Well, you see this beautiful woman right here? We got married. I took some time to spend with her.”

She looked at me and smiled. “She’s so pretty,” Sakina whispered.

“I know,” he whispered back.

I blushed. “Thank you, Sakina. It’s very nice to meet you.”

She rested her head against Jacob’s in the cutest manner.

“Sakina here is one of my favorite book club members. She’s been to every reading since I started a year ago. She always picks the best books for me to read.”

She blushed, and I could tell she had the biggest crush on my husband.

“What do you have for us today?” I asked, pinching her cheek.

“Are you reading too?”

“If it’s okay with you.”