Chapter 38
“What
should I wear?” Morgan asked as she cradled the phone between her ear and
shoulder, freeing her hands to sort through files.
“Something nice,” McCoy replied, leaning back in his chair to stretch.
“The place I want to take you is midtown, jacket and tie required.”
“So
something really nice.”
“You
could always wear my favorite blue dress again,” he suggested. “I won’t tell
anyone.”
“We’ll
see,” she responded noncommittally.
“Have you
rested up from our trip?”
“I’m
still a little tired but I certainly feel better than I did on Wednesday. That
was a tough day to get through.”
“If you
feel up to it I was hoping we could go for a long walk somewhere after dinner,
maybe at the Arboretum.”
“I can
probably manage that. What time should I be ready?”
“We’ll
have to leave your place by
“It
should. I have a couple of things to wrap up this afternoon but nothing that
will take long.”
“If
anything unexpected comes up call me. I doubt if I can change our reservation
on such short notice, but I will try if needed.”
“I think
we’ll be okay.” After a brief pause she informed him, “My appointment is here
so I’d better go.”
“All
right.” He added with a smile, “I can’t wait to see you tonight. I think I’m
going through withdrawal after not having seen you for two whole days.”
“I’m
looking forward to seeing you too, Jack,” she assured him, “but right now I have to go.”
***He smoothed his tie as he waited for the elevator,
then checked his watch. They would have just enough time to make their
The
entire day had crawled by at a snail’s pace even though he had been
extraordinarily busy trying to catch up after the days he had taken off. Each
time he had checked the clock on his desk it seemed that only seconds had
passed. And he had found it unusually difficult to focus on his work. Several
times Southerlyn had interrupted his thoughts, forcing his attention back to
the task on hand. When she asked about the reason for his distractedness he had
blamed it on fatigue. But his eagerness to reach the end of the work day had
eventually become apparent and Southerlyn had teased him about having “other things”
on his mind, eliciting a sheepish grin from him in response.
As he
waited for the maddeningly slow elevator to deposit him at Morgan’s apartment,
he hoped the evening would go well and that nothing would spoil the plans.
Morgan had seemed distracted when he had spoken to her over the phone. He
wanted her to be as eager for their evening together as he was.
When the
door slid aside he stepped out – and stopped short. Before him, the entire
apartment was bathed in soft, glowing light emanating from rows and rows of
candles that sat on the sill of each window, as well as on the coffee table,
bar, and kitchen counters.
“Hi,”
Morgan greeted him, coming to join him from the kitchen.
He turned
to regard her in bewilderment. “What is all of this?”
“I
thought I’d surprise you,” she replied, obviously pleased at his reaction. She
moved behind him to help him off with his coat. “I made dinner for us.”
As she
was hanging his coat beside the elevator he protested, “You know I planned to
take you out. I didn’t want you to have to do any work tonight.”
“I didn’t
mind,” she assured him, turning around. “I wanted to do something nice for you
after all I’ve put you through the last few weeks. I know I haven’t been the
best company and this is my way of saying I’m sorry for being so inattentive
and that I appreciate the way you’ve put up with me.”
McCoy
regarded her silently for a moment, then took a step toward her and pulled her
to him. Giving her a smile he noted, “I guess I can cancel our reservations at
the fancy restaurant.”
“While
I’m sure the food would’ve been excellent, there are advantages to staying
here.” She reached up and slowly began to loosen his tie. “For example, you
won’t need to wear this.”
As she
pulled it from around his neck and then unbuttoned his collar, he grinned. “I
can see your point.” Indicating her dress he noted, “If you knew we were
staying in, why did you go to the trouble of dressing up? You could’ve worn
something more comfortable.”
“I wore
this dress because you asked me to,” she reminded him matter-of-factly. Then, pointing to her
bare feet, she insisted, “But I’m drawing the line at shoes.”
He let
out a laugh and hugged her to him, giving her an exuberant kiss. Then, as a
thought occurred to him, he asked, “But what about our walk through the
Arboretum? That was part of the evening I had planned.”
With a
shrug she answered, “We can take a walk through
“I
suppose I can live with that,” he acknowledged with a nod. As she stepped from
his reach to make her way to the oven he queried, “What’s on the menu?”
“Shrimp
and lobster for the main course.”
He shook
his head. “You don’t like lobster.”
“No, but
you do,” she responded.
“What
else?” he asked with a smile, increasingly warming up to the idea of an
intimate candle-lit dinner with only the two of them present.
“We have
stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer, garlic Yukon Gold potatoes and glazed baby
carrots for vegetables, and you get one guess as to what we’re having for
dessert.”
His
eyebrows arched as he suggested hopefully, “Apple cheesecake?”
With a
nod she said, “And you can take whatever is left at the end of the evening
home with you.”
“Mmmm.
I’m beginning to like this plan of yours more and more. I’m going to go call
the restaurant and tell them they can give our table to someone else.”
***The shadows on the walls wavered as
candlelight flickered around them. Morgan placed the last dish from the oven on
the bar in front of McCoy and he inhaled deeply of the delectable aroma.
“This is
the best surprise I’ve had in a long time,” he noted. “When did you find time
to prepare it all? It must’ve taken hours.”
“Not
really. Everything I made is fairly simple,” she assured him. “I did part of it
last night and cut out of the office a little early today so I could finish the
rest before you came over.”
“Is that
why you were rushing me off of the phone this afternoon?” he asked teasingly as he
scooped up a spoonful of potatoes and placed it on Morgan’s plate.
She
rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. “I thought you’d never hang up. Mr.
Sparkman was my last appointment of the day and I really wanted to get out of
there.”
“Well if
you had told me why…”
“Would’ve
kind of ruined the surprise, don’t you think?” she suggested pointedly.
With a
grin he asked, “So how long have you been planning this?”
“Since
Tuesday night when I was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep,” she answered,
settling at the bar with two glasses of iced tea.
He took
one glass from her and shook his head. “I didn’t think you’d have any problem
falling asleep once you were home with as little as you slept the whole time we
were away. The nap you took on the plane wasn’t nearly enough to make up for
what you missed.”
She
focused her eyes on her plate. “Maybe I was over-tired. Sometimes I can’t sleep
when that happens.” Looking up she asked, “What about you? You were up almost
as much as I was during our trip. Did you finally have a good night’s rest?”
“It was
fairly good,” he agreed with a nod while dipping a bite of lobster in butter
sauce. “I woke up in the night though, and had trouble going back to sleep. I
laid there for long time, wondering if you were awake.” He paused,
then shrugged. “I wondered what you do when you wake up alone after you’ve had
a nightmare. And I wished I could be with you.”
Morgan
was quiet, avoiding his eyes again. After a moment she admitted, “I woke up
too. And I wished for the same thing.”
McCoy
smiled warmly and reached across the bar for her hand. When she placed it into
his, he leaned forward and kissed the back, then said, “That’s nice to know.”
“Were you
able to catch up with your work?” she asked after tasting her tea.
“Mostly.
Today was busy but we were able to accomplish quite a bit. I have only a few
things to wrap up on Monday before we go to trial on Tuesday. Serena was a big
help. She took care of several details for me while I was gone. We’ll be in
good shape for trial.”
“Sounds
like your week was as busy as mine,” she noted. “I have to go in tomorrow
afternoon, once we finish with the building project, to prepare for an early
meeting on Monday but then I’ll be pretty much caught up, too.”
“I’ll
make dinner at my place tomorrow evening,” he offered. “You can come by when
you finish at the office and we’ll pick up a movie or two. Then on Sunday
afternoon there’s a concert in
“That
sounds fun,” she agreed.
Once they
had lingered over dinner and then restored order to the kitchen,
Morgan asked, “Would you like to have dessert now or later?”
“I’m so
full I couldn't take even one more bite at the moment. Everything was just too good,” he replied as he placed the
last plate in the dishwasher. Then, turning to put his arms around her, he
suggested, “Let’s go for a walk first. That way I can work off some of my
dinner.”
“All
right,” she nodded. Looking down she observed, “I suppose that means I have to
put on shoes.”
***“If you
think it took a long time to blow all of them out, you should’ve seen how long
it took me to light that many candles,” Morgan pointed out after they had
crossed the street near the small park that was visible from the windows of her
apartment. “I finished about five minutes before you called from
downstairs. If I hadn’t left the office
a little early, I never would’ve gotten them all lit in time.”
“Well I
was certainly surprised when I walked in. We’ll relight a few when we return.
Then we can sit on the sofa and snuggle by candlelight.” He slid Morgan’s hand
with his into his pocket and noted, “We won’t need coats much longer. The days
are definitely getting a bit warmer.”
“And
longer,” she added. “I always look forward to daylight savings time so Abbie
and I don’t have to run in the dark every evening.”
“So do I.
You know how nervous it makes me to think of the two of you out like that at
night.”
“Yes, I
know,” she agreed, rolling her eyes. “You’ve made that abundantly clear on
several occasions.”
“And I’ll
keep doing so as long as the two of you continue to engage in such foolish
behavior,” he vowed.
“And I’ll
keep reminding you of how safe we are in that park,” she countered. “You know
how often the security guards make rounds. No one is going to get past them.”
Giving him a bright smile she said, “Besides, someone would have to catch us
first. Abbie and I run pretty fast, you know.”
He shook
his head in amusement. “Be that as it may, I still worry about you. I just want
you to be careful.”
“We
always are,” she insisted matter-of-factly as they reached the park.
Sticking
to the well-lit path that skirted the playground, they strolled wordlessly for
a few minutes before McCoy acknowledged, “It’s been a wonderful evening.
Candlelit dinner, excellent food, good conversation, and a long walk on a clear
night. I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening.”
Morgan
sighed contentedly. “I’ve enjoyed it too.”
He
squeezed her hand lightly within his pocket. “The only part of our evenings
together that I don’t look forward to is the part where we say goodnight and
one of us leaves.”
“That is
difficult at times,” she nodded.
“So maybe
we should do something about it,” he suggested, giving her a sideways glance.
“Maybe one of us should think about moving in with the other. That would solve
the problem.”
She looked up at him and was silent a moment before asking quietly,
“You mean we should think about living together?”
With an
amused smile he replied slowly, “Well… yes…” Disengaging his hand from hers, he
thrust it deeper into his pocket and came up with the small box that had
been nestled in the bottom, then slipped it into her hand.
She
stopped to face him and gave him a puzzled look as she pulled her hand from his
pocket. Her eyes widened when she saw the velvet-encased box she was
holding.
“I was
thinking of an arrangement a little more permanent than simply living together though,” he admitted as he reached to open the box where it sat on her
outstretched palm.
“Oh my
gosh!” she exclaimed as her other hand flew to cover her mouth.
“I don’t
want one of us to leave anymore, Calea. I want us to be together always,”
he said softly. “I want to come home to you every evening and wake up beside
you every morning. I want to share my life with you.”
Morgan
lowered her arm and carefully cupped the open box in both hands, then slowly
shook her head. “I can’t believe you want to be with me, after everything...”
She looked up at him, searching his eyes intently. “You know me, Jack. You know
my past and that I still have issues to work through as a result of things
that happened. Are you really willing to put up with me, and all that comes
with me, day in and day out?”
He
reached out and gently placed his palm against her cheek. “Do you remember the
night we met?” At her nod he continued, “The first time I looked into your
eyes I had the distinct feeling that you could see right through what was on
the outside to what I was inside. I felt as though you were searching for
something. As I got to know you better, it wasn’t hard to see that
you needed someone. And more than anything in the world I wanted to prove to you that I had
what you were searching for, that I was the one you needed. But as time went
on I began to see that I had been searching for something too. I realized that I needed you as much as you needed me.
You complete me and make me feel whole again. When I’m with you I’m truly
happy. And when we’re apart, all I can think about is when we’re going to be
together again. I know we’ll have challenges to face, but look at what
we’ve already been through together. Whatever comes, we’ll work it out. You
and I were meant to be together.”
Lowering
her eyes, Morgan focused once more on the ring inside the box. When she looked
back up, tears spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t know what to say.”
McCoy
slid the ring from its resting place, closed the box, and put it back in his
pocket. He then picked up Morgan’s hand and carefully slipped the ring onto her
finger. “You could say ‘yes’,” he suggested with a smile.
Morgan
let out a breath and threw her arms around his neck. As he held her to him, it
took another minute before she could find her voice enough to whisper into his
ear, “Yes.”
***“Now I know
this took time to make,” McCoy noted as he cupped his hand under the fork and
guided another bite of cheesecake into Morgan’s mouth. “I helped last time you
made it. I thought I’d never finish peeling apples.”
“That’s
because Lisa doesn’t have an apple peeler like I do,” she countered when she
had finished chewing. “At least not one that I could find. What took you
thirty minutes or so only takes about ten with a peeler.”
Polishing
off the last bite, he leaned forward and placed the plate on the coffee table.
“Well it’s worth it, no matter how long it takes. It’s my new favorite dessert.
Are you sure you don’t want more? We barely put a dent in it.”
“I’m
sure,” she responded, settling back against him as he wrapped her in his arms.
He slid
his right hand beneath her left and held it up so that the ring encircling her
finger sparkled in the candlelight. “I looked at a lot of them before I decided
on this one. Somehow, I thought it would suit you.”
“It does.
It’s absolutely perfect,” she concluded. “How did you know the correct size?”
Interlacing his fingers with hers, he explained, “I held hands with two
saleswomen and another customer, who were all surprisingly quite agreeable,
until I found someone whose hand felt the same as yours does in mine. Then I
bought the ring in the size that fit her.”
With a
smile she noted, “You did well. It fits as though it had been made just for
me.” She leaned her head back against his shoulder. “So this is why you made
special plans for tonight. I’m sorry I changed things on you.”
“Don’t
be. It was a wonderful surprise. It couldn’t have worked out any better if I
had planned it this way.”
“Are you
sure? I know you put a lot of thought into the evening.”
“I’m
positive,” he assured her. “I’m glad we stayed here. I think it made tonight
even more special.”
“Well,
between working, shopping, and making plans, you really have had a busy week.”
“Actually… I didn’t shop for the ring this week. I’ve had it for a
while,” he admitted slowly.
“Oh? Were
you holding onto it in case something better came along?” she questioned
teasingly.
He gave
her ribs a squeeze. “No, I held onto it until the time was right. As you’ve
pointed out, you have been a little distracted lately. I wanted to give you the
opportunity to deal with the situation in
Morgan
turned around to regard him thoughtfully for a moment. “The
night you took me out and we went for a walk around
He
smoothed her hair back from her cheek. “You didn’t ruin anything. That simply
wasn’t the right time. The right time was tonight.”
She
studied him again, then leaned forward and kissed him softly. “Tonight was the
perfect time.”
As she
snuggled back against him, he asked, “Not that I want to rush you, but how do
you feel about short engagements?”
“I
suppose that depends on what you mean by ‘short’.”
Brushing
his lips against her temple he replied, “Would twenty-four hours give you
enough time?”
“That
would definitely constitute as ‘short’,” she responded with amusement.
“I don’t
want to give you too much time. You might come to your senses and change your
mind.”
Shaking
her head she insisted, “No chance of that, Buddy. You’ve entered into a verbal
contract and I intend to make sure you fulfill your obligation.”
“Don’t
worry, Counselor,” he assured her with a grin, tightening his arms. “I fully
intend to uphold my end of the agreement.”
“Well
then, I suppose the length of time I’ll need will depend on what kind of
wedding you want.”
“I
thought the woman was supposed to make that decision.”
“Is she?
I didn’t last time.”
“What was
your first wedding like?”
“Huge,”
she replied pointedly. “Over three hundred people attended, of which I knew
about thirty. I spent most of the day shaking hands and being introduced to
people I never saw again. The newspaper billed it as the social event of the season. To me it was one of the most
terrifying days of my life.”
“Well, I
guarantee you this one won’t be terrifying,” he promised. “We’ll keep it small
with just a few close friends. Who would you like to invite?”
She patted
his arm. “Only you.”
McCoy
smiled. “Well you know we have to invite Abbie. She’ll never forgive us if we
don’t.”
“Okay,
we’ll invite Abbie,” she agreed. “What about you? Which of your family and
friends would you like to ask?”
After
growing thoughtful for a several seconds he responded, “I don’t think I want
to invite anyone. My friends are kind of hit or miss, and with my family it’s
all or nothing. Unless I send out a blanket invitation, someone is going to get
their nose out of joint. It isn’t worth it. What about the Comptons and the
Fairchilds? I’m sure they’d like to be invited.”
Morgan
turned sideways on the sofa so that she was half facing him. “Other than Abbie,
I don’t want to invite any of my friends either. I’ll tell them afterwards.
They’ll understand.” Taking his hand in hers, she added sincerely, “I want it
to be only you and me, with no other distractions. When I look back on it years
from now, I don’t want to remember what the guests said or did. What I want to
remember is every detail of the beginning of my life with you.”
McCoy
reached abruptly to put one arm behind her back and the other under her legs,
then scooped her up and deposited her on his lap. Holding her close he said,
“I have news for you. Our life together started a long time ago. The only part
that’s left is making it official.”
With her
arms around his neck she gave him a smile. “Well now that we’ve whittled the
guest list down to a manageable level, there isn’t much in the way of planning
left. While I don’t think twenty-four hours will give us quite enough time to
make the necessary arrangements, I’m open to any other suggestions as to when you
would like to make it official.”
He
contemplated for a few seconds, then suggested, “The trial I begin on Tuesday
will most likely last somewhere in the neighborhood of two or three weeks. I
won’t be able to take time off before then. We could set a date for a month
from now. That would give me a little leeway if I hit a snag.
She
nodded slowly. “A month would give me enough time to wrap some things up at my
office too.”
“Then
shall we say four weeks from today?”
“Four
weeks,” she agreed with a smile. “Do you have a place in mind?”
He nodded
and answered, “Weather permitting, I was thinking of the little park beside the
criminal courts building where the two of us sat and had lunch together during
the Fairchild trial. I just happen to know a judge or two who works near-by and
I think I could persuade one of them to officiate if a civil ceremony is all right
with you.”
“I like
that idea. What about asking Judge Rivera since he was the one who presided
over our first trial together?”
“Judge
Rivera it is,” he nodded. “I’ll call his office first thing Monday morning.”
“You can’t
let anyone in your office know about it until I tell Abbie though,” she
admonished. “I don’t want her to hear the news from someone else.”
“Aren’t
you going to see her tomorrow at the building project?”
“She
isn’t going to be there. She told me yesterday she has a deposition to attend.”
“You
could call her.”
“I
could,” Morgan nodded. “But I think it would be more fun to just show up for
our run on Monday wearing the ring and then see how long it takes her to
notice.”
With a
grin he noted, “Almost makes me want to take up running so I can be there to
watch.”
“Oh, I’m
sure you’ll be hearing from her afterwards. You know Abbie.” As she began to
get up she said, “I’m going to get something to drink. Would you like
anything?”
“No,
nothing for me,” he responded, standing up to follow her with the plate he had
left on the coffee table.
As he
took it to the sink she asked, “Would you like another piece of cheesecake?”
“No,
thank you,” he answered as he stashed the plate and fork in the dishwasher.
“Are you
sure?” she persisted.
McCoy
shook his head in amusement. “Always trying to feed me.”
“That’s
my job,” she declared matter-of-factly.
Turning
around, he reached to pull her close. “I’ll bet you didn’t realize the first
time you made dinner for me that it would end up being a life-long
undertaking.”
“No, I
can’t say I did.”
“I did
tell you once that if you continued to feed me, I wasn’t going to leave.”
“I
suppose I should’ve taken you more seriously,” she agreed.
His smile
faded slightly as he acknowledged, “It’s late. I should think about going
home.”
Morgan’s
eyes dropped to a point near the fourth button of his shirt. “I thought we were
doing something about that.”
He
regarded her silently a moment before saying, “We will, eventually, when the
time is right. But just because I put a ring on your finger doesn’t mean I
expect that little voice in your head to suddenly give you the thumbs-up. As you’ve
said, that’s going to come from within you, not as a result of anything specific
I do. Right?”
Morgan
nodded slowly, then let out a sigh
of frustration. “I’m tired of it standing guard between us, though. I don’t want to hear it anymore. I wish I knew how
to make it go away completely, or at least be able to ignore it.”
“Give it
a little more time,” he suggested gently. Giving her a confident smile he added, “I’ll
win you over eventually. You did say once that I should get an ‘A’ for
persistence.”
With an
amused smile she shook her head. “No doubt about that.” Her fingers strayed to
the button her eyes had been focused on. “You know, I spent a lot of time after the night we met telling myself that I didn’t need or want anyone in my
life.”
His
eyebrows arched in surprise. “So you felt something from the very first too?”
With
another slow nod she agreed, “Yeah.”
“You sure
did a good job of hiding that fact,” he pointed out.
She
shrugged and replied, “I didn’t want to admit it, especially to myself.
I kept telling myself I was happy with my life the way it was. But you just
wouldn’t give up.” At his quiet chuckle she added softly, “I’m glad you didn’t
because I was wrong.”
He
reached up to stroke her cheek. “I couldn’t give up on something so important.
And while I may not be the most patient person in the world, I have learned
that there are things worth waiting for.” Giving her a teasing smile he
contended, “And while I was waiting, I sure did enjoy some good home cooked meals. That's what I'm really here for, you know.”
Morgan
returned the smile. “As I’ve suspected all along.” Sliding her arms up around
his neck she asked, “Do you think you could stay just a little while longer
tonight?”
Tightening his arms around her, he happily acknowledged, “I could
probably be persuaded.”