Chapter 41

McCoy kissed the back of Morgan’s fingers where they were entwined with his. “Are you ready to rejoin the rat race?” he asked with a smile.

She groaned in protest and leaned her head back against the seat of the plane. “No, I’m not. These last few days have really spoiled me.” Squeezing his hand she asked, “And what about you? Do you miss civilization or would you have been content to hide out in the mountains a while longer?”

“Oh, I thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the cabin,” he assured her. “But I’m not unhappy about going home. I’m looking forward to moving what I want to keep of my stuff over and getting settled into your place.”

“Our place,” she quickly corrected.

“Our place,” he nodded with a grin, then added, “You know, what I’m really looking forward to is settling into married life with you. Breakfast every morning, dinner every evening, and, in particular, bedtime every night.”

“Boring routine – most men’s worst nightmare,” Morgan pointed out.

“I don’t consider anything about that boring,” he contended, shaking his head. “There’s a lot to be said for the feelings of contentment and security that come with that kind of lifestyle. I’ve done my running around. Now I’m eagerly looking forward to settling down.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “It’s still hard for me to believe that I’m the one you want to settle down with. You have made me, without a doubt, the happiest person on the face of the earth.”

McCoy turned and kissed her forehead, amending, “Second happiest.”

***“Abbie?”

“Calea! Where are you?”

“I’m at home.”

“When did you get back?”

“Last night.”

“How was the trip?”

“It was good,” Morgan answered. “I was wondering if you wanted to get together for a run later today.”

“I’d love to. In fact, I have an appointment out of the office this afternoon and I was thinking of not coming back when I’m finished with it. We can meet a little earlier than normal if you’d like, say about 4:20?”

“That sounds good. See you then.”

***“I was surprised to see you drive up. I expected you to be on foot today,” Carmichael commented as Morgan approached the spot where she was waiting.

“I would’ve been if not for Jack. He thinks it isn’t safe for me to run here from my place…” She stopped and smiled sheepishly, then amended, “Our place. He wants me to start driving over. I think he’s paranoid but since we’re still officially on our honeymoon, I decided to play the dutiful wife and humor him. There will be plenty of time to burst his bubble later,” she pointed out with a grin. As they began to walk toward the park past the security gates she added, “I didn’t expect you to be here yet. You’re a little early.”

“I rushed through my appointment to get here as soon as possible. I couldn’t wait to hear all about your trip.”

Morgan shrugged nonchalantly. “There isn’t much to tell. It was pretty uneventful.”

Carmichael rolled her eyes at Morgan’s teasing expression. “Yeah, right. Just tell me there won’t be an annulment, on the grounds that the marriage wasn’t consummated, and I’ll be satisfied.”

Letting out a laugh Morgan quickly assured her, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. It’s been taken care of quite thoroughly.”

“And can I assume by your rather contented smile that Jack knows his way around a woman's body, and that the experience was a satisfying one?”

Blushing slightly, Morgan concurred, “Yes, you could definitely say that.”

It was Carmichael’s turn to dissolve into laughter. “As if there was any doubt.” Growing a bit more serious she asked, “Then everything turned out all right?”

With a shrug, Morgan placed her water bottle beside Carmichael’s and admitted, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to begin with. But I did just what you advised and focused only on the moment. Everything sort of fell into place after that. It helped that Jack was really patient with me.”

“So did you leave him home to recuperate?” Carmichael asked with a smile.

Morgan shook her head. “Actually I’m the one who could use a break. Ten hours of uninterrupted sleep sounds heavenly right now. Jack is the one wearing me out. He seems to be trying to make up for lost time. But this afternoon he’s sorting through some things in his apartment. We packed up the kitchen and living room this morning. I thought he might like some privacy to go through his bedroom and bathroom.”

“I can’t imagine it’s easy to consolidate two households. Any fights over what to keep and what goes?”

“No real fights but we have had some differing opinions. He wanted to keep my bed but it’s too small. He needs something bigger than a queen size. I finally got him to agree to move his over, along with his dresser. And we’re keeping his two wing-back chairs, his desk, and the grandfather clock. Peter Fairchild is loaning us a truck and helping us move the furniture tonight, then Jack and I will move the remaining boxes tomorrow. He also has a beautiful set of dishes his great-grandparents brought over from Ireland that I’ve fallen in love with. As a surprise for him I’m going to have Peter build a lighted glass display case for them. We’re donating the rest of Jack’s furniture, some dishes, my bed, and some stuff I cleared out to the Habitat project.”

“That’s a great idea,” Carmichael nodded. “You know they can use everything.”

“Jack thought of it. I was pretty proud of him for suggesting it.”

“Sounds like the two of you are settling into wedded bliss,” Carmichael pointed out with a smile.

“Being a realist, I know we’ll have our ups and downs. We’ve both been on our own for a long time. It isn’t going to be easy to find the right balance of togetherness and giving each other needed space. But given how we feel about each other I think we’ll manage,” Morgan contended happily.

“I know you will,” Carmichael stated confidently. “You’re both just stubborn enough to make it work.”

Morgan stopped walking and turned to face her. “I don’t think we’d be where we are now without your help, Abbie. You’ve been an advocate of our relationship before we even had a relationship. Jack told me how you encouraged him to not give up. And I know how supportive you were of me. I may not have always agreed with you, but I’m glad you persevered and could see that Jack was the right person for me even when I couldn’t.” With a smile she added, “Thank you for making sure we both stuck it out.”

“Someday, you can do the same for me,” Carmichael noted, returning the smile. Taking Morgan by the arm, she steered her toward their paths. “Come on. We’d better start our run before Jack sends the cops to look for you.”

***“That’s the last of the boxes loaded,” McCoy said as he closed the apartment door behind him.

Morgan set down a bucket loaded with cleaning supplies and turned slowly around the room. “It looks different empty,” she noted wistfully. “Bigger, I think.”

“And cleaner without all my clutter,” he added, hooking an arm around her waist.

She wrapped her arms around his midsection and smiled up at him. “Have I thanked you yet for donating everything to our project?”

“Yes, but I’m not above being thanked again,” he replied teasingly.

Morgan stretched up and gave him a deep kiss, tugging at his lips insistently. After finally breaking it off she asked, “How was that?”

“It was a start,” he nodded matter-of-factly.

She laughed and reached around to pat his backside. “Well I’ll have to think of a more satisfying way to thank you later.”

“Mmm, I can’t wait,” he assured her, pressing her close to him. Glancing around he asked, “Should we make one more pass through the apartment to be sure we didn’t miss anything?”

“That’s a good idea,” she agreed. “If you check the kitchen, I’ll walk through the bedroom and bath.”

McCoy had just checked the last cabinet when he heard Morgan call him from the vicinity of the bedroom.

“Where are you?” he asked upon walking through the door and finding the room empty.

“In the closet,” she responded.

When he appeared in the doorway, she pointed to a shelf above her head. “The only thing I found was this box.”

He regarded the box quietly for a moment, thinking of the neatly folded clothes Claire had left behind. Giving Morgan a smile, he took her by the hand and pulled her to him. “That box stays here. Those aren’t things I need anymore.” Then, clicking the light off, he put his arm around her and guided her out of the room saying, “Come on. Let’s go home.”

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