Episode 597: As Long As You Love Me

He’d almost missed the laughter and love on his wife’s beautiful face when their little girl presented her a handful of seaweed as if it were a great treasure. As if it or anything else could be a greater gift on Valentine’s Day than his girls. They were his treasures. He would do everything in his power to protect them.

The moment everything was set, Bowie and Lila called the boys out of their bedroom.

"Cake!" Their youngest enthused, he didn’t waste a second sliding into his seat at the candlelit table.

"What is this?" Jesse, their oldest asked. "We already ate dinner." He crossed his arms and looked twitchy, as if he was trying to keep his emotions bottled. "Is this some kind of thing where you feed us cake then break bad news to us?"

"There’s no bad news," Bowie insisted, rushing to the boy’s side and ruffling his hair. "It’s all good. This is a special dessert."

"Valentine’s day is about love," Lila said, "we thought it would be good to celebrate how much we love being a family."

"And how much you love each other?" Jesse asked, still twitchy, his arms still folded.

Ryley tossed the book away from Adria with one hand, while his other hand touched her cheek, and his lips moved in on hers. He loved kissing his wife. Only one thing would make Valentine’s Day better. His fingers slipped under the thin straps of her dress. He drew them down over her shoulders.

Adria stopped his hands and pulled away from his lips. "Not until I pass the test."

Ryley did his best not to frown. Not to shout at her that she would never pass the damn test. That life as a businewoman would only make her miserable. He would be miserable if something he said stopped her from letting him at least kiss her on Valentine’s Day.

Episode 598: Incomplete