Compromise Me (Book Two of the Kirkland Family)

Compromise Me: Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Josie couldn’t describe the melting in her heart, or the explain the tears in her eyes, as she curled up with Travis and Tristan on the couch that evening.  Half-way through the second movie for the night, the boy fell asleep, lying across both of them, and Travis had one hand brushing back the hair of his son, and the other hand caressing the small hairs at the nape of her neck.  

It was an absolutely normal family evening, much like the ones she shared with her own mother and father back home, and it was perfect and surreal at the same time.  She’d been accepted.  Those words echoed through her heart.  Travis had accepted her as part of his life...a part of his life that included his son.

And it hadn’t taken sex to get her there.

That realization caused her to snuggle closer to those Fischer men and bury her crying eyes into the crook of Travis’ shoulder.  He shifted slightly, and then a tissue pressed against her cheek.  “Do you always cry at this movie?” he asked quietly with a hint of humor in his voice.

 Since Josie had no idea what movie they were currently watching, she lied and said, “Of course...don’t you?”

 “I’ve seen it about four hundred times now,” he said.  “I’m immune.”

 Josie wiped her eyes and sat up.  “I think he’s down for the count,” she said, nudging her chin at Tristan.  

 Travis untangled his arm from around her shoulders and hauled Tristan against his chest.  “I’ll put him to bed.”  Tristan murmured in his sleep and Travis said, “Shh...I’ll tuck you in, Little Man.”

 But then the boy twisted in his daddy’s arms and stretched a chubby little hand to Josie.  “Shosie,” he said sleepily.

 “I’m still here,” she said, standing up to kiss the top of his head.

 “Shosie,” Tristan said again.  “Sing song, Shosie.  Sing night-night song.”

 Travis smiled down at her.  “I think he wants you to sing him a lullaby.”

 “Do you normally sing for him at bedtime?” Josie asked, following the two of them back to Tristan’s bedroom.

 “With my voice?” Travis chuckled.  “I’d give him nightmares.”

 “You’re not that bad,” Josie laughed softly.  With Tristan curled up between his blankets, hugging the owl Josie gave him, Travis stepped back, and Josie perched on the edge of the mattress.  Holding that sweet hand between her palms, she began singing an old Welsh lullaby she learned in one of her music history classes in college.  It had been a favorite of hers ever since.  Tristan’s warm brown eyes watched her through two verses before they slowly started drifting and the easy, even breath of sleep claimed him again.  But Josie didn’t stop singing until her song was over, and even then, she couldn’t seem to let him go yet.

Gazing fondly at that little boy...Josie saw the makings of a very handsome young man in the slope of his forehead and nose, in the angle of his cheeks, in the sweeps of his eyebrows.  He had the mixture of sweetness from his mother Arielle, and the tenacity of his father.  Josie’s heart buckled in her chest.  How she yearned for a child like him…  These protective, loving feelings for him, they startled her.  Before tonight, the thought of her becoming a mother had not been something she dwelled on.  Before tonight, she would have adamantly claimed she was not ready for that.  But that was before tonight.  Something had changed, between her and Travis, between all three of them, and that something eluded her.