Beautifully Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #5)

Gatherings and Grandkids

-JORDAN-

"Hello, this is Dr. Hall's office calling again for Natalia Knight—"

I quickly deleted the message off the voicemail machine at the sound of Lia's footsteps and turned to see her making her way downstairs with our two dogs, Finch and Jem, following closely behind. She looked stunning as her dark, silver-speckled curls bounced around her beautiful face and her long, flowing red dress perfectly framed her body. A lump lodged itself in my throat, but I swallowed it away and smiled instead.

"You look amazing, baby. When's the magazine cover coming out?"

Lia blushed and shook her head, "Oh, shush. You don't have to flatter me. I know I look like a hot mess. My flat iron broke so I'm stuck going au naturel."

"I've always loved your curls, baby, you know that."

"Still," she smiled softly and lightly fingered her hair before she rifled through her purse in search of something. "Who was that calling? It wasn't Gracie, was it?"

"No," I shook my head. "It was nobody. Wrong number."

"Oh," she nodded and continued moving her hand around in her bag. A frown came to her eyebrows. "Have you seen my little canister of headache medicine? I refilled it last night and I thought I'd put it back in here, but I can't seem to find it anywhere."

I adjusted my tie using the microwave as a mirror and glanced over at her, "No, I haven't seen it. You don't need it, do you? I thought you said your headaches stopped once your semester ended and you were doing better now."

"I am, J," Lia walked over to the medicine cabinet and opened it. "I just like to keep the canister with me as a precaution."

I gave my tie a tug and watched her for a moment as I tried to decipher whether she was really better or if she just wasn't telling me what was going on.

A couple of months ago, Lia had started having a series of bad headaches that she'd chalked up to stress until she'd mentioned them to our family doctor during our annual trip for checkups. I'd fully expected him to say they were nothing, but instead, he'd suggested that she go into the hospital and have a scan done if the headaches didn't improve.

Two weeks had passed and Lia had told me that she was better—finals were over at the law school where she taught and she had the summer to kick back and relax. She'd simply overworked herself and now she was fine.

I wanted to believe that. Hence why I deleted all the "follow-up" calls that came from the neurologist's office. I didn't want to bother Lia with a call that she didn't need to have on her radar, but there was still that lingering part of me that felt uneasy every time the calls came through.

"J, are you listening to me?" Lia asked.

"Hmm?" I blinked and gazed into her beautiful hazel eyes that she had been locking with mine for over half my life and refused to allow myself to imagine for even one second what it'd be like if she ever stopped.

"I said here it is in the cupboard. I must've put it up here by mistake," she tilted her head. "But you're not hearing anything I'm saying, you're just staring, aren't you?"

"I'm admiring my sexy wife," I pushed a smile on my face and she giggled as I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her away from the cabinet and back into me. "Is that not allowed?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask the marriage rulemaker," she teased.

"Oh? And who's that?" I raised my eyebrows.

Lia shook her head, "If you asked my mom, she'd tell you God, but I don't know. I don't think anybody does honestly. If they did, I'm pretty sure the world would be a lot simpler. We could have clear rulebooks and guidelines handed to us the day we got married, and voila! smooth sailing."