Beautifully Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #5)

Criminals and Coercion

-LIA-

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, children of any age under 18 years old are permitted to wed with parental consent and judicial approval.

Under this law, over a thousand child marriages have occurred in the past fifteen years alone. Throughout the 48 United States where child marriage is legal, this number rises to nearly 250,000. Many of these children are girls who married adult men due to the influence of their parents and have subsequently suffered from threats to their health and well-being, limited educational opportunities, poverty, and domestic violence...

"At it already, Counselor?"

I swallowed hard as I blinked my bleary, tired eyes and pulled my gaze from my laptop. My husband walked through the ajar French doors of my home office with two mugs in hand. His dark hair was damp from the shower and hung over his forehead in a way that it hadn't for almost a decade. He was long overdue for a haircut after a month of doing bed rest with me, but I liked the change. His enticing, fresh scented cologne combined with the aroma of coffee and chocolate and preceded his every step until my mouth began to water.

I closed down the lid of my laptop and gratefully accepted the silver Wifey mug he extended in my direction while cradling his matching Hubby one in his other hand. The set had been one of our many gifts from our children for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and I still never failed to smile softly at the sight of them.

"You did come to bed, didn't you?"

I nodded and let the steam from my mug warm my stiff, worrisome cheeks as I sipped the French vanilla hot chocolate, "I did, but I couldn't really sleep. I hope I didn't wake you."

"Nah," Jordan stifled a yawn and scratched at the scruffy shadow of a beard along his chin. "But the bed was cold. Ever since you told me that you can't sleep in a cold bed, I swear I can't either. You jinxed me."

A smile played on his lips and I returned it, but deep inside my heart twinged.

He'd told me that for as long as I could remember and it was a running joke of ours, but today the sentiment of spending so many years waking up next to the man I loved weighed heavy on my mind.

I'd been blessed beyond words to have the life and family that Jordan and I had built together. In my wildest dreams, I'd never imagined having anything that felt so sweet and right and permanent.

Nothing had been permanent in my life before him. Everything had always been up in the air and I hadn't known what to expect from one day to another. My mother and aunt's employment statuses were always in flux, my sister's relationship was chaotic, and I never knew if I'd be able to scrape up enough money to reach my career goals.

Then one day, Jordan Knight had appeared on my mother's couch and added a whole new level of uncertainty to my life. He'd stirred big emotions and made me feel things I didn't know if I could—or should trust.

In the true fashion of young love, I'd fallen head over heels anyway. I'd given him all my heart and he'd given me all of his—but along the way our stubborn streaks and immaturity had threatened to tear even the most beautiful love apart.

Most days I forgot about that heartache and kept it tucked away in my mind, but coming full circle back to our old house in the midst of working on Hailey's divorce case had taken me back to a place I hadn't been in a long time.

As terrifying as it was to think about losing Jordan because of an injury or illness, it was even more painful to remember losing him over something that seemed so trivial in hindsight. The last time I'd left that house, I'd driven away in a UHaul truck with tears streaming down my face and the belief that love was truly dead. Time had proven me wrong and taught me better. Jordan and I had mended our hearts and vowed to each other that we would never lose sight of the small things again. Lying in each other's arms, we'd promised to never lose us again. And we'd kept those vows and promises. It hadn't always been easy and there were times when I wasn't so sure we'd make it, but we had.