Returning to base, Zach pulled up outside the gym and cut the engine.

Julia slid off the bike, tugging her helmet free. "Uh, I know I said to surprise me, but what are we doing here? I had a more..." she paused to caress every inch of him with her gaze "...intimate setting in mind."

Zach pressed a finger to her lips. "Hold that thought."

He led her through the lobby, flashing a salute to the uniformed attendant. The subdued echo of a lone late-night fitness enthusiast clanged behind a window. At the end of the hall, Zach swung a door wide and flipped a light switch to illuminate a gaping, empty room.

Julia circled slowly, her brow furrowing as she surveyed the high ceiling. Excitement charged through him, a sense of purpose to meet Julia on their new ground of compromise. God, he couldn't wait to share his latest idea with her, to see her smile and know he'd put it there.

Zach strode past her. "I had a phone consult with the Wing Commander while I was TDY

this week."

"About what?"

"About the fact that your base support group needs more room for the children to spread out." His rumbling bass bounced and echoed off the walls. "We're thinking this space may work. It's already slated to be an indoor play gym. The contractor could use your input on designing a section with modifications like you made for the playhouse. You and Rena Price will have to draw up the proposal and wade through a mountain of paperwork. But with luck and decent funding, it should all come together by the fall."

He watched the graceful sway of Julia's h*ps as she silently walked. Thanks to her, he'd learned to look beyond the mission to the people. But would she understand the message he was trying to send, how he was trying to show her his feelings?

Then she slowed, turning to face him. Her full-faced smile below tear-filled eyes answered his doubts.

He'd hit pay dirt.

"Thank you, Zach, so much." She swiped her wrist over her eyes.

Zach closed the last two steps between them. "Before you say anything more, I want you to know that none of this is contingent on your staying. I can understand if how I reacted back at the hotel might worry you. My father—''

She clapped a hand over his mouth. "Stop. Not another word. My turn to talk now. Okay?

No running off before I have my say."

Determination radiated from her in waves that would have sent rebel forces running.

Zach raised his hands in surrender.

"You are not your father. Sure you have a temper. So do I. So do most people. You had every right to be angry. Mad. All-out pissed at Shelby. Just like I had the right to get mad at you on the flight line tonight. But it's how we handle that anger that matters. When it came right down to it, we both held it together. Angry, sure, but never violent. You are not your father," she repeated a final time.

And this time, he heard.

Her words washed over him with a truth that resonated deep inside him. She was right.

He'd faced frustrations as a husband and parent tonight that would have sent his dad over the edge. But he'd held it together with Shelby.

With that truth from Julia came a peace he'd never expected to find, a reassurance he could be a man worthy of Julia's love. "You're not leaving me."

She cupped his face, the numb side, but he felt her healing touch in his soul.

"Of course not. I will stay with you. Go with you. Be with you. Wherever you are, I'm right there beside you forever, because I love you. Do you hear me? I love every stubborn, take-charge, drop-dead sexy awesome part of you."

Linking her arms around his neck, she rose up onto her toes and plastered her body to his.

He combed his fingers into her tousled curls and kissed her, long, full. A perfect forever fit.

They toppled back against the wall, sliding down together. Julia sprawled on top of him in a tangle of arms and legs...and escalating need.

She dipped her face to kiss him. Or maybe he pulled her head toward him. Who knew?

And who cared as long as she kept loving him.

A squeak of door hinges sounded a second before a cleared throat echoed. Julia and Zach sprang apart to find the uniformed desk attendant standing in the doorway.

"Oops, sorry Colonel. I, uh, wanted to make sure you found the lights and to let you know we're, uh, closing in about ten minutes."

"Thank you, Sergeant." Zach nodded.

The door swung shut just before Julia's shoulders started shaking with laughter.

Zach slung an arm around her and tucked her to his chest. "So you like the kid gym idea?"

"Of course I do. I should have known you would find a gift far more special than even a Craftsman ratchet set."

His laugh rumbled free. Lord, he loved the way she made him laugh.

Loved?

The word settled inside him with a tightness much like the feeling Julia brought with her whenever she walked into a room, and his defenses came crashing down.

He loved her.

For the first time, Zach looked at his feelings without the filters of the past. He'd been so wrapped up in comparing her love to Pam's or his father's, Zach hadn't seen his own love for Julia or recognized the value of hers for him.

She'd demanded he push the boundaries of his limited view of relationships and family to build something better with his children. She respected him enough to stand up to him and demand he be the man she deserved. Hell, yes, he loved her. How could he have ever doubted it?

Julia nuzzled her head under his chin. "It really will make a fabulous play area, with a ball pit over there maybe, and a playhouse in that corner. We could plan a family trip from Alabama when they unveil it."

The move. Zach thought of his decision to stay in Charleston another year. He wouldn't have to do that now. He wouldn't have to give up the career opportunity to convince her to stay.

But he would do it anyway because it was the right thing. He wasn't the man who put his job before his wife and family anymore. "Uh, Jules."

"What?"

Her fingers explored the exposed patch of skin at the neck of his flight suit, making coherent thought, much less speech, damned difficult.

"We're not moving this summer."

She gave his flight suit zipper a playful tug, answering absently, "We're not?"

He captured her hands in his before she could travel down to dangerously distracting territory. "I did some thinking while I was riding around tonight." He worked to keep his words coming while her mouth traced a steady path up his throat. "I'm filing a request with the Wing Commander to defer my Air War College slot for a year."

Her lips stilled, and she looked up at him. "Why would you do that?"

"We don't need the upheaval of a move right now. We need the time to settle in as a family."

"But you don't have to do that. We're okay. I'm staying." She gripped his flight scarf and tugged. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you."

"No, Jules. You are a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me." He thought of the reassurance she needed and found it so easy to offer now he couldn't believe he'd ever held back.

"There are plenty of times the Air Force won't give me a say in where I go, but I've learned there are also times I do have choices. I want you to know I mean it when I say I'm trying. You come first."

Her eyes filled for the second time in minutes. For a woman who didn't cry easily, apparently she had a well of happy tears just waiting to be tapped. Julia let them flow while Zach held her and counted all those blessings Julia was always talking about.

He liked to think he'd learned a few lessons after nearly seventeen years in the Air Force, ninety-seven combat missions, two weeks as an Iraqi POW and one very speedy divorce.

Most important, he'd learned that being him was a hell of a lot easier than being married to him.

But he intended to spend the rest of his life working on that. Because thanks to Julia, he'd also learned the best lesson of all. He could touch the clouds from his own porch on a purple glider as long as she sat beside him.

He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Jules. I love the way you make me smile, the way you love our children. Most of all, I love the way we are together, because together, we can do anything. And if you'll let me, I'll tell you and show you how much I love you for the rest of my life."

"I love you too, Zach." Her words breathed over his skin. "I love how—''

He silenced her with his finger to her lips. "I know."

She smiled against his touch. "Oh, that's right. I already told you."

"Yeah, but that's not how I know."

"Then how?"

He traced the upward tilt of her mouth. "You stayed."

"I sure did. And you don't stand a chance of shaking me lose now." Her arm snaked around his neck, her mouth grazing his with the promise of more to come later. Julia nipped his bottom lip. "I only have one more request."

"Just ask, Jules, and I'll make it happen."

"Will you paint my toenails when I'm old and arthritic?"

His laugh rumbled deep and full between them. "Why wait? I've had a serious hankering to slick some of that Five Alarm Red on your perfect toes."

She scratched a fingernail down every link of his flight suit zipper, trailing lower toward seriously fired-up territory. "Well, Colonel, if you take me home to bed, I think this just may be your lucky night."

Epilogue

Shelby shouldered through the post-recital crush backstage, her hand linked with John's as he followed her. Weaving around tutus and smiling faces painted with glitter, she followed her dad and Julia while they looked for Ivy. A Nutcracker kiddie recital wasn't exactly a rock concert date, but John was hanging tough. He told her it didn't matter as long as he could see her.

Cool.

After the fall-out in the hotel almost a year ago, her father and John had come to an understanding of sorts— family-oriented dates. If John could withstand Dawson picnics, hikes and endless hours of elementary-school children in tutus, then her father would back off.

And he had. Well, as much as any dad ever did.

Three steps ahead of Shelby, Julia tucked Patrick more securely against her shoulder and arched up to her husband. "Can you see her?"

"Not yet." Zach towered over feathery and sequined headpieces. Finally, Ivy's head bobbed above the masses.

Shelby watched as her stepfather swept Ivy up, her mom standing beside them with an armload of roses. Eddie wasn't so bad, in small doses. Even if the guy's tan bordered on tangerine, he made her mom happy, so Shelby put up with him.

At first, she'd been scared spitless Eddie and her mom would start some lame custody battle. Not that Shelby would have gone. Luckily, her mom seemed okay with the weekend parent gig, and the mall trips were kind of fun now that she knew her dad and Julia would always be home waiting.

"Daaad-dy!" Catching sight of her father, Ivy wriggled out of Eddie's grasp and launched forward.

Zach caught her just before she catapulted onto her face.

"Hey, kiddo."

"Did you see me? I never stumbled once. Well, once, but I made it look like it was supposed to be there."

"You were perfect. It was a great show."

And it had been. The mouse had found her confidence. Who'd have thought a year ago that she would take center stage at a ballet recital? "Good job, Mouse."

Ivy grinned. "I know."

Her mom and Orange-Eddie could buy Ivy a hothouse full of flowers and name-brand chocolates, but her dad and Julia had given Ivy something a lot more important.

"Julia!" Ivy squirmed down. "What did you think? Huh? Did you see me?"

"Yes, hon, I sure did. You were fabulous." Julia passed Patrick to Shelby before kneeling to hug Ivy.

Ivy patted her netted hair behind the white furry headpiece. "My hair didn't fall down, not a bit. I felt like a real princess."