When Autumn Ends Read online

  He moved his hands around my waist and pressed his forehead into mine. “I don’t want you to feel like I’m pushing you into anything, Jenna. I know Nolan changes things a lot, and if you’re not ready to take on—”

  “Are you kidding me? If anything, that sweet little boy has earned you even more points.”

  “Is that so?” He grinned.

  “Well, what can I say? He’s a cutie. But so are you.” I rose up on the tips of my toes and kissed him on the lips. “Now, I’m going to take you upstairs…”

  “I like the sound of where this is going.” He smirked.

  “Easy there…no strenuous activity for six weeks.”

  “Jenna, I’ll be dead by then.”

  “Oh, I think you’ll manage. Now come on, you’re going to lie down. Would you like me to read you Dragons Love Tacos too?”

  I took his hand and led him out of his office. He pulled me back when we reached the stairs. “Thank you so much for everything. Thank you for giving me my son back. Thank you for not running away when most people would have been long gone…and thank you for allowing me to love again.”

  I looked up at him and smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  We took a few steps up the stairs before stopping once again.

  “Were you working on another book in there?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Do I get a sneak peek?”

  “Nope, this one you’ll have to wait until the end.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair...I think being with you should come with some perks.”

  He laughed. “I think the wait will be well worth it. It’s gonna be a lot different than my norm.”

  “If you say so, but, Ethan...”

  “Hmm...”

  “Don’t do it to show your readers that Jonathan Reed still exists, do it to prove to yourself that Ethan Banks is still alive.”

  “He’s more alive than ever. Thanks to you.”

  Chapter 46

  Ethan

  THE DAYS WERE BECOMING longer, the air milder, and the trees were budding with new life that would soon be taking bloom. I was amazed at how easily Nolan and I had gone back to where we were before this whole nightmare had begun, and I owed much of the ease of that transition to Jenna. When we were together we were a family, but I wanted to make it official. We never talked about how it would work if that were to happen because I was certain Jenna never thought I’d ask her that question. But the more we were apart, the more I was yearning to be with her every single day. She’d been under so much pressure, trying to get her business open within the next month, running into every single snafu imaginable. From the last-minute inspections to some zoning issues, she was stressed to say the least. I tried my best to help her out, fixing some last-minute things, but it seemed like once one problem was fixed something new would pop up. She couldn’t seem to catch a break.

  I’d just finished up the book I’d been working on, one I’d written just for Jenna, and I’d been sending it to her in parts. She had one more chapter to go and was driving me crazy to give it to her. Little did she know, I had it all planned out. I’d spoken with her earlier in the day and told her I had something come up this weekend and had to cancel our plans. I sensed sadness in her voice, and I was feeling a little guilty for making her feel that way—especially since it was her birthday, but I knew that sadness would be short-lived once she saw what I’d planned.

  “Hey,” she answered as I sat in my car parked across the street. Close enough so I could see her, but far enough away so she couldn’t see me.

  “What’s wrong now?” I could tell she was upset.

  “Oh, it’s going to take another month for them to approve my zoning application, so that pushes back my grand opening until God knows when. I swear, I just want to sell this place and be done with this whole harebrained idea of mine.”

  “It’s a month, Jenna. You waited this long, a month longer is nothing.”

  She sighed heavily. “It’s just—” Her voice cracked, and I knew it was more than her business she had on her mind.

  “Hey, why are you crying?”

  “I’ve been a mess all week...guess it’s from all this stress. So, what’s up? Are you in the city yet?” She pulled it together.

  “Yup,” I lied.

  “And Nolan, he’s with Helene?”

  “He is.” I continued with my façade as I looked in the back seat at Nolan and put my finger on my lips, signaling for him to be quiet.

  He nodded and grinned, all too happy to be part of the plan.

  “I told you I would have watched him for you. He would’ve been a welcoming distraction from my mess of a life.”

  I veered her off topic and back to my plan. “So, I just finished the last chapter of the book. Are you up for reading it?”

  “I’d love to.”

  I tried to hold back my laughter. “Okay, but on one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You have to read it on the beach.”

  “O...kay. Can I ask why?” She laughed.

  “Because it takes place on the beach, and I want to make sure I’m giving off the right vibe. So, do you have a minute to walk down there, and I’ll email it to you?”

  “You’re strange, you know that? I’m grabbing my iPad now, and I’ll be on my way.”

  I smiled when I saw her step onto the porch and down the stairs. If she only knew I was just a few feet away. I sent the email, while she walked down the street and I stayed on the phone with her.

  “Okay, I’m here...send it.”

  “Sent,” I replied, moving my car closer to the beach.

  We said our goodbyes, and I got out of the car. I unhooked Nolan from his seat as he clutched to the pink stuffed dragon with a sunflower bow around its neck in one hand, and I took his other hand and we crossed the street. I picked him up and we stood at the entrance, staring at the almost empty beach. There was an older couple off in the distance and a few surfers braving the cold water in their wetsuits. Jenna was front and center, sitting by the water with her back toward me and her head buried in her iPad. Her dark hair blew in the breeze, so much like the first time I’d seen her on this same beach, but so much had changed since that day. She was no longer some brunette girl who, in my screwed up mental state, I’d mistaken for my dead wife, she was now some brunette girl I couldn’t imagine my life without.

  “I wanna swim in dat water!” Nolan exclaimed as he pointed to the ocean.

  “It’s too cold right now, buddy. In the summertime you can. Come on, let’s go get Jenna, but remember we have to be quiet.”

  He nodded. “Shh…be very, very quiet,” he repeated as we inched closer to her until we were just a few feet away.

  I put him down and whispered in his ear, “Okay, do you remember what to do?”

  He nodded proudly and trekked through the sand until he reached her, turning around with a huge grin on his face before tapping her on the shoulder.

  “Nolan!” she shouted, throwing her arms around him, kissing him over and over again. “Oh my goodness, is this for me?” she asked as he placed the dragon in her hands.

  He nodded and smiled.

  “This is the best present ever! Do you think he likes tacos?”

  Nolan let out a deep laugh and she kissed him again before meeting my gaze and smiling up at me. Nolan broke free from her embrace and began to burn off the energy from the long car ride by running up and down the beach and jumping in the sand.

  “And in that moment, he knew she wasn’t real, she was an angel who was sent to show him how to live again, how to breathe again and, most importantly, how to love again. But to him, she was more real than anyone he’d ever known. She was his forever and his happily ever after that he so desperately disbelieved in.”

  Jenna raised her head from her iPad as she approached me, her face a gamut of mixed emotions. “When did you start believing in happy endings?”

  “The day I met you. Happy birthday, Jenna.” I smi
led and moved closer.

  “You fooled me.”

  I was happy to see the full-fledged grin now stretched across her face. Her cold hand skimmed the side of my face as she placed a soft kiss on my lips.

  “This is the best birthday surprise ever.”

  “Did you actually think I’d miss out on spending your first birthday of us being together, after I’ve listened to you complain for the past three months about how we missed out on our first Christmas because I was in the hospital?”

  She laughed. “That’s okay, we’ll make it up next Christmas.”

  “I hope so.” My tone became more serious, as Nolan ran in circles around us. “And I hope that maybe next Christmas...” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring.

  She covered her mouth and let out a loud gasp.

  “You’ll be my wife.”

  Her hands trembled, and tears stained her cheeks. “I-I…never in a million years expected this.”

  “So, what do you say? Do you want to spend forever with Nolan and me...the three of us?”

  She shook her head and bit back a smile, puzzling me with her mixed signals. “I want to spend forever with the four of us.”

  I narrowed my eyes in confusion, taking a second to catch on to what she was trying to say. “You’re pregnant?”

  She nodded, and now it was me who was in shock.

  “When?” I asked, immediately placing my hand on her belly.

  “I just found out last week. I was waiting for the right time to tell you. I was nervous you’d be upset. I know this wasn’t part of our plan—”

  “I just asked you to be my wife, so I’d say this fits into the plan perfectly.”

  “So, you’re okay with this?”

  “I’m more than okay with this, but...only if you’re okay with being my wife.”

  She tilted her head to the side and placed her hands on the sides of my face.

  “Yes, I would love to be your wife.”

  I slid the ring on her finger, and she looked down at it and smiled.

  “You remembered when I told you I prefer sapphires over diamonds?”

  I nodded, recalling that night when she so freely spilled her guts without knowing anything at all about me. It seemed like a lifetime ago, and in a way it was. I was a different person than the man I was just a short time ago. I believed in happy endings, and I believed in love. Jenna had come into my life and showed me these things really do exist even for someone like me. She helped me face the long, dark days of my past, and I knew no matter what the season, as long as I had her it would always be autumn in my heart.

  Epilogue

  Jenna

  “NOLAN, HOLD YOUR BROTHER’S hand,” Ethan shouted as Nolan and Jacob ran ahead of us into the sunflower maze.

  I looked up at the bright sunshine beaming down on the perfect fall afternoon, reflecting on the past three years of my life. I was now a mother to two very active little boys, and a wife to a man who was my everything. Sometimes I worried that maybe it wasn’t real, but every morning when I’d wake up to Ethan lying beside me and see the smiles on Nolan’s and Jacob’s faces, I knew it was. It was so hard for me to imagine that Nolan was now in kindergarten, and Jacob would be turning two in less than a month. I wanted my life to pause right where it was.

  Ethan was back to being on top with his writing, but it no longer defined him. He stayed grounded and made sure the boys and I were his first priority. While I gave up my grandiose plans of becoming a business owner the day I decided to become Ethan’s wife, I got a better job title in return—wife and mother.

  We had come to a compromise that worked in both our favors. Ethan wanted to be rid of his old life, which meant getting rid of the home he’d lived in with Darrah, and I wanted to keep my aunt’s home that had meant so much to me. So, we decided to live in the home that not only held the memories of my childhood, but also memories of when Ethan and I had first met, but instead of utilizing it as a bed-and-breakfast that we shared with strangers, it was now our home. I was more than happy with that decision, and I was pretty certain Ethan was too. He was happy again, finally free of his old ghosts. He was the Ethan I’d fallen in love with all the time.

  That other person who’d come out every now and then, who I dreaded so much, no longer existed. He’d used his horrible childhood to become the best father he could be. He’d moved on from the past and never looked back, even though he wasn’t happy with the outcome of Edward’s and Marcus’ trial, both of them plea bargaining to a lesser charge and basically being given a slap on the wrist. He was able to move on.

  Edward was blacklisted from the publishing world when word got out of his dirty dealings, and Marcus was publicly humiliated and fined for plagiarizing Ethan’s story.

  My life was crazy busy with keeping up with the boys and attending events with Ethan, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. All three of them were my entire world. Ethan took my hand as Nolan and Jacob walked in front of us. I never tired of seeing how protective Nolan was of his little brother, holding on to his hand like a mother hen. He was such a great kid and had thankfully made it through the tragedy that had occurred in his young life unscathed.

  “Let me take a picture of my three boys,” I shouted.

  Nolan stopped, still gripping Jacob’s hand, waiting for Ethan to approach them. Ethan scooped them up in each arm, and all three of them smiled as I clicked the picture.

  “How about a family photo?” an older woman who I immediately recognized as the owner of the farm asked.

  I smiled, remembering her foretelling the last time Ethan and I were here, years ago. She was correct. Two boys.

  “Oh, that would be great.” I handed off my phone and walked over to where they were standing. I stood next to Ethan and smiled as she snapped the picture.

  “Gorgeous family,” she remarked, staring at the photo.

  “You were right,” I said to her as she handed my phone back.

  “Pardon?”

  “My husband and I were here a few years back…we really weren’t even together. In fact, I was engaged to someone else at the time…”

  “Oh.” She raised her eyebrow.

  “No, it’s not like that. We—”

  “Jenna,” Ethan coaxed, trying his best to curtail my rambling.

  “Anyway, you did this thing where you looked at our hands, and you told us we were going to have two boys. At the time I thought you were crazy…well, no offense, but like I said, we weren’t even a couple.”

  She chuckled, seeming to get amusement from my incessant chatter.

  “But as you can see. You were correct in your prediction. This is my husband, Ethan, and our two little boys, Nolan and Jacob.”

  She had a puzzled look upon her face, and I was afraid to ask her why for fear she saw something bad in our future. “Oh dear, it seems I was wrong.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry…but how were you wrong?”

  She placed her hand on my belly and closed her eyes, deep in thought once again, the same way she was the first time we’d met. Her eyes popped open and she smiled at Ethan and me. “That’s a little girl you’re carrying right now.”

  I swallowed hard. I was a few days late with my period, but I hadn’t thought much of it.

  “Spoil her.” She winked at us and walked away.

  I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. Could she be right again?

  “Are you pregnant?” Ethan asked.

  “I-I don’t know. I’m a couple days late, but—”

  A slow, satisfying grin spread across his face. “A girl. We’re gonna have a girl!”

  “Ethan, really. That could be nonsense.”

  He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Weren’t you the one who said the last time we were here that you don’t believe in that stuff?”

  “Well, I’m believing in a lot of things I never used to, thanks to you.” He gripped my hand and kissed me on the forehead. “We’re gonna have
a daughter.” He was beaming with happiness.

  I looked up at him and smiled. “You don’t know that for—”

  “You didn’t drink coffee two mornings in a row.”

  I creased my eyebrows in confusion.

  “Remember when you were pregnant with Jacob, you didn’t want coffee either?” He had a point, but I still didn’t want him getting his hopes up only to be let down.

  “Daddy, look at this!” Nolan shouted.

  “Autumn.”

  “What?” I chuckled.

  “Her name is going to be Autumn.” He bent down and kissed my belly then ran off to the boys.

  Autumn Banks, I liked the sound of that. I rubbed my hands on my stomach, wondering if there really was a new life beginning to form in there. Even if there wasn’t already, I knew we’d have no problem making that become a reality—and we’d have Autumn every day, for the rest of our lives.

  The End

  Thanks for taking the time to get to know Ethan and Jenna. I hope you enjoyed their story. This story came to me after a long bout of writer’s block, so I will always be grateful to these characters for speaking so loudly and allowing me to do what I love most.

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  Need a good laugh? Check out an excerpt from Keepin’ The Faith on the next page.

  Keepin’ The Faith

  “HELLO, SISTER.” MY VOICE shook as I stared into Sister Antoinette’s steel gray eyes that I still remembered from so long ago. Did this woman never age or did she perpetually look like she was one hundred years old?