Loving Quinn Novel by North Rose

(Annorn)

Once Quinn finally relaxed, dinner with my parents when better than I thought it would. My mother loved the flowers she bought her. I was extremely curious about when he and my father talked about, but he just laughed and said he would tell me later. Now we are back at his penthouse, and he is putting Grace in her bed.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home, I am currently in the klicher fixing the roses Quinn bought for me and Grace. I laughed when I saw all he did was put them in the water. Some men just don’t know what to do with flowers.

Once I am done with them, I take the red roses upstairs with use after leaving Grace’s pink one on the kitchen island. She can see them in the morning when she has breakfast. I want mine in the bedroom where I can see them all the time. Well, until we go home on Sunday.

Quinn’s plan for our living arrangements for the next six months is a good plan. My bed isn’t nearly as big as his, so sleeping there with him will be fun. He is taller than I am, so his feet may hang off the end of my queen-sized bed. I can see it already in my head. It causes me to laugh as I enter our bedroom.

I hear his voice when I walk in, but I don’t see him. The slight breeze that I feel blow through the room makes me look towards the balcony door. It is open a c**k and I can now see his shadow on the ground. Gently I sit the vase of rose on the dress then walk to the

door.

“I can’t wait for you to meet her, Tori. Grace is amazing.” Quinn says.

He is on the phone. I feel a bit embarrassed for eavesdropping, but he left the door open, so I walk to stand where he can see be on this

side of the door.

1

“Yes. I reserved to penthouse suite for you two. I also made reservations for you guys for dinner tomorrow night.” He laughs at something/ she said before he responds. “I thought it would be nice for you to have a family night out together. Aaron has missed you, but he won’t say anything. Yes, he is his father’s son.”

Tori is Victoria Carter, Aaron’s mother. He mentioned her earlier when he was telling my mom about his father. She is coming into town tomorrow with her husband. Quinn already told me this, but it didn’t occur to me that is who he is talking to. The name Tori made me think of other things, and now I am ashamed of myself.

When I met her that summer, she introduced herself as Victoria, I never knew her nickname. She was always nice to me. Now I do and I feel like a fool for my jealous thoughts.

“Ok, I will see you on Saturday, Goodnight.”

After he hangs up the phone, he turns to come back inside, but stops when he sees me at the balcony door. He gives me a huge smile as he walks inside. Something in my eyes must have given my thoughts away because he frowns after closing the door behind him,

“What?”

Do I admit to him what my first thought was when I heard him talking on the phone to another woman? I can’t even believe that my Erst instinct was thinking he was cheating. Quinn has spent every spare minute that he isn’t at work with me and Grace in some way.

“Did you think-Tori was my mistress or a booty call?”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

feel my cheeks heat at the accusatory tone in his voice. Unable to meet the weight of his stare, I look down at the ground, then nod my head in shame. When he says nothing and the silence in the room becomes so heavy that I feel like I can’t breathe, I look raise my head.

Quinn isn’t by the balcony door. I look around the room for him, only to find that he is no longer in the room with me. He is angry at me, So he left the room. He told me that if I ever made him angry, like I just did, he would leave the room until he calmed down.

Rather than make an unpleasant situation worse, I take a deep breath, then head into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When I come back out, Quinn is sitting on the end of the bed. In his hand is a worn either pouch that looks like it has seen better days. As our eyes meet, I see no anger in those sea-green depths,

“Come sit by me, please, Annie.”

I swallow hard, then do as he requests. Hiqeyes soften as I sit next to him. I lean into the palm of his hand when he reaches up and cups my cheek.

“Twelve years ago, I made a promise to you. It was something I knew in my heart that I may never keep, but I made it anyway, I promised you that one day I would come back to you.”

Before I can stop them, tears slide down my cheeks. I remember that night. It was the same night I gave him the St. Michael’s medal. I gave him a going away present, and he gave me Grace.

“The first chance I had after I was deployed for the first time, I bought something for you that I planned to give you when I saw you next. In my mind, that was going to be soon. In reality, it was twelve years later.”

I watch as he opens the leather pouch. His fingers fish around inside for a moment before he pulls something out My eyes go wide when I realize he is holding a ring in between his thumb and forefinger. It is a simple golden band with a small, marquise cut diamond in the center. It isn’t anything grand, but to me it is absolutely perfect.

“I was going to give this to you tomorrow, but I can see that you need to be reminded of my love for you.”

20h, Quinn. It is beautiful.”

“Now, before you say anything, hear me out first. This ring represents that promise.”

He bought me a promise ring. One he intended to give me years ago. Now he has the chance. My heart melts in my chest as love for him swamps me. Can he get any sweeter?

“With this ring, I promise you I will be faithful to you. I promise to share my concerns, my fears, and all my problems with you. This is to promise you that when the day comes that we are both ready for that next step, I will happily make that leap with you.”

I lift my right hand to let him slip it on my ring finger. To my surprise, it fits like a glove. I will have to ask him how he knew my ring size) all those years ago. Unable to help myself, I hold my hand up to the light to watch the diamond on my hand sparkle. A giggle escapes my lips as he stands up off the bed and lifts me up into his arms.

Quinn carries me to the balcony doors, then after he opens the door, he carries me outside to one of the lounge chairs. Once we are seated, a peaceful silence settles over us. The stars in the sky seem brighter tonight, but I think that is just my mood. I am happy for the first time in far too long.

“I need to tell you about the meeting with Evan and then my lawyer.”

Then, just like that, the stars are less bright. Reality pulls me back down to face the music of our situation with Dionne. That woman has been nothing but trouble for Quinn since she showed up here wanting to rekindle what they used to have.

“Did he confirm what you thought about his brother?”

Yes. He even confioned that Ethan and Dionne were sleeping together before she and I split. Which he agreed to testify to if this lawsuit

goes to trial

“Well, there will be the initial court date where we will plead our case. Give the facts. Make our request for the DNA test. Since there is a possibility of me being the father of her son, her entire case hinges on that test.”

“Son? She has a son. What is his name?“

“Logan, I asked Evan how his brother treats the boy, and it isn’t good. Bhan ignores him and pretends that Logan doesn’t exist.”

Outrage fills my veins at how an innocent child is treated. “Why does he treat Logan that way? Is it because she told him that the boy is yours?”

My heart breaks for that little boy.

An innocent victim in Dionne’s

game.

I wake up to the sound of Quinn’s heavy breathing. His body jerks frantically in his sleep. I know instantly that he is having a nightmare, After the conversation he had at my parent’s house tonight, I have a fodling he is dreaming about his mother.

My heart breaks for him. Talking about his father brought all the memories of his mother’s death to the surface. So, I take a risk that is who he is dreaming about, 1 reach out my hand to lay it softly over his heart. His heart is pounding erratically. I can feel it thumping wildly against my palm as I touch him.

Quinn’s breath shudders ou

out then back in, as if in his dream he is crying. I press my body close to his, then rub my palm over his chest. After a few more minutes of his heavy breathing, he jerks awake. His eyes are wild when they meet mine.

The raw pain in his eyes and the tears slipping down his cheeks makes me lean forward to press my lips against his forehead. “Let it all out, Quinn. I am right here.”

He swallows hard a few times, then his hand comes up to grip mine. “I was dreaming about that day the county Sheriff came to our door.”

Rather than interrupt him, I lay my hand on his shoulder to let him know I that am listening. He needs to talk it out. I listened to the brief story he gave me in the past. I will liston again.

“My father was already worried. She was late, and she was rarely late. The minute we both saw the red and blue lights flashing through the window, I saw fear in his eyes for the first time in my life. I jump when the Sherrif knocked on the front door. I was only eight years old, so I didn’t understand right away what was going on. Why they were there.”

I sit up to grab the glass of water off the nightstand on my side of the bed. I take a sip, then hand him the glass. He sits up and leans his back against the headboard before he takes the glass from me. After drinking the rest of the glass, he puts it on his nightstand, then stares out into the darkness of our room. Just when I think he is done talking about that day, he takes a deep breath, then continues.

“When my father opened the door, I was in the hallway. I could see the Sheriff’s face as he took his hat off. Even at eight years old, I knew. I just knew something horrible had happened. Before the Sherrif could even say anything, my father started shaking his head, just back and forth in obvious denial.”

“I will never forget the sound he made after he was told that my mother was killed in an auto accident just three miles from our house. He fell to his knees, screamed at the Sheriff, then just broke down and sobbed. Her was incoherent after that. Just withdrew into himself.”

The stops talking to glance at me. His eyes are still haunted, but the tears have dried. I don’t like how pale he is, but I know that will go away after he gets some sleep. I will do my best to soothe him to sleep when he finally gets all those memories out of his head. He holds

s hand put and I take it. This is all I can do for now.

Quinn looks away from me, then speaks again.

“The deputy with the Sherrif saw me standing there in the hallway with tears in my eyes. They ended up taking me to my grandmother, who lived an hour away, because my dad just checked out m*y. I liv**ed with her for two years before she died, and child services took me to my dad.”

He falls silent again, but this time, I feel like he has said all he wants to about that day. I lift his hand to my lips and give his knuckles a gentle kiss. There are no words to say in a situation like the one he lived through. When he told me about his mother’s death twelve years ago, all I could tell him was how sorry I was for his loss.

That line seems over-used and insincere to me now.

“I want to tell Grace about her grandmother. If I can share my memories of her with my daughter, I think maybe it will be….” Quinn looks

want to to at me as he struggles to articulate his thoughts.

“It can be a way to bond further with your daughter as a way to help you heal. You will never forget your mother, Quinn. Share her with Grace.”

He nods his head, then turns to look at me. “Thank you for letting me talk it out. It was what I needed to do after that dream. I love you,

Annie,”

I lean in to press my forehead against his. “I love you too, Quinn.”

We get comfortable again to try to sleep. Quinn rolls me over onto my side, then scoots close behind me to cradle my back against his chest. My a** is pressed firmly against his groin. With his powerful arms wrapped around me, I feel completely safe.

However, I feel it should be me holding him instead, to give him the comfort he needs. When he rubs his nose into my hair and sighs in content, I realize I am giving him the comfort he needs. Just by me being right here in his arms.

“I love the smell of your shampoo, the smell of your skin and the way you fit against me. It is going to be rough sleeping alone again when you go home.”

Wiggling in his arms, I roll over to face him. “I feel the same way. Think of it this way, the t night together again explosive.”

“That is a promise 1 am going to hold you to, Annie.”

time apart during the night will make our first