Free Just Beginning by Theresa Rizzo Page A

threw her arms around his neck. “Your body. I’m marrying you for your sexy body.”
     
    * * *
     
    Mary Campbell stood in their family room. With her arms tightly wound around her stomach, she leveled a flat stare at Jenny. “Are you pregnant?”
    “Mary,” her father put a warning hand on her shoulder.
    “What?” Surely Jenny hadn’t heard right. “ No , I’m not pregnant.” Bewilderment turned to anger, and Jenny came off the couch to face her mother. “Why? You think the only way I could get a man like Gabe is by trapping him?”
    “You’ve only known each other a few weeks, and he is quite a bit older than you,” her mother said.
    “Surprise, Mom.” Jenny glared through narrow, hurt-filled eyes. “He loves me.”
    They’d been together more than a few weeks —long enough to know this wasn’t puppy love. She and Gabe were old enough to know their minds. Jenny didn’t understand her mom’s reaction. Gabe was a good, honest man, not like her immature first love, Danny Sullivan. Most mothers would be thrilled their daughter was marrying a doctor. Why couldn’t she be happy for them?
    “How well does he know you, Jennifer?” her mother asked with a pointed look.
    Gabe stood and put a reassuring arm around Jenny’s shoulder. “Mrs. Campbell, I know this seems a bit sudden, but we’ve been dating for months, and I love your daughter very much. I’m fourteen years older than Jenny, but that’s not an issue for either of us. I’m sorry if you have a problem with it.”
    “Fourteen years is a long time, Dr. Harrison—almost middle-aged.”
    “Forty is hardly middle-aged, Mom,” Jenny protested. “Not anymore.”
    “Please, call me Gabe. Jenny and I love each other, and we’re getting married. We’re not asking permission, we’re inviting you to share our happiness.” He paused, “Naturally, we’d like your blessing.”
    “Yesss,” Michael hissed from the doorway. Mom’s instant glare wiped the smile from his face. He settled into a recliner and pulled out his iPod, pretending to play a game.
    Her mother returned her attention to them. “This is so sudden. What’s the hurry?”
    “No hurry. There’s just no reason to wait.” Gabe slipped a hand under Jenny’s hair to massage her tense neck muscles.
    The warm, intimate look he gave Jenny both curled her toes and lifted her heart. This was right. The most right thing she’d ever done. Jenny looked at her parents and raised an impish eyebrow. “Would you rather we moved in together and lived in sin?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Really?” Jenny searched her mom’s face trying to discern if she was serious or just testing her. Why in the world would her conservative, Catholic mom prefer that they live together without being married? She was condoning premarital sex? That went against everything her mom believed in.
    “If that’s what it takes. You’ve always been impulsive, and it usually gets you into trouble.” She faced Jenny. “Have you really thought everything through? Marriage is a huge commitment.”
    Her father thrust his hands deep in his pockets and raised a dark eyebrow at Gabe. “What about children? You’d be in your sixties when your children graduate college.”
    “We’re not going to have any,” Jenny blurted out.
    Gabe stiffened at her side.
    They’d never talked about children, but Jenny didn’t want to admit they’d overlooked this important issue, confirming Mom’s belief that they were rushing things. Besides marriage, step parenting and jump-starting her career would fill her life; Jenny couldn’t imagine children on top of that.
    “I have a daughter and son from my first marriage,” Gabe admitted. “If Jenny doesn't want children, that's fine with me. Even if we change our minds, we’ll figure it out; just like you did when Michael came along. Mr. Campbell, I love your daughter and will do my best to make her happy.”
    Jenny took Gabe’s arm and snuggled close, needing his warmth and strength