Unfinished Business Read Free

concerned, the ring represented unfinished business between them.
    Unfinished business .
    He sighed heavily, and at that very moment, he knew he would risk everything to finish it.
    Jonathan Madaris hung up the phone and slowly shook his head.
    “Was that Justin?”
    He looked up and met his wife’s gaze as she came out of the bathroom. A profound sense of both love and pride swept through him. She had been his wife, best friend, lover . . . his everything . . . for almost forty-five years, and he thought she was just as beautiful today as she had been the first time he laid eyes on her.
    He scanned her body from head to toe. Tonight she was wearing one of those sexy nightgowns their daughter-in-law Syneda had given her for Christmas, and she looked gorgeous in it.
    “Jonathan?”
    He blinked. She stood leaning against the huge wooden bedpost, waiting for his response. “Yes, that was Justin and his message was the same as the ones Dex and Clayton left earlier. He’s asked Alex to check on Christy whenever he goes to Cincinnati on business. Of course, like his brothers, Justin is claiming he’s doing it for our benefit, so we won’t be worried about her.”
    Marilyn Madaris chuckled as she crossed the room to her husband. “We’re not worried. In time they’ll discover that Christy is no longer a baby; she’s a mature young woman who is smart, has a good head on her shoulders, and is old enough to make her own decisions. She’ll do fine. I’ll miss her, but it’s time for her to seek her own destiny.”
    Jonathan nodded as his thoughts shifted back to his three sons. “They promised her they wouldn’t interfere.”
    Marilyn shook her head, smiling. “Yes, but we knew they would anyway. Too bad they don’t realize they’ve made a grave mistake in soliciting Alex’s help. That’s like asking the rooster to watch over the henhouse.”
    Jonathan grinned as he pulled his wife into his arms. Her skin was so soft. Over the years, with five of their six kids married and on their own, he and Marilyn had been able to do the things they’d always wanted to do. Both had retired years ago from being educators in the Houston school system and spent their time traveling to places they had always wanted to see and visiting old friends who lived all over the country.
    And now that Christy had finished college and was living her own life, his main concern was this woman he held in his arms. He wanted to devote the rest of his life to her and her alone. “So, do you think we should warn them of that fact?” he asked, burying his nose in the sweet smell of her hair and bringing her still-trim body closer to his.
    “No, I think we should stay out of it. Christy will be able to handle her brothers when the time comes.”
    “And Alex?”
    She slowly shook her head. “Now, Alex is another matter altogether.”
    She knew the pain Alex had unintentionally caused their daughter. Marilyn also knew he had begun seeing Christy in a whole new light, and would even go so far as to say that she believed he was in love with Christy, although it seemed he hadn’t figured that fact out yet. And she knew Christy was still in love with him. But unfortunately, Alex would find out the hard way that when it came to that formidable Madaris pride, love had nothing to do with it . . . at least until he could melt the hard ice encasing Christy’s heart.
    “No pain, no gain. I think Christy and Alex will have hard lessons to learn,” she added. “And when the time comes we’ll be there for them.”
    Jonathan said nothing for a long moment. “And in the meantime?” he finally asked, his gaze feasting on hers before he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers.
    She smiled that smile she only had for him, the one that had opened up his heart the first time he’d seen it. “And in the meantime we will enjoy our children and grandchildren and, most important, each other.”
    He held her charcoal gray gaze captive. “I love you,” he