Love for You

James leaned against the bathroom door frame with a toothbrush shoved in his mouth, the minty fresh toothpaste cleaning whatever was left from the Christmas Eve dinner. He listened and nodded as he listened to Jo talk about the events that happened that same night while she roamed around the guest bedroom right next to Jackson's room.

She folded the last t-shirt James had brought and packed it right in his suitcase. "Gah! The whole thing with Rich and Mark was just mind-blowing. I hope that when they get married, they ask me to make their matching suits for them. I won't include any greens though even though it's Rich's favorite color. No green looks good on a three piece suit."

James disappeared into the bathroom to rinse and walked out to see Jo with an old Cosmopolitan magazine she found inside the nightstand drawer while looking for her missing cellphone. James flopped down on the bed and watched as she flipped through the pages.

"10 Signs That Your Sex Life is Boring," she read out loud. "One: Missionary is your go-to position."

Jo glanced at her husband, who only shrugged and got more comfortable in his sleeping area.

"Two: You and your partner have never attempted to make a sex tape."

"True," Jo nodded.

"Wait what?" James said, suddenly alert. "We've tried before!"

Jo shook her head, "Impossible. I would've remembered...unless you hid a camera somewhere in our room, you sicko!"

She hurled a pillow towards his head. James ducked causing the pillow to hit the lamp, which he caught with a quick reflex.

"It's like you forgot about Cancun," James grumbled. "Also known as one of the best days of my life."

Jo rolled her eyes, "OK hot shot, I get that you had more fun on our honeymoon but I still don't remember attempting to film ourselves."

"Remember when you decided to start a competition on who could run back to our room first and I obviously won and nearly tackled you to the ground when you finally made it back?"

Jo nodded slowly, trying to remember.

"You were all pouty and pretending to be mad at me and I joked about how that was our first fight as a married couple."

"Oh you mean when you dragged me to the bedroom with your phone in your hand, claiming to take selfies with your tongue down my throat?"

"OK, don't say it like that, Jo. You're making me sound like a sicko."

She giggled, "I'm just messing around with you. Of course, I remember! But thank goodness you deleted that thing because it was just a mess."

James shrugged, "I would've kept it if you left me."

"Gross, James. Why would you want to watch that?"

"What's gross about watching me and my wife having sex?"

Jo gasped and hurled her last pillow at him once again. "Don't say that so loud! My parents could hear you! Or worse, my brother and my sister could hear you!"

James gave Jo his best "are-you-serious" look and said, "We have a kid, Jo. You seriously think your family doesn't think we have sex on a daily basis?"

"We do not do that on a daily basis," she waved a hand his way. "More like twice a week."

Jo continued to read the list written in the magazine and pointed at one she found hilarious.

"Nine: Your partner goes down on you but you do not go down on them/"

"True." They both said at the same time.

"Hey!" Jo yelled out. "I've tried!"

James shook his head, "Touching it doesn't count as going down. I'm not complaining though, babe. I enjoy the simple pleasures I give you and whatever you feel like is rewarding for me is enough."

Jo pouted, "You make me sound like such a prude."

James reached across the bed and grabbed her by the arm to pull her down with him. The magazine dropped from her hands and she squealed. He kissed her cheek and said, "You do know that that magazine is like ten years old? It was probably your magazine from when you were a teenager. Also, you do know that I never complain about what happens between us behind closed doors, right?"

"OK, first of all, that magazine was probably my sister's. Second of all, I am perfectly satisfied with what happens between us but sometimes I worry. I'm sure you've had some crazy sex with prettier girls than me before. Some acrobatics, off the wall type of stuff."

James leaned down and made it look like he was going to peck her lips but instead, he bit her bottom lip gently to scold her.

"Even if that were true, that was all in the past. If you want crazy sex, we'll have crazy sex. We could have have lots of it. You know I'm not opposed to that."

Jo laughed out loud and covered her face with the pillow she previously threw at James. "I can't believe we just talked about that for half an hour."

James let her go, "Hey, you're the one that brought it up with that dumb magazine."

"Cosmo has taught me a few things, so I wouldn't consider it a dumb magazine." She pointed out.

James raised a suggestive eyebrow, "What kind of things?"

"Don't make me hit you with this pillow!" Jo lifted the pillow up, ready to attack.

After the initiated pillow fight, James played along. He felt like a child playing with his childhood friend who was secretly his crush. It felt all too normal. His Jo was back, though he never doubted that she ever left. As soon as she finished packing their bags for their next trip to Canada, Jo hopped right into bed with James. It had been a long, eventful night for the whole family and taking care of a baby on top of that sure did wipe her out.

"So I was thinking..." James started as the couple settled down for the night.

"What?" Jo wiggled around, trying to find a comfortable spot for her.

"I was thinking of getting another tattoo. Maybe one or two, right here," he patted his pecs.

Jo moved to her side and imagined a tattoo on his t-shirt covered chest. "What are you gonna get?"

"Maybe J's birthdate in roman numerals on my left pec and yours on the other. I also wanted to get a wedding band done." James fanned out his fingers in front of him. The silver wedding band that planned to stay on his left ring finger stood out. Though he had the ring already, he wanted something even more permanent than that.

"Sounds like a good idea, babe." Jo said lazily as her eyes started to droop, sleep calling her name.

"I was hoping you'd get one too."

Jo's eyes popped wide open and immediately started to shake her head. "No way are you going to ever convince me to get a tattoo. As nice as your idea sounds, me and needles equals a big no no."

"Oh come on, Jo. It's not that bad!"

Jo gave him a pointed look, "I was with Leanne when she got her first tattoo. I remember her screaming in pain and I think I might have even seen a little bit of blood on her skin. No way do I want to experience that."

"Just think about it, OK?" James pushed to which Jo sighed and agreed before nodding off to sleep.

--

Christmas Day at the Neal's was a success. James' parents were so excited to have them over for the first time for the holidays especially with the little one around. Jo and James could also tell that Jackson was equally thrilled to be around his grandparents, aunt, and uncles. James' brothers took over baby duty the whole time, allowing Jo some free time to talk with her in-laws.

Deborah looked around the corner for the dining room with her mug clutched between her hands, "James tells me that you two have talked about adding another Neal to the picture."

Jo blushed. "We've talked about it after I finished therapy. It's not a for sure thing yet."

Deborah warmly smiled at her daughter-in-law and saw the same girl her son fell in love with years ago. She was devastated when she heard about their separation, her injury along with her own personal battles with motherhood. She was proud that she had come a long way since then. Even just hearing Jo consider having another baby with much more confidence, despite her blush, made her even more proud of the woman she has become.

"Are you ready for another baby?" Deborah had to ask.

Jo nodded without hesitation. "I think I'm more ready than James is. He loves being a dad but I think at the same time, it terrifies him."

"He's probably just afraid of..." Deborah stopped talking before she said something she probably shouldn't bring up.

"It's OK, you can say it," Jo told James' mother. "I know he's probably just afraid of what will happen after everything that's already happened but I know that if I were to get pregnant, he would be there for me and would be really excited about having another child."

Deborah nearly cried as she leaned over to give her daughter-in-law a hug. "I am so happy for you two, I really am. This is definitely one of the best Christmas I've ever had. Just to have all three of you here with all of us is what makes all of this really special."

The two chatted some more about everything. Jo didn't get to talk to her in laws that much after she got married, so every chance she gets to talk to them, she truly make them count.

Later on in the morning, they all exchanged presents and most of them were for Jackson. There were so much gifts for him that James started to worry about how they'll be able to take it all home with only two luggages. He got more books and toys as well as some new clothes for when he gets bigger.

When it was time for the couple to pack their stuff for their flight back to Nashville, James wrapped him arms around his wife's waist and presented two boxes stacked up on top of one another with a golden bow tying it together in front of her. Jo, who was busy trying to figure out how to fit all of Jackson's new clothes and toys into her luggage, turned around in surprise.

She didn't even realize that James hadn't given her a present when everyone was exchanging presents. She wasn't even expecting anything from him especially since he's been such a patient, loving, and caring husband for the past year.

"What's this?" She said, taking the boxes from his hands.

"Your presents." James smiled cheekily.

Jo untied the box and went ahead for the smaller box on top of the longer box.

James quickly stopped her, "Go for the bottom one first."

She obeyed and opened the longer box. She saw a beautiful sparkling silver charm bracelet that already had two charms on it. One charm had a heart with the letter "J" inside of it and the other were hockey skates.

"This is so cute, James!" She squealed and put the bracelet on immediately. She put her hand out and examined the bracelet, watching as it shined when the light reflected off of it.

"You can get other charms for it. I just thought those two were good enough to remind you of me and J."

"Ugh, my husband is so adorable." Jo felt like she was experiencing a cuteness overload from what James had gotten her.

"Open the next one," James said.

Jo had an idea what the next one was but what she didn't expect was another sparkling piece of jewelry. Inside the last box was a gorgeous diamond ring--so gorgeous, she was almost afraid to put it on her finger.

"Oh my God, James. This is beautiful. You know I would've been fine with the bracelet but this? This is amazing."

"If we could get married again, I would do it in a heart beat. I just wanted to give you another thing that would remind you of all the things we've been through--the good and the bad. You're the love of my life and I wouldn't replace this life for anything."

Jo teared up and went up on her tip toes to kiss James. She slipped on the ring and James knew that it would look absolutely perfect on her.

"I love you so much. You and Jackson make me so happy." Jo said and went in for another kiss that she will never forget.