Ella watched Lance give instructions to the group of ladies surrounding him. Pride expanded her chest as the women partnered off and practiced tossing each other over their shoulders.
Then she turned her attention to the group in front of her. They would be practicing frontal attacks.
It had taken Ella a while to find her footing when she’d moved from Maine to Kansas permanently. Finally, she’d accepted an attending’s position at the hospital in Cheney. It felt good to get back in the operating room, but she missed working with domestic abuse victims. So she started volunteering again. It worked for a while, but for the first time, she’d felt like she wasn’t doing enough.
After many talks with Lance, he’d suggested converting the gym in his barn into a place where women could come to learn self-defense and other martial arts. She couldn’t have loved him more for suggesting it. They’d worked together, tirelessly, to get everything in order, and a month ago, they started offering the classes every Tuesday and Thursday night. The response had been amazing. They had women from all backgrounds taking part in the program.
After the class was over and the last member left, she walked over to Lance and laid her head on his chest. He hugged her tightly to him. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you too, babe.”
Never would she have believed she would love another human being the way she did this man. He made her life fuller, happier, and if she had to move again, she would without hesitation, as long as he was by her side.
His phone pinged, and she released him so he could grab it. As he looked at the text, a huge smile broke over his face.
“What?” she asked.
“I got a lead.”
A lead. Not a call. Lance hadn’t gotten a call in three months. He’d stopped working dispatch and had focused his business solely on repo’ing. He loved every second of it. He was excited about his job, excited about a lead, excited about the research.
“I’ll pick up Skylar, then.”
“Thank you.” He gave her a swift kiss and hurried out of the barn.
She’d gotten an instant family when she’d moved to Kansas. She loved Skylar as if she were her own. She placed her hand low on her flat belly, a secret smile on her lips. And in a few months, they would be adding one more.
THE END