to ebb. She still missed him, but she could think of him now without crying and that was a very good thing.
She gave her reflection a wink before grabbing the small beaded handbag that matched her dress and heading down to the ballroom. The hallway leading to the ballroom was lined with large posters of all the astronauts who’d done the work leading up to the Cronus missions. She saw Hemi’s and Izzy’s posters before stopping in front of her Ace’s. It was impossible to think of him as Jason when she stared into his intent blue gaze. The photo was of him in his flight suit, holding his helmet under his arm. And under the image was a quote attributed to him.
I grew up on a ranch in Texas so nothing is daunting to me. I need to be out there going where no one has before and expanding our boundaries the way the first settlers did in the West.
As much as she wanted him by her side, she knew that Ace really was a space cowboy. A man who should be exploring the universe, not tied to the land as she was. It was what he was meant to do and she loved him more for it.
“Hello, gorgeous.”
She turned to find him standing behind her in a tux. She almost forgot to breathe he was so handsome. His hair was neatly combed and he smiled when he bent down to kiss her. They’d come so far since he’d walked up to her porch on that warm May evening.
She threw her arms around him and started laughing. He joined her, swinging her in a circle.
* * *
JASON HAD AN engagement ring in his pocket from Deutsch & Deutsch Jewelers. They had been in business in Houston for more than eighty years and their motto—Where Life Happens—seemed to suit him and Molly. He’d picked it up earlier in the day, after he’d finished the battery of tests Dr. Tomlin had run.
She’d been excited by the test results for the blood samples he’d been sending her each week via private courier. His calcium levels were normalizing. She hadn’t seen the same results with her other patients so he mentioned Hemi’s mom’s diet and the supplements she’d sent him. Dr. Tomlin had immediately gotten on the phone with Mona and he had a feeling that the meals at the Mick Tanner Cronus Training Facility were going to be heavily influenced by Mona’s nutrition plan.
Jason was happy being back on the base. Dennis had called him earlier, but Jason had been at the jewelers. He’d wanted a special ring for Molly and had been examining the one he’d ordered to make sure it was perfect.
He hadn’t returned his boss’s call because he wanted to ask Molly to marry him before he knew if there was an option to go on more missions.
There were a lot of astronauts who were married, and many balanced work and family. But Jason knew himself. He was either Ace or Jason—he didn’t know how to be both.
He’d made a promise to Molly that day by the pond and he wasn’t going to back out of it now. She needed him and he was coming to realize how much he needed her.
She was the first person he’d wanted to call when he’d heard the news from Dr. Tomlin.
And tonight...she was beautiful. She shone more brightly than the stars in the night sky and she was holding on to him and laughing with such joy. He didn’t want to dim it. Couldn’t be the man who made her eyes lose their sparkle.
“That dress is making it hard for me to remember why we have to be here. I want to scoop you up in my arms and carry you back to our room.”
She blushed and then winked at him. “There’s no reason why we can’t have everything we want tonight, is there?”
“No reason at all,” he said. Everything she wanted. This was her night. They’d saved the ranch and were getting ready to open the training facility. They were a couple. They had the rest of their lives together.
“I want to take a picture of you by your poster,” she said, fumbling in her handbag for her cell phone.
“Why?”
“So I have both handsome sides of you in one photo,” she said.
She knew. He hadn’t realized it was obvious to everyone else, or maybe it was just because Molly knew him so well that she saw he was two different men. Not balanced at all.
The ring in his pocket felt heavy and he wanted to propose before he went inside and the lure of his old life took over.
He went over to the poster. Saw the brash, confident astronaut staring back at him. The man in the photo wore a hint of a smile along with tons of self-assurance and swagger. He posed next to his poster and she snapped the picture just as Hemi and his brother Manu came around the corner.
“I told you it wasn’t odd to take a picture with myself,” Hemi said.
Manu shook his head. “Ace, are you for real? I get this egomaniac wanting to pose with himself, but you aren’t as into yourself as he is.”
Hemi punched his brother on the arm. “Hey.”
“I asked him to do it,” Molly said.
Manu glanced over at her and then held his hand out. When Molly took it, Manu brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “Apologies, my lady. I’m Manu Barrett, this one’s older and more handsome brother.”
“She has eyes. She can see that you were a warm-up for me. I’m the perfect one,” Hemi said.
Jason just shook his head at them.
“This is Molly Tanner,” Jason said, introducing her to Manu.
“Are you part of the astronaut program?” he asked as they all moved into the ballroom.
“Not really. I’m a cowgirl normally. But Ace and I inherited some land that is now housing the new Cronus training facility,” she said.
Jason thought it curious that she’d referred to him as Ace. She almost always called him Jason.
“That is really cool. I’d love to hear more about it,” Manu said. Hemi left them to go talk to Izzy.
“What do you do?” Molly asked Manu.
“I’m in football. Special teams coach for the professional football league. I used to play for San Diego.”
“I think I might get kicked out of Texas for admitting this, but I don’t really like the game. I’m more of a basketball fan.”
“You were almost perfect,” Manu said with a wink.
“Well, she is for me,” Jason said, putting his arm around her.
“Not perfect,” Molly said, smiling. “I’m as real as they come.”
Manu laughed and then moved off to find his brother. Jason took Molly’s hand in his and started to lead her away from the crowd.
“Where are we going?”
“I want to be alone with you for a few minutes before everything starts tonight,” he said.
She bit her lower lip and then nodded. “I figured we’d talk
