I can’t lose them both, I thought.
“WaWa!”
Where was that voice coming from?
I heard it again, “WaWa!”
Oh my god where is he!?
“Walker!” I screamed.
There was nowhere to hide, we were on a beach, where was he? I scanned the water and the other bathers, had he gone out too far? I couldn’t see him anywhere!
“WaWa!”
I turned around and instantly froze.
“WaWa!” Walker exclaimed.
“I think you mean, DaDa,” Axe said with a huge smile on his face. He held Walker in his arms and strode towards me. Walker held his froggy toy in one hand and rested his other arm around Axe’s big shoulder.
I instantly burst into tears.
Thirty-One
Axel
After we had both dried our eyes I was the first to speak, “Honor, do you forgive me? I wanted to reach out to you so badly, to let you know I was okay, but it would have been too dangerous. I couldn’t risk The Fear Division knowing I was connected to you. I am so, so sorry.”
We kissed and she said, “of course, Axe, of course I do! But you better not ever plan on leaving my side ever again!”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said and prepared myself for the second scariest thing I was going to do that day (the first was the terrifying notion of approaching Honor after all this time—what if she was happily married?) “Honor Adams, will you marry me?”
Her gasp was all I needed.
Since “resurfacing” I had also gone to see my aunt who was about as happy to find out I was alive as Honor was. She heard all about Honor and how much I missed her and said only one thing, “Take this and go get your girl.”
My aunt handed me the engagement ring my father had given my mother—she’d kept it safe for me for all these years—I had no idea. It was a beautiful but modest diamond but I hoped Honor would like it.
“We can get you a bigger one,” I said as I slipped the ring on Honor’s finger and wrapped my arms around both my lady and my baby.
“Are you insane?” Honor laughed, “it’s perfect. This is more than I could ever ask for.”
I could tell she was being genuine but I laughed to myself. Honor was in for quite a shock when I would eventually tell her that I was the benefactor of a hundred million dollar trust fund. But for now I wanted to be just a simple soldier with his beautiful wife-to-be and handsome son.
“You’ve done an amazing job with Walker,” I kissed Honor on the forehead as we sat on swinging chairs on her veranda later that night after we’d put our boy to bed. “I like the name you chose, too.”
“Thank you,” she said as she sipped her wine quietly.
I could tell it hadn’t been easy for Honor, but she was humble, one of the many things I loved about her. I pulled my girl tighter towards me and looked up at the sky. It had been such a long time since I’d seen open sky and beautiful stars.
Suddenly Honor slid herself up on my lap and faced me, “I’ve missed you so much,” she said with a fiery look in her eyes. It was intoxicating and I kissed her softly. Honor’s lips were the last lips I’d kissed and I can’t count how many times I’d thought of them over the past two years. Now all of that pain seemed like a distant memory.
It wasn’t too cold that night but there was a soft breeze in the air; Honor wore a silky camisole that slipped easily off her shoulders as I started to kiss her collarbone. She hadn’t changed a bit and was just as beautiful as ever. Her hair was in that classic ponytail, just like always, and her eyes were bright green and completely captivating. Her lips were soft and full and I couldn’t wait to savor them all night. I wrapped my arms around her and plunged my lips onto her neck, she moaned that familiar sensual and soft sound. God I had missed her. Just then we realized we weren’t alone.
“Mama,” said Walker.
We both started to laugh and turn towards our little man who was standing in his PJ’s just inside the house.