I kissed her forehead and pulled her in closer. “Go to sleep sweet baby; we’ll talk more when you wake up.” She was out seconds later, and I stayed awake looking up a the ceiling. She was here; she was really and truly here.
I hadn’t lost her, hadn’t waited until it was too late. But I’ll pay for every moment of pain I’d caused her, I’ll spend the rest of my life doing it. I kissed her brow again as she sighed in her sleep and made a silent vow to her, to always love and cherish her, and to mend the heart that I’d so carelessly broken.
Chapter 20
Jamie
I woke with a start sometime later and looked around the strange room until the day’s events came back to me in full blooming color. He wasn’t on the bed, and my senses told me that he was nowhere in the room.
I sat up with a lot of stops and starts since my tummy was in the way and fixed the pillows behind my back. My stomach growled as I looked around the room for the first time. The place was amazing. He’d told me sometime during our earlier clearing the air convo that he’d built it for me.
I felt tears at the corners of my eyes as I realized that the bedroom and the bed did look very much like something I’d once said would be my dream. The high ceiling and huge floor to ceiling windows that let in the light and gave me an awesome view of the mountains that surrounded the place. Not to mention the French doors that led onto the wraparound porch.
It was simply breathtaking. The bed was a huge four-poster made out of logs that had been sanded to a golden hue and varnished to a perfect shine, it was huge, like much bigger than your average king size bed. There were splashes of pink and turquoise everywhere, my two favorite colors.
I saw my traveling bags near the door and realized he must’ve packed my stuff from home.
Oh crap, home, work, people must be looking for me, wondering where I am. Just then, a phone rang on the bedside table. It wasn’t mine; it was his, so I was going to ignore it. But then something caught my eye.
I reached over and picked it up, staring at the screen dumbfounded. The picture was of me, the young carefree, fun-loving me, on that last night we’d been together. There was a mile-wide smile on my face, and my eyes sparkled like diamonds.
The pink top and white jeans made me look so young. But why did he have this image on his phone? He couldn’t have kept it all these years surely. Had all those things he’d said earlier been true? Had he erroneously thought that it was best for me if he gave me more time?
He came into the room with a tray, and I could barely see him through the tears that filled my eyes. He saw me holding the phone as he came forward to place the tray on the bed beside me. He took the phone and looked down with a wry smile before looking back at me.
“I guess my secret is out now, huh.” He looked so hopeful as I watched him, my frozen heart feeling the warmth I get from just looking at him and melting little by little. I don’t know if I reached out for him or if he was just there, but I felt his arms go around me as he sat on the bed.
“Thank fuck!” He moaned I cried as I clutched him to me, babbling all the while, pouring out all the hurt and pain I’d been carrying for so long.
Wyatt
She would’ve cried herself out if I hadn’t grouchily teased her the way I used to when she was younger. The way I know had always gotten her over whatever it was that was upsetting her. She clung to me, making my heart feel light.
For all that she said I’d put her through, I was getting off light. I ran my hands up and down her back as she got out the last of her sniffles. “What’re we going to tell everyone?” Her voice was low and hesitant.
“They already know your mom and dad and my parents. I’m sure they’ve already told the others by now.”
“How do they know? What did you tell them?”
“Well, after I lost my shit when they told me you were gone and grandma calmed me down, I told them I was going after you and that you were going to be my wife.”
“They didn’t seem too surprised; in fact, there were a few, ‘it’s about damn time’ going around. Grandpa T gave me his blessing and told me where to find you.”