The Returned

This girl had already suffered so much loss in her young life. How much more was she supposed to take? And when the fuck is life going to stop fucking her over?

“Do you remember the promise I made you when we got married? I told you I’d erase all the bad things from your life. I wasn’t able to keep that promise when you were taken from me, but I don’t intend on breaking it ever again.”

She nodded her head against my chest and wrapped her arms around me. It was the best feeling in the world.

Three years earlier

She’s the most difficult person I’ve ever met. Everything I do or try to do for her she finds fault with. I want to spoil her, make her life easier, but she won’t let me, which is going to be a problem in the long run.

Her little ass is stubborn as ten mules, but she makes me laugh like no one else ever has. And when I’m with her, I feel like there’s nothing else in the world that matters.

I like her sassy ass mouth and the way she doesn’t hold back like most people do when dealing with me. She’s my own little breath of fresh air and every moment spent with her is like a new awakening.

Most surprisingly for me though is the fact that not once while she was giving me hell since our first date did I think of walking away. I don’t usually put up with other people’s shit for too long before my give a fuck meter reach breaking point.

With her though, I began to see her sassy attitude as refreshing instead of annoying. I knew with her I was going to get the unvarnished truth no matter what that truth might be. And it was not always favorable.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that beneath her bravado and feistiness beat a heart as big and as pure as an innocent’s. Something that endeared her to me all the more.

There were moments when she let her guard down and I saw the vulnerability that only made me love her more. That sweetness that I always suspected but she’d kept hidden from only me.

The need to protect her only grew stronger the more time we spent together and it wasn’t long before I was making plans in my head to keep her by my side for the rest of my life. My heart was already way ahead of the game.

After the day she gave me her number, we’d been together in some way or another at least part of each day. The only time I didn’t see her is if my business took me out of town.

On those nights we’d Facetime each other and stay up until she fell asleep. Then I’d sit up watching her until I too gave into slumber. Only to awaken in the morning to find her smiling at me through the screen or vice versa.

It’s true that I knew within the first few weeks that I was going to marry her. That I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. But do you think she gave into me easily? Not a damn chance!

My money didn’t seem to matter to her, so telling her how easy her life would be if she married me was a bust. She actually seemed to look down her nose at me and my so-called wealth.

Once she actually called me a soft, pampered prince, which set my teeth on edge. Because her life had been far harder than mine, she has it in her head that she’s tougher than I am.

We had some spectacular rows in those first few months until we got used to each other and our differing moods. But no matter what, I treated her like the precious gift I’d come to see her as.

For the first time in my life I was afraid of being left. I was the one solely and completely invested. It was new to me, this feeling of insecurity and I can’t say that I liked it very much. But she was worth it, the stress I felt at the thought of her leaving me.

It’s because I’ve never known anyone like her in my life. She was right about my life being pampered, something I never gave much thought to before she came along.

It was quite eye opening being with her. The way she looks at life, the way she takes nothing for granted. And each day I wake up feeling excited in a way I haven’t since my younger days.

She’s always the first thought in my mind as soon as my eyes open and my head leave my pillow. Because I know she’s going to do or say something that’s going to make me look at life through new eyes.