Unwrapping the Best Man

‘I need... I can’t... Did you just say what I think you did?’

Carefully, he takes up my hand, his touch so gentle and a dramatic contrast to the ferocity in his eyes. ‘I love you, and I’m so sorry.’

I choke as I try to speak, and a tear runs over one lid. He cups my cheek, brushing it away with the pad of his thumb, his eyes hooked on mine. ‘I love you, baby, and if you can forgive me I’ll do everything I can to prove it to you.’

‘Is this really happening?’ The tears are streaming down my face now. I want so much to kiss him, to lean in and take away the tears I see welling in his eyes too, but I can’t move.

‘Yes.’

‘It’s not the drugs?’

He gives a soft laugh. ‘No, baby, it’s all real. Please say you can forgive me?’

I wet my lips. ‘Of course I forgive you. I love you, Jackson.’

He bows his head, drags in a breath, and when he looks back at me his head is shaking; the overhead lights glitter in his eyes as they spill over. ‘You have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that again.’

I give him a small smile. ‘I have a fair idea.’

‘I’m a lucky man.’ His eyes turn grave as they waver over my face. ‘I know I still don’t deserve you, but I can’t walk away. I’m nothing without you by my side, Cait. The second you walked out I knew it, I knew...and then when I ran after you and...and...’

His voice breaks and my inability to reach for him pulls me apart inside. ‘Jackson?’

‘Yes?’

‘Please shut up and kiss me.’

His mouth quirks up, his damp smile everything. ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’

‘You’re hurting me more by not kissing me.’

He chuckles as he leans down, his lips sweeping softly over mine. ‘I love you, Caitlin. I love everythi

ng about you, right down to your obsession with Christmas.’

‘Oh, God.’ My eyes fly open. ‘Christmas! I’m going to miss it.’

He shakes his head at me, his fingers gentle as he strokes the hair from my face. ‘You won’t.’

‘But what day is it today? It must be the twenty-first...the twenty-second? I’m not—’

‘Shh, your mum has it covered.’

‘She does?’

‘Of course she does. She’s Mrs Claus incarnate and has already been on at the staff about what she can get away with.’

‘She has?’

‘Yes, baby. Christmas will be coming to you, and when you get out of here we’ll have another Christmas Day...on a day of our choosing.’

‘We will? You and me? But you hate Christmas...’

‘That was before I fell in love with Santa’s Little Helper.’

I smile and this time it fills my face. I am happy. So very happy. And as I look up into Jackson’s eyes I realise he is too.

No more demons. No more torment.