Until We Fly (Beautifully Broken 4)

She stands in front of the window, bathed in the silvery light of the moon, and I know that she’s everything I’ll ever want. She’s more than I ever knew I deserved and then some.

She’s beautiful.

And she’s mine.

Looking up, she catches me looking at her and smiles.

“What?”

I shake my head as I turn back the covers of the bed.

“Nothing.”

We climb into bed, tumbling into each other’s arms, the way we have for weeks, as if turning to each other in the dark will keep all of the ugliness away. Because you know what?

It does. It really does.

Nora strokes my face, letting her fingers slide down my cheek, until her fingertip presses into the cleft on my chin.

We fit, Brand.

“We’ve got to get back to reality,” she tells me regretfully. “I’ve got to get to know Julian as my father. You’ve got to figure out what to do with your parents’ house, then we’ve got to decide where to live.”

I stare at her in the dark.

“We should probably decide where to live first, before we do anything else.”

She smirks. “Smart ass. Fine. Where do you want to live?”

I’m quiet for a minute as I ponder that and for the life of me, I don’t care.

“I don’t care where we live,” I tell her honestly. “I just want you with me. We can live in California by the ocean, we can live in the countryside in France, we can live in the city in Chicago or New York… it doesn’t matter. I just want you with me.”

Nora stares up at me, her full lip quivering.

“Agreed,” she answers softly. “You’re home to me, Brand.”

A lump forms in my throat, and I try to swallow around it, as I think of every fucking thing that has happened over the past couple of years.

“It’s funny how things work out,” I muse aloud. “Two years ago, I thought my world was ending, that nothing would be ok again. But everything happens for a reason. All of those twisted paths in my life led me to where I’m meant to be…. which is right here.”

“With me,” Nora sighs happily, squirming closer.

“Yeah,” I agree. “With you.”

“Before we fall, we fly, Brand,” she reminds me softly, tracing the tattoo on my forearm. “Your gran was right.”

“She was right about a lot of things,” I answer, as I flip her over and hover above her. Nora raises an eyebrow.

“Such as?”

“Well, you’ve got to take life by the balls and shake it as hard as you can.”

She giggles and leans up to kiss my neck. “Your gran said that?”

I nod. “Yeah. You’d like her.”

“We need to go visit.”