Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,104

Christopher," she said to no one but herself. She took a few deep breaths and relaxed when the feeling subsided.

No more. I control this now, it doesn't control me.

Aislynn joined the Sparks in the kitchen and sipped her tea, grateful for how much it agreed with her stomach. They sat and talked for a while before Aislynn reached for her bag. She took a small velvet box out and placed it in Emma's hands.

"I wanted to give the ring back to you. Christopher said it has been in your family for generations, and I think it should continue to be passed on," Aislynn said.

"Are you sure? He meant for you to have this, and we would be okay with you keeping it," Emma responded.

"I have…I have to move on. Please, take it."

"All right. Thanks for bringing it back," she said, setting it aside without opening the box. Aislynn could understand why.

"We hope you'll still stay in touch with us. You were a part of this family for a while, and we want you to know we're always going to be here for you," Charles said, once again surprising her with his words.

"Thanks. That means a lot to me; you have no idea."

"Do you plan to stay in town for a few days?" Emma asked.

"No, I'm heading home as soon as possible," Aislynn said, looking down at her watch. "It's late already. I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow morning to catch a flight back home."

Home. To Jace, she thought and felt her lips curve up into a grin, something that hadn’t happened in two days.

"It's so good to see you smile. Do you have somebody waiting for you?" Emma asked with a smile of her own.

"Yes…I do," she responded and immediately felt her fingers twitch with an instinctual need to touch his skin.

And I can't wait to get back to him.

Charles and Emma walked Aislynn to the door and hugged her goodbye. Aislynn felt satisfied with being able to follow through with what she had come back to Texas to do, but she definitely felt the weight of the day coming down over her. She wished she didn't have to go back to a cold hotel room with no one to talk to and no one to process the events of the day with.

She walked out of the house, giving a final wave to the Sparks, and approached her car. She suddenly felt uncomfortable, almost like she was being watched. Looking around to see where the feeling may have been coming from, she locked her gaze with a beautiful pair of green eyes.

Jace.

He was parked on the other side of the road, waiting outside the car. A small hesitant smile played on his lips, and Aislynn couldn't control the urge to direct her feet toward him as fast as possible. She wanted to run, but couldn't because the tears in her eyes made it hard for her to see. They embraced, her body molding perfectly to his, her fingers ecstatic to have free range of the skin on the back of his neck. In Jace's arms, Aislynn felt the pieces of her heart rearrange once again in the right order.

This is where I belong.

"Hi, babydoc," he whispered in her ear. It was the sweetest sound Aislynn had ever heard in her life.

"I love you," she said as she cried.

"I love you, too. That's why I'm here. I hope that's okay."

"It's more than okay. I'm sorry for not including you in this, for pushing you away. You were right about everything," Aislynn rushed out, wanting to make sure she spoke the truth she held in her heart.

"Shh. No more of that. We'll be fine, babydoc."

"Wait. How did you know where I was?" Aislynn asked, stepping back to look at him in the face.

"Umm…yeah. About that," he said nervously. "I was so worried about you after we spoke last night that I decided to catch the next flight here. You had mentioned coming back to talk to Christopher's family today, so I…I had no other choice but to call Ellie. I figured she knew where they lived, but I wasn't prepared for her not knowing that you had come back here."

"Yeah, that was me being stubborn. I knew that if I told her I was coming back to Texas, she would ask—wait! What did you tell her?"

"I'm sorry, Aislynn. She got really worried when I told her where you were, and there was no other way to explain to her why