promised myself once that I’d spend my life making sure she knew what family and real love was. I broke that promise when I tore her love for me to shreds.
Now I have a new promise.
I promise her forever.
Because there isn’t a doubt in my mind when it comes to her. She is my one. My only. My forever.
Her expression sobers when she notices me staring. “What?”
“Kiss me,” I whisper, bending down a little.
Her lips part, her startling grey eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
She leans up and I meet her halfway, capturing her lips in a sensual kiss. Rain pours around us, mud has soaked through our clothes, and yet all that matters is the taste of her tongue, the feel of her lips, and the fact that I’m lucky she has taken another chance on me.
I cup her cheek, deepening the kiss, and it feels like being home again.
We are forever.
I’m never letting her go.
Epilogue
EVIE
It has been three weeks since Mum’s funeral, since Andrew had me kidnapped then nearly killed. Rebecca and Wyatt have watched me like a hawk the whole time, worried I’ll break again.
At the beginning, I wondered if I was in denial. It scared me because I was constantly on edge, wondering if what happened to me would hit me at random, but it never did.
I’ve not had nightmares, I’ve not dwelled, I’ve not had doubts.
It was the second week when it hit me why. It wasn’t getting to me because I was healing. Slowly, as each day passed, I was feeling more of myself. There was a spark inside of me that was lit again.
It happened when Rebecca talked me off that bridge.
When Wyatt turned up with his family at Mum’s funeral.
And it happened again when he gave up information on Black to save my life.
A life I am no longer willing to gamble. I want to live. Not just for those I love, but for me.
I wish I had really heard what Rebecca was telling me all along. She saved me twice, and there aren’t words or gifts that can show how truly grateful I am. So, I’m doing it the only way I know will make a difference. By being by her side while she comes to terms with becoming a mum. By being the friend I should have been all along. Because although I’m not having nightmares, she is. I hear her every night, and my concern is growing. What I did has affected her greatly, and now she is suffering. I want to fix it.
Things between Wyatt and I have been fantastic. I still have moments when I will watch him and wonder if I’m going to wake up from a dream and be back in my nightmare.
Things aren’t perfect between us, but we aren’t a fairy tale. We’re real, and not all love stories have a happily ever after. They have trials, they have fights, and they have mountains to climb. Our story isn’t over, it’s only the beginning, and we have something worth fighting for.
For the first week—since he told Rebecca he was staying until they were sure Black and his goons wouldn’t come back—he tip-toed around me. He hesitated before touching me, struggled to bring up Andrew around me, and it got tense at times.
The end of that week, we had our first argument. Kind of. It was more like me demanding him to stop.
“How can this work if you’re scared to be yourself around me? I don’t care that you hate Andrew. I hate him too. Nothing you could do or say about him will make me see you any different. I don’t hold any love for him, Wyatt.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just hard to know what to say. Please, just give me time to get used to this.”
“You promised he wouldn’t come between us,” I remind him.
“It’s not him. It’s me. I’m scared I’ll do or say the wrong thing to you. I’m worried I’ll hurt you again.”
“And I’ll try to kill myself,” I mutter, finishing what he is too afraid to.
“Yes. No. I don’t know. I’m so sorry. I can’t lose you, Evie. I just can’t. I want you in my life. I love you.”
Running the palm of my hand over his cheek, my lips tip down. “I’m not made of glass. I’m getting help, Wyatt. I’ve never felt like that before, never contemplated taking my own life. I can’t promise you I’ll never feel that way again, but I can promise