The Story Of Us - Teri Wilson Page 0,75
spotted Eliot in the front window, watching him with his fat orange tail wrapped contently around his paws.
The door creaked open, and Sawyer stepped inside, heart still thumping wildly in his chest. But the sight that greeted him caused him to grow still. Reverent. It was the same True Love he’d known since he was a boy—of course it was. But now a path had been laid out for him—a trail of red rose petals, flanked on either side by luminous votive candles.
So this was why Jamie had disappeared so quickly after the town council meeting. He smiled to himself and walked gingerly over the rose petals as the trail wound through the branches of the cherry tree dripping with ribbons and Valentines, past the corner where the classics met fantasy, toward the blooming pink flower wall and the French doors leading to the courtyard.
A light fog had blown in from the coast, giving the courtyard a dreamy, ethereal feeling as he made his way toward the café table closest to the fountain. It was the same table where he’d sat just a few nights ago, reading the letters Mary and Harrison had exchanged while they’d been apart. Now a gourmet spread was laid out on the table—the Valentine’s dinner they’d promised to share. Jamie must have gotten a little help from Rick, which seemed only fair after all they’d done to help Rick and Lucy finally get together. Sawyer let out soft laugh. It hung in the air as vapor as he picked up the hardback volume that had been placed next to his plate.
The Princess Bride.
Naturally. Sawyer shook his head in wonder. The book’s worn spine and gently loved cover hinted it might be the exact same copy he and Jamie had both tried to nab on the day they’d met. She’d kept it, all these years.
“So I started writing something new.” Jamie’s voice reached him from somewhere behind him as he flipped through the book’s soft pages.
He turned around, and there she was, bathed in the pale glow of fairy lights and a sweetheart moon. She wore a pink dress with a pleated ballerina skirt that looked as light as air, and the love in her eyes as she looked at him nearly brought him to his knees.
“A love story.” She came a few steps closer. “And I would like your opinion on it.”
His throat grew thick with emotion, but somehow, he managed to form a few words. “What’s it about?”
“Well, a girl and boy meet. Fall in love. Then they get separated, only for circumstances to bring them back together again.” She closed the remaining distance between them and laid her dainty hand over his heart. “And they realize they never stopped loving each other the entire time. And that’s how you know it’s true love.”
He reached for her hand, still resting on his chest, and covered it with his. “That’s my favorite kind of story.”
“Mine too.” She took a deep breath and gave him a tentative smile. “But I’m going to need your help to finish it.”
It was her way of asking him if he was back in Waterford to stay this time. He knew this as surely as he knew his own name.
The answer burned deep within him, warming his soul. “And you will have it.”
He cupped her face in his hands and ran the pad of his thumb over her trembling bottom lip. She gazed up at him through a veil of unshed tears, and it felt as if they were truly seeing each other for the first time.
His Jamie.
His home.
His one true love.
“Always,” he whispered.
Then, at long last, an adult Sawyer O’Dell kissed a grown-up Jamie Vaughn, and the moment their lips met, the years they’d spent apart seemed to melt away.
It was a kiss steeped in fairy tales and history and faded Valentines written long ago. A kiss born of literature and love stories, but better because it was real…true.
And somewhere beneath the pounding of his heart, Sawyer could have sworn he heard fate whispering in his ear, like the narrator of a story.
And they lived happily ever after.
Epilogue
One year later…
The only way Valentine’s Day could possibly top the previous year was if the grand re-opening of the Waterford business district happened to fall on February 14, which also happened to be the same exact day as the launch party for Jamie’s first published novel, The Story of Us. By some miracle, all three events perfectly coincided—the book launch, the unveiling