by Lara Swann
I really fucking hate this should I keep hearing.
They say she’s got a severe concussion and a minor fracture in her skull, as well as several fractured ribs and a lot of bruising. The skull stuff sounds really fucking scary to me, even though they say it hasn’t done any permanent damage.
I sit by her bedside for the next few hours, just waiting for her to wake up - and when I finally see those eyes fluttering, the hand I’m holding start to move - it feels like I’ve come back from the dead myself. Back from purgatory. From not knowing.
“Heyy…” I say softly, moving closer and talking quietly, as if just my voice might be enough to break her. “Hey Kelsey…I’m here. You’re okay now. You’re safe, I promise.”
I tell her that just in case, in her mind, she’s still back in that barn. I can’t get the vision of Margaret out of my head, and I hope to all hell that whatever she’s gone through…she really will be okay. Mentally, as well as physically.
Whatever it takes, you’ll help her through it. We’ll do it together. We have to.
It still takes a while for her eyes to fully open, but I just sit there and wait, feeling on the edge of my seat for the moment when I get to see her. Really see her.
When she does, she blinks several times and it takes a while for her eyes to focus - but when she does, something in her face relaxes and it makes my heart burst to see it.
“There you are.” I whisper. “Welcome back, Kelsey.”
I squeeze her hand and she squeezes it back.
“H…hey…” She whispers back, her voice sounding hoarse and pained, but unmistakably hers.
I feel moisture come back to my eyes again and smile gently, reverently down at her.
“I love you, Kelsey.” I say, more fiercely than I intended to. “I love you so much. More than I can possibly say. I’ve been waiting the longest day of my life to get to say that back to you.”
Her eyes close and for a moment I think she might be drifting out of consciousness again - but then tears leak from the corners of them and my heart breaks, just a little bit.
“I love you.” She whispers back. “I’m sorry…I told you…like that—”
“Don’t be sorry.” I cut her off. “Don’t ever be sorry. I want you to say it every day. Every moment. Whenever you feel it. I’m so sorry I fucked things up—so sorry—I should have been there with you—I should have stopped—”
“Shhh…” She barely manages it, but it’s enough to shut me up, before she squeezes my hand again.
I take a deep breath, emotion overloading me. “I’ll be there from now on, I promise. Whatever crazy thing you want to do. I’ll be with you.”
She half-laughs, then immediately winces and cuts it off. It makes my heart twist to see it, but at least I know she can laugh.
Maybe she really is going to be okay.
“I think…I think maybe…you had it right.” She says, closing her eyes again, like it’s hard to keep them open. “I think…I’ve had enough excitement…now. I don’t want…that kind of excitement…ever again.”
I squeeze her hand tighter as I nod. “Whatever you want. Let’s see, huh? But whatever it is, we’ll do it together.”
She half-nods, then whimpers a little bit and clutches my hand harder.
“Don’t move, okay? Just…concentrate on getting better. I’ll take care of everything else.”
“Together. We’ll do it together.” She whispers, repeating my words. “I love you, Liam.”
“I love you too.”
Now that I can finally say it to her, I don’t think I’m ever going to stop. I simply can’t.
And I do what I promise. I take care of everything. Within a few hours, all of her family are piling into the room and I have to retreat a little - even though I don’t want to leave her side for a moment. The way her gaze lingers on me, I get the feeling she feels the same way - but I’ve had her to myself for a while now, and it’s only fair.
Mark and Jenny arrive with both of our sets of kids and I scoop Maya up into a tight hug.
“Is Kelsey okay?” She asks, her eyes wide and obviously red from tears.
That’s enough to finally set me off, and I feel the unshed ones slipping down my own face as I nod, unable to speak for a moment.
“Yes. She’s okay. She’s going to be okay. We’re going to look after her, okay?”
Maya nods, fiercely. “Yes. I want to make her better. I want her to be better, Daddy.”
“She will be.” I squeeze my daughter tight. “We’ll make sure of it. Thank you for being such a good, brave girl today. You did everything Daddy needed.”
“I didn’t help at all!” She objects.
“You did, sweetie. More than I can possibly tell you.” I kiss her head and clutch her to me and she returns it, hanging onto me for dear life.
I meet Mark’s gaze over the top of her head and I can tell that we’ve got a long conversation coming, but that can wait. Right now, all that matters is Kelsey - and everyone in this room knows it.
Epilogue
Kelsey
“Why did you want me to meet you here?”
I ask, inhaling deeply as I step further into Fairytale Cupcakes. I love the scent of this place, the fresh baked sugary treats mingling into one delicious mix. It never fails to make me hungry - or put me in the mood for…other things.
Yeah, I know. It’s bad. Now that I’m with Liam so much more, I’ve come to associate all these sweet, delicious smells…with sex. He always comes back tasting like sugar and making me hungry for more than just a bite of it. The number of times I visit this shop and ending up wanting to leave with him to eat—
“Ohh, I just needed help with something…” Liam says, walking out from the back room. He looks gorgeous in his plaid shirt and jeans - the apron missing today - with his large belt buckle at the center drawing my gaze in that direction…or, well lets be honest, I don’t need the prompting. “How was your first day back at work?”
I smile, moving closer and stepping into his embrace as he leans down to kiss me. He tastes just as sweet as the store promises and the kiss lingers, going deeper as his hands rise to tangle in my hair, pulling me in tighter. It sets electricity alight inside of me, little pulses of need running down through me and I love so much about it. He always makes me feel like he can’t get enough of me - like any little touch could turn into so much more, because I’m just that irresistible to him. The feeling is more than mutual, too.
By the time we pull back, I’m a little breathy and my skin is tingling from the closeness, but I just stand there and enjoy his embrace for a moment. His powerful, warm arms around me. Sheltering me. Protecting me. I’ve never felt more safe than I do when his arms are around me - and after what happened a couple of months ago, I’ve needed that more than I can possibly say.
He seems to know that, somehow, without me even saying a thing and I relax, sighing as I rest my head against his chest.
“It was good.” I say, then glance up with a smile. “I spent most of the day reading the editions they’d printed while I’d been off and chatting to Amanda, soo…I’m not quite sure you could call it work. But that suits me fine.”
Liam laughs lightly, the caramel sound of it filling me with warmth as I reach up and stroke his face. I love that I can do that now. I can just touch him because I want to, without it leading to anything else, because these days I know that he’s mine. Just like I’m his. Totally and completely.
Though, I’ll be honest. Usually it leads to something else, anyway.
“Have you decided what your first project will be?”
“Something light.” I say immediately. “Happy. Fun. The kind of feel-good piece I know you love.”
My voice is teasing but these days, I think I agree with him about that. There’s a lot of worth in simply spreading good news around, little things that could touch people’s hearts and lives, that make them feel connected and part of this community.
After everything came
out about Ken, Anderson couldn’t stop apologizing for dismissing what I’d tried to say. I don’t blame him - I never did - and I made that clear, but still…he’s said that from now on, I can choose my own articles and work on whatever I like. He’s promised to support anything I choose.
It’s an almost breathtaking amount of freedom, and I haven’t quite managed to wrap my head around it. I’m not sure I even want to use it to do the things I used to want - touring the country and investigating exciting events, finding out what’s happening in the world, all of that. Right now, the best thing I can imagine is staying right here with Liam and Maya.
So I’ll start with all the exciting things happening in Ashton, instead. And when I look closely enough, or give them the credit they deserve, it turns out there are a lot of them. I’ll stick to happy stories that make me feel good for a while…but secretly, there’s one project brewing in the back of my mind that I know I’ll need to get out there, at some point.
A retrospective of Kenneth’s Mayorship.
A detailed look at everything he did when he was Mayor. It will cover the recent scandal, of course - the likes of which has never been seen in Ashton before - but I also want to mention everything else he did. I don’t want people to lose sight of the fact that even if there’s one big, terrible, awful thing…that doesn’t mean that everything is. Underneath it, there can still be a lot of good.
I want to make it a fair, unbiased coverage. At least I hope it will be unbiased.
Either way, it’s a project for another day.
Now that he’s in jail and awaiting trial for fraud, I think I’m coming to terms with things - and I bear him a lot less ill will than I did. Maybe partly because he did do what I suggested, and cut a deal for the sake of Margaret and Emily. Witness protection was discussed but for now they’re still in Ashton, which is really where they want to be. They had security around them at the start, but as time has gone on it’s become obvious the threat against them has fallen apart. With two of the ringleaders dead and Ken testifying against the guy behind it all…they’ve got too much to deal with to be thinking about anything else, and there’s no one for them to blackmail now anyway. It’s all out. Everyone knows.
That’s the best thing about all of this - now that everyone knows, Margaret can finally get the support she needs. She’s going to therapy, she’s got her friends all around her again and she can talk about it. She doesn’t have to close herself off to prevent anything from getting out - and the town couldn’t possibly be more supportive. I talk to her almost every other day - after what I went through, I’ve needed that too - and it makes my heart swell to see how much progress she’s made in just a few short months.
I mean, yes, the town was horrified when it found out - I think it’s going to take a long time for our trust in the community we’ve loved all our lives to be rebuilt - but we were all misled together, and that helps. We can see it as one person’s manipulation, rather than anything being inherently wrong with our town. Of course, there are now all sorts of measures being drawn up so something like this can’t happen again - but that’s a good thing too.
“Are you okay?” Liam asks, his fingers brushing my face and drawing my attention back to him.
I give him a soft smile, nodding. “Yes, just…thinking about things.”
His smile is gentle and sympathetic. “There’s been a lot to think about.”
I nod, and I’m surprised when he cocks his head at me with a slightly mischievous grin. Something about it makes my heart leap in my chest and I get a little tingle of anticipation.
“Do you know what I was thinking about today?” He murmurs, and from the tone of his voice I can somewhat guess, but I play along anyway.
“What?” I say, my mouth curving in a matching smile.
“That we should do something to celebrate you being all cleared by the Doctor. No more broken ribs…no more fractured skull…you’re all healed up. You know what that means?” The light in his eyes makes heat run down my spine and I step closer to him.
“What?” I ask, my voice breathy.
“We can play rough.”
I laugh, pulling his head down to kiss me again, our lips and tongues meeting and melding together as I taste him.
“Then why did you ask me to come here?” I ask, when I finally pull away, frowning slightly. “I thought you needed some help with something?”
“I do.” He murmurs, taking me by the hand and leading me into the backroom. “I need some help…with this frosting.”
I laugh as soon as I see the tubs of frosting sat on one of the counters, sprinkles and jell-o and powdered sugar and god knows what else next to it.
“You want to turn me into a cupcake?” I ask, grinning at him.
“Hell yes.” He mutters. “And then feast on every part of you.”
Something between a laugh and a shiver of pleasure ripples through me and I grin at him, stepping closer.
“I’m pretty sure this goes against every hygiene regulation I can think of…”
“I’ll clean it after. Deep clean. Every surface and every part. Hell, I’ll rip out the kitchen and put a new one in, but I’ve fantasized about having you in here - against these counters, on these tables, under this frosting - almost since the day you first walked into my shop. Screw it, Kelsey, we’re doing this.”
I get that same thrill of amusement and pleasure run through me and I step forward to kiss him deeply.
“It’s your store.” I murmur, already trailing my fingers down his shirt and itching to get it off him. It might look sexy as hell, but it’s what’s underneath that I really want.
“Before we do that, though.” He says, and I look up at him, surprised. Before? What ever happens before? “I made you a specialty cupcake…to give you the kind of energy you’re going to need.”
“What, did you put extra sugar in it or something?” I ask, grinning as he reaches around behind one of the counters to get it.
“Something like that.”
“And what’s it called…do you have a good name for this one?” I say, teasing. He takes exception to the fact I think all of Maya’s names for cupcakes are much better than his, but so far, he simply hasn’t come up with anything that beats Fairy Princess Surprise.
“Ohh, I’ve got the perfect name for it.” He says, finally turning back. “This one is called ‘Happily Ever After’.”
I look down at it at exactly the same time he sinks to one knee, holding it out between us while I just stare. It’s a beautiful green-and-gold colored cupcake, with intricate sugar fairies dancing around the outside of the frosting - but that’s not what catches my eye. It’s the gold-and-silver ring in the middle of it, with diamonds laced in an interlocking knot pattern.
“Oh shit.” I whisper, and that sweet caramel-coated laugh rumbles out of him as he looks up at me, his whole face shining.
“I love you Kelsey. I know it’s a little soon, but I don’t need months or years to know that you make my life - and my little girl’s life - complete. I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to be the first person I see in the morning and the last at night. And every moment in between. I want to coax that beautiful, musical laugh out of you every day. I want to see you that teasing grin in your eyes as you poke fun at me. I want you to come and be Maya’s fairy godmother and help me work out what the hell I’m supposed to do with a pre-teen little girl—”
“Fairy godmother?” I repeat, my eyes already starting to fill with moisture, even as I laugh along with him, reaching out to clasp his other hand.
“When I told Maya I wanted to marry you, that was what she said it would make you. I didn’t argue. It would have taken hours.”
I press my other hand against my mouth, not sure whether to laugh or cry as I look at him, emotion flowing all the way through me.
“I know you said you’d had enough adventure for a lifetime, Kelsey…but can I convince you to go on one more with me? One that we’ll s
hare for the rest of our lives?”
Oh god.
I can’t even speak. I just nod, sucking in deep breaths of air as I pull him up and into my arms, not wanting another moment without his body against mine.
“Yes.” I breathe into his mouth, as he kisses me, pushing me back against the counter and claiming every part of me. “Yes. Always. Forever.”
I barely get it out, clutching him to me as the wave of love and happiness washes over me.
We’ve talked a little bit about marriage - and kids, too. About the family I’ve always secretly wanted of my own and the possibility of giving Maya a few little brothers or sisters. But I never thought…I could never have guessed…he was thinking of now.
As I look up at him though, in awe at how special and wonderful and perfect this man is, it feels like the perfect time. There’s nothing else to possibly wait for.
And I’ve been thinking for quite a while now, that maybe I was wrong all along.
Maybe the real adventure of a lifetime isn’t out there in the world…but right here with him, settling down and starting a family.
THE END
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More Books by Lara Swann
Accidental Baby
I’ve spent years raising my sister.
Starting a billion-dollar company to keep her secure.
That’s all that’s ever mattered.
Now she’s at college, I take one night for myself…a little wild freedom…
Guess what happens?
