by Zoey Derrick
He brushes a strand of hair out of her face.
“I know you were only trying to protect me,” she says.
He kisses her forehead. “You give me more credit than I deserve. You were left here to suffer alone, just so that I didn’t have to see and feel your heartbreak.”
“But didn’t you have your own heartbreak to deal with? You had to watch me vanish when I woke up.”
His face falls and his eyes glaze with tears.
“It killed me every day.”
She reaches up to cup his face, her thumb wiping away a stray tear. “See, we both suffered in our own way. But it’s over now. You’re home, and in my arms.”
She stretches up to kiss him and he meets her halfway. Their kiss is passionate and heartfelt, all the anguish over the last two months pouring into this one kiss.
THIRTY-NINE
“What time is it?” she asks him.
“It’s ten minutes to one.”
“Crap. Aubrey will be here soon.”
Mikah cocks his head at her.
“She’s my yoga instructor. At Dr. A’s urging, Celeste found a personal trainer for me. She comes three times a week. Ironically, Celeste wanted me to cancel today and go shopping with her. Did they know?”
He shakes his head. “No, no one did. Let me call downstairs, have them tell Aubrey that you’ve had to cancel. I want to spend today with you.”
She smiles at him. “You can’t hide in here from everyone all day, you know that, right? Besides, I have a couple of things to show you.”
“Sounds great to me. Let’s take a shower, then we can get dressed.”
She nods her agreement and he sits up.
While Vivienne crawls off the bed he reaches for the bedside phone and calls the front desk. Now that she mentioned the yoga classes, he can see it in her arms. Though she’s gained weight since the last time he saw her in person, it’s good weight and he likes it very much.
Vivienne heads toward the bathroom and turns on the shower. After a minute more Mikah joins her.
Celeste returns to the condo to find the foyer and hallway lined with candles. She hears the shower kick on and she can feel that Vivienne is not alone. Remembering when she’d set up the candles for him back in November, she realizes quickly that Mikah has come home. She whips her phone out to call Red.
“Come on, pick up.”
“Hi, Celeste,” a woman’s voice answers.
“Kelly, is Red there?”
“He is, one second.”
There is a pause while Kelly gives the phone to Red. “Celeste, you just—”
“He’s alive. He’s here. In the apartment.”
“What? How?”
“I don’t know, but get your butt up here quick. Bring the boys, I need your help.”
“On my way.”
The phone clicks dead and Celeste goes about blowing out all the candles. She wants to clean them up before they come out. Dressed, she hopes silently.
Red, Andrew and Connor arrive in no time, having taken the stairs.
“Help me clean these up. They’re in the shower.”
“Have you seen him?”
She shakes her head as she continues blowing out candles.
“How do you know it’s him?” Connor says.
“You know, you can stop being a pessimist now. What is your deal anyway? You’re always so grumpy. You didn’t used to be like this.”
“Lay off of him, Celeste,” Red steps in.
“I just don’t understand it. You scare Vivienne sometimes and I don’t like it.”
“I don’t try to scare her intentionally. I just don’t like to get attached. Sometimes keeping my distance is the best way to avoid that.” That’s the easiest explanation he can come up with; the rest of that story is a lot harder to tell and not worth the effort. Suffice it to say, he could relate more to Vivienne these last two months than anyone else could.
“That’s a load of bullshit, Connor, and you know it. You ran up here just as fast as these two knuckleheads when I called Red,” Celeste bites back. “Now, help me.” She smiles at the three men just standing there.
About five minutes later they hear the water shut off in the shower and they scramble to finish picking up the candles.
When Celeste bends over to pick up the last of the candles, Andrew is quick to notice. This isn’t the first time he’s looked at her over the last couple of months. Before, he was too occupied with the task of protecting Mikah and Vivienne, but there’ve been no sightings of Riley or any of Link’s other minions since the night of the battle, and since things seem to have settled down, all the worry has settled too, allowing for other emotions to bloom and blossom.
After the battle, Celeste had become so emotionally closed off that her longtime boyfriend had broken up with her. It hadn’t helped that she couldn’t explain anything to him. She thought she would be destroyed by it, but in the end it had been the best thing for her.
“Now what?” Andrew whispers.
Celeste looks at him. He’s practically bouncing in his skin. She stops for a minute, just to look at him. She’s never really looked at him before. Such a professional relationship they’ve had, but something is different about him today. Maybe it’s the beard he’s grown over the last month or so. As she moves to put the candles in the hall closet, she smiles at him.
FORTY
“You know they’re all in the condo, right?” Vivienne whispers as they get dressed. Right before they’d stepped into the shower, she sense Celeste entering the condo, and while they were in there she felt the other three come in too. “All your candles were a dead giveaway to Celeste. She helped with them the last time, remember?”
He smiles. “I remember, and it’s okay. Like you said, I can’t hide from them all day, though I want to.”
“They’ve missed you too.”
“I missed you more.”
“Come on, let’s go say hi.” She smiles at him as she leads the way to the door.
“Let me get that.” Mikah comes around her and reaches for the knob. When he swings it open, standing near the breakfast bar are Celeste, Connor, Andrew and Red.
“The candles gave me away,” he teases, and Celeste comes running, bounding into him. Mikah hugs her back, though he refuses to let go of Vivienne’s hand, which makes for an awkward hug.
“Come now, lass, let the man out of his room.” Red smiles, but Mikah can see the tears in his eyes.
Next comes Connor, surprising both Vivienne and Mikah by giving him a hug. “Welcome home.” He backs off but then punches Mikah in the shoulder. “You could’ve given us a warning.” He steps aside.
“And ruin the opportunity to get a hug from you?” Mikah laughs.
Andrew comes up to him and hugs him next. “I never gave up hope that we’d see you here again. Welcome home.”
“Thanks, Andrew.”
“Anytime, sir,” Andrew replies.
“No more of that. Mikah is just fine.”
Vivienne can’t help the smile that spreads across her face at their exchange. Andrew has been like a big brother to her, especially these last few months. She also senses a change in Mikah’s demeanor. He’s happier than he ever was before. At least when it comes to these four. Maybe fighting Riley together changed the dynamic of their relationship. She smiles again at the idea.
Red comes a little more slowly, and Mikah meets him halfway. Finally releasing Vivienne’s hand, he takes Red into a big hug.
“Welcome home, lad. Things haven’t been the same since you left.”
“I know, but I had no choice.”
“I know. I always hoped, but as time went on and your mother got more and more insistent that you couldn’t be seen, it became harder.”
“I know, Red. I made her do that. I’d have never been able to live with myself if she or I made a promise we weren’t sure could be kept.”
“I understand. Glad you’re home.”
“I’m happy to be here. Let�
�s all have dinner tonight.” He turns to Celeste. “That okay with you?”
She smiles so wide it spreads to everyone in the room. “Absolutely.”
The guardians all leave the condo, giving Mikah and Vivienne a little more time to themselves, with the agreement that Celeste will be back in a couple of hours to start making dinner.
“Sydney will be happy to hear from you,” Vivienne says.
“You guys didn’t tell her I was gone?”
Vivienne shakes her head. “We all felt that telling her would make it final, and none of us were ready to do that. We all held out a little hope, hope that you would be allowed to return. Red and Andrew have been communicating with her via email, dealing with what few important business matters needed addressing. I’d imagine she’ll be excited to have you back in the office again.”
They both go into the TV room. The couch is more comfortable.
“Red has been handling the finances,” Vivienne continues. “I didn’t feel I had the right to do it. Not only that, but I would probably pass out from the amount of money spent each month.”
Mikah laughs. “Maybe,” he says.
“Except for morning walks with Celeste and sometimes one of the others, I never leave the condo unless she drags me, usually kicking and screaming, to go shopping.”
“How are things with Red?”
She takes a deep breath. “Strained, but I imagine that things will get better between us now that you’re home. Kelly is ecstatic over Madison. She’ll make an amazing grandparent. Red will too. I think he sees Madison as a chance to redeem himself for what he missed with me, and that’s okay. It wasn’t fair to him what my mother did, and I don’t blame him at all. It’s just hard to go from no father, no parent, to now there is one. Same for Red, he has a twenty-two-year-old daughter that he didn’t know about.”
“So you’ll give it time?”
She nods. “I will.”
“What about your mother?”
Vivienne shrugs. “I haven’t decided yet. Nothing she can do or say will make it right. She won’t be able to stay in Elysium, and I can’t cross over to see her in heaven, so it seems a little pointless to try and build a relationship now.”
“No, you can’t, but at some point she might want to apologize to you.”
“When that times comes, I’ll listen to her. But I came to accept who she was and what she did to me a long time ago. I don’t know that I need her apology like I thought I did.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Come on, I’d like to show you something.” She gets up awkwardly from the couch and heads toward the door.
He grabs her hand. “I didn’t say it enough before, so forgive me if I make up for lost time.” He kisses her forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Mikah.” She touches her other hand to his cheek, enjoying the feel of the light stubble against her palm, and he leans into it. “Never doubt that.”
As they walk toward the second bedroom, the one closest to theirs, Vivienne tells him, “Red, at one time, asked if I wanted to move back downstairs, asked me if it would be easier, and I told him no, I wanted to stay here. So one day at the end of January, Celeste dragged me out shopping, and when I came home, this is what I found.”
Vivienne turns the knob, pushes the door open and hits the light switch. Two soft lights kick on, and Mikah gets an eyeful of soft pink, purples, and white. Directly in front of them is the sleigh crib he bought her for Christmas. The matching dresser is to his right and a changing table is to the left of the door. Beyond the changing table is the rocking chair Mikah bought her for Christmas.
“We still need a few things for her,” Vivienne says. “I’ve been putting it off, but we’re running out of time.”
“We are, so after your appointment tomorrow, I’d like to take you shopping.”
She wraps her arms around him. “I’d love to.”
“Kicking and screaming?”
She laughs. “Kicking and screaming.”
FORTY-ONE
Vivienne falls asleep around three, and Mikah sneaks downstairs and knocks on Red’s door.
“Hello, Mikah. What can I do for you?” Red says as he swings the door open, inviting Mikah into the condo Red shares with his wife Kelly. Mikah can see Kelly at her desk and he waves to her. Kelly is small-framed like Vivienne, with shorter brown hair and brown eyes. Her age is only apparent in the laugh lines that frame the corners of her eyes.
She stands up and comes over to him.
“Welcome home,” she says as she hugs him. “Glad you’re back.”
“Me too. Thank you, Kelly.”
She pulls back from him.
“Everything alright upstairs?” Red asks him.
“It’s perfect.” He smiles to both of them. “I wanted to thank you for all your help these last few months, and for taking care of Vivienne. I’m not sure what I would have come back to had it not been for you and everyone else. So thank you.”
Red puts his hand on Mikah’s shoulder and squeezes slightly. “Anytime. I know how much she means to you. It seemed appropriate.”
“It was, and I can’t thank you enough. However, there is one more thing I need to ask of you.”
Red pulls his hand away and ushers Mikah toward the living room. “Come in, sit down,” Red says to Mikah.
“I can’t stay. I want to be there when Vivienne wakes up.”
They take a seat in the living room, Red and Kelly on the smaller of the two couches. Just from the way they look at each other, their love for one another is more obvious to Mikah than it ever was before, now that he looks at Vivienne the same way.
“What can we do for you?” Kelly asks.
Mikah fidgets a little with his hands, much the way Red does when he plays with his wedding band. “I’d like to ask for your blessing to marry Vivienne.”
Mikah watches Red as his eyes portray a deep-seated sense of love and protection, something that comes natural to a father. In conjunction with what Vivienne said earlier about Red trying, it is obvious to Mikah that he trying but is lost as to how.
“Mikah, I...” Red pauses. “I’m not sure I’m the one to ask that question. Perhaps you should ask her.”
“I plan to, but I’m hoping for your blessing as well.”
“Of course, lad. I could never deny you your true love.”
“Thank you, Red. Kelly.”
“Anytime, anything. I just wish I knew what to do to get closer to her.”
Mikah smiles. “It will come in time. Be patient with her. She doesn’t know how to handle having someone in a parental role caring about her. Give her some time.” Mikah smiles again.
“I can do that.”
They all stand. Kelly goes back to her desk and Red escorts Mikah to the door.
Mikah turns to him. “Please, bring Kelly to dinner tonight. I’d love to have her join us.”
Red smiles and nods. “See you later.”
FORTY-TWO
“Dinner was great, Celeste, thank you.”
Celeste looks to Mikah, a warm smile on her face. “You’re most welcome, it’s great having you home.”
“Hear, hear,” Andrew says as he raises his glass. The others follow his lead. “To new beginnings,” Andrew says, and they all drink.
Mikah is overwhelmed by Andrew’s candor and it warms his heart. In the two weeks before the night of the battle, the four men had spent a lot of time in close quarters, and as they all sit around tonight, talking about the things that have happened over the last two months, he is reminded of that time. At one point, to Mikah, Celeste, Andrew and Connor were simply a housekeeper and a couple of bodyguards. But that’s all changed now.
Vivienne watches Red lean over and kiss Kelly. Despite Red’s graying hair, he has a very youthful appearance. Especially when he’s with Kelly. She knows that he was being honest when he said he didn’t know. If he’d known about Vivienne – or any child of his, for that matter – the efforts he’s made now t
ell her that he wouldn’t have stayed away, and she takes comfort in that. But although Red may be her father, she also realizes that maybe a father-daughter relationship is not what they need. Or at least it may not be what she needs.
“How are you feeling?” Mikah whispers to Vivienne as she yawns.
“Great. Stuffed, but great.”
“Good.” He kisses her temple, and Vivienne watches as Andrew smiles at her before his eyes wander toward Celeste.
That could be rather interesting, Vivienne muses.
“Umph,” Vivienne grunts. “Ouch.” She’s not sure what to make of what’s just happened. All eyes are on her.
“What’s wrong?” Mikah asks.
Vivienne can’t help but smile at the concern in his voice.
“I don’t know. It feels like Madison just flipped over and took my intestines with her.” She lets out a chuckle. She doesn’t want to concern anyone until there really is something to be concerned about.
Mikah leans back and puts his arm across the top of her chair. She can feel his fingers brushing lightly on her shoulder. She looks at him and smiles while the conversation around them continues, and the chatter fades into garbled static as she stares into his eyes. Nothing in the world matters but him, for right now at least.
“Well, I think it’s time to call it a night,” Red says as he and Kelly stand, effectively ending Mikah and Vivienne’s staring contest.
“It’s early,” Mikah says.
“Yes, but you haven’t seen her in two months. You don’t need us keeping you apart any longer.” He smiles warmly at them both.
Their other friends stand and start to clear their dishes from the table. “Leave the dishes. I’ll take care of them.” He looks to Vivienne. “In the morning.”
They all laugh and place their dishes on the breakfast bar, and they take their leave of the condo.
“That was a lot of fun,” Vivienne says as she rises from the table. Mikah comes to stand in front of her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her toward him.
