Our Hearts Entwined

by Lilliana Anderson

  Chapter Forty-One

  Eric was spending more than his usual amount of time working out. It was helping him to focus on things other than his heart ache – not that he’d admit that to anyone right now. He was angry at himself for caring about Natalie almost as much as he was angry at her for her manipulation.

  Mia found him on his local football oval, kicking goal after goal as a way to hone his skills. “I thought training was over an hour ago,” she called out to him.

  He turned to towards her voice and gave a closed mouth smile before picking up the ball and jogging over to her. “Hey,” he said in greeting as he approached. “It’s still so weird seeing you as a red head.”

  “Yeah? I was thinking of keeping it this way,” she said with a shrug. What followed was a pause that had none of the comfort a silence between them once had. “I… ah, went by your place first. I figured you’d either still be here or at the pub with the guys.”

  Nodding, Eric tossed the ball between his hands, focusing on it rather than her. “What can I do for you Mia?” he asked, getting straight to the point.

  “I don’t know. I guess I wanted to check on how you were. Louise told me about what happened with Natalie.”

  “Yeah, well – there wasn’t much I could do about that. It wouldn’t have been right. Not after what she did to you anyway,” he told her, meeting her eyes, a sadness evident in his own. “Josh told me about you and Cayd.”

  “Oh…” she said in reply, her heart lurching as her eyes dropped to the grass she was toeing with her shoe.

  “I hope he makes you happy, Mia. You deserve something good to happen,” he admitted, trying his best to sound like he meant it, but having trouble keeping a tinge of bitterness out of his voice.

  “I’m sorry Eric,” she stated. “I’m sorry about everything. I was probably a bit too hard on you the last time we spoke. I get that this has all been hard on you too and I really am sorry that everything has changed so much for you.”

  Nodding Eric thanked her. “I appreciate that Mia. You had every right to be upset, you still do.”

  “I know that Eric, but you have the right to be upset too. I feel so much better with her gone, but I do understand how hard it would have been for you to send Natalie away like you did. I know you had feelings for her… perhaps in time we’ll all heal. But for now, I think you did the right thing… for everyone.”

  “Perhaps,” he said with a tight smile as he dropped the ball to the ground and rolled it under his foot, his eyes watching his own movement instead of meeting hers.

  Awkwardness descended upon them as they stood looking anywhere but at each other, unsure of what else to say.

  “I guess I’d better get back to it then,” Eric said finally, nodding his head toward the goal posts.

  “Sure, I’ll see you around?” she asked.

  “Sure,” he said with a humourless laugh. “Why not.” Mia stood leaning her hands on the short fence that surrounded the oval as he jogged off, watching the man who was supposed to be her future run out of her life.

  She didn’t know if they would end up as friends. It would be hard for them not to because of their link to Louise and Josh. But she knew it would take time, everything linked to the fall out of what Natalie did was going to take an insurmountable about of time. So much pain had been caused.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  After talking to Eric, Mia went straight to Cayd’s house, prepared to spend the night. It was early days in their relationship but she couldn’t foresee a day where she wouldn’t want to go home to him. They seemed to need to be around each other and for Mia to actually feel that way for someone when she’d always been a fairly solitary person, was very special indeed.

  Mia parked behind the building instead of in the patient parking area this time and let herself inside. Cayd was in the kitchen, looking deliciously domestic as he chopped up ingredients to go in a salad.

  Dropping her bag beside the door, she walked over to him and slid her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. “How’d it all go?” he asked, kissing the top of her head and holding a piece of chopped cucumber to her mouth, which she accepted gratefully.

  “It was kind of weird. We didn’t really know what to say to each other. Whenever I see him now, I kind of feel sorry about what happened, and so does he, so we just keep apologising to each other. Things used to be so easy between us. I don’t want to lose him as a friend though.”

  “Give it time. You’ll eventually feel comfortable around each other again,” Cayd told her before offering her the glass of wine he’d poured while she took the salad over to the small square dining table that he’d already set for two.

  “I could get used to this kind of treatment,” she said, accepting the glass and looking over the settings, complete with linen napkins.

  “I hope you do,” Cayd told her as he placed lamb cutlets on her plate and his before returning to the kitchen to get his wine.

  “I’m really proud of you, you know,” Cayd said to Mia as he sat in the chair next to her so they were seated diagonally at the table, their thighs pressing together fondly. “You’ve handled this all extraordinarily well.”

  “Thank you. I guess thinking that I had a split personality was far worse that it being a twin. While it was a big shock, learning about my adoption and about Natalie - I was somewhat relieved that I wasn’t losing my mind if you know what I mean,” she explained as she cut off a slice of lamb, placing it in her mouth when she had finished speaking and nodding at him to let him know that it tasted wonderful. “You are such a good cook,” she exclaimed.

  “Thank you,” he laughed, taking a sip of his wine. “I can understand your reasoning though,” he went on. “I can only imagine how scared you would have been before coming to me that day. But how do you feel about Natalie now?”

  Mia bounced her shoulders as she scooped some salad onto her plate. “I don’t know. Going to Sydney made me see that she was just as in shock as I was when she found out she was adopted after so long. Even though what she did was reckless, at least it ended and she’s sorry for what she did.”

  “Do you think you’d want to contact her again?”

  “Maybe… not anytime soon though…Although I have to admit I do feel a little bit sorry for her.”

  “Really? How so?”

  “Well, if she felt even a little bit for Eric the way I do for you, it would be heartbreaking having it all end. I’m not saying what she did was ok, I’m just saying that this intense attraction would be really hard to ignore, and I can understand why she got so caught up in her deception. And now Eric seems miserable, and I’m sure she’s miserable too – so I feel sorry for her, for both of them actually. I kind of feel like I’m the only winner out of all this.”

  Cayd touched the side of Mia’s cheek gently with the back of his hand and ran his hand down the thick plait that hung over Mia’s shoulder, sliding off the elastic and slowly unravelling her mane, running his fingers through its length to separate the waves. “You have a beautiful heart, Mia,” he whispered, brushing his hand over her cheek once more.

  “You know, if it wasn’t for her, I might not have gotten to know you. So everything else aside, I guess I should thank her,” she said breathlessly, losing herself in his hazel eyes as she moved closer to him, the gap between them suddenly far too wide.

  “I would have found a way to be with you Mia. I was yours the moment our eyes met,” he told her, moving himself closer now, the pull between them increasing the closer they became.

  “Just don’t ever mix us up,” she whispered, tilting her head, their lips barely touching.

  “Never Mia. Her heart doesn’t speak to mine the way yours does,” he murmured, suddenly sweeping Mia up in his arms and kissing her as he walked her into the bedroom, leaving their meals on table as their hunger called for each other instead of food.

  “You are so smooth,” Mia smiled, returning his kisses as her heart swelled to bursting point in her che
st.

  “You like that do you?” he grinned as he set her on the bed.

  “I do, very much,” she giggled in reaction as he nibbled at her neck, his stubble tickling her delicate skin.

  “Tell me you’re mine Mia,” he said looking down at her.

  “I’m yours Cayd, now and always. I’m yours,” she promised, knowing that now she was exactly where she was supposed to be. All the events of the past couple of months had led her right here, into the arms of the most amazing man in the world. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  END OF BOOK ONE