by Ali Parker
“Fine,” she replied, and despite herself, I could hear the little buzz of excitement at the back of her voice. “Where am I meeting you?”
“I’ll give you the address,” I replied, and even though I had communicated everything I needed to, I found myself lingering on the end of the line. I wanted to hear more of her voice, listen to her talk, ask her to tell me everything about her day. But that would have to wait. I would be seeing her in a couple of hours, no need to get ahead of myself.
“I’ll see you soon.” I finished up, and I hung up the phone before I could make even more of a lovey-dovey ass of myself. Seriously, what had come over me these last few days? Only a few months ago, I would have rolled my eyes at half the shit I was pulling right now. Yet, it just felt so normal, so natural. I wanted to treat her, wanted to show her how much I cared for her and how deeply this thing ran inside me. This was the best way I knew how, and I was going to make the most of that. I had no idea how this shit worked, and I wanted to make it clear to her that I was in this for the long haul.
I finished up work and headed across town, to the address I’d passed to her for the two of us to meet. I was already buzzing with excitement when I got there. I was early, arriving before she did, and I was glad, taking a look at the rings on display in the jewelry store I’d picked out. I guessed I must have given off an enthusiastic vibe because the saleslady closed in on me right away with a wide smile on her face and started asking me questions about who I was buying for and what kind of thing I was looking for.
“Can you bring that one out?” I asked, pressing my finger to the glass and pointing at a delicate silver band with a glimmering diamond held up by intertwined loops of metal. The woman practically bowed as she went to take it out, and that’s when I noticed the price tag. It even made me pause for a second, but I knew it would look so perfect on her. The diamond shone the color of those daisies I’d brought her the night before as she held it up to the light, and I leaned in to inspect it.
“It’s a stunning cut,” the woman murmured, eyeing it with envy.
“Kristo?”
I turned to find Amaya standing in the doorway. She looked surprised, but she had a smile on her face as she made her way over to me and planted a kiss on my cheek. I couldn’t help but grin. I loved it when she greeted me that way, as though it was just second nature to her now.
“What are we doing in here?” she asked, and she held up her hand in front of my face. “I already have a ring, remember?”
“Yeah, but I want to get you a real one,” I told her, pulling her close and pointing to the ring I’d picked out. “For when we get married.”
She flushed a little and shook her head, even though I could see her eyeing the ring longingly.
“I don’t need it,” she mumbled, and I reached down and pulled the ring I’d given her on the night of the fundraiser off her finger.
“There, now you do.” I grinned at her, and I took her hand and tugged it gently in the direction of the woman. “Come on, try it on. You know you want to.”
“May I?” the woman asked. Amaya nodded after a moment, and the woman slipped the ring over her finger. Amaya inhaled sharply as soon as it was placed, and I could tell that she had fallen in love with it already.
“Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t need this even a little bit,” I teased. “It looks incredible on you.”
“Oh my god, it’s so gorgeous,” she murmured, twisting her hand back and forth. And then she dragged her gaze away from it and back up to me. “But I’m keeping the other ring too. It’s the first one you gave me. That’s special, I’m not getting rid of it.”
“Whatever you want.” I held my hands up. I nodded to the saleslady, who discreetly went to ring me up. Amaya was still staring at the ring like she had just fallen in love, starry-eyed and excitable.
“And I want to get something for Jolene as well,” I turned back to her. She glanced up at me.
“You mean it?” She smiled, and she looked around the store. “I don’t think she’s ever had anything this fancy before.”
“Well, I want to get her something,” I told her firmly. “You know her best. What do you think she would like?”
“Pretty much anything?” She laughed, but then she turned her attention to the shop properly and furrowed her brow as she looked around. “Wow, uh, I don’t know where to start.”
We looked for a good long while until Amaya finally settled on something she thought would be perfect for her sister, a delicate charm bracelet in a gorgeous silver with a few pretty charms hanging off it, a heart, a shoe, a pair of clasped hands. I smiled and nodded when she pointed it out to me.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” I agreed, and I slipped my arms around her waist and pulled her in close. “You have amazing taste, you know that?”
“Jolene’s going to love it,” she remarked, her eyes sparkling along with her ring.
“So, you’ve decided?” the woman asked, and Amaya nodded.
“Yeah, that one, for sure,” she replied, and as the woman got it out of the case and boxed it up, she turned to me.
“Thank you for this,” she beamed. “You’re so generous. I can’t even tell you how sweet you are for doing all this.”
“Anytime,” I replied, and I meant it. If it would assure me that smile on her face, then I would have done anything. Money was no object when her happiness was involved.
The woman rang us up, and we left the store, her hand in mine, her ring glinting in the early evening sunlight.
“What now?” I asked, and she shrugged.
“I’m pretty exhausted,” she admitted. “I could do with getting home and having something to eat. If that’s all right with you?”
“Sure, it is.” I planted a kiss on her cheek. “Come on, let’s get home.”
“I think I have a chain I could put the other ring on,” she murmured, as she looked down at her hand again. “You’re going to have to stop getting me these, you know. I’m going to run out of room.”
“A girlfriend actually asking for less jewelry?” I teased her. “Could it be true?”
“Hey, watch it, or I’ll make you go back and buy me everything in that store,” she teased, and she looped her arm through mine, the bag with Jolene’s gift swinging happily in her other hand.
We made our way back to my place, chatting about the days we’d had as we went. She told me a little about Darla on the way over, some new girl who’d started work at the library who she felt like she was already clicking with. I was glad for her. She didn’t seem to have many friends, perhaps not finding the time until now, but she deserved them.
It was a beautiful day out that evening, so we decided to head down to the patio to eat just like I had wanted to the night before. I made a simple salad while she chopped up some bread to go on the side, and I found myself enjoying the company in the kitchen. Normally, I hated nothing more than people getting up in my space when I was trying to cook, but I liked it when it was Amaya. I craved her closeness, craved her near me and around me, as though there was something inside me that stretched to breaking point when she got too far away.
We headed back down to the patio, carefully carrying our food and our water, and we settled into the seats. She tilted her head back to catch the last of the evening sunlight, and I stared at her as she did so, marveling at how perfect she was. Her ring was sparkling in the light as well, as she raked her fingers through her hair to push it over one shoulder. She wasn’t trying for me, wasn’t going out of her way to try and make herself look exceptionally beautiful. She just did. But then, I felt the same about her as when we were waking up in bed in the morning, and she had last night’s makeup and a mess of hair on her head, so maybe I was a little biased.
“What are you staring at?” she asked playfully, and I shook my head.
“Just you,” I replied, and she grinned and rolled her eyes at me.
“I thought you were supposed to be the unromantic one,” she pointed out
, and she reached for the food and began serving up. “Come on, I’m starving. Let’s eat.”
We tucked into the food, and I found myself relaxing, the run-in with Cleo earlier in the day far from my mind. I wondered if this was what it was going to be like now that we were together. It had taken a hell of a long time for me to get here, but now that I was here—in love and accepting it—I had to admit it was pretty incredible. Coming home from a day and knowing she was going to be there, that there was someone I could share this shit with who knew where I was coming from. I didn’t have to fill her in on who this person was or what member of my family had said that. She already knew because she had probably met them in person.
“Damn, that was good.” I leaned back from the table, satisfied. She yawned widely and sat for a second in silence, a small smile on her face.
“I should get into the shower and get to bed soon,” she remarked, a little reluctantly. “I want to be in work early tomorrow to make sure I can catch up on what I missed today.”
“I’m sorry I dragged you away from work.” I grinned, making sure she knew I didn’t regret it. She leaned over and planted a kiss on my cheek.
“I think I forgive you,” she replied with a smile. We cleared up the plates, and I washed up while she took a shower. I undressed and headed through to bed, even though it was early. I just wanted to be with her, to lie next to her. These moments at the end of a long day were the ones I kept coming back to in my head, the quiet intimacy of them.
She slipped into bed next to me after her shower, still warm and a little damp. I wrapped my arms around her and planted a kiss on her forehead, and she snuggled against me. I felt my heart swell with love for her, and I realized that now, I could actually say it. I looked down at her and found her gazing up at me, cartoon love hearts practically pumping in her eyes. I would have teased her, but I knew I looked the exact same. I’d said it already, but I needed to say it again.
“I love you,” I murmured, and I kissed her again. When I pulled back, she was smiling.
“I love you too,” she replied, and she nestled into my shoulder and closed her eyes.
54
“Amaya, are you all right?” Jolene asked, and she cocked her head at me. I could see I wasn’t going to be able to keep the truth from her much longer. I shifted in my seat and glanced around the small room. I had something to distract her for the time being, at least, and Kristo had promised to give us as much time as we needed to deal with the situation at hand.
“Kristo got you something.” I dipped my hand into my bag and pulled out the small box that contained the charm bracelet Kristo had helped pick out for my sister. Her eyes lit up as soon as she caught sight of the fancy brand name printed on the box, and she grinned up at me, the thrill evident in her eyes.
“Are you serious?” she squealed, and she reached out for the box, popping it open. She gasped when she saw what was waiting for her inside. The bracelet looked even more delicate now than it had in the box. I bit my lip and smiled as I watched her slip it on over her wrist and twist it this way and that, admiring the way it caught the light.
“This is so amazing,” she sighed deeply. “Tell him thank you. So much. I can’t believe this. I never thought I’d own anything as beautiful as this.”
I watched her, my sister, and I thought I was smiling as I took her in, but when she looked back up at me, she jerked her head back as though she’d seen a ghost.
“What’s up with you?” she demanded.
“What? What is it?” I mumbled, shifting in my seat. Kristo had dropped me off ten minutes ago and had given us some time to talk, but I didn’t have forever. Yet, I was still trying to shift the duty of this onto some future version of me. But I had to tell her the truth. She was my sister, and if I could be honest with anyone, then it had to be her.
“Come on, I can tell when there’s something up with you.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Come out and say it. You know I’ll get it out of you sooner or later.”
“Yeah, you will.” I managed a proper smile this time, and she leaned back in her seat, eyeing me carefully like she was worried one wrong move would have me swallowing my words once more and backing out of telling her the truth.
“There’s something I need to tell you.” I leaned forward and took her hand in mine, the one with the bracelet dangling off the wrist. It looked perfect on her, and I felt a stab in my chest as I realized I was about to tell her something that would change her opinion of my husband-to-be forever.
“Amaya, you’ve got me worried.” Jolene furrowed her brow. “Will you just come out and tell me already? Please?”
I took a deep breath, lowered my gaze to the floor, and began, at last.
I felt as though I’d been storing these words up inside me forever, my body aching to share them with someone, anyone. I had never come out and told anyone the truth like this, the full truth about everything that had happened between Kristo and me, but if anyone was going to hear it, then it was going to be my baby sister. She was the one who had stood by me through everything, accepting Kristo and my life with him without second-guessing me once, and she deserved to know this. To know everything. To know the man I was going to marry as well as I did, the man who was going to become the first member of our family besides the two of us in years. So I told her.
From the night in Vegas when we woke up next to each other and found we had wed while we were too drunk to think to the contract and our families finding us out, the journey had been long, but so worth it.
Jolene watched me quietly, not saying a word, her brown eyes stuck firmly on mine as I came out with all of it. It almost felt like a relief, being as honest as I was. I didn’t realize how much keeping all this from my sister had been burdening me, but now it was out there in the open, for better or for worse. Probably for worse, now that I’d talked about it.
She leaned back in her seat and observed me for a long moment when I’d finished talking, and I sat there and chewed my lip so hard, I was surprised I didn’t taste blood. She shook her head slowly, and then finally responded.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me any of this until now,” she remarked, and the hurt in her voice was evident. My heart twisted in my chest, the guilt a punishment for all I had kept from her all this time.
“I would have told you, Jo, really I would.” I squeezed her hand. “But the contract—and I didn’t even know what was going on with Kristo half the time, and I didn’t want to worry you.”
“All this time and I didn’t know the truth.” She shook her head, and I couldn’t get a read on how this was making her feel. Sure, hurt, but did she accept it? Would she forgive me for this? Would she forgive Kristo? I had to know.
“Jolene, I shouldn’t have lied to you,” I told her. “I know that. And I’ll never lie to you again, I promise you that. But there was so much going on, and all I could think about was making sure you were taken care of. He had the money to make that happen. If you had had the same choice, you would have made it, too, wouldn’t you?”
“You know I would,” she conceded, and she shook her head once more, but this time, there was a small smile spreading out over her face. “I can’t believe any of this is really happening. And now you’re marrying him? For real? No kidding?”
“No kidding.” I flashed the ring he had purchased for me in front of her, and she squealed and grabbed my hand and pulled it toward her.
“That ring is incredible,” she sighed. “Man, he really is crazy about you, isn’t he?”
“Ask him yourself,” I teased, and she grinned.
“Maybe I will,” she shot back, and I took another deep breath. Now that the hard part was out of the way, there was something else I needed to ask her. Something big. Huge.
“And there’s something else as well,” I continued, and her face dropped again.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been hiding a whole niece or nephew from me as well?” she exclaimed, glancing around the room as though she e
xpected the secret child to come sprinting out from behind the bed. I shook my head.
“Nothing like that,” I promised her, chuckling. “That’s a long way down the line. But we wanted to ask you …”
I hesitated for a moment. Should I give her some time to process everything I’d just dumped on her head? Or should I just get it all out there now and let her make her own decision? All of this was happening so quickly, and I didn’t want my baby sister to be left out of a single thing.
“We wanted to ask you if you would consider living with us.” I grinned, and she stared at me again, silent, as though she was waiting for me to tell her I was just fooling and not to get so excited. I didn’t contradict myself. Her eyebrows shot up.
“You’re serious?” she shrieked, and I nodded. I leaned over and hugged her on impulse. As she had gotten older, she had become less and less huggy, but she wrapped her arms around me and held me tight for a long moment as the news sank in.
“To that apartment? The one in the city?” she burbled excitedly, and I nodded.
“Yeah, we want you there with us,” I replied. “And of course, you don’t have to if you don’t—”
“Of course, I want to live with you,” she replied breathlessly. “But won’t the apartment be hard to work around? With the chair and everything?”
“Kristo is going to do everything he can to make it accessible for you,” I assured her. “And we’re going to get a caregiver, full-time, so you can go out and live how you want to.”
I could see the tears shining in her eyes, and I found myself starting to get choked up as well. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I got to live with my baby sister again after what felt like a lifetime apart from her. We sat there and both of us burst out laughing, the disbelief fading into joy. I was going to live with my husband and my sister in that apartment, and that was going to be my life. I couldn’t wait. It was going to be incredible.
“Hey, you!” Jolene exclaimed excitedly, and I turned around to find Kristo standing in the door.
