Connected

by A. E. Murphy

  I rest my head against his shoulder and close my eyes. The fresh air blows across us both, bringing me a little comfort as we take that final step.

  “I don’t like this,” Nathan whispers and I open my eyes to see him looking at the thin layer of sand and grass beneath our feet. “But I’ll do it… for you.”

  “Don’t do anything you’re not ready to do,” I tell him, taking another step forward.

  His chest expands as he inhales a heavy breath and we take five more steps, stopping at the edge of the garden with our toes buried in the sand.

  He grins, clearly proud of himself, and I grin right back at him. I’m proud of him too.

  “I have something for you.” He digs into the pocket of his jeans and turns towards me. I gasp at the sight of my old necklace, the one I threw away when we first separated. Something shiny winks at me as the sky begins to glow orange. I stare at the object beside the flat patterned disk with the single tiny red gem and tears spring to my eyes. “I remember a while ago I told you that you needed to let him go.” His hands move around the back of my neck and he quickly fixes the clasp of the necklace. “I was wrong. He’ll always be a part of you, of Dillan… of us. Because of him, no matter what happens, we’ll always be connected. I’m grateful for that.”

  A sob escapes me as I touch the engagement ring that Caleb gave to me so long ago. It hangs beautifully by the flat disk that Nathan made just for me.

  I close my eyes, trying to calm myself as his thumbs brush the tears from my cheeks. “Thank you Nathan.”

  “I want to marry you Gwen,” he adds softly and quietly and my eyes spring open.

  He pulls my hand away from the necklace, smiling when Dillan tries to grab at it. Seconds later I feel something cool and slightly heavy slipping onto my ring finger.

  “I want to die with you when we’re old and grey and have more grandchildren than we can count.” He runs his finger over the single diamond that’s surrounded by a cluster of smaller, more colourful stones. “You don’t have to say yes now, what with everything that has happened.” His eyes come back to me and his forehead rests against mine. My body shakes with emotion so I press it to his. “I understand if you’re not ready.”

  “I am,” I breathe, pressing my lips to his. “I am ready.”

  His tongue pushes into my mouth and his arms wrap around the three of us, Dillan, myself and the foetus in my womb.

  He smiles, his eyes glistening, and he kisses Dillan’s open mouth before kissing my trembling one. “Tell me you love me.”

  I laugh once and nod. “Always. I love you. You know I do.”

  “Always,” he repeats, smiling even wider. Then he drops to one knee and places his lips against the skin of my navel.

  I thread my fingers through his hair, softly stroking his scalp before he stands once more and claims my lips again. “Don’t give up on me. I don’t think I’ll ever be normal… but without you I’m broken.”

  “Never,” I promise, lacing our fingers together as Dillan manages to grab my necklace and shove it in his mouth, making us both laugh and battle to pull it away.

  I settle in Nathan’s arms, my cheek against his chest, and stare at the orange horizon. There may not be a setting sun, but it’s still beautiful, and in this moment it’s just perfect.

  EPILOGUE

  “DAD!” I wince at the sound of Emily’s screech as she comes in through the front door and quickly duck into the kitchen. There is no way in hell I’m getting involved with this one.

  “I said no,” Nathan snaps, following Emily up the stairs.

  She’s just like her father, just like him, in almost every single way; looks, stubbornness, sternness, playfulness and her determination is just crazy. When she wants something, she gets it. If she can’t get it, she’s sour about it for days and sits in her room brooding about it.

  I face Dillan, who is currently leaning into the open fridge, spooning butter frosting into his mouth using his fingers. I grab the newspaper from the side and hit him on the back of the head with it.

  “Mum,” he laughs, turning and giving me that easy smile that reminds me so much of Caleb. “What’s for tea? I’m hungry.”

  “Stay out of the frosting,” I sigh, taking the tub from his hands and gasping at how much is missing. “I made this an hour ago!”

  “I’m hungry! You never feed me,” he whines, running his fingers through his hair. The ones that he just used in the frosting.

  Gross.

  “You cheeky git, I fed you an hour ago,” I scoff, this time tapping him on the back with the newspaper.

  “Yeah! She did! I remember,” Ashlyn says smugly, crossing her chubby arms over her chest and staring at her older brother with a sly grin on her face.

  Now Ashlyn is all me.

  Even I can’t deny the resemblance, from her dark hair and grey, green eyes to her pale complexion. She’s also only six, putting her almost ten years behind Dillan and eight and a half behind Emily.

  Dillan scoops his sister off the ground and tosses her over his shoulder.

  Ashlyn, whose personality is like mine, just sighs and rolls her eyes. “I wish you’d stop doing that,” she snaps, punching him between the shoulder blades.

  He takes her into the hallway, deposits her in the cupboard, closes the door, comes back into the kitchen and retrieves the frosting, before racing up the stairs to his room.

  Meanwhile Emily is shouting about some concert she can’t go to and Nathan is trying to explain that she’s too young. At only fifteen she needs to have parental supervision.

  “But none of my friends have parental supervision!” She whinges, clearly expecting him to change his mind, which he never does. Give it ten minutes and she’ll be asking me. I’m softer, even though I shouldn’t be.

  “Fine, I’ll take you,” Nathan states and I almost face palm.

  “For a man who’s so smart, you can be so moronic,” Emily snaps and I hear a door slam. “Emily. Open this door!”

  Banging can be heard, followed by more screaming from my teenage daughter.

  Ashlyn pads into the kitchen, a bored look on her face. “Why does he put me in the cupboard? It’s not like I can’t get out. I’m six. I know how to open a door.”

  Chuckling, I lift her onto the side and hand her a large plastic bowl and a wooden spoon.

  “Want to mix?” Her eyes light up and she nods eagerly. My little girl is going to be a chef just like Mummy. I just know it.

  “Dillan didn’t tidy his room this morning,” she tells me, clucking her tongue like a mini adult. “And I told him. I said that it’s a pig sty, but he doesn’t care.”

  “He’s a teenage boy; he doesn’t care about anything other than food.”

  “And girls. Daddy said that he’s on his third girlfriend this month.”

  Actually it’s this week, not month. It’s no secret that Dillan is a hit with the ladies. He’s very handsome and, even though he seems to treat them well, they never last long.

  “Am I allowed a boyfriend?”

  “Ask your father,” I laugh, cracking an egg into the plastic bowl.

  She starts mixing like a pro, her little chubby wrist flicking back and forth and her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. “He told Emily that she’s not allowed a boyfriend until she’s married.”

  I throw my head back and laugh. I remember that conversation. Nathan’s logic, where his Princess is concerned, is sometimes not very logical at all.

  “But he also said she’s not allowed to get married until she’s forty,” Dillan adds, walking into the kitchen with an empty frosting bowl. “Seriously Mum, I’m starved. Where are the crisps?”

  “It’s not fair! Dillan gets to go where he wants, when he wants!” Emily cries, storming into the kitchen, her face bright red and her anger evident.

  Nathan follows, looking up at the ceiling with his hands clasped beneath his chin.

  “Dillan has a curfew for ten at night and he sticks to it.” Nathan says
and he has a point; Emily did come home two hours late a few weeks ago. I thought Nathan was going to have a heart attack. I’ve never seen him as frightened as he was the day she was born and she got stuck. I had to have forceps to get her out. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and it lasted almost two days.

  Ashlyn was a lot easier and a lot quicker. Just like Dillan.

  “Yes, but I do all of my chores, I keep my room tidy and I get the best grades in my entire year! Dillan only just passes, his bedroom is a sty and he pays his six year old sister to do his chores!”

  She has a point.

  Dillan tries to sneak by the both of them, but Nathan snags him by the back of his collar, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

  “Have you been paying your baby sister to do your chores?” Nathan grumbles, his jaw clenched.

  “Umm…” Dillan looks frantically around the room for a way to escape. He doesn’t find it.

  Nathan pulls him in further and stands him next to his sister, who he sticks his tongue out at before giving his dad that easy smile that we both know so well.

  “I’m preparing her for the real world?” He tries to use, but Nathan’s glare doesn’t flicker at all. He is not amused. Unlike me. I’m finding this entire thing quite funny. So is Ashlyn, who is still mixing away but watching the scene with avid interest.

  “Fine, I’ll make you a deal,” Nathan says to Emily and I’m shocked that he’s relenting. Then again, it is Emily and she is his little girl through and through. “If I can drop you off and pick you up, then you can go into the concert to watch whatever boy band it is you’re obsessed with this month.”

  “Thank you, Daddy!” She squeals, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tight. I see him sigh and melt. She gets him… every single time. “Go to your room. You’re grounded until the concert and then you’re grounded until you’re eighteen.”

  “What?”

  Why? Why must he torment her?

  “For giving me a headache.” She rolls her eyes, still smiling and kisses his cheek. “Love you.” Dillan steps forward, his arms spread wide, and goes to embrace his father the same way Emily did.

  Nathan, used to Dillan’s jokester ways, flicks his nose and snaps, “Stop paying your sister to do your chores! She’s six.”

  “And a half!” Ashlyn adds grumpily. “Stop forgetting the half!”

  Nathan grabs Dillan in a headlock and scrubs his knuckles on his scalp, before practically throwing him into the hallway. “And tidy your bloody room!” He turns to me, his frown still in place. “Why do you never help me?”

  “You had it handled,” Ashlyn answers for me, her chin raised defiantly. Nathan takes the bowl from her and places it on the side, then he lifts her over his shoulder and vanishes into the hallway. I hear the cupboard door open and close along with a sigh that belongs to my daughter.

  He comes back without Ashlyn.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s not legal.” I scowl, slapping his arm playfully.

  “She likes it.” He’s right; she definitely does. When she started crawling, we used to find her in there sleeping all of the time. It’s where she’d go for a nap. So Nathan padded out the inside and gave it a clean. He even installed a butterfly light that comes on when you open the door.

  It’s probably not a good thing to show to other people; they wouldn’t understand.

  “Besides, everyone’s gone. We can snog now,” he chuckles, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth.

  I cringe at the word snog but say nothing, because he’s right; it’s rare that we get to do this when the kids are home. They would probably think that it’s gross and Nathan isn’t a fan of public displays of affection. Not unless it’s in front of a man who, he is convinced, wants me.

  I think it’s definitely not gross. I think it’s the best thing in the world.

  “I have to make these cakes. Sasha will kill me if they aren’t ready in time.” Sasha and Tommy’s little boy turns nine tomorrow.

  He’s an amazing little man and just like his father, but he looks just like Sasha.

  “We have a few minutes,” he mutters, his bare hand squeezing my breast as my fingers travel up his arms. My lips travel from his mouth to his neck and settle over the burn scar that peeks out from above the collar of his shirt. “We’re opening another G and N store in Seattle next week. The Forever Connected charms have really hit it off,” Nathan whispers against my mouth, his hands gripping my arse and pulling me against him.

  I beam, or try to because he takes my mouth again. “That is fantastic.” I try to say. “You’re a jewellery making genius.”

  He pulls back and we both look at the bracelet on my wrist. At least twenty three tiny charms sit around the gold and silver entwined chain. Each charm tells a story, signifying a big event in our lives. The one that affects me the most is the tiny, dangling, orange crystal shaped as a single flame. It reminds me every day that the man by my side would run through fire to be with me, because that’s exactly what he did. The love is requited. One hundred percent.

  Smiling at the man of my dreams, I pull his head down to mine and let him lift me onto the counter whilst massaging my tongue with his own.

  Is it bed time yet?

  Sigh.

  “I didn’t see a thing,” Ashlyn announces, walking into the kitchen. She covers her eyes and walks back out again, almost slamming into her brother on her way past.

  “No, but we did and it is so going on Facebook!” Dillan roars with laughter, his phone aimed our way from the doorway. Emily is crouched down, filming us through the gap in his legs.

  “That is so wrong,” Emily adds, giggling hysterically.

  I close my eyes, because I know what’s coming. I also cover my ears and I do it just in time to protect my ear drums from the kids’ screams of fear induced glee and their heavy footsteps carrying them away. When I open my eyes and uncover my ears, the kitchen is vacant save for the ginger cat that adopted us two years ago.

  I scratch him behind the ears and touch the tiny yellow crystal on my bracelet shaped like a cat, which sits directly beside a blue dummy, a pink bottle and a lilac heart.

  One for each of my kids.

  Our entire lives on one bracelet.

  Keeping us forever connected.

  “Do you remember the time we were worried we’d never be normal?” I ask Nathan when he re-enters the kitchen looking dishevelled and out of breath.

  He’s so handsome, even more so than the first time I met him. Age suits him and the hair above his ears that’s starting to grey only makes him more enticing. God, I love this man.

  His smile is wide and full of love and his hands immediately pull me to him. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about anymore.”

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  I'm 23 and I’ve been writing since I could hold a pen in my hand! I love to write, it’s my passion, and I never stop. In fact I love to write so much I have started over one hundred and fifty different books before finally completing my first ever novel 'A Little Bit of Crazy' which I published in May 2013 on Amazon for Kindle. I was grateful when I received feedback as it helps me be a better writer.

  When I'm not writing, I love spending time with my family and when I get some spare time (not easy with young children!) it’s either reading or listening to music. You won’t find me without a book or my Kindle in my hand. I read whilst I’m cooking, cleaning, talking, walking… you could say reading is my other passion!

  Thank you for taking the time to read my book. I appreciate any kind of feedback be it good or bad. This has been a huge learning curve for me and I'm happy to receive any advice/criticism...praise? That you wish to provide. Don’t be shy.

  Thank you,

  Love Alex

  Contact Details

  To get in touch with me please use the following.

  www.facebook.com/a.e.murphy.author

  Or Email

  a.e.murphy@hotmail.com

  Twit
ter

  @A_E_Murphy

  Other Works

  A Little Bit of Crazy (Part one)

  A Little Bit of Us (Part two)

  A Little Bit of Trouble (Standalone)

  A Little Bit of Truth (Standalone)

  Broken (Broken #1)