by Pamela Ann
Staring at the tea and plate I had set for her, she didn’t touch it until about ten minutes later as she whispered an almost inaudible “thank you.” I merely nodded, noting that she and I were shifting to a different level of understanding. We were here because of her daughter, and in that, she somehow had mellowed out, treating me as if I was a human being for the first time.
Another hour passed, and I was about to walk out the door and search the streets myself when I heard a loud thud coming from the main foyer.
“Alistair?” I called out, knowing the butler and the cook were both just as frantic as we were. Ava had only lived here for less than a month, yet she somehow had managed to bond with them, and in turn, they were deeply fond of having her around the house.
I waited a beat or two for Alistair to respond, and when nothing came, I furiously walked towards the foyer, ready to demand what the bloody fuck was going on, only to find Ava—or the likeness of her—dirtied up with soiled clothes, face ashen, with eyes that were bleak, and a terrified look on her face.
“I c-couldn’t get a c-cab … so I had to w-walk,” she stuttered as I stared at her, wondering if I was hallucinating. “My purse f-fell somewhere when every one was scre-e-eaming and running the other d-direction, and I fell hard onto the pavement”—she pauses—“and by then, my purse was n-nowhere in sight.” Tears welled in her eyes before her lips quivered. “I’m s-sorry if you’ve been waiting for me … but you must kn-know, I tried to get back as fast as I could.”
There were no words to describe how relieved I was to see her. Without preamble, I rushed towards her side, holding her close, as if I had already lost her, and she had risen from the dead.
“I’ve been thinking the worst. You don’t know how relieved I am that you’re safe and alive.” Tears burned behind my eye sockets, while the back of my throat felt like there was a massive lump stuck in it. I held onto her as if my life depended on it. Well, it did, really. She was my life now, and I had been this close to losing her.
I sent out a small prayer of gratitude to whoever had been watching her tonight—angels, gods, hell, add the fairies into the equation. I was forever in their debt, simply thankful my wife was back in my arms. Even in a bashed, ashen state, I was grateful she was alive.
She slightly trembled in my arms before I cupped her cheeks, searching her eyes. “I love you.” The words left my lips before I even realized that they were being said aloud. She didn’t say a thing, merely looked like she was about to start crying.
“Reiss?” Charles called out after me. “Is something the—my God! Ava!” he bellowed, shocked as I had been before he directed his wife. “She’s alive, Charlotte. Our daughter is alive.” There was immense relief in his voice, but most of all, there was a vulnerability that I had never known existed within him.
Charles, Charlotte, and I all bundled together, hugging Ava, who seemed confused and at a loss for words.
“You c-called Mum and Dad?” She gave me an accusing look before frowning at me. “You were that worried something might’ve h-happened to me?”
I wasn’t sure if she was amazed that I could put our differences aside, or that I was capable of tolerating her mother’s presence at all. She knew the depths of how much I royally despised her mother. There were times when breathing the same air as her would have been too much to bear. Subsequently, witnessing that I wouldn’t hold back to extract help from her parents when need be must have been alarming.
Without saying the words, it was as if my eyes confirmed everything she was thinking—that, yes, I was willing to do anything and everything for her. Even giving someone a second chance, despite the fact that I had vowed to never reconsider.
Charles and Charlotte guided Ava towards the bedroom. Charlotte had taken charge, stating her daughter was in the state of shock and needed a warm bath to clean up, and soothe her aches and pains while the staff busied themselves to prepare something that might entice her to eat.
While everyone did their appointed tasks, I was calling the doctor, needing him to give Ava a thorough check-up. After she had described the scene, like it was a stampede of chaotic mess, she had told me she wasn’t sure if someone had stepped onto her tiny, protruding stomach, causing alarm bells to start ringing in my ears.
It was as if we were all frantic to cater to Ava, and I was almost positive that, though she had hated her parents at one point, seeing how distressed they were had proven how devoted and how deeply they cared for her. Sometimes, people had a peculiar way of expressing their feelings when they weren’t accustomed to showing them, much as had done in the very beginning. However, we all had learned from our mistakes.
Charlotte’s personality had temporarily thawed from an ice queen to a caring mother, and I couldn’t help wishing it would be a lasting effect. This had been a lesson for all of us that life was too short to take for granted, that if you love someone, you told them without hesitation because who knew when they would be taken away from you. Right after her bath, the doctor came, giving Ava a thorough examination. I didn’t sigh my relief until he assured us all that she was fine and healthy, as was the baby. Once the doctor left, she was covered in layers of sheets, and even though she had just had a warm bath, she still looked far too pale and grave, as if she had witnessed something terrifying out there. I had no doubt that she did. Had I been with her, things would’ve been different. I would’ve been there to protect her, at least. However, regrets wouldn’t do me any good. Instead, the only thing that I could do to make a difference from here on out was to love Ava with all of my being. And I intended to do just that.
The fretting parents insisted that they care for her; as a result, I was left no choice except to sit on the tip of the bed and watch her being fed by Charlotte while Charles held her hand the entire time. It was rather odd in a comical way, I supposed. It was a sight to see—that even the toughest shell out there could melt away due to fear.
When nighttime came and her mother insisted she stay by her side, even though I was dying to be next to my wife, I obliged her request. I was a selfish man, but Ava had gone through life resenting the woman who had given her life, and I couldn’t deprive her of this opportunity, because she might never get another one. My needs could very well wait until she and I were alone.
Sending her a brave smile, I kissed her forehead before kissing her lips, holding on to her for as long as I could. “I love you, Ava.”
“I know,” she whispered in a small voice. “I’ve known all along … but you didn’t, so I had to be patient and wait for the right time for you to acknowledge it, as you did before.
“Our kind of love doesn’t just disappear because of hate, or because you wished it away. Once we’re linked, there’s no way to unlink the chain of our fates. That’s why I kept telling you I loved you even if your chosen rebuttal was to fight back and spew more lies. I knew, deep down, the journey would be worth it. You’re worth the wait, Reiss.”
She had known this whole time, while I was stuck in my own ball of misery and confusion? Bloody hell. It was rather sad and revealing all at the same time that she knew me better than I did myself.
“Woman, you and I need to have a very lengthy talk soon. And, yes, again and again—forever and a day, until death you and I part, until my last gasping breath—I’ll never stop loving you.”
Epilogue
Reiss
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. Love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Who would’ve thought that a girl and a boy could find lasting love at the age of sixteen and seventeen? Yet, it had happened to Ava and I.
When young, we were molded into thinking that life was what you made of it, that our younger years were merel
y a stepping stone to a bigger and brighter future ahead of us. Consequently, when we stumbled upon each other and ignited this consuming love, given our gullible age and our naiveté, it was inevitable that we would make a disaster of it.
Young though we were, it didn’t make our feelings any less intense, any less powerful, than people falling in love in their mid-twenties or more. Who was society to judge what real love was and what it wasn’t? Some were lucky enough to experience love twice or three times in their lives. Some only had that chance once in their lifetime, and would thoroughly live that experience through a glorified way of remembering the love once found. However, for the folks that didn’t toy with fire, most didn’t ever find love at all.
I proudly boasted that, not only did I find my one true love at a very young age, I also was given a second chance to correct what had gone wrong. This kind of luck normally didn’t happen. One would have a better luck in playing the lottery than trying to win this kind gamble.
Love.
One word, consisting of four letters. It looked simple and uncomplicated. It was rather plain English that didn’t make anyone sound scholarly compared to saying the word meretricious or succedaneum. Although, that was where the simplicity ended.
It was a frightening process to put your faith and trust into one person, risking everything in them. It was a sacrifice that everyone needed to make before achieving the all-consuming dream that was worth more than life itself.
I was a lucky man indeed to have such a woman who had never given up on believing in me.
A week after that horrendous nightmare, Ava and I left to visit my parents. The culprit who stole millions just happened to be the CFO of the company, a man who I met during studying economics in my university days. He was a man I trusted but his profound greed made him betray one of the people who had helped him achieve the wealth he had acquired…but with his arrest and the courts on his bloody traitorous arse hounding every account they could trace, he was done for. I was negotiating so the company could take back all the money that was lost, or what was left of it, without him going to prison for a decade. I believed a year or two would suffice. He used to be a good man at one point. Maybe spending time behind bars would enlighten him a little. With all this chaos involving work, I took a short hiatus right after, needing to cater to my wife and simply enjoy her company since I still owed her a honeymoon. Much more so, a real wedding, consisting of our closest friends and family. I wanted an intimate ceremony, a different kind than the one she’d had with Ashton.
Therefore, on the third day of our trip, I took her somewhere special. We drove for about forty minutes before parking the car underneath a tree. We got out of and I blindfolded her. Then, we strolled for another ten minutes or so before reaching the intended destination where I took the cover from her eyes.
“Oh, my God, Reiss!” she shrieked as her eyes grew huge, delighted by my surprise. “I haven’t been back here since you left. Though I thought about this place quite often, I never did have the courage to return.”
The lake—our lake—where everything had begun between us. Where I had first set my eyes upon her and it had changed my life forever.
The place was surrounded by torches, aglow with fire, while rose-scented floating candles lit the lake that was trimmed with blue LED strip lighting.
This wouldn’t have been possible had Charlotte not offered to help me. She had since mellowed down, and was trying to make amends by building a relationship with me. It wouldn’t have been possible unless both parties were willing to move forward and, fortunately, such was the case.
Basking in Ava’s glowing happiness, I knew there wasn’t anywhere else on earth I’d rather be than right here, content as I watched her take in everything with her eyes.
Clearing my throat, my thumb caressed her hand before I got on one knee and gazed at my soul reflecting back at me in her eyes, showing me what the future held.
“Ava Watson Chambers, you and I had a very passionate start. Short as it may have been, it ended on a tragic note that painted our lives differently. After years of separation, you and I found each other once more, and I can’t apologize enough for my horrific treatment of you in the beginning, but I will make up for it by making a solid foundation for our marriage, compromising when need be, and continuing to love you even if you’re being a lovely pain in my arse. Lovely perhaps, though a pain, all the same.” I beamed as she grinned, blushing profusely. “Marry me again, with our family and friends to witness our undying love and devotion, and I swear to you, on my honor, our honeymoon will be better than our living room floor.”
“But I love that living room floor, and I wouldn’t dare change a thing about it. But with that aside, I am privileged to marry you again. As long as I’m with you, the rest is simply non-essential.”
She looked into my eyes as I slipped the ring atop the other one I had given her. It was the same setting, yet a different stone. A diamond. Charlotte had given me the advice that diamonds were essential to a woman’s wardrobe. Therefore, with the expertise of a jeweler, I had found the perfect one for Ava.
Grinning from ear to ear, I sealed our bond with a kiss, believing everything she had just said. As long as we were together, the rest was non-essential.
Second chance at love. Second chance at marriage. Life certainly came with surprises.
~ Reiss + Ava ~
Next book in the British Billionaires Series, Falling For The Enemy. An unconventional love story about Sebastian Black and Allie Davenport.
Coming Spring 2015
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More books by Pamela Ann
The Torn Series Order:
Scornfully Yours
Scornfully Hers
Frayed
Blasphemous
Undeniably Yours
Scorned
Fixated On You
Christmas With You
Unveiled November 19
Crushed TBA
Damaged TBA
The Chasing Series:
Chasing Beautiful
Chasing Imperfection
Chasing Paradise
Chasing Forever (Lucy & Toby)
Chasing Mrs. Knightly: Epilogue
Lily’s Mistake
Loving Drake
Loving Lily Coming December 2014
British Billionaires Series:
Falling For My Husband (Callum & Stella)
Falling For Ava (Reiss & Ava)
Formula Men Series:
Monza Luca di Medici December 2014
Nice Jacques Bertrand Spring 2015
Barcelona Andrès Franco Summer 2015
Pieces: A Duet:
Pieces of You & Me
Pieces Of Us
Havoc (Dark Erotica)
The Encounter Trilogy
Bartered
Unleashed Winter 2015
Vanquished TBA
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