by D. B. James
I lean over and place a soft kiss upon his lips, silencing him for the rest of the journey back to shore. It’s the most perfect day ever.
CASE
When we meet her parents a few hours later for dinner, Tenley looks absolutely magnificent. Her hair has been windblown by the salty sea, and her skirt is a bit wrinkled from riding around for the last hour on the back of my bike. What makes her more beautiful than all of those factors combined? The happiness streaming off her in waves.
Walking into the restaurant, I spy her parents already waiting for us at a table near the back. Tenley picked this place because it’s supposed to have the best seafood in town. She said if she was going to try lobster, it had to be the best. Agreeing with her, she called and informed her parents where to meet us.
Stewart and Maria Cleary make the perfect couple. You can see the love they have for each other shining off them. They’re holding hands across the table as we approach. Stewart only lets go of his wife’s hand to stand when Tenley arrives at the table. Ever the southern gentleman.
“Tenley,” he says with a slight nod as I’m helping her into her seat. “Case,” he says as he’s extending his hand for me to shake. “It looks like the two of you have had a great day. My baby girl is smiling.”
“It’s because I’m happy,” Tenley says.
“Happy looks amazing on you, don’t ever lose it again,” Maria begs.
“If I have anything to say about it, I’ll make sure she never does,” I promise.
After we all place our orders—everyone orders lobster except for Tenley—our dinner proceeds like any other normal dinner would. Her parents treat me as if I’m a part of their family.
It turns out, it was a good thing she didn’t order the lobster.
She hated it.
Two months later…
Today’s moving day. To be honest, I never thought this day would come. When Dr. Beesley informed me I’d been released from her care, I felt like skipping from her office singing. Spoiler alert, I didn’t. What I did do was call a moving company to come load up all my possessions in my three storage units to be moved to my new house in Austin.
Austin, can you believe it?
I’m moving to be closer to Case.
I’m moving to start my new life.
I’m moving because this chapter of my life is over.
No longer am I the depressed, scarred, mess of a woman I was a mere six months ago. She’s a thing of my past and I hope she always remains there.
My novel will be published in October, and based on the pre-orders so far, it’s gearing up to be my best seller ever. I’ve come to the conclusion I may never write again. I think all of my stories have been told. When I was with Michael, it was easy to write the lighter fluffier love stories; now with Case, whatever I try to write comes out too raw and real. It’s more a part of me than ever before. The book I started on the road trip was different…it was my personal journey fictionalized. And now it’s done.
No matter how much my agent tries to talk to me into a sequel.
Hopefully, I’ll stick to my guns and there’ll never be one.
Case is my forever and always.
Michael was my forever right now.
The depression I went through after losing Michael was necessary for me to find Case. For going through it, I’m thankful. If I never would’ve went through any of it, I’d never have met the man who was truly meant to be my other half.
Pulling into the storage unit, I see the two moving trucks are already there and waiting for me. One of the first items to go on a truck?
My car.
Mama is picking me up from here in a couple of hours for me to meet my flight out of Mobile to Austin where Case will pick me up and take me to my new home. Mabel June? She’s flying with me. I’m scared as hell to get on the plane, but with Mabel June as my companion, I’m sure things will go smoothly. As long as she’s a good quiet girl on the flight, she’ll get lots of gifts once our time in the air is over.
When all the trucks are full and my storage units emptied, I sit down in the middle of one and take in all the hollowness. After a few blissful moments of quiet, I call mama.
“Ready for me to come grab you, baby girl?” she asks, her chipper voice coming through the line.
“Sure am,” I reply
“As luck would have it, I was in the area already, so watch for me to be coming up alongside the units, dear.”
“Okay, Mama.” Jiggling the keys for all three units brings out a smirk across my face. I’m still smiling when mama pulls up barely a minute later.
“Hop on in. What placed the smirk upon your face, Tenley?” she questions.
“Oh, I was wiggling the keys around thinking about how nice it’s going to be to leave them in the front office here. No more storage units for me. I’m off to Austin to my cute little colonial house with a fenced in backyard for my Mabel June, and it’s not too far from the city limits. I’m not scared of a new beginning, Mama, I’m ecstatic to be getting one.”
“I’m proud of you, I don’t know if I’ve told you enough. I’m unbelievably proud of you. You’re checking off your last fear today…flying. I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced watching something as beautiful as you rising above the ashes. My baby girl has turned into a stunning phoenix,” Mama says while tears glisten in her eyes, never spilling over, but glistening all the same.
“Don’t cry, Mama, you’ll make me cry and we’ll both ruin our makeup,” I say, “Besides we’re going to see Luellen for a few minutes, right? Don’t cry beforehand because we both know she’ll make us cry.”
“You’re right of course,” Mama replies.
We’re both silent the rest of the drive to Bookmark It! Turns out the silence is exactly what we needed. If mama would’ve kept on the track she was on, we both would’ve been a blubbering mess and unable to drive. In turn it would’ve caused me to have to say goodbye to Luellen over the phone instead of in person like we planned. Because my flight leaves in less than three hours, which means we only have around twenty minutes to spend with Lu.
As mama parks the car, a feeling of melancholy comes over me. I’m struck by the fact I may not see the store again anytime soon. It makes me sad because for a few weeks it had become a vital part of my life. Not to mention it’s where I met Case.
Making a vow to myself, I promise to come back to Bookmark It! with Case.
Walking into the store, the familiar jingle of the bell brings a tear to my eye. I’m going to miss this place. Luellen comes walking out from behind the counter and embraces me in a warm hug. She always has known exactly what I needed. Besides my parents, she’s who I’ll miss the most.
Leaving this time is unlike any other time I’ve left. It’s a brand-new start for me. Alone. Granted, Case will be in the same city, but this move is for me.
“Maria, our baby bird is leaving the nest…forever it sounds like,” Lu says while hugging me tighter.
“I know, Luellen. This is a great thing though. She’s finally found herself,” Mama replies.
“Would you two please stop talking about me as if I’m not here, it’s annoying,” I complain.
“Oh, baby girl, you know we don’t mean anything by it,” Mama says. “We do it to you so often it’s a hard habit to break.”
Which I get, I totally do. But it’s still one of my pet peeves. Not wanting to ruin the moment, I stay silent.
“Austin, huh?” Lu inquires.
I’ve already told her why, but not much else. “Yes, after my road trip, I knew it was where I was meant to be. It’s as if the city called to me and it said…home. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Case is nearby and all. But we’ll be roughly a half an hour away from each other. He’s downtown, I’m in the suburbs.” My house is the cutest little colonial with a huge yard—both front and back—for Mabel June and my future adopted or fostered children to play in. “There’s a cute white picket fence. You’ll have to come visit,” I insist.
“Maybe someday I’ll take you up on the offer,” Lu says while finally loosening the vise grip of a hug she had me in. “Okay, we have what, ten minutes left?” she asks.
“Give or take a minute or two,” Mama informs her. “We have to swing by and grab Stewart before taking her to Mobile so she can catch her flight.”
We make the most of the next few minutes, Luellen spends most of it crying while mama and I try our hardest not to.
After stopping by the house to grab my carry-on, Mabel June, and daddy, we make our way to the Mobile airport. Most of the drive is spent in silence, but it’s a good silence. A happy one. Mama and daddy couldn’t be prouder of me, and I can feel their love for me in the unspoken words.
As we approach the airport security—where I have to sign a few papers and ride in a van to be dropped off with Mabel June since she’s my companion animal—daddy is the first to break the silence. “I’m not going to lie and say I won’t miss having you around, but I’ve never been prouder of you, baby girl. I want you to know I love you and we’ll visit soon. Next month if you’ll have us. I’m giving you alone time to go and grab your happiness. When I see you next, you better be happy. If you’re not, I’m killing Case.”
“Everything he said times two,” Mama says. “I know where to hide the body,” she jests. At least I pray she’s joking.
“I love you both. And yes, you’re welcome to visit next month. I’ll be sure to have the guest room all ready for y’all. In fact, I’ll make it my first order of business after my bed is moved into my master suite. I’ll call you every single day,” I promise.
As I’m opening my door, daddy hurries out to finish opening it for me. Once my feet are firmly planted on the ground, he hugs me like he’s never hugged me before. Heck, until the last few months I wasn’t sure he truly loved me.
Mama joins us on the sidewalk and envelops me in a hug of her own.
With tears in my eyes, I tell my parents goodbye and walk into the airport security with my Mabel June to conquer my last fear.
CASE
I arrive at the airport nearly a half hour early, I spend the minutes circling around and around in my truck until I spy her waiting outside a set of doors.
Mo ghaol has come home.
Stopping my truck, she approaches with a sexy smirk upon her lips. “I’ve never taken the time to stare at you behind the wheel of this beast, Case. It’s sexy as all get out,” she says as she climbs up into the seat beside me, Mabel June climbing in next to her to sit in her lap. Tenley unhooks her leash. “Now, take me to your place, I’m ready to kiss you for hours, hotshot.”
Once we arrive at my complex, I park the truck, take my hands off the wheel, and kiss her hello. “Mm, I’ve been waiting for a kiss since I left you last week, mo ghaol.” She kisses me back with a hunger I’ve never felt coming from her. I’m still aware of our surroundings so I break the kiss, hop out of the truck, and hurry around to help her out. The sooner we’re inside, the sooner I can give her my gift.
Last week when I visited her in Gulf Shores, I took Mabel June and went to the beach where a photographer met us. He took several pictures of us together on the sugar sand, with the ocean facing behind us, and my proposal written in the sand. I picked up the picture from the framer’s this morning. I’m praying her answer is yes.
The ding of the elevator brings me out of my thoughts and back to the present. She steps off and leads the way to my loft while I stare at her ass in those tight jeans. Soon I hope to officially call her mine.
“I have something for you and the new house. Once we’re inside and you’re settled, I’ll bring it out to you,” I say, the nerves evident in my shaky voice. If she notices, she doesn’t say anything.
“You didn’t need to get me anything. Your love is enough,” she says back.
“Oh, I think you’ll change your mind once you see it.” At least I hope she does.
Unlocking the door, I let her go in ahead of me, my nerves making my palms all sweaty. I can’t recall a time when I’ve ever been this nervous.
“How about you call and order dinner while I run upstairs and grab your housewarming gift?” I suggest.
“What would you like?”
“Whatever you order is fine by me, so go crazy,” I tell her.
Running up the stairs, I stop in my bathroom before grabbing the picture. I’m sweating. Reaching for a wash cloth, I run it under cool water and wipe down my face while also running my wrists under the cool stream. It does little to calm my nerves.
Walking back into the bedroom, I grab the picture off the bed where I placed it earlier this afternoon.
It’s now or never.
When I reach the bottom step, she greets me with Mabel June in her arms and out of her carrier. “This baby girl missed you. I was, uh, going to hand her over but it seems your hands are already full. Does Chinese sound okay?” Tenley asks.
“It’s perfect. In fact, everything’s perfect. Follow me into the living room, and I’ll take her while you look at your gift,” I suggest.
She walks over to the couch, takes a seat, and remains silent.
“Tenley Michelle Grace, we’ve been on a journey together. Yours was one of self-discovery and healing. Mine was one of embracing the gift you are to me. I’ve loved you since the day I heard you murdering that Adele song. Last week, when I visited, MJ and I went to the beach and had some pictures taken for your new home. A home I hope to one day share with you and fill with as many foster and adopted kids as we can. So, mo ghaol, will you marry me?” I ask while I turn the picture around so it’s facing her.
She doesn’t hesitate for one second before saying the one word that makes my whole life, “Yes.”
Four Years Later
When I started calling Tenley mo ghaol, I knew she wasn’t anywhere near ready to hear the meaning behind the endearment. Fuck, I wasn’t ready to admit the meaning to myself, let alone give the words an actual voice. I knew deep in my heart from the moment she snapped at me in Bookmark It! she was the one my grandmother continually talked to me about from a young age—my love.
She told me mo ghaol would complete me. No one has ever completed me more than Tenley.
We may have different interests and are opposites in many ways, but she’s my everything.
She’s truly the ying to my yang.
The air I breathe.
When I learned the sadness behind her eyes was from her husband passing on, it further cemented in my mind my need to be in her life. Even if it was only as a friend. I’d take whatever she could give me. And I prayed in time her heart would grow to love mine.
Call me insane or an utter fool.
Tell me I’m impractical.
Hell, you can call me ridiculous, but I’ve loved Tenley since the first day in the bookstore. Not once in all my years had I encountered a woman as snappy and put out as she was by my merely searching for a book. She says now she was fighting her attraction for me and dealing with the guilt eating her up inside. And maybe she was. But her snippy remarks and tossing in an extra signed book stole my heart.
I walked back to the tattoo shop in a Tenley induced haze.
Later the same afternoon, I devoured one of her novels when my appointment didn’t show and I stuck around the shop to take possible walk-ins. I didn’t give any tattoos that day, but I did gain insight into the way her romantic heart beats. It was the best birthday I recalled having in quite a few years.
The next day when I arrived at the beach, I found my spot and wrote a wish in the sand. To this day, I’ve never spoken a word out loud about what my wish was. But I had wished for my soul mate. Before taking my seat and getting comfy, I wrote the words I now feel have forever transformed my life…
I wish for the one my soul calls to.
Roughly twenty minutes later, as I was reading another book by her, she stumbled upon my path once again.
It had to be fate.
Before she came staggering along, I had marked her off, k
nowing my lonely didn’t need to get mixed up with her. She seemed too good to be true for me, and I didn’t want to bring her down. I had no clue she was as lonely as I was.
Learning her lonely came from a death—and my lonely having come from my travels, and no one to spend my life with—I still debated on leaving her be. Her lonely was on a higher level, mine stood no chance of competing with it. I didn’t know how to help her heal her shattered heart.
As luck would have it, we kept getting pulled together like two magnets. Or as I like to tease her, she’s my lobster—which she still doesn’t like to eat.
Fate kept tossing us together. Yes, we had to work on it to be together after our wonderful long weekend that first July, but I wouldn’t change a single moment we’ve shared.
Life has a way of working out.
And sometimes, if you write your wishes in the sand, they come true.
TENLEY
As I’m holding baby Michael, I can’t help but think back on my precious years spent with his namesake. Granted, his full name is Michael Dylan Ballantyne, but his first name came from my first husband whom I lost to cancer and suicide. After three years of trying, we were finally able to adopt a newborn baby. Once the call came in, we were on a plane to Cambodia the next morning. Little Michael has been with us now for six months. He joins his sister, Elizabeth Rose, who came to us as a foster child at the age of six, and we fully adopted by the time she celebrated her seventh birthday.
For two years I lived life in an internal endless winter, never breaking free of the ice encasing my heart or running through my veins. Not until a tattooed stranger waltzed into Bookmark It! and pissed me off for no apparent reason.
My ice started melting the day Case came swaggering into my life. He chased away the winter by bringing the sunshine back.
Skip ahead four years and we’re living our fairy tale here in Austin. I’m happy again. Utterly and truly happy. I have my husband, a new baby, my little girl, and my Mabel June. Life behind this white picket fence is damn near as perfect as one could wish for. The only thing it’s missing is my novels. Written in the Sand became the last novel I’ll ever write.
