Only Forever - A contemporary romance short story inspired by true events

by Kimberly Kinrade

Norm couldn't stop thinking about Robyn. She baffled his senses with her blend of spontaneity and responsibility. The way she could be serious one moment and the life of the party the next. The way she could spend the night smoking and drinking and still make time to get formula for her son. He'd never met anyone with her unexpected mix of personality traits, and he loved it.

  He loved her.

  That truth had zapped his heart during their night together and hadn't left him since.

  He loved her in an all-consuming, do anything for her kind of way.

  In a way he'd never loved anyone else before, not even Helen.

  It wasn't easy for Norm to challenge the status quo, and it was especially difficult for him to do something that would disrupt the lives of so many people and hurt them in the process.

  But for Robyn, he'd do whatever it took to be with her.

  He didn't care that she had kids, and in fact looked forward to meeting them. His vision of their life together expanded to include this instant family.

  He knew what he had to do.

  ***

  Robyn couldn’t wait to see Norm again, and she wanted her gesture to be big enough that there could be no going back.

  She picked up a box of cigarettes, just the brand he liked, and one other thing. On two leather strings hung a circular pendant broken in half.

  Together it said "Only Forever."

  Because she knew that even forever wouldn’t be enough time with this man, but it was a start.

  Bumming a ride from HotDogger, she went to his house, and prayed to whoever was listening that she wasn't making the second biggest mistake of her life.

  She stood nervously on the porch of his mobile home, Neil in his car seat and Kimmie holding her hand, as she waited for him to answer the door.

  When he opened it, her breath caught in her throat. His eyes drew her in, making her feel safe and protected and loved.

  He looked down at the kids and smiled at them, then invited them in.

  His house was a true bachelor pad, with empty beer cans scattered on the counter, the most basic of functional furniture and nothing esthetic whatsoever. She didn't care.

  She'd noticed his car wasn't parked out front when her friend had dropped her off. "Where's your car?"

  He opened his mouth to answer when someone else knocked at the door.

  ***

  Helen stood, hand on hip and scowl on face, waiting. When Norm opened the door, she shoved her way in, then froze when her eyes landed on Robyn.

  Robyn turned pale at the sight of Helen. "Um, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had company. We should go."

  Helen stepped aside. "Yes, you should. Leave my fiancé alone. I don't ever want to see you around him again."

  Robyn grabbed the kids and ran out before Norm could stop her, tears flooding her eyes.

  "Robyn wait!" He turned to Helen. "What are you doing here? We're over, Helen. I told you that. You need to leave."

  "I'm not going anywhere. We're getting married, and that's final." Her face flushed red with rage, and she clenched her fists as she spoke.

  "We're not getting married. We're not right for each other. I love someone else."

  She screamed and picked up his lamp, throwing it at him. Fortunately, her aim sucked, and it crashed against the wall. "How dare you do this to me! How dare you!"

  He had to get to Robyn, but he couldn't leave this psycho in his house. "You need to leave, now. Before I call the cops."

  Helen looked around for something else to throw. With nothing accessible, she walked to the counter and used her arm to swipe off everything there, including beer cans and a few appliances. "I hate you! I hate you!"

  When he reached for the phone, ready to dial 9-1-1, she ran out of the house, her car screeching down the street a moment later.

  He hung up, sighing in relief, and darted outside to find Robyn. They couldn't have gotten far. She didn't have a car, so she must have gotten a ride from someone.

  "Robyn! Where are you?"

  He heard sniffling behind the trailer and followed the sound.

  She squatted on the asphalt, tears running down her face, while she rocked her son in the car seat and her daughter scavenged for rocks.

  "Robyn, don't cry. It's not what you think."

  She shook her head and spoke through sobs so fast he couldn't interrupt. "I’m sorry. I was a fool for coming here at all. For thinking there was something between us. I make the worst choices when it comes to men, and I thought you were different, and I'm sure you are. You and that woman will be very happy together. She's lucky to have you, and I hope I didn't cause problems for you by coming."

  When she finally took a breath, Norm kissed her, tasting her tears as he pulled her closer to him.

  He pulled back, looking into her eyes. "I broke up with her. That's why she was here, to yell at me."

  "Really?"

  He nodded. "Yes, really."

  "Why?"

  "Because I wanted my pants back, and the only way that was going to happen was if I married the girl who now owned them."

  She laughed, and his heart lightened at the joy in her eyes.

  Pulling out a wrapped package from the diaper bag, she hesitated. "I came to give you your birthday present. Sorry it's late."

  He opened the package to find a box of cigarettes and a smaller box with half a medallion in it.

  She pulled out a necklace from around her neck. "I was going to get you a necklace too, but I know how much you love your car, so I asked them to make it so it could go around your rearview mirror."

  She pushed their medallions together. "Only Forever."

  He kissed her again. "Did you save the leather necklace by chance?"

  "Yes, why?"

  "Because I sold my car. It only seated two, and we're a family of four. I traded it in for something bigger."

  "What? You gave up your car? But you hadn't even met the kids yet. How could you possibly know you'd want to be with me forever?"

  He held up the medallion. "The same way you knew."

  ***

  25 years and a few months later

  Robyn and Norm stood in front of a church full of their closest friends and family. Neil stood tall next to Norm as his best man, and Kimmie, now Kimberly, stood as her mother's maid of honor. Cory, Norm and Robyn's youngest daughter, stood by Kimberly as a junior bridesmaid.

  Grandchildren held the rings and the flowers and ran around or cried at all the wrong times.

  It made Robyn's heart burst with joy.

  Pictures of their years together flashed on the large screen above them, capturing the memories of love, laughter and joy they'd shared and continued to share.

  As they renewed their vows, she gazed into the eyes of her husband, still as blue and as beautiful as the night they'd met.

  He'd given their little family everything he had, loving them all and working hard to provide for them.

  They still went on long drives for no reason, even though they'd traded in sports cars for minivans.

  And he still made her stomach flutter with a thousand butterflies with just a look.

  Their love had always been destined for a happily ever after, and every day with him, she lived that ending as if it were just the beginning.

  ***

  If you enjoyed Only Forever, check out other work by this author:

  "Liquid fire poured into me, filling me with the intimate sense of him as he leaned in to claim my lips with his own. I reached for him, needing him closer, but my arms couldn't close the distance between us, which grew wider with each hitched breath. So close to finally feeling something real, something carnal and deep, I cried out in frustration, dropping my hands as he disappeared. My cries deepened into a frenzy of panic and my eyes flew open. I clutched my blanket and stilled myself to calm my racing heart.

  Just a dream. Always just a dream."

  Rose Wintersong didn't have an ordinary upbringing. Raised in what most would call a hippy commune,
but what is actually a powerful coven of witches, she never questions the life fate chose for her.

  Until she meets Derek O'Conner.

  Derek challenges everything Rose believes and forces her to see the secrets hidden beneath the whitewashed walls of her idyllic country life.

  Rose knows she should walk away, that the sexy martial arts instructor is bad news bred to create discord in her tight community… but the animal magnetism between them is impossible to fight.

  Caught between the passion of first love, and the steady beat of the life she's always known, Rose must choose between the innocence of her youth or the pleasures of womanhood—but lost innocence comes at a price, and Rose harbors a dark secret that could destroy everyone she loves—including Derek.

  Submit to the Seduced Saga as Derek and Rose face their future while unraveling the mysteries of their past.

  Add it on Goodreads here.

  Look for these books in 2013. (New Adult Romance/Paranormal)

  Seduced by Innocence

  Seduced by Pain

  TBA-Seduced by Power

  TBA-Seduced by the Sea

  TBA-Seduced by Love

  SEDUCED BY INNOCENCE

  CHAPTER ONE

  Liquid fire poured into me, filling me with the intimate sense of him as he leaned in to claim my lips with his own. I reached for him, needing him closer, needing to feel his flesh against mine, but my arms couldn't close the distance between us, which grew wider with each hitched breath. So close to finally feeling something real, something carnal and deep, I cried out in frustration, dropping my hands as he disappeared. My cries deepened into a frenzy of panic and my eyes flew open. I clutched my blanket and stilled myself to calm my racing heart.

  Just a dream. Always just a dream. It could never be more than that. Not with my dream man, not with any man. Knowing this did nothing to dampen the disappointment that weighed heavy on me each time I entered that one moment where dreams and reality co-existed and I forgot who I really was and what would happen if I ever experienced that level of surrender. But fear replaced my self-absorption when the alarms penetrated my foggy mind. Outside my cottage, footsteps raced through the cold night, crunching on newly fallen snow. Through my frosted window, flashlights wavered back and forth, looking for something, or someone. It's happening again!

  The floor under my bare feet felt like ice as I slipped out of bed and fumbled in the dark for my clothes. Sandy, my loyal Alaskan Husky, whined when I moved to leave the cottage without her. I ran a hand through her thick white fur. "You want to come? I have to go make sure all of the kennel dogs are taken care of."

  The alarm shut off, leaving us both in a stunned silence that filled the room. Sandy licked my hand and stood by the door waiting as I pulled on my boots and coat and braced myself for the cold. I rummaged through the basket next to my door, looking for my warmest gloves. At least in the winter I had a ready excuse for covering my hands.

  Outside, the black pitch of night greeted me. No one had turned on the flood lights yet, which made me wonder if they'd been damaged. Flashlight in hand, dog by my side, I headed to the main house on our coven’s 50-acre property as I sent my magic ahead of me to sift through the energy from the attack.

  Before I could get more than a few steps, Blake ran up to me and laid his hand on my arm as he fought to catch his breath. He ignored Sandy’s low growl as he pushed me toward the door. "You should go back in. They've broken onto the property again. Bastards slashed the tires on three vehicles and left a deer carcass as a gift."

  My heart thumped with extra force at the news. "That's horrible. Whose cars?"

  "The property truck, Darren's car and Lauren's." His jaw hardened, and he narrowed his dark eyes, squeezing my arm tighter in his anger. "Bastards will cost us hundreds in new tires. They even smashed out the windows. We've got to strike back. Teach them a lesson."

  Using my gloved hand, I eased his fingers off of me. He flinched at the touch, despite the layers of protection. Good thing I had a thick skin, sort of. I kept my voice calm, even through my own rage. "That's not a decision you can make on your own. We’ll all talk about it when we meet tomorrow morning."

  He waved his flashlight over his watch and smirked. "More like a few hours. It's 2 a.m. The meeting’s in two hours."

  "Then I'd better check on the dogs and try to get a bit more rest." I stepped around him to continue walking, but he blocked me with his large body made of the kind of muscle you get, not from the gym, but from manual labor day in and out. He smelled of pine needles and snow, a scent that would have been appealing on anyone else but him.

  "Rainbow wants everyone inside except the security team. The dogs are fine," he said.

  I’d thought about it a lot, what it was about Blake that revolted me so much. Easy on the eyes, dedicated to our coven, though lacking magic of his own, he would have been a safe choice, if I’d had any choice at all. He’d even indicated an interest on more than one occasion. But his touch made my skin crawl, even through clothing. I shifted away from him. "What about my sister? She must be scared."

  "She's fifteen, Rose, not a little girl anymore. She's not as helpless as you think. Just go back inside. We'll handle this." He smiled to soften the command in his voice, and I sighed and walked back into the cottage.

  I’m not a little girl anymore, either. Guess no one got the memo.

  Not for the first time I wished for a lock on my house, but none of us had locks, despite the recent string of break-ins. I shed my winter gear and gloves and toweled off the snow from Sandy’s paws. Knowing I'd never get back to sleep, and frustrated that I'd been dismissed by Blake like some kid, despite the fact that I was nineteen and he was only twenty-one, I searched my one-room dwelling for something to occupy my time until our daily pre-dawn meeting.

  My favorite romance novel sat on the dresser next to my bed, and I reached for it, grateful that I could at least breathe in vicarious passion through the lives of others, if not my own. My hands stilled on the book as shivers of energy traveled through my body, connecting me to the earth, to my coven and to my family. Mother’s voice called out to me through one of those lines. “Rose. Help! Hurry!”

  We almost never communicated telepathically. The drain on energy and resources was just too much, and, with the modern convenience of cell phones, unnecessary. Besides that, most members of our coven didn't have enough power to do it. Heart racing in my chest, I ran out the door and through the dark with Sandy at my heels, straight to the lower level of the main house where Mother lived. The air crackled with fear and desperation and the ramped up emotion of it all forced my gut into uncomfortable knots.

  As leader of the coven, my mother commanded the most power and respect. She’d never reached out to me for help before, which made this all the more alarming. I forced my legs to pump faster, Sandy running at my side, as I navigated through the icy paths masked with shadows of the night.

  There should have been others out with flashlights, checking the property, but I didn’t see or feel anyone. Perhaps the mental cries of Mother drowned out everyone else?

  When we reached her door, I hesitated. Mother didn’t like people barging in on her. While everyone else in the coven had a default open door policy—meaning literally anyone else here could walk into your house without knocking—Mother was immune from that. To some extent, so was I, but only because my coven feared an accidental touch. Only in my own home could I go gloveless, which is also why I got to live alone while others were forced to share housing.

  Sandy whined and clawed at the door, jarring me out of my thoughts. Inside, something clattered to the ground, and Mother screamed. I pushed the door open and tried to mentally ready myself.

  But nothing could have prepared me for what I found.

  ***

  A giant brown wolf stood before Mother, baring his teeth with a low, throaty growl that sent shivers of fear up my spine. Mother cowered in the corner of her couch, eyes like saucers as she backed away fro
m the wolf with her hands in defense position. She made eye contact with me as I walked in. “Help! Rose, help! He attacked me.”

  Sandy growled and the pups in the kennel barked and yipped. Feeling utterly useless, I shouted at the wolf. “Get away from her!”

  It turned its head to me, large golden eyes glowing in the dim light. For a moment I felt a connection to the beast, as if he was trying to tell me something, but the moment shattered when Mother shrieked at me. “Do something, Rose.”

  What did she want me to do? I didn’t know self-defense… no one would let me study it. I had no weapons… other than myself. Mother, who—even cornered by this magnificent beast—looked in control and poised, with her midnight black hair in an up-do and her face made up with flawless makeup, glanced down meaningfully at my hands.

  This couldn’t be. She couldn’t possibly want me to use my power on the wolf. It didn’t even work on animals.

  But this wolf, three times the size of even a large wolf, felt more than animal. Something tickled at the back of my mind. Something I should have known but had forgotten. It hovered on the edge of my memory, teasing me with knowledge just out of reach.

  The wolf howled, his head high in the air, and howls tore from the nearby woods, echoed through the cold night.

  Then it all clicked and I took a step back in reflexive anxiety. So it was true. All the stories and rumors. The O’Conner clan really could shapeshift, and they were here, on my land, attacking my family.

  For months they’d been terrorizing our coven, trying to drive us out of our rural home in Washington. We refused to be bullied by the wealthy shamans who commanded the public favor in the local, and even international, spiritual communities.

  We didn’t have the money to fight them legally.

  We didn’t have the power to fight them magically.

  And we had no idea what they wanted from us.

  But they’d attacked relentlessly. Sabotaging our cars, destroying our property, leaving dead animals for us to find. Now, they’d sent someone to hurt Mother. Maybe kill her. Anger boiled inside of me, reaching through me and around me, and the steel traps around my power uncoiled as I took measured steps toward the wolf.