“Have you really let it go? The anger? Your need for revenge?”
“I’ll be honest. I found out some truths today that redirected my anger. Irene separated my mother and Bruce—she was the one who sent Mum away and gave her money, she was the one who intercepted my letter when I wrote to say Mum had died. Irene had just discovered she was pregnant and she didn’t want her child or children to be usurped. She persuaded my mother that Bruce didn’t love her anymore and she sent her away. Irene was behind everything—she’s one evil manipulative woman. I’m not going to let her infect my life with her vitriol any longer. And she’s not going to contaminate yours, either.”
“And Bruce? What about the letters.”
“I thought I’d destroy them. Leave them in the past where they belong. Or maybe we should return them to him. They’re his property in the end, aren’t they?”
Callie could barely believe her ears. He really had let all that anger go? It had been his direction for so long; it had been a part of what sculpted him into the man he was. Letting go would leave a void in his life, a loss of purpose.
“I think whatever you decide will be fine,” she answered carefully.
“So do I have your forgiveness?”
“Of course you do. But can you forgive me? I lied to you; I deliberately tried to undermine your plans.”
“I love you, Callie, even if I hadn’t already been in the wrong I could forgive you for anything as long as I know I had your love in return.”
Tears sprang to her eyes and she dashed them away as happiness swelled to an almost unbearable peak within her.
“You do, oh, yes, you do. I love you, Josh. I always will.”
“Then come home with me. Stay with me, be my wife. Let’s create the family we both always wanted. The family we both deserve.”
“I’ll do it on one condition,” she said, smiling through tears of joy.
“Name it. It’s yours.”
“Will you call me Callie Rose?”
“Always.”
He stood and pulled her from her chair, into his arms where she finally belonged, and he took her love from her lips and into his body, holding it deep inside. She returned his kiss, and his faith in a happier future, with everything she had inside, and when she took him upstairs to her bedroom it was to show him with her body, her love, exactly what he meant to her.
Sunlight slanted through the cedar blinds in her bedroom window, encasing them both in a brilliant golden glow, a portent of hope in two lives that had known so much despair. She slid his clothes from his body, skimming her fingers over the width of his shoulders, the broad strength of his chest, tracing each line of muscle, sensing through her fingertips each shiver of his reaction.
When they were both naked, she led him to her bed and continued her exploration of his body, loving how his skin danced beneath her touch. Loving him. And when she knelt over him, and took him into her body, she felt a closeness with Josh that had been missing before. Finally, there were no secrets between them. Finally they could give and take without any shadows of the past lingering between them.
As she rose and fell against him, sensation swelled upon pleasure, pleasure upon sensation, until they both tumbled over the edge of reality and onto a plane of pure joy, pure enlightenment. Pure love.
Later, as their bodies cooled and their breathing returned to normal, Callie relished the sound of Josh’s heartbeat beneath her cheek—the heart that beat for her. For all they’d been through, for all they’d done, they’d made it through together and would each be stronger for that now.
Josh’s fingers drew lazy circles against her back. She could stay in this half world forever, she thought with a smile. But then again, they’d have plenty of these times together. They had a lifetime to look forward to.
“You know,” she said quietly, “I feel sorry for her.”
“Irene?” Josh’s voice was a deep rumble in her ear. “She doesn’t need your pity.”
“Yes, I think she does. She did help me, Josh. I know she cast me to the wolves when everything began to crumble, but deep down I really feel sorry for her. She only fought for what she believed in—her family, their security, their future. Really, what she did was not a lot different from what you did to them. It’s like everything came full circle.”
Josh lay silent beneath her for several minutes before speaking.
“I hate to admit it, but you’re right. The difference being, though, that I withdrew before it was too late.”
“So you’re definitely not going public with Bruce being your father?”
“No. I’m not even going to approach him about it. I’m satisfied knowing he truly loved my mother. At least she had that, no matter how long it lasted.”