“My smart girl, findin’ the clues I left for you.”
“Honestly, I didn’t put it all together until I was about to go on a road trip to Sitka alone and stopped off at the cliff. I tossed a bottle in the ocean, and when it didn’t shatter, all the pieces of the puzzle just clicked together. Just to make sure, I called Eugene, and he brought the boat around before I jumped.”
“What?” I growled. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Why the hell did you jump?”
“Relax,” she said with an eye roll, her sass a feast for my gluttonous soul. “I survived obviously, though Eugene about killed me himself when he pulled me into the boat.”
“It’s a fuckin’ risky jump, Cress. It was a last resort, not a fuckin’ adrenaline sport. You’re lucky Eugene was there with the boat, or you could’ve been lost in the current to the rocks.”
“Eugene,” she said darkly, lips twisting at the sour taste of his name. “Ultimate secret keeper. Bastard for helping you and not telling me.”
“Babe, it happened in an instant. Wasn’t exactly sure what would go down or when, but I planned it with Wrath and Eugene just in case. No way I was gonna let Dad rot in prison for a crime he didn’t commit and let my baby sister and brother be without a father like I was for too long. No way I was gonna let that motherfucker keep threatenin’ you. Not that kinda man, babe.”
“I know,” she pouted, so damn pretty I had to suck that lip into my mouth. “But you could have told me.”
This was the crux of it. If she couldn’t forgive me for keepin’ her in the dark, she’d be lost to me forever.
The thought sent my euphoria crashing through the floor of my gut.
I sank my fingers in the thick hair over her ears and held that perfect face close to mine so all she could see was me.
“Babe, you think I haven’t been livin’ each day in a world of pain not bein’ with you, knowin’ how much more pain you must’ve been in thinkin’ I was gone to you forever, you’d be so fuckin’ wrong. But how could I have told you quicker than I tried? No way you could’a gone through with the funeral and everythin’ convincing enough to make it true.”
“There was a part of me that didn’t believe you were dead. You didn’t feel gone, you know?”
“Yeah, I know, Cress.” I angled my forehead against hers and breathed her so the essence of her infused my lungs, charged through my blood, and filled me up with her light. “Can’t say I made the best choice, just the only one I saw to be taken at the time. Soon’s I could get word to you without bein’ obvious to anyone keepin’ an eye on you, I did.”
“You did,” she agreed, so tired now that her eyes kept closin’ and takin’ too long to open again. She propped her head on my shoulder and curled up like a kitten. “I don’t know if I forgive you entirely for what you did. I’m going to wear the scars on my heart for the rest of my life, and I’m probably never going to be able to let you out of my sight again. But I love you. It seems so complicated, but when it comes down to it, I love you and I want to be with you. I don’t care in what country, on what planet, in what year, or under what circumstances. I’m yours, and you’re mine.”
“That’s it?” I asked, voice cracked right in half by the force of her words.
“That’s it,” she mumbled. “I’ll probably be mad in the morning again, and the morning after that, and maybe after that for a long time to come, but you’re patient, and you’ll take it so I can purge it. Eventually, all that’s left will be love and no more pain. I’ll forgive you; it’s just going to take time.”
“How can you be so fuckin’ perfect?” I breathed, shocked and humbled by the woman I was honoured enough to call my wife.
“Not perfect, just yours. Bone of your bone,” she said, planting a hand against my ribs. “Made from you, for you.”
“Yeah, babe,” I agreed and then lifted her head to gently lick open her mouth and take my fill.
When I broke away, she was smiling, eyes so soft a brown they looked velvet. “So this’ll be our home until we can go back?”
“We always wanted to come here,” I said in answer. “Seemed a good place to hide until Danner went away for more than just my murder.”
“Anyplace is good as long as you’re in it. I’m serious about never letting you out of my sight.”
“I’m good with that,” I told her, kissing her again, rolling so she was on her back, and I could move my hands over her body, feel the form I’d only been able to have in my dreams.