Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
I let out a little cry of surprise. Having been so deep in my thoughts, I not only hadn’t heard his boots on the floor, but I had not seen him enter the room.
“You’re here,” I breathed in relief.
I hadn’t been running from Elden. Not even a little. I’d been trying to find a way to move forward with him.
Elden sat on the floor, dragging me to straddle him. I let him do it because I needed him. His touch. His presence. His scent.
“I’ve been here, the whole time,” he murmured, pressing his lips against mine. “Told you, I’m always gonna keep up.”
* * *
“How did you know I was here?” Though I was hungry for more of him, there were questions that needed to be asked. “And how did you get here so fast?”
I’d driven straight to the airport and was able to get on a flight leaving within the hour. Then I’d rented a car at the airport and driven straight here.
I realized, only just now, in Elden’s lap, that I was fucking exhausted. I had been running on adrenaline and was now safe to crash.
Not quite yet, though.
“Swiss called me,” Elden said, stroking my hair.
That perked me up. “Swiss called you?”
He nodded. “Was worried about you, wanted to make sure you got home okay.” His eyes hardened ever so slightly. “Obviously, I didn’t realize this was the home you were going to without tellin’ me. Luckily, I do track your phone, and I drive faster than you.” He grasped my chin. “We’re gonna be talking about you not knowing I was tailing you the entire way to the airport and all the way here,” he grumbled.
I gaped at him. “You were on the same plane as me?”
He nodded.
“How in the fuck did I not notice?”
Elden’s mouth ticked up. “Don’t know, baby. Probably because you were deep in your own head. Which is why I’m not fuckin’ furious with you.” He kissed me again. “Don’t ever take off like that again.”
“I won’t,” I promised without hesitation, filled with shame for taking off on him when he was being perfect. And right after he’d been vulnerable with me about his parents. I was such an asshole.
My chin trembled, tears escaping the corners of my eyes.
Elden wiped them away immediately.
“I’m s-sorry,” I stuttered. “I-I needed to do this.”
“I know,” he murmured.
“But I-I d-didn’t consider your feelings,” I sobbed. “I was being selfish and bratty and just mean, and I’m fucked-up. I mean, I know you knew that from the start, but maybe I’m even more fucked-up than I thought. And it’s too late for you to back out because you already put a baby in me.” I was spiraling now.
Elden’s hands fastened around my neck. “Violet,” he said firmly, his voice the anchor I needed to find my way back.
“The one and only time I even thought about backing out was when you asked me to kiss you on the rooftop,” he said, eyes blazing.
“But we weren’t even us then.”
His lips landed on mine. “Weren’t we?”
That only made me sob harder. Which was fine since I had a man who wasn’t afraid of my tears, my demons, my imperfections.
“You ready to go home now?” he asked.
I looked around the room.
“Yeah,” I said quietly.
I was definitely ready to go home.
Elden and I arrived back from Carver Springs renewed.
Or at least, I was renewed. It wasn’t Elden who had needed to face his demons, make peace with them. It was I who needed to linger in hell for a minute so I could enjoy our version of heaven. It was I who needed to learn that heaven and hell were both the same place, viewed through a different lens.
An important chapter of my life was closed. I was done with letting my dead father sabotage my happiness. I was sure that there would be shit that came up, that I’d be fucked-up forever. But I was okay with that. I had Elden. I could let myself sink into the life I was going to have with him.
Fear remained, as I figured it always would with this new, unplanned, uncertain life ahead of me. But I wouldn’t let that fear dictate my happiness.
The second we got back, after visiting Mom and Swiss and quelling their worries—Elden and Swiss even managed to be in the same room and share a beer—I went straight to the computer at our cottage, designing our forever home.
It got dark without me noticing, and Elden practically had to drag me to bed.
Well, he didn’t have to drag me since I was still a living, breathing, pregnant woman who was ruled by chemistry and hormones and was indescribably obsessed with her man.
Sariah arrived in Garnett not long after we did, to have a belated birthday celebration for me—where she drank for three: me, her and the baby—to go shopping, to celebrate Christmas at the club—which she loved—and to move herself into a little apartment she was renting above Oliver’s on Main Street.