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"I promise I will be. I love you."
"I love you too. We will be together soon." He leans in and kisses me again, this one feeling more urgent.
I watch him as he walks into the prison with a guard on each side. He looks over his shoulder just before getting to the door smiling at me. I try to smile back, but I know it's a wobbly one. I barely contain my sadness. I wait until the door closes before climbing into the limo. I'm surprised that I can even contain myself until we leave the parking lot, but as soon as the tires hit the road, the tears stream down my face, and I let my sobs go—feeling like I've been cut in half.
CHAPTER 46
KILLIAN
Two Months Later
Signing the last of the papers, I’m still finding it hard to believe that the pardon has come through. It doesn't really hit me that it's happening until the guard at the window starts to hand me all the stuff I had when I was arrested. It didn't come without a price, though.
The last two months have been so hard. Every time I saw Belle, the desperation to leave with her built inside of me, especially since I kept denying conjugal visits. After having her in our bed and taking her virginity, I knew I didn’t want to have her anywhere near this prison. She’s too special, too sweet, and good. I didn’t want the evil and darkness of this prison to touch her. I don't want memories of us together to be tainted. If the pardon hadn't been cleared, I would've taken desperate measures to be with my wife. I had already discussed it with Ryan.
I can barely believe that I get to walk out today as a free man. It doesn’t escape me, either, that my father is the one that made it happen. I guess I could be cynical and leave the blame of all of this at his feet, but that’s not what I’m feeling. The truth is, through this, I’m finally seeing that my father cares about me. I didn’t realize it before. Hell, I even resented him. Somewhere over the last few months, Ryan made massive strides to be in my life, keeping in touch constantly, and I respect that. He’s grown on me, and I care for him, not that I’ve told him, yet. I’m not sure I know how.
I know in my heart that everything that is currently good in my life is because of Belle. She’s the one who pushed to get me out, even lighting a fire under Ryan—who was already trying hard. Belle has given me a family—a sense of belonging that I haven’t felt since I lost my mother. I used to think I was living the high life and didn’t have a want in the world. Now I know how truly wrong I was. Belle makes my life worth living.
The guard walks me to the front door and stops. Instinctively, I stop with him until he nods at me to keep walking.
That's right. I'm a free man.
Once I step outside, the first thing I do is drag clean air into my lungs until they burn. I don’t want any of the stench of the hell I’m leaving behind left inside of me. I walk a few steps before I let out a whoosh of breath. Before I can repeat the process, Belle runs into my arms out of nowhere, sending me back a couple steps. I wrap my arms around her and can't help but groan out loud at the feel of holding her again—no shackles in the way.
I kiss her lips softly, over and over, until I realize she's crying. I pull away to hold her face softly and just stare at her, drinking her in.
"Don't cry. I don't like seeing tears on your beautiful face," I murmur, looking at her beautiful face.
Her hair seems to be deeper in color and her face is a bit flushed. Her eyes are sparkling, but that could be from crying. I just saw her a week ago, but everything about her is even more beautiful than before. I wouldn’t have thought that was possible. I step back just a bit to take her in; something about her already luscious curves are even more so. She's filled out perfectly over the last two months, and I want to kiss every inch of her as I get reacquainted with her body.
"It's okay. These are happy tears," Belle says, pulling me down into another kiss.
I walk us to the limo, crawling in behind her, trying to keep my hands to myself long enough to get my wife home. I instruct the driver on where to go and put up the privacy glass before kissing her again. This time when her lips touch mine, I feel her hunger mirroring my own.
