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“If you like the inside and not just the outside, then yes. I’m serious.”
My heart beats so hard that it seems to be stopping itself. “It’s smaller than any house we’ve ever had. Are you sure it’s good enough for you?”
He smiles. “We’venever had a house before. And yes, if it’s good enough for you, then it is for me.”
“I can’t believe you did this. I’ve never had anyone...”
Apollo reaches out and runs his fingertips down the side of my head, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Let’s go inside and see this dream house of yours.”
He leans in close enough that he can take hold of the back of my head and pulls me into a kiss. He claims my mouth just as he has so many times before. Before, when we were locked away in Olympus. When our reality could be cloaked by the fog of Heathens Hollow. Before real life stepped in. Before I have to return to a life that I so desperately want to leave behind me, never to return to.
As his tongue dances with mine, I lean closer to him, wanting him to desperately bring us back to Heathens Hollow. Back to the only place that ever felt like home.
“I didn’t want to leave the island,” I mumble against the kiss. “But then you show me this.”
He pulls away just enough that he can look into my eyes again. “We can live anywhere in the world you want to live in.” He gives me a quick peck to end the more passionate kiss and adds, “But before you decide, let’s go see the house.”
“I love you,” I say softly. “You.” I want him to hear me say it. I love him. The perfect and amazing man that he is.
The biggest smile forms on his face, not only with his mouth, but with his eyes. “I like hearing those words from your lips. Lips I want to kiss over and over again. But first…” He gets out of the car, walks around to my side, and opens my door. “Let’s go see if we found our new home.” He stares up at it proudly. “I can see us living here.”
I get out of the car feeling overwhelmed with what’s about to happen for us. A house, a baby, a new beginning. This family tree is so rooted and old, but for us, we are just beginning this family saga. We are about to start our own branch of the Godwin tree.
Chapter 41
ANI
I wake slowly, feeling disorientated with soft sheets luxurious against my skin. There is a feeling of stillness in the air, and the room is lit by a soft night light kept on at all times. I can hear the ticking of a clock somewhere in the distance and feel a faint chill.
I don’t even know what time it is. I’ve been sleeping more than I’ve been awake, but the darkness of the night has deepened, and I feel curiously removed from the world around me. I’ve been in this mansion for days—maybe even a week or two. Each day has blended with the next, and I feel as if I’m living in an odd purgatory between the hell I was once in and a potential future of better times ahead now thathe’sgone.
My phone vibrates on the nightstand beside me, and I wonder if that is the sound of what woke me. Seeing it’s my sister calling has me quickly answer, knowing if I don’t, she’ll start to panic.
“Hey,” I say, reaching for the glass of water beside my bed to drink. My voice is scratchy, and I don’t want Daphne to worry even more that I may be getting sick or something.
“Did I wake you?”
“I really need to start sleeping on a regular schedule. I’m losing all sense of time.”
“You’re healing. Your body went through a lot,” Daphne says, softly. This isn’t the first time she’s given me this reassurance. Every time I bring up how I should leave and get out of her hair, I receive this same lecture.
“I know. But I’m feeling better. The bruising is fading. Nothing I can’t hide with a little makeup.” I leave out the fact that I have the kind of makeup that covers the bruises back at my trailer and have done this multiple times.
“You aren’t ready to leave Olympus,” Daphne says, clearly reading my mind. “I don’t want you in that tin can any longer.”
“That tin can is my home.”
“It doesn’t need to be. I can help you—”
“I’m not taking your money,” I interrupt.
“Ani…”
“I’m serious. You and Apollo have already done far more than I’m comfortable with.”
This argument my sister and I have has been going on ever since she married into the Godwin family. Just because she has access to money now doesn’t mean I do. I don’t take charity or handouts and never have. Never will.
“Tell me about the house you saw today,” I say, changing the subject. “I’m assuming you’ve seen it by now.”
