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I would walk away, all to protect her from more heartache.
My head was a mess.
My body a trembling fool.
“Please...I—” I swallowed hard. “Tell me what you’re not telling me. Is she with someone?”
Anna took my hand as she stepped off the deck and waited for me to join her on the grass. I gauged the distance to step down and did it as smoothly as I could, relying more on my cane for balance so I didn’t put weight into her grip.
She waited until we were halfway around the pool before replying. “Do you honestly think she could be with anyone else, Aslan?” Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks as she led me toward the driveway. “She refused to believe you were dead for years. She vowed she felt you, even when all of us said she was mad. She never stopped believing you were alive.” Her voice caught. “We all feared for her state of mind. We asked her to get help. We did everything we could to support her, but...she never accepted you were gone. And now...now I feel absolutely awful because I didn’t believe her. I didn’t trust my own daughter. I didn’t believe in the connection you two share.”
She shook her head as we stopped beside the Jeep. “I-I don’t have the words for how I feel seeing you again. I’ve missed you so much. We all have. But Neri...” She pulled her hand from mine with a wince. “She broke losing you, Aslan, and I honestly don’t think I can watch when she realises you’re not gone...just like she said. I won’t be able to stand it. I can barely stand it now. I hate myself for the number of times I begged her to let you go. I was so worried about her. I didn’t believe her. God, I didn’t—”
“Hey, love. It’s okay,” Jack murmured, wrapping his arm around Anna. “We both didn’t. We thought we were doing the right thing.” His eyes met mine. “We should’ve trusted her.”
My ears rang.
Hot tears threatened to spill. “S-She heard me calling her...”
My heart scrambled with joy.
She heard me...
She felt me.
Fuck, she felt me.
How much did she feel?
“She heard you, mate. Loud and fucking clear.” Jack cleared his throat, unwound his arm from around Anna, then opened the Jeep’s door. “But Anna’s right. We can’t be there when she sees you. I feel like I’ve let her down so badly. Five years of wishing she could move on. Five years of fearing she’d eventually drive herself insane or worse...all to learn she was right.”
He wiped away a falling tear. “I doubted my own daughter. I failed her in so many ways. Just like I failed you. Fuck. This is insane. Seeing you again. Touching you.” He struggled to smile. “Like Anna said, I don’t have the words. All I can say is...we can’t go with you. We can’t watch Neri break again. But we’ll be here, Aslan. We’ll be here for when you’re ready to tell us what happened.”
Striding to me, he grabbed my hand and pressed the keys into them. “Go to her. She’s number twelve on Baler. Go. She heard you, mate. Fuck, she heard you every damn day you were gone. Just like you heard her all those years ago.”
He sniffed and bowed his head. “You once told me you killed for her. That you turned into the devil himself to protect my only daughter. Whatever you’ve suffered, Aslan. Wherever you’ve been and whatever nightmares you’ve endured, I need you to know that I will never doubt you again, never question you, never hold you back. You and her?” He shrugged helplessly. “I’ve never known anything as strong as the love you guys share. It’s survived years of distance. Months of heartache. It’s real and I’m in awe of both of you.”
He stepped away and hugged Anna again. “Now, get over there. Meet your daughter. And try not to kill our daughter by coming back to life.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
*
Nerida
AGE: 25 YRS OLD
*
(Love in German: Liebe)
“I’M GOING TO GET YOU,” TEDDY ROARED as he chased after Ayla.
“No, no!” she squealed and took off as fast as her almost five-year-old little legs could carry her, bolting through the side gate to the overgrown front garden. Eddie took off after them, growling like a moron.
Ayla’s scream echoed with fun, joy, and excitement.
Just because Teddy had transformed this three-bedroom home into a boho chic dreamhouse and the back garden now had a five-metre-deep swimming pool, glass fence, and sparkly pavers didn’t mean any of us were good at staying on top of swiftly growing tropical vines, weeds, and flowers at the front. Our poor letter box was being strangled again by some invasive plant.
