AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I opened my eyes to let the light of the morning back in, retreating from the past.
Now, Callum was back at Willowfield with strict instructions to rest, but we hadn’t. Making love with his arm in a sling had proven an interesting task, but we made do, and I slowly began to find my way back to him. Despite our physical reconnection, we hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words, at my own requirement. As much as I longed to be near him, I wasn’t the same woman he’d come to love, and I was afraid of what it would mean to tell him that truth.
Footsteps on the mossy grass turned my attention, and Callum appeared in the arch, dressed in navy trousers and a white cotton button-up. He couldn’t bother with ties or jackets and had a difficult time shaving, a five-o’clock shadow a near constant on his face these days. His left arm was tucked against his ribs, secured with a sling that he would likely wear until the fall. The sight of him made my heart sing.
“I got your invitation,” he said, waving the small piece of stationery between his fingers.
I’d written a note asking him to meet me here in the center of the labyrinth like two besotted undergrads.
I patted the bench.
He came to me and sat close enough that our arms touched, and I thrilled at his warmth as I always had. I knew that this one thing would be the same no matter how the future shaped me.
We sat quietly together for a peaceful moment before I finally spoke.
“I barely remember the woman I was the first time I was here.”
He threaded his fingers through mine, reassuring me.
“What can you recall?”
“Well,” I said, “I remember our first kiss.”
It seemed the sweetest place to start.
He smiled. “Here on this very bench.”
I grinned in return, happy to flirt and delay the conversation.
“Why do you think I chose this as our clandestine meeting place?”
“Is that all you remember?” He gently guided me back to the topic, somehow knowing I was stalling.
“I remember Willowfield, how it used to be. I remember you, of course, Ms. Dillard, Dr. Hannigan, and sweet Florence.” Dr. Hannigan’s niece had been the maid of honor at our wedding. “I remember the pregnancies.”
I paused here, an unexpected wave of grief sweeping me under. His own eyes welling, Callum pressed a kiss onto the back of my hand, a gentle reminder that he was by my side.
“But other than that,” I continued around the lump in my throat, “everything seems like someone else’s thoughts. One thing I do know for certain is that I’m not the same person, Callum. I’m not the woman you first fell in love with.”
“You’re not,” he agreed softly.
I finally asked the question that had burdened my soul for weeks.
“Does that change how you feel about me?”
His reaction was heartening. A smile lifted the corners of his lips, and he looked away from me with a disbelieving shake of his head.
“I adored that timid woman Ms. Reeves brought here. She was bright and fanciful, scared of her own shadow. It inspired the knight in me. With her, I believed I’d reached the pinnacle of love, that my heart couldn’t hold more.”
Hearing him talk of the past me was difficult.
“Then,” he said, “I met you again, and found I was mistaken.”
“Callum,” I said, ready to bawl again. I’d come to be certain that a person could never be cried out. So many times I’d thought the last tear I would ever shed had fallen, only to discover there were always more. Good and bad, there were endlessly more.
He wrapped his good arm around my waist and encouraged me onto me onto his lap. We held each other in peaceful contentment, until he spoke again.
“I love every piece and part of you, then and now, and I know I’ve made so very many mistakes, but if you’ll forgive me and my stupidity, then I swear I will love every part to come.”
