Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
I don’t know how long I stay in his arms, the two of us just holding each other. Then I feel Caleb beside me, rubbing my back. “Perhaps we should sit down.”
“That would be good,” Carl agrees, letting me go but grabbing my hand to keep me close to him. “My legs are about to give out.”
I laugh as I move with him to the library. “Do you want water?” I ask him as he looks around. “Juice, coffee?” He shakes his head. “Whiskey?” He chuckles.
“I’m good,” he assures me. I sit down, and he follows my lead. His hand immediately goes to hold mine as Caleb stands on the side of the couch, giving us our moment. “I want you to know that I never knew, or else I would have taken you,” he starts, and I can’t help the tears that run down my face. The feeling of knowing that at least someone wanted me makes all of this up-and-down worth it. “Your mother,” he begins and shakes his head, “I loved her with everything I had, and I wanted to give her the world.”
“How did you two meet?” I ask, and he smiles sadly.
“I was walking home from my job at one of the ranches nearby. It was summer, and she was stuck on the side of the road. Her tire was flat. She was trying to change it, but the lug nuts were just too tight. So I helped her.” He smiles. “She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. I asked her to have dinner with me the next day. She showed up, and I knew she was the one for me. Knew I wouldn’t ever find someone who would take my breath away. Still is to this day, the love of my life.”
“But she moved.”
“Yeah, her parents found out we were dating. It wasn’t a good look. Her grandfather was a newspaper tycoon, and I was the kid from the wrong side of the tracks, with barely any schooling and no prospects. My parents were hardworking people, but we still lived paycheck to paycheck, and that wasn’t what they envisioned for their daughter. So they moved her away.”
“But you never stopped?” I ask, and his smile gets even bigger.
“Never,” he admits. “We snuck around for over a year. I would work eighty hours a week just so I could buy a car and get gas money to go see her for a couple of hours on the weekend.” My heart breaks for both of them. “Losing your mother and then losing you. I knew there was no way I could ever love anyone as much as I did you guys.” He brings my hand to his lips. “I never moved on.” I don’t know if I gasp or if Caleb is the one who gasps, but the whole room goes silent. “But now you’re here.”
“Now I’m here.” I smile at him, the tears running over my lips to my chin. “And—” I’m about to say something else when the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it,” Caleb states, and he walks away from us, but Carl is on his feet.
“I should have told you,” he starts to say, but then stops when I look over at the woman who is now standing in the middle of my foyer and the living room. Her eyes go to Carl first and then to me. “Fiona,” he says, and before I can say anything, she falls right there in the middle of my foyer.
“Holy shit!” Caleb catches her right before her head hits the floor. Carl rushes to her while I stand here frozen in my tracks.
“I’ve got her,” Carl assures him, taking her in his arms and carrying her over to the couch.
“I’ll get her a cold rag,” Caleb offers, rushing to the bathroom upstairs.
“I’ll get her some water,” I say, running out of the room and toward the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle and then walking back into the room. She’s lying on the couch, a pillow under her head with Carl putting the cold rag on the back of her neck.
“Fiona,” he says her name as he brushes the hair away from her face. Her eyes flutter open as she tries to focus. “Hi,” he says, smiling down at her, “you fainted.” He fills her in as she looks up at him. Her hair is very different from the picture I found of her. It’s more brown with soft blond highlights.
“Carl,” she says his name as if he hung the moon and the stars, “tell me it’s not true.”
“Someone needs to tell me what is going on,” Caleb interjects. “Please fill us in. What is she doing here?” He points at her.
“When I got off the phone with you, I called her.” Carl fills us in as Fiona sits up on the couch, her eyes going past Caleb and to me.