Chapter Fifty-Four
My heart jolts to life like it’s been hit with a defibrillator when Olivia turns around and smiles at me.
Smiles. A sweet, beautiful smile.
She’s bewitching, standing there, a breeze rustling her sleek black hair and her simple purple sundress.
I’m hit with an urge to kneel at her feet, because what did I ever do to deserve her?
What did I do to deserve her precious smile, her kindness, and her love?
I thought she might tell me off or give me the silent treatment. Both are the least of what I deserve for hurting her, for not trusting her enough with my secrets.
But instead, she’s giving me grace and understanding.
“Olive,” I rasp, my hands behind my back, the thick straps of the paper bags I’m holding digging into my flesh. “Happy birthday.”
“How did you know I’m here?”
“A little bird may have told me.” Five little birds, to be exact. I think back to my sisters slash sisters-in-law’s faces when they video called me earlier. All of them clamored to give me advice on how to win Olivia back.
“Buy her books. Lots of them!” Grace says.
“The smutty ones.” That’s Millie.
“What’s smut?” I ask, and the girls cackle.
“Men. I swear, if we didn’t need you to procreate, you’d be extinct,” Taylor mutters. “Just trust them. You’ll benefit from the smut.”
“I’m sure your presence is the best present.” Alexis beams. Damn it, I hate to admit it, but Ethan has good taste. His wife is a good cookie, unlike the rest of these…hyenas.
“You have a present for her, right? You better not show up empty-handed, or else.” Lana scowls at the camera.
Olivia’s eyes widen, then she grins. “The girls. They knew you were coming.”
“Maybe. I needed to get info somehow.”
“But how did you know I would be here?”
I shrug and kick the grass, my skin heating.
“They told me you were going to the cemetery but didn’t know which one.
I may have gone to your childhood home and had a chat with your parents.
Where I told them the PG version of what happened, apologized for torpedoing your career, and then declared my undying love for you.
I think it worked since they gave me the address.
But I honestly couldn’t tell. They have really good poker faces. ”
When she doesn’t respond, I look up.
Her shoulders shake, and she covers her mouth with her hand.
My chest seizes. I’m second-guessing everything. Is she mad? Did I do this all wrong?
But then I see the laughter in her eyes.
My beautiful, whiskey-colored eyes.
“You’re really going to make me say it, aren’t you?” I mutter, my lips twitching.
Olivia takes a deep breath and folds her hands in front of her like she’s interviewing to be an etiquette teacher. Her face is wiped clean of whatever amusement I glimpsed just now.
She cocks her brow as if to say, what are you here for?
My stomach turns and my palms sweat. I hand her one of my bags, and she stares at me quizzically.
“I’ve been seeing a psychiatrist—taking meds, going to therapy, doing all the work, as you like to say.
It’ll be a long journey. Lots of therapy.
But in one week, I’ll be completely off Velowake.
We’re tapering off slowly, and while it was hard initially, things are better now. I sleep five hours most nights.”
She clutches my bag to her chest, her eyes widening. Olivia has seen me at my lowest. She’s seen my monsters and how deeply their talons are embedded in my skin.
She knows it hasn’t been an easy path.
“I still have nightmares. I still think about Mom and the what-ifs. I still regret not having done everything I could for Raya. I still reach for my half-empty bottle of Velowake, thinking if I just take one pill, I can stay awake and not live through the nightmares. But I don’t. I stop myself, and you know why?”
An urgency fills me—the need to be closer to her, to touch her, to feel her warmth against my body. I take a step toward her, and another, the pull between us unbearable.
Her chest rises and falls, but she remains quiet and still.
Slowly, I take her hand, closing my eyes as our skin touches. Euphoria washes over me from the simple contact, my nerves lighting up one by one.
“Because,” I slowly open my eyes and stare at her, “I want us to have a future together. I want, no need, you in my life, Olive. You’re my star, my sun, my gravity. You’re the spotlight I want to stare at for the rest of my life. I love you so, so much, more than I’d ever imagined possible.”
Her slender throat works, and she rolls her lips inward, clearly becoming emotional.
I push through. “I want to be healthy for you and also for me, so we can have a long, long life together. So I can enjoy the ride with you—all the ups and downs, all the laughter, all the fights. I’ll remember them all, and while there’ll be some moments I’ll rather forget, I’ll treasure every second, because you’re with me.
Because with you, everything is worth it. Every moment is precious.”
I pull out a package from the bag I’m still holding and hand it to her.
She sets down her bag and takes it. She cocks her brow.
“Open it,” I murmur.
She tears the wrapping paper and gasps when she sees the album.
A photo album, to be exact.
“You once told me you thought you were a shadow. That you blended into the background and no one saw you. But you were wrong. You shine the brightest, and I’ve always seen you.”
“Rex,” she whispers as she flips through the book, which contains all the photos from my secret stash.
There are photos of her gazing at the caves in Mykonos, her staring into the ocean on the sky deck, a snippet of her on the phone in her office when she wasn’t looking. Hundreds of little moments I stole from her, thinking I wouldn’t get to experience the joy of having a lifetime with her.
I’m so glad I was wrong.
“Will you take me back, my bewitching, beautiful Olive?” I ask, a clamoring rising in my chest.
“But you shouldn’t be in a new relationship now, right? At least for a year. I don’t want to derail your progress,” she whispers.
I shake my head. “You make me stronger, Olive. And we aren’t new, are we? We love each other. We’ve gone through things no couple should ever experience. But we’ll take it slow. I just want you by my side again…if you’ll still have me.”
Her breath hitches and her small frame trembles. This time, it’s not from laughter.
Please take me back, Olive. We’re stronger together.
She runs and throws her arms around me.
Her nose digs into my neck as I wrap my arms around her, relief flooding my insides.
I’m probably holding her too tightly, but I don’t care. This feeling—her warm weight, her sweet cotton scent, the way her face fits perfectly in the crook of my neck.
I never want to lose it.
“I love you, Olive. I love you more than anything in my life. I love you so, so much.”
“I love you too, Rex. I’m so proud of you,” she whispers and pulls back to look at me. “And I’ll be by your side. This journey you’re on…you aren’t alone.”
Her fingers trail over my hair, which I know is due for a cut, then to my freshly shaven face—I didn’t want to look too shabby in front of her parents.
She doles out a watery smile, and I grin. Damn butterflies are flapping their wings inside me.
“Will you do something with me?” she asks.
“Anything.”
Olivia nods. She picks up a lighter, sparks a flame, and lights up the edge of the envelope before putting it back into the metal canister.
My chest pinches when I see the quiet grief on her face as she stands.
“For Mia?” I ask.
“Yes. It’s a letter—a farewell to a chapter. It’s long overdue.”
It’s time for me to let go too.
I pull the marble out of my pocket and toss it in the canister too.
Her eyes widen and I say, “It’s time for me to let the past stay in the past too. The marble won’t melt, but the sentiment is the same.”
We stare at the flames together, watching the letter burn to ashes, tendrils of dark smoke wafting into the air.
“I never explained to you why I was burning photos for Mia in Las Fallas, did I?”
“No. But I have an inkling.”
I did some research a while back, and it turns out in her heritage, the living can give the dead gifts by burning them. Those gifts are usually made of paper, but tradition dictates once they are burned, the dead will receive them like real objects to use in the afterlife.
“I think it’s a beautiful sentiment.” I link our fingers together, and she leans against me. “I bet your sister appreciates it.”
“I hope so. I’ll always miss her, but I won’t live in the past anymore.”
Pride sweeps through me as I press a kiss on her hair. “She wouldn’t want you to.”
Then a thought snaps into me. “Shit. I just gave her my marble, didn’t I?”
Olivia laughs, the sound bright and beautiful, and I chuckle too.
“I’m sure she appreciates it. She’ll probably find your mom and gossip about you.” She snickers.
Facing the grave marker, a new weight settles on my chest.
But this is a good weight—a responsibility, a promise.
A vow.
“Mia, I’m Rex, the man who loves your sister very much.”
Olivia’s breath hitches, but I continue, “I’m far from perfect, but I’m damn lucky your sister loves me back.
I’ll treasure her, protect her, love her for all my remaining time on this earth.
We’ll have adventures, big and small, and we’ll have a fulfilling life.
If you’re up there, looking down on us, don’t worry about Olive anymore. I got this from now on.”
“Rex,” Olivia whispers, her eyes glistening.
Gently, I wipe the moisture from her eyes and motion to the bag at her feet. “Another small present.”
She blinks a few times, like she’s noticing the bag on the ground for the first time.
Grinning, she looks inside and fishes out a gift-wrapped box. Like a little kid on Christmas, she gleefully opens it, and I can’t help but laugh.
Her eyes snap up to mine. “Rex? Is this what I think it is?”
I nod. “Your sister’s camera. I found it. A collector bought it off the black market. Your film is still inside.”
Her lips tremble as she stares at the camera, her fingers grazing the body. “Th-Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“There’s more. Keep looking.”
She arches a quizzical brow, then pulls out an envelope from the bag.
Her eyes widen when she sees the return address. Her hand flies to her lips.
“It’s okay. Everything will be fine. Just open it.”
With shaky fingers, she carefully opens the envelope and pulls out a single sheet of paper.
I know what’s inside since Xav gave me a heads-up earlier. He told me I owe him a big one for giving me the letter instead of mailing it directly to Olivia.
It’s the ruling for her case from the OPMC. They’ve cleared her and reinstated her license. She’s free to practice again.
“How?” she whispers, her eyes roving over the text like she can’t believe it.
“A technicality. You sent me an email to end our doctor-patient relationship. While it isn’t as binding as an agreement, it shows a digital timestamp of the end of our professional arrangement. And the email was dated before the photos in Monaco.”
“B-But, we still had s-sessions?”
“I wouldn’t volunteer that info if I were you.
Your friend Rhys and I had a chat, and while we don’t see eye-to-eye on things, he says he won’t say anything because you’re a damn good doctor.
Then the fucker said if I make you cry again, he’d go to the committee and say I extorted you or some shit. ”
She slowly looks up. “Th-That’s it? I get to practice again?”
I nod.
“Thank you!” She jumps up and down. I grin and pull her into my arms.
“You’re the best doctor I’ve ever met. As long as you don’t fall for another patient again, I think we’re good.”
“Shut up.”
“But I don’t think you’ll ever meet another patient as sexy and irresistible as me.” Leaning down, I whisper in her ear, “Rex-a-Million, a million orgasms for the only woman I love.”
She shivers in my hold and heat courses through my body. I cup her face, my thumbs grazing her cheeks, needing to taste her lips again.
I’ve been deprived, and I intend to claim.
But then, I remember my last surprise for her.
Using all my remaining willpower, I disentangle from her and pick up the last bag a few feet away.
“One last present for you.”
“What? Really? I’m already the happiest woman on earth right now,” she says as she takes the bag from me and looks inside.
The smile freezes on her lips and her head whips up.
“Ni chi fan le ma? Have you eaten yet, dear Olive?”
Her lips part as recognition sparks inside them. She told me her family used to say this instead of I love you, and I want to take part in the tradition.
I want to be part of everything that is her.
“Pappardelle al Cinghiale, your favorite dish. Took me ten tries to get it right. Damn Valenti was so smug when I called him after the fifth failed batch. Who knew boar was so difficult to marinate?”
Olivia presses her hand to her chest.
“I’m sure it’s the best pasta in the world,” she murmurs, her voice thick, as I close the distance between us.
“Damn right it is. Even better than Valenti’s, and you know why?”
She cocks her head, and I smile.
“Because it has my love in it.”
Olivia grins, then her eyes take on a saucy light. “But what if I tell you pasta’s no longer my thing and my new favorite food is the meat lover’s pizza?”
I freeze, then throw my head back and laugh when I think about how she bluffed me on the cruise.
“Just kidding,” she says. “I still love the pappardelle.”
“And you’ll only get your meat from me now.” I growl and pull her against me.
Then I finally kiss her. Kiss the woman who’s taught me to be brave and to choose love not because it’s safe, but because it’s worth the risk. The woman who’s shown me healing is messy, and it’s okay. The woman who’s accepted me, flaws and all, and made me face my fears.
The woman who’s taught me the meaning of true love.
As she melts into my embrace, our lips tangling, our kiss quickly spinning out of control, a scorching heat flows through my body, searing into my muscles and bones.
Love. So much love.
And I’m finally home.