20. Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Raina
In the morning, I wake up alone. The room I’m in is large, complete with a sitting area. A fire is burning in the fireplace, keeping the room warm.
Groggily, I push myself up onto my elbows. I remember being in the car on the way to the airport—not Erik’s, but the rental he had delivered since his car disappeared—but after that, my memory is blank.
Did I fall asleep? I suppose I must’ve.
Just then, Erik pushes through the door, a tray in his hands. It’s filled with food, a few mugs, and a vase with a single white rose.
“You’re awake,” he says, and his smile has warmth cascading through me. “Merry Christmas, Raina.”
“Merry Christmas.” My heart leaps as he sets the tray over my lap. “Breakfast in bed?”
“I thought it’d be nice. What do you think?”
“It’s perfect.” I stare down at the array of food in front of me. Eggs, toast, cinnamon rolls, fruit, and there’s even a candy cane sticking out of one of the mugs. “Did you make all of this?”
“Mmhmm. I do my best to make sure my staff has off around the holidays. I don’t mind fending for myself for a few days, especially now.” After carefully crawling into bed next to me, Erik kisses my cheek.
“This one is mine?” I ask, pointing to the mug with the candy cane and what looks like hot chocolate.
“Yeah. Unless you like coffee? I wasn’t sure.”
“I do, but this is wonderful.” Picking up my mug, I inhale deeply. It smells chocolatey and delicious with a hint of peppermint. “Thank you.”
He plucks a grape from the tray and pops it into his mouth, grinning down at me. With him here, the fireplace burning, and this beautiful tray of food in front of us, my heart is full. No one has ever done something like this for me before.
“Did I miss the plane?” I ask as I pick up a piece of toast.
“You did. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you up. We can fly together sometime soon.”
“I’d like that.”
My stomach flips at the thought. Almost overnight, my life has changed drastically. I can go wherever I’d like to now. Do whatever I’d like. The possibilities seem endless, and it’s made even better by the fact that I know Erik will always be with me.
Between the two of us, we finish all the food on the tray. It tastes as delicious as it looks, and I wonder if Erik would be willing to teach me how to cook and bake. I’ve wanted to learn since I was little, but I wasn’t allowed.
“If you’re ready, I have something waiting for you downstairs,” Erik says.
“You do?”
“I promised you I’d do everything I could to make today a happy day, didn’t I?”
“It already is,” I whisper, caressing his face.
“Well, it’s about to get better.” Erik crawls off the bed, taking the tray with him. “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without presents.”
Oh. I’d forgotten about all the gifts he got for me.
Slipping out of bed, I stretch and let out a yawn. There’s a glass of water on the nightstand, and I take a sip. When I set it back down, I notice a clear cube sitting right next to the clock. Inside is a yellowed, wilted rose.
“Erik.”
“Yes, little rose?”
“Is this…” My mouth goes dry as I pick it up.
“I told you I kept it.” He nudges my face with his nose, his lips soft against my jawbone. “Had it preserved in resin so I’d have a piece of you with me forever.”
Of course he did.
“And now you have me forever,” I murmur.
“Mmm. That I do.” He kisses me. “Come downstairs whenever you’re ready. There are a few changes of clothes for you on top of the dresser. Pick whatever you’d like. Oh, and there’s a toothbrush for you in the bathroom, as well.”
Once he leaves, I rush to get ready. Within twenty minutes, I’m clean, lotioned, and dressed in a gray sweater dress. It’s as soft and cozy as it looks, and it feels like I’m wrapped up in a hug.
My chest still tightens when I step out of the bedroom, but I force myself to do it. Being farther away from my father’s mansion helps, I think.
So does the fact that he can never hurt me again.
Downstairs, Erik is humming a Christmas song while doing dishes. The kitchen opens up into the dining room, which is lined with tall windows that overlook a winter wonderland of a backyard.
I gasp, running to get a better view. “Erik! It snowed!”
“The snow was here before we were, little rose.” His body envelops me from behind, and he kisses the top of my head. “We’re much farther north than where we grew up. The winters are colder here.”
“So there’s always snow on Christmas?” I ask, unable to hide the excitement in my voice.
“Usually,” he replies, crossing the room to me. His hands rest on my hips. “You like that?”
“It makes it feel more magical, doesn’t it?”
I glimpse his reflection in the window as he smiles, staring down at me instead of the snow. “Yeah. It does.”
Turning, I place both hands on Erik’s chest. He’s wearing a burgundy sweater that brings out the warmth in his cinnamon brown eyes. When he smiles down at me, my heart skips a beat. He always looks at me with such dedication. I never doubted him, but the truth behind his words settles over me as he lowers his forehead to mine. Erik really, truly means to live for me and only me.
“Would you like to open your presents?” he asks me.
I gasp. “But I don’t have anything to give you!”
“You’ve already given me everything I’ve ever wanted.” Moving my hair behind my shoulder, he cups the back of my head. His lips brush over mine in a kiss that sends chills sliding over my skin. “You’re my gift.”
I smile against his mouth and loop my arms around his neck. When he picks me up and twirls me around, I can’t help my laugh. What we had to do to ensure we could stay together was twisted—horrifying, probably—but in the end, all that matters is that we have each other. Everyone who died yesterday sealed their own fate when they took part in hurting me.
Setting me down, Erik slides his hand into mine. “C’mon.” He leads me into the living room.
A tall Christmas tree stands in one corner, and all the presents he showed me the other day are around its base. I can’t stop staring at it, even as Erik pushes me into an armchair near the fireplace.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathe.
“Picked it out myself.” Erik hands me a small, rectangular box. “Let’s start with this one.”
As I unwrap it, he kneels on the floor next to me. One of his hands wraps around my calf, and his thumb rubs back and forth absentmindedly.
Once I have the box unwrapped, I stare at the picture on the front. “A phone?”
Marissa let me play with hers a few times, but I was never sure what to do with it other than play the bubble popping game she loaded onto it for me. She tried to show me memes, but there were too many I didn’t understand. The videos of sweet, cute animals always made me happy, though.
“I thought you’d like something to call your sister with—although we’ll need to wait until the police investigation dies down. You can call me, too, and you can ask it just about anything, and it’ll give you an answer.”
“Really?”
Erik nods. “I’ll show you how to use it later today.”
Leaning down, I kiss him. “Thank you. I was so jealous of Marissa and the boys when they got phones.”
“Of course.” He squeezes my calf before grabbing another present. “How about this one next?”
The moment I have the gift in my hand, I know exactly what it is. The size, the weight, the hardness of the front and back. I tear off the paper, revealing a familiar book I read a few years ago.
With a gasp, I hug the book to my chest. “I love this one! It’s about two girls on opposite sides of the world, and they become pen pals and fall in love with each other through their letters.”
Erik peers at the cover with renewed interest. “Sounds good. Maybe I’ll give it a read. It was in a section with a bunch of others that you had under your bed, so I thought it’d be a good one to grab.”
I nod. “The maid who snuck me in books had to sneak them out, too, otherwise my collection would’ve gotten too big and Charles would’ve noticed.”
“Well, now you can get as many books as you want, and you don’t have to keep them hidden. You can fill an entire library up with books if you’d like.”
Setting the book to the side, I slip onto the floor in front of him and fit my mouth to his. He lets out a surprised sound and grabs my waist.
“God, you taste like peppermint,” he groans. “You’re killing me, Raina.”
It takes us a minute, but we finally pull away from each other. Erik has me turn around and sit in between his legs while I open the rest of the presents. I love feeling his warmth at my back, the deepness of his voice soothing me.
There are so many presents that it takes me until lunch to open them all. When I’m done, I stare at the array of books, movies, games, jewelry, candles, bath bombs… The sight of it brings tears to my eyes.
“I always pretended that I didn’t care,” I whisper. “Watching everyone else open presents while I didn’t get any. But…”
“But it hurt,” he finishes for me.
“It did. And this… Erik, I don’t know what to say. No one has ever cared about me enough to do something like this.”
His arms slip around me, and he presses his face into my neck. “We’ll do it for each other, yeah?”
With a teary smile, I turn to face him. “I can’t imagine anything better.”