MAYA BROOKE
“Please come back and visit us soon,” Andrea says as she brings me in for a tight hug. “You’re welcome here anytime, Maya. I mean it.”
I haven’t stopped grinning since the moment I arrived here. Their house is filled with love and joy and everything in between. The type of house I want Skye to grow up in.
“Thank you so much,” I murmur into Andrea’s shoulder.
She pulls away and holds me at arm’s length. “Stop being so silly,” she murmurs as she rubs my shoulders. “You are family, and family is always welcome, no matter what.”
I flick my eyes between hers. “Thank you. It’s been the best Christmas I’ve ever had. You’ve honestly restored my faith in what a family should be.”
Andrea’s eyes soften. “They don’t know what they’re missing.”
James brings me into a hug shortly after, and I watch as they say goodbye to their granddaughter before Finn places her in the car along with our belongings. It’s been a week of pure bliss, and now it’s time to head back to reality.
When Finn pulls away from the curb, and I wave Andrea and James off as they stand on the pavement, my heart glows with happiness.
“You okay?” Finn asks as he changes gear and keeps his eyes on the road.
“Yeah, I’m good. Are you?”
For a moment, he pauses, and I look at him. “Yeah.”
The rest of the journey is mostly silent. I’m in and out of sleep after Skye kept us up last night, and I was adamant to look after her, knowing Finn would be driving a long way today.
We pull up outside my house, and the sight of it makes my heart droop a little. I love the house, but it’s not my home. It’s never been my home. We’ve been in a bubble over Christmas, and I didn’t want it to end.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and get Skye out of her car seat as Finn brings our bags into the house. I immediately turn on the heating because it’s near Baltic and place Skye down into her cot as the journey completely knocked her out.
“Home sweet home,” I say as Finn shuts the door, and I rub my hands together, patiently waiting for the heating to start working. He clears his throat, and I watch him as he swipes a hand through his messy hair. “Everything alright?”
After a few moments, he drags his green eyes to me, and I hold my breath. “We haven’t spoken about yesterday.”
I blink at him. “Yesterday?”
Finn nods gravely, eyes never leaving mine.
“What’s there to talk about? We—”
“What’s there to talk about?” He quirks a brow and starts to pace.
The second I hear his cold laugh, it makes me shiver.
He stops pacing and turns to look at me with a hard expression. “Why don’t we talk about the fact that I love you? That I’ve always loved you and will always be in love with you.”
My chest clenches at his declaration. “Finn—”
“That I want to be with you. That every day I spend with you only makes me love you more, and I don’t know how, but I do, and I can’t stop. Not even if I tried.”
I take slow steps towards him as his hands fly around his body as he speaks.
“And we haven’t said a single word about it, and I was trying to read you this morning, but then I just started panicking because what if you regretted it…
again? God—” He cups the back of his neck and looks up at the ceiling.
“I’ve never been the type of person to constantly seek validation, but my head feels like a maze sometimes.
And I fear that we might not even be on the same book, let alone page, and—”
My hands rest on his cheeks to stop him from spiraling. He glances at me as his chest heaves, and it breaks me into a thousand pieces. I lean up on my toes and kiss him softly, just like I did after our moment together yesterday.
“I love you, Finn,” I whisper against his mouth.
“Always have, always will. I meant what I said yesterday. I want this. I want us to be together. I promise you we are on the same book, on the same page, on the same line. I’m done needing space.
I just need you. I need us and Skye. That’s all I’ll ever need. ”
Finn’s expression crumbles as his eyebrows twitch with emotion. He wraps an arm around my waist and buries his head into my neck. I listen as he takes a shuddering breath, one I know is of relief, and it makes my heart weep.
“We didn’t speak about it,” he mumbles as he shakes around me. “And I thought you changed your mind.”
My hand drags down the back of his head gently. “No,” I whisper. “I’m sorry. I just thought we didn’t need to say anything after. It was the last day with your parents, maybe I wasn’t thinking.”
Finn nudges his head into mine as he cups my cheek and kisses me again. I fall into him. Numb with pleasure and solace.
“I’ve never been this needy in my life,” he voices, cheeks tinting pink. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
“You need reassurance, I understand that now. I don’t want you to doubt this. To doubt what we are. To doubt who you are. I’m sorry I took so long.”
Finn sniffles. “It’s not your fault.”
“But I know what I want now, and we’re going to make it work.”
“Yeah, we’re gonna make this work.”
The sound of crying erupts into the room, and we both release a soft sigh.
“You’ve always been my girl,” he whispers as he rests his forehead against mine.
I swallow as I bury my fingers in the back of his hair, and he closes his eyes at the sensation.
“I trust you. I love you. I want to be with you. I’m done taking my time when you’ve done nothing but better yourself over these last few months.
I know how hard you’ve worked, and pushing you away has been the most painful thing I’ve ever had to endure. ”
Finn’s eyes fill with tears. “I’m never going to make that mistake again.”
“I believe you,” I whisper.
Skye’s crying becomes louder, and we eventually untangle ourselves from one another. Finn goes to get her, and she settles when he holds her close to his chest and brushes back her wispy hair.
“I think someone is hungry.” I watch as he moves to the kitchen and starts to prepare a bottle.
Once Skye is fed, he holds her in his arms, and I curl up on the sofa as Finn joins me. Within seconds, I’m cuddled up to him as I stare down at a satisfied Skye, and a sensation of home washes over me.
He is home.
Not this house. Not this town.
He is the definition of what home means to me.
“I had the best time with your family,” I murmur.
“They’re your family, too. My mum adores you.”
The smile that covers my lips is instant. “I’m glad. I was worried they wouldn’t like me.”
Finn pulls back an inch and studies me. “Are you serious? You’re the most loveable human in the world.”
“Skye holds that title.”
He smiles back at me. “You both are. I’m glad you had a good time. I did too. The best.”
“My favourite Christmas yet.”
“Yeah?” He raises a brow in surprise.
“I can’t remember a Christmas where there hasn’t been some kind of argument or the turkey going flying.
” My body tenses thinking back to those horrific times.
“Or sitting in my room scrolling on social media to see everyone else playing games with their family and having a good time. This was the kind of Christmas I’ve always dreamt of. ”
Finn kisses my forehead tenderly, and I close my eyes. “Well, it’s the first of many. I know you don’t get along with your family that well, but we’re your family now, and there’s no getting rid of my mum once you meet her.”
I laugh gently. “I don’t think I want to get rid of her. She’s amazing.”
“Yeah,” he exhales as he rubs my arm with his fingers. “She is. A little crazy, but pretty amazing.”
“Do you have plans for New Year’s Eve?”
Finn snorts. “No, of course I don’t.”
I push myself up from him and study his face. “You don’t want to go out with the boys?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah…”
“I’m going to be wherever you are,” he says as he tucks a strand of dark hair behind my ear. “Whatever you want to do. You, me, Skye. An early night. Order in a pizza. I don’t care because as long as I’m with you girls, nothing else matters.”
My nose tingles at his words. It’s been a rather emotional week.
“Unless you had plans?”
“No.” I cough out a laugh. “I don’t have plans.”
“Well, good because we do.”
My cheeks burn from the grin that takes over. “I’ll probably be asleep by ten.”
“Perfect, because I’ll be asleep by ten as well.”
I press my forehead to his. “Crazy how much our lives have changed, huh?”
“Mm.” He purses his lips before pausing. “Do you think we would have met if you hadn’t dropped all your belongings on the first day?”
An unattractive snort escapes me. “I can’t believe that’s how we met.”
“Why?”
“Worst meet-cute ever. I was so embarrassed.”
“I think it was the perfect meet-cute. That’s exactly what you said to me…‘Are we having a meet-cute right now?’”
I blink at him in shock. “You remember that?”
Finn’s brows dip. “Of course I do.”
“What else do you remember?”
“That you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.”
I flick my eyes between his slowly. “You didn’t think that.”
“Yeah, I did,” he states. “Your hair was in a ponytail, and you were wearing this crop top with jeans, and I could see your belly piercing.”
“RIP to the belly piercing.” I chuckle to myself.
The corner of Finn’s mouth curls. “And I remember looking into your eyes and trying so hard not to fall in love with you at that exact moment.”
“Bullshit,” I murmur before shoving his shoulder gently.
“It’s the truth.”
My face starts to burn.
“But I was dealing with my shit, and I told myself not to get involved with you because I knew I wasn’t in a good state to be in a relationship,” he sighs.
“And then I kept seeing you everywhere, and you asked for my number, and I just couldn’t deny it anymore.
I wanted to be around you all the time, and I fell so fucking hard. ”
“Me too,” I say softly. “Worked out in the end.”
Skye makes a noise and draws us away from our conversation. Finn tightens his hold on her and adjusts her in his arms.
“I think someone is all Christmassed out,” I say as I take in our beautiful daughter.
“She had the time of her life.” Finn laughs.
“So did we.”
“Yeah.” His eyes glitter with mischief. “Almost gave her a sibling.”
I choke on a breath. “I’m on the pill.”
“I know.” He winks.
My eyes roll playfully as Finn grabs the remote and picks a movie for us to watch as we cuddle up on the sofa.