34. Our cabin
Our cabin
Mike
Vicky was still bristling with anger on my behalf. She was like a little ball of indignant fury, and I felt better than I had in weeks.
This Vicky—the Vicky shaking with rage next to me—was infinitely better than the blank Vicky from before, the one who’d displayed nothing.
This Vicky, I could work with.
“Well, you definitely told her , Vics,” Ollie said with amusement.
Felix stifled a laugh. “Yeah, you saved poor little Mikey from the big bad supermodel before she could compromise him.”
Vicky’s rage ebbed, and doubt entered her expression when Felix said supermodel.
I frowned at him.
“Shut up, Moretti,” I snapped. “Who says I didn’t need saving?”
Vicky bit her lip. “Maybe you could have handled it yourself,” she whispered. “It’s just, she was pawing at you, and?—”
“I’m very glad you sorted her out, love,” I said softly.
“I didn’t like her touching you,” she whispered.
“I didn’t like it either,” I whispered back.
“I think what you said was lovely, sweetheart,” Mum put in softly to Vicky.
“So do I,” said Lucy.
Vicky blushed and ducked her head.
“I shouldn’t have done it,” she muttered.
The shutters were coming down again. I could feel her retreating behind her walls. The good-natured teasing directed at me had gotten to her.
I could punch those posh bastards right in their smiling faces.
“She’s probably a more appropriate partner for you anyway.”
That last sentence pushed me over the edge. All these weeks of patience, of longing for her, of worrying about her, caused me to snap.
I turned to Vicky and frowned down at her.
“No, she is not,” I said slowly, through gritted teeth.
“Mike, I’m not?—”
“I am fucking sick of hearing about what you’re not, Vicky,” I said, my voice rising, not caring who we were with, or who could overhear us.
“All I’ve heard from you in the last two weeks is how you’re not normal, how you’re not what I need, how you’re not good enough.
When are we going to start talking about what you are ? Because you are beautiful.”
Vicky flinched slightly at that statement. She knew she was beautiful, so to her, it probably didn’t feel like much of a compliment. After all, she hated the ice princess nickname, and the perception most men had that she was untouchable.
But I wasn’t finished, not by a long way.
“You are kind, you are a straight-up genius, you are a great sister, a great step-daughter, a great friend. You are the most selfless person I know. You are the reason my sister managed to feel settled when she moved to London.”
“I’m not,” she cried, tears filling her eyes. “I let Lucy down.”
“You made one mistake.”
Bloody hell, I knew this shit was still eating away at her.
Felix was the main bastard of the situation, and my sister was marrying that particular bastard, but Vicky still couldn’t forgive herself.
“But before that, you looked after my sister, and you’ve been doing it ever since.”
“I don’t?—”
“If it wasn’t for you, Lottie and Ollie would never have found each other again. Lottie might not even have custody of her sister anymore if you hadn’t insisted she work for you. Why the hell you think that you’re a burden and that people have to look after you, I’ve no idea.”
Vicky’s eyes went wide at that. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but nothing came out.
That was good; I had more to say.
“So you are a good friend. You are the best time I’ve ever had—I’ve never laughed with a woman as much as I have with you. I’ve never found any woman as interesting.”
“Interesting?” Vicky said in shock. “What? Even when I’m banging on about my stupid obsessions?”
“Hey, hedgehogs are not stupid!” I protested. “I love knowing more about them. And we should all care more about the environment.”
“You’re making fun of me,” Vicky whispered, and my heart clenched in my chest. She looked so unsure and so sad, but just underneath, there was this little thread of hope in her voice.
“I’m not making fun of you, love,” I said softly.
And then I did what I should have done weeks ago—I gathered her in my arms and pushed the hair back from her face, keeping it tilted up towards me so that I could look into her eyes as I said the rest.
“You are all of those things, Victoria Harding. But most of all, you are the woman I am madly in love with.”
There was a long pause. It felt like the entire pub was collectively holding its breath.
Vicky blinked up at me: fear, anxiety and hope all warring behind her eyes.
“You love me?” she whispered.
“From the moment you told me that being in my house feels like being hugged all the time.”
“I loved you the first moment I saw you,” she said.
I laughed. “Vicky, baby, you were six.”
She nodded. “I know. You came into Buckingham Manor carrying an injured hedgehog. Your hands were bleeding from the spikes, but you didn’t care. You’d walked two miles holding that hedgehog.”
Jesus, I’d forgotten that Vicky had even been there. How could I have forgotten her? But then, I barely acknowledged her the few times I’d seen her as a child.
“I’m sorry I ignored you back then,” I told her.
“It’s fine. I was?—”
“It’s not fine. I was an insecure piece of shit with a chip on his shoulder, and I took it out on you then, and again, a few months ago, when you first made your move.
But now that we’ve straightened everything out, now that you’re mine, you’re never going to accept that type of behaviour from anyone ever again. Got me?”
“I’m yours?” she whispered, hope overcoming fear as her features became more animated than I’d seen in weeks, and that was it for me.
No more waiting to claim her. No more tiptoeing around.
Both my hands went into her hair, and I kissed her.
She jolted in shock for a moment, but that was all it took for her to melt into me, and her mouth to open under mine.
But then, the first cheers started, and she stiffened.
Affection as a whole was new for Vicky; public displays of affection would need to be eased into.
Plus, there was the fact that my mother was sitting a few feet away. So I pulled back to tuck Vicky under my arm.
“We’re leaving,” I said to the table, all of whom were smiling up at us.
“About time, Mayweather,” muttered Felix.
“I may have to bleach my eyeballs, but I’m still so happy,” my sister said, bouncing on her seat.
“You look after her now, love,” Mum said in a soft voice.
“Yes,” said Margot. “Don’t fuck it up, Michael. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to sort this out.”
I rolled my eyes and pointed at Margot. “No more interfering.”
“Well, of all the ungrateful…”
“Margot,” said Lottie, amusement in her voice, “I think Mike might have a point.”
Margot huffed. “Nobody appreciates my efforts.”
“Right, come on, love,” I muttered, steering Vicky away from the crazies that made up our family and friends.
I’d anticipated at least a small amount of resistance from Vicky as I led her out to my Land Rover, but if anything, she melted further into me.
When we got to the passenger door, I turned her towards me, so I could search her face. She looked a little dazed, but to my relief, there was definitely no blankness in her expression.
“You okay, sweetheart?” I asked softly.
“D-did you mean what you said in there?” she asked. “I’m not like Lottie. I can’t tell if people are lying.”
“I will never lie to you, Vicky,” I told her. “Ever.”
Her voice dropped so low that I had to strain to hear her next words. “You really think all those things… about me?”
“We all do, love.”
“You really love me?” she whispered, and my chest clenched painfully at the hope and longing I could hear in her voice.
“I love you so much I can’t breathe when you’re not there,” I said, pulling her into me. “I haven’t been able to take a full breath for over a month.”
Her small hands were resting on my chest as she stared up at me, searching my face. Whatever she saw there must have done something, because to my shock, she went up on her tiptoes and kissed me.
It took me a moment to recover, but once I did, I wasn’t wasting any time. One of my hands went into her hair, and the other lifted her up against me.
“Good girl,” I muttered against her mouth as she wrapped her legs around my hips and let out one of those small moans I loved so much.
“I missed you,” she whispered in between kisses. “I love you.”
I groaned. The sound of the pub door swinging open brought me back to the present, and I stopped kissing her to rest my forehead on hers.
“You’re coming home with me,” I growled.
“Yes,” she breathed, nodding her head with enthusiasm at that proposition. “Yes, Mike. Take me home.”
But when we were in the truck, and I was driving towards my workshop, Vicky shook her head.
“No,” she said firmly. “Take me home .”
I frowned over at her. “Vics, I live above the workshop at Moonreach now, love. Didn’t Margot tell you? I sold the cabin, so I could pay back her investment.”
“Why did you do that?” Vicky asked in a soft voice.
“You must know why I did it,” I said tightly. “I needed to prove to you that I only wanted you for you. I fucked up by not telling you about Margot’s investment. I’m sorry I hurt you, love. It was never about the money. You know that, right?”
“I know,” she said simply, and I let out a relieved sigh. “Take me to the cabin.”
“Vicky, don’t you understand? I sold it, love.” I felt the familiar ache of loss as I spoke the words but then I shook my head to clear it.
Yes, I built the cabin with my bare hands. Yes, it had been my dream since I was a child, but it was just a building.
It didn’t matter.
Having Vicky’s trust was all that mattered. And anyway, there was no dream without her.
“Take me there,” she said in a stubborn voice, and I sighed. Maybe she needed to see the cabin occupied by someone else to let the reality of it sink in.
“Okay, love,” I said in a resigned voice. “We can go and look at it, I guess.”