Chapter 41 Amelia
Amelia
My hair shines once again. I’m wearing a little makeup. I’m wearing my own clothes. I stare at my reflection and see myself… who I used to be. I feel more myself. Surrounded by everything I know.
Darius comes up behind me, sliding his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.
When I smile at him now, it’s real. So much has happened in the last twenty-four hours that I should be spinning.
Yet Darius making moves to change his whole life for me is something I did not see coming, but it feels so right.
“Are you sure you want to do this? I can’t go back again if you can’t.”
“Hey,” he soothes. “It’s done. I’m out. Believe me.”
Everything I used to want is dangling before me and I want to reach out and grab it.
But first I need to know something.
“What happened to Clare?”
He doesn’t move. He doesn’t flinch. His mouth opens and he says, “Tariq shot her. She’s buried in the dirt where no one will find her.”
I shouldn’t but I smile. I don’t think about it too long. And turn in his arms.
“You know you can’t tell a soul that, don’t you?”
“I know. After today, we move on. I can’t keep thinking about everything that’s happened.”
“Come on, I want to take you and Elsa somewhere.”
Somewhere is a house for sale. A white painted two-story house out in the suburbs, a neatly trimmed lawn, a white picket fence. It’s lovely.
“This is where my family moves to on the twenty-sixth of this month. My brothers can finally have their own room and go to a school where they don’t have to walk through metal detectors to get to class.
I was planning on taking the job in a few weeks when they were settled but I saw it in your eyes last night that you couldn’t truly accept me if you thought I was still a Dog. ”
“When I was in county, there was this woman called CeCe. She used to tell me people see everything in your eyes. Mine were red and puffy, full of fear, and she taught me how to look out for myself.”
“I’m glad she was there for you.”
“I never saw her again after I was sentenced. I’ve often wondered where she is but…”
“But…”
“What do you see in my eyes now?” I ask instead.
“I see strength and an amazing power that I underestimated. I see I’m going to have keep my bad boy ways buried deep because you’re not afraid to leave me behind. I see everything you were meant to be.”
“You see a lot,” I choke out.
“When it comes to you, I see it all.”
And I see the future clearer than ever and he’s a part of it.
“I start by going back to college and picking up where I left off. I set out to finish what I started.”
“Anything you want, babe. Anything.”
“And maybe one day we’ll have a house like this ourselves?”
“You’ve gotta give me a chance to make legit money, babe.”
“I have a trust fund, you know.”
“I might be going straight, but I’m not going to let you pay for everything. Our house, then it’s my money that pays for it.”
I get it and I smile.
“Besides, I would’ve thought you’d want something bigger.”
Looking out the window at the house, something tugs at me. “Nah, I want a home just like this.”
I picture us setting off for work in the morning, coffee in hand, dropping Elsa off at school along the way. I see sprinklers watering the lawn in the summer. I see Christmas decorations in the windows with snow covering the ground. I see a life here. Our lives.
“Everything is always changing.”
“Change can be good.”
Nodding, I look over my shoulder and Elsa is fast asleep. My life in one car. I came so close to losing it all, but I refuse to let it bring me down. I went through Hell to get here, and I’d do all again if it meant we arrived at this very moment.