CHAPTER 19 Amelia
Amelia
Thank you for the Christmas card.
I’ve read Jake’s text message so many times it no longer holds any meaning. The words make little sense, it’s like I’m reading gibberish.
“Thank you for the Christmas card?!”
I thrust my phone in Bella’s face, not for the first time, hoping she will provide some clarity. “What kind of rubbish message is that?”
She smiles at me, looking serene. I’m going to need her hot Italian blood to fire up soon and get on the same page as me, so we can both explode together.
“I think it means that he’s thanking you for the Christmas card.”
Helpful, Bella. So freaking helpful.
“I can see that.” Sort of. My eyes are going crossed from re-reading those five simple words. “But what does he mean?”
Bella pushes a plate of cookies towards me and I take the biggest one. It’s been two days since I left my heart on Jake’s doorstep, and all I’ve gotten from him is this one lousy text message.
“I’m officially done with text messages,” I tell her through a mouthful of cookie, spraying crumbs and not caring one bit. “They have caused me nothing but angst.”
“It’s true, people run into trouble when they communicate without actually talking.”
“So, do you think I should go and see him? Just talk this out once and for all?”
“No!” she yells in sync with Lilly, who’s standing behind the counter, listening to our conversation.
“What we mean,” Lilly says as I look between them, baffled, “is that you need to wait for him to come to you.”
Bella nods and I sit back with a sigh. This is not what I wanted to hear from them, given that the waiting for Jake to make a move is killing me.
“Do you think Robby has convinced him to not pursue something with me?” This thought has plagued me every minute since I left the two of them to hash it out. “I should have stayed and helped Jake plead our case. It shouldn’t have been just on him to fix this.”
Lilly sits down at our table, her forehead wrinkled with sympathy. “I think you did the right thing. They’re brothers. You had to leave them to sort out their relationship.”
“It’s true,” Bella agrees. “You don’t have any siblings who you’re close to, but that dynamic isn’t always smooth sailing. It’s like having a best friend and your biggest rival all in one. And you will love them even when you hate them.”
Their words go some way to soothing my concerns, but the fear gnawing at my stomach just won’t go away.
“Maybe I should just bow out?” I offer half-heartedly, because I really, really don’t want to do that. “You know? For the sake of their relationship?”
Lilly shakes her head, an adamant no. “You just need to give it some time and some space. And trust Jake to make it all OK.”
I picture Jake now, with his serious green eyes behind those sexy glasses, his protective and solid nature, the way he asked me to trust him, to know that I’m safe with him. I need to remember this now more than ever.
But why hasn’t he called me?
“He’s most likely just sorting through the whole Robby situation,” Bella says, once again reading my mind. “You know Robby, he’s a man-child who won’t make this easy. That’s what Jake is dealing with right now. Just be patient.”
Patient. I can do that.
“I don’t think I can do that,” I whine into my cup of tea. “It’s been two days. What’s taking so long?”
My friends look at each other, a long, loaded look that has my spidey senses going off. Before I can question them, though, the bell tinkles over the front door, announcing a group of new customers.
“Amelia, I know you’re going through an existential crisis right now,” Lilly says, standing up and moving away from our table. “But are you able to do that over by the window?”
Great, I can’t even wallow in peace.Picking up my cup of tea and plate of half-eaten cookies, I move to a table in a corner up the front of the café, pressed up against the window.
“Way to rub it in,” I mutter under my breath as I take in the table set for one.
They ignore my irrational rumblings, too busy serving customers to deal with my tantrums. Fair.
“Just distract yourself with some people watching,” Bella calls from behind the counter.
Hmmm, people watching. Usually, this is one of my favourite pastimes, watching people and mentally changing their hairstyles to one I think would suit them better. It’s something I could do for hours, but not today. Today my mind is too distracted to focus on hair.
My phone pings on the table in front of me and I lunge for it. This has to be him. I open my messages app, which has had quite the workout this week, and…
“It’s not him,” I tell my friends who I know are watching me expectantly. My phone notification is so loud, every person in the café is watching me with the same expression. “It’s my dad.”
In the past week, since we met up for our long overdue father-daughter chat, he’s been in regular contact with me. Sometimes just a text message, asking about my day, and other times he’s actually called and we’ve talked for several minutes. It’s been weird but also delightful. Having him back in my life, and really trying, is filling a hole in my heart I hadn’t known existed until now.
I type back a response to his question, letting him know that I’ll be joining him and his family for Christmas brunch next week. He invited me the day after our initial meeting and after a long talk with Mum, I’ve decided to go. I want to be a part of his life, his family, as much as he seems to want to be a part of mine.
AMELIA: I’ll be there. Looking forward to seeing you all.
I press send, surprised that I actually mean it. I have two sisters, with another one on the way, and a stepmother, who all want to know me. And on my path to healing, I realise I really want to know them as well.
“All OK?” Bella asks. I look up to see her standing next to me, concerned.
“It’s better than OK. I’m spending Christmas morning with my dad.”
She leans down to hug me. If there’s anyone who knows the value of family, it’s Bella. Last year, her dad had been very unwell after a stroke left him in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. During that time, Bella had to make the tough decision to either stay in Italy with her parents or follow her heart and move to be with Daniel in Melbourne permanently. I know how gut-wrenching that had been for her, but luckily, she ended up with the best of both worlds. Her dad is well enough to travel Down Under to be with Bella and her husband, which they’ve done several times in the past eighteen months.
“That’s wonderful, Millie. I’m so happy for you.”
“Me too.” There isn’t much enthusiasm in my voice and we both know why. I need to sort things out with Jake before I can feel much joy in anything else. “I think I’m going to go home now and wallow in private.”
Bella looks at her watch, her gaze bouncing to Lilly. “How about one more cup of tea before you go?”
There are my spidey senses going off again. “What’s going on?”
They exchange a look. “Nothing,” Bella lies. She’s so bad at it. “We just don’t think you should be alone.”
That’s fair. I’ve spent way too much time alone with the Gilmore Girls thinking about every missed turn I’ve made in my life that’s landed me in this position.
“OK, one more cup of tea. Then wallowing.”
Bella gives Lilly a thumbs up, which isn’t very covert, but I let it go. I don’t have the brain capacity to explore this strange behaviour.
“A cup of tea coming right up.”
She skips back to the kitchen and I watch as she bumbles about, not even close to making me a cup of tea. Come on, Bella. I’m on a deadline here. My couch is calling my name.
I’m just about to call it quits and cancel the cup of tea that I didn’t want in the first place, when a flash of activity outside the café window catches my eye.
“What in the world?”
My full attention now on the footpath outside the window next to me, my breath catches in my throat when I see who is standing out there.
Jake.
And he’s grinning at me.
I get up to go to him, only to be pushed back down into my seat by a surprisingly strong pair of hands.
“Bella?” I frown at her. “I need to get out there!”
“Just trust me,” she whispers in my ear, holding me in place.
Giving in, I turn back to where Jake is still standing, now with a portable bluetooth speaker in his hand, his brow scrunched up in concentration as he looks between the speaker and his phone.
“For goodness’s sake,” Bella hisses from behind me. “Lilly, go help Grandpa out there.”
“I’m on it!”
Baffled and mildly amused, I watch Lilly walk—no bounce—outside. She says something to Jake, making him laugh and then takes his phone from him. Two minutes pass and she hands it back to him, patting him on his arm and then walking back inside.
By now, the entire café is looking between me and Jake, and I hold my breath for what is coming next.
Jake puts the speaker on the ground in front of him and I hear Silent Night blaring from it.
“Excellent attention to detail,” Bella murmurs to Lilly, who has joined us at the window.
“What?” I ask, trying to get up again.
“Just wait!” This time, Lilly presses me back down into my seat. “And watch.”
My gaze returns to Jake, who’s staring at me intently, his glasses glinting in the sunlight. My heart thumps painfully in my chest as he bends over to pick something up. Pieces of cardboard paper. What’s going on?
“He’s really doing it!” Bella squeals.
Jake holds up the first one and I read what is scrawled across it, in his neat handwriting.
AMELIA, I’M SORRY THIS HAS TAKEN SO LONG.
He flips to the next one.
THAT IT’S TAKEN ME SO LONG
TO TELL YOU…
I feel the entire café hold its breath as he pauses before flipping to the next card.
TO ME, YOU ARE PERFECT.
“He didn’t need to copy the movie exactly,” Bella grumbles before being shushed by Lilly. The movie? He’s Love, Actually-ing me?
Jake holds up the next card.
I’VE LOVED YOU FROM THE MOMENT WE MET.
AND I’VE WAITED FOR YOU TO BE READY TO LOVE ME BACK.
Tears fill my eyes and I wipe at them frantically, not wanting to miss a thing.
AND SO I CAN TELL YOU THIS…
WITHOUT FEAR OR HESITATION…
THAT I’M ACTUALLY YOURS…
FOR AS LONG AS YOU’LL HAVE ME…
SO, FOREVER?
Jake ends on this card, his face hopeful, imploring me to answer. I nod, tears now running freely down my face.
He loves me? He wants to be with me? Forever!
“What are you waiting for?” Bella’s hands, which had been holding me down, are now pulling me up. “Don’t leave him standing there.”
Jake’s expression has turned from hopeful to worried and I galvanise into action. Without seeing where I’m going, who or what is in front of me, I bolt to the front door, slamming it open and racing towards him. To where he’s waiting with open arms.
“Do you mean it?” I ask as he pulls me into him, his arms like steel closing in around my waist. He’s not letting me go.
“I mean every word and more, Millie,” he whispers into my ear as hot tears continue to pour from my eyes. “I should have fought for you that first night. And I should have fought for you every day since. You’ve had my heart for so long, it no longer belongs to me. It’s yours now. If you’ll have it?”
He looks down at me, uncertain, and I kiss his worries away. With my lips on his, I tell him everything that has been locked away in my heart. And he kisses me back with the same intensity, the two of us lost in the wonders of just kissing each other with no barriers in our way.
“We can swap.” I press a damp kiss on his lips. “Because you’ve got mine. You’ve had it for some time now.”
He leans down to kiss me again, stopping when a group of kindergarten children, holding hands in groups of three, plough into us.
“Maybe we should move away from the middle of the footpath?” I suggest not moving away from him. Now that he’s mine, I’m not letting him go.
“Come inside for celebratory brownies,” Lilly calls from the doorway, where she and Bella are standing with tears in their eyes.
Jake lets go of me to pick up the cardboard declaration of his love for me and, in a daze, I grab the Bluetooth speaker. Only now is the full force of this grand gesture hitting me, and I can’t believe that he did it this way.
“How did you know to use Love, Actually to woo me?” I ask as we enter the café to an embarrassing round of applause. We both stop in our tracks and give a little bow before snagging a table in the back, away from the prying eyes of the amused customers.
“Bella and Lilly told me about your Love, Actually moment and may have suggested I could draw inspiration from the movie,” he tells me.
We sit down, Jake pulling my chair closer to him and snuggling his face into my neck.
“Oh, really? So, this wasn’t your idea?”
“The idea, no,” he admits honestly. “But the sentiment and the words on the cards? That was all me.”
I let out a contented sigh and cuddle in closer to him. “Well, I loved it!” I look up into his beautiful green eyes that captivated me from the very first minute I met him. “And I love you.”
He presses a soft kiss on my lips. “I love you too.”
These words reverberate through my mind. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me!
“Why did it take so long for us to do this?” I grumble after he’s pressed yet another kiss on my lips, nibbling them slightly, causing a spray of shivers down my spine.
“We had a few obstacles to work through. Our path to each other has not been easy.”
“Speaking of easy, how did things go with Robby?” I’m dying to know. “Is he OK?”
Jake makes a face. “He will be.”
He sounds so confident and yet I’m not convinced. “He’s the reason it’s taken you a couple of days to do this? To respond to my Christmas card.”
At this, Jake pulls me even closer until I’m almost sitting on his lap. “Reading that Christmas card was the best thing ever to happen to me. And I wanted to respond, but only when I was free to love you like I’ve always wanted to love you. So, I waited. And I spoke with Robby, and my parents, and then those two”—he points to Lilly and Bella, who are watching us with beaming smiles on their faces—“and once I had all the loose ends tied up, namely making sure that my parents were OK with what this—us—may do to my relationship with Robby, then it was all systems go. I just needed to get you here and in the right place for the grand gesture.”
“And what a grand gesture it was,” I compliment him.
He bows his head, that charming dimple popping in his cheek. “Why, thank you.”
“But,” I start, unable to shake my unsettled feeling, “I don’t want to come between you and Robby.”
Jake sighs and kisses my temple. “That’s not for you to worry about, Millie. Robby is my brother and we’ll sort it out, but there’s no way I’m letting you go just to soothe his ego.”
I argue and he stops me, putting his mouth on mine. Yummy. I hope this is how all our arguments end.
“Robby will be fine,” he repeats after we’ve come up for air. “He just needs to grow up a bit to realise the world doesn’t revolve around him.”
I agree with this and so I let it go. Their relationship is for them to fix. I’m not letting Robby stand in the way of my happily ever after. Not again.
“So, what now?”
“Now?” he smiles at me, a pure smile that fills me with joy. “Now I’m going to ask you if you’ll go out on a date with me?”
My heart thump, thump, thumps in my chest, and I pretend to think about his question. “Hmmm, a date, hey?”
“Yes,” he growls, squeezing my waist with his arm that’s glued to my body.
“I’m not sure…” I trail off, tapping my finger to my mouth.
“Amelia,” he warns.
“It’s just that I still have to go through letters H, I, J, K before I can date you. L is for lawyer…” I squeal as he lunges at me, pulling me to him and effectively shutting me up with another kiss.
“That damn dating plan,” he mutters as we break apart.
“It’s done now.” I run my fingers over his furrowed brow, smoothing his worried lines away. “You are the only man I want to date for now…”
“And forever,” he finishes for me. His voice was confident and sure.
I lean into him, feeling safe and content in his arms. Finally.
“And forever. After all, I’m actually yours.”
He smiles and kisses me again.
“Actually mine.”
Forever.