Chapter 38
COLE
Jiya was on my mind from the moment she hurried out of the house after the phone call.
What was it about? What had happened that made her leave so suddenly? She had rushed downstairs, kissed my cheek in a quick goodbye, and disappeared out the door with barely any explanation.
The house felt quiet without her.
Thoughts crowded my mind as I sat in the kitchen, trying to make sense of the look in her eyes before she left.
I exhaled slowly and glanced toward the living room where the children were playing.
Lucas sat on the floor with Oreo and Emma, completely absorbed in whatever game they had invented. Oreo wagged his tail enthusiastically while Emma giggled, her small hands grabbing at the dog’s ears as Lucas tried to guide the chaos like a very serious little referee.
Watching them eased the tightness in my chest.
Lucas had always been easy to talk to, and he trusted me in a way that still surprised me. Maybe he could help me understand something about Jiya’s past.
I leaned forward slightly. “Buddy, can I ask you something?”
Lucas looked up immediately. “Yes,” he replied, still sitting on the floor while one hand rested on Oreo’s back and the other steadied Emma as she tried to climb onto the dog.
“Do you know why you moved to this village?”
Lucas did not hesitate. “Yes,” he said matter-of-factly. “Mama lost her job in the city.”
I nodded slowly, though that answer only deepened the questions already circling in my mind. “I see,” I said quietly. “Was your Mama seeing someone while you guys were living in the city?”
Lucas pushed himself to his feet now, looking at me with a seriousness that felt older than his years. “Yes,” he replied. “Caleb.”
I kept my expression neutral even though something inside me shifted slightly at hearing it spoken so clearly.
“Do you know what happened between them?” I asked.
Lucas looked down at his hands for a moment before answering. “No,” he said softly. “But he was the one who gave me Oreo.”
My eyes drifted briefly to the dog wagging his tail beside Emma.
Lucas continued speaking, his voice carrying both fondness and confusion.
“He would come over for dinner,” Lucas said. “We would hang out. We even went to his big house for Christmas and New Year.”
A small smile touched his lips at the memory, but it faded almost immediately.
“Then…” He paused, staring at his hands as if searching for something that was no longer there.
“I went to summer camp and came back,” he continued quietly, “and Mama said we were moving and that she lost her job.”
His chin trembled as he spoke the next words.
“She and Caleb broke up.”
Lucas’s shoulders slumped slightly.
“She didn’t want me talking to him anymore.”
The sadness in his voice was subtle.
Without thinking, I crouched down beside him and pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay, buddy. Sometimes people don’t want to be reminded of the past, and they want to move on.”
Lucas hugged me back tightly, his small arms wrapping around my shoulders. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “You have been in our lives the longest.”
I held him, feeling the quiet trust in the way he leaned into me. “I’m always going to be here,” I told him gently. “I promise.”
When Lucas finally pulled back, he returned to playing with Emma and Oreo.
My thoughts raced like a car hurtling out of control.
To Jiya.
To Caleb.
To the life she had left behind.
What had happened between them that had been painful enough to make her leave the city, the man she had loved, and disappear into a quaint village like Cowichan Bay? And why did I have the strange feeling that whatever that story was, it had not truly ended yet?
I rubbed the back of my neck when I heard the knock on my door.
Jiya had messaged me the day before, saying she would meet me at my apartment at noon to talk.
My thoughts had been a tangled mess ever since my conversation with Lucas. The things he had said about Jiya’s past kept spinning in my mind, like dust caught in a restless wind.
I had barely slept that night, and when I tried to eat breakfast that morning, my stomach had twisted so badly that I had nearly thrown it all up.
Just thinking about what Jiya might say to me made me feel sick.
Did she want to start a relationship with me? What about her past? Would she finally tell me the truth? My chest constricted as I walked toward the door, my mind racing with possibilities that I could not control.
I opened it.
“Hi!” I said, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek as she stepped inside.
She looked beautiful, wearing skinny black jeans and a rust-coloured cardigan that wrapped softly around her frame. Her dark hair fell gently around her shoulders.
My heart pounded in my chest.
Every single time I saw her, it affected me like this. The sight of her alone was enough to make my knees feel weak.
“Hi!” she replied softly.
I closed the door behind her and studied her face carefully. “Is everything okay?” I asked. “From yesterday’s call, I mean?”
She nodded, but something in her expression told me otherwise.
Her fingers fidgeted with the strap of her bag as she moved toward the couch.
I followed and sat down across from her.
She avoided my eyes, her gaze dropping to the floor.
Then she finally looked up.
“Cole,” she began quietly. “I want to tell you everything about myself before anything happens between us.”
My chest lifted slightly at her words, but I nodded.
“I will accept your decision in the end,” she continued, her voice trembling slightly. “No matter what it is, I will accept it.”
I studied her face for a moment.
How bad could her past be?
I forced myself to remain calm, reminding myself that everyone carried pieces of their past that were difficult to talk about. I did not want to judge her before even hearing what she had to say.
I nodded again and let her speak.
For the next hour, I remained silent.
I let her talk without interrupting her once.
And as she spoke, I realized just how much she had been carrying inside her all this time.
So many secrets.
So much pain.
So much sadness.
At one point, a line from the movie Titanic surfaced in my mind—“A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets.”
Listening to her felt exactly like that.
Every new detail she shared stunned me, though I tried not to show it.
Jeremy.
Lucas.
Harper.
Caleb.
Each name seemed to carry an entire history behind it, and I felt as though I was slowly piecing together fragments of a life I had only ever seen the surface of.
How could she have carried all of this alone? And why had she never told me any of it before? Did she not trust me? Or had she been too afraid to let anyone see that part of her life?
When she finally finished speaking, her gaze dropped to the floor. Her hands quavered slightly in her lap. After a moment, she lifted her eyes to meet mine.
“Do you still want to be with me after knowing everything?”
The vulnerability in her voice cut straight through me.
Her chest caved inward, and her shoulders drooped under the weight of that fear.
In the span of an hour, I had learned almost everything about Jiya’s life. Her past had collided with her present in ways I had never imagined—truths she had never shared before, pieces of herself I had never asked her to explain.
And yet, as I sat there looking at her, only one thought echoed clearly in my mind.
She was as broken as I was.
Broken people save broken people.
Jiya had not just survived her past. She had built something meaningful in spite of it.
She had chosen to become a mother to Lucas. She had survived Jeremy. She had endured betrayal from Caleb and Harper. She had opened her heart again to Emma. She had fought to save the restaurant.
And along the way… she had saved me too.
I thought about the day she had checked on me when no one else had in months.
The way she had barged through my door without hesitation. The way she had stood beside me at the cemetery when I did not have the strength to face it alone. She had helped reconnect me with my brother. She had brought light back into parts of my life that had been buried under grief and isolation.
I was alive because of her.
I owed her far more than she would ever realize.
“I’m sorry for everything you have been through,” I said quietly, leaning forward as I gently took her hands in mine. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why didn’t you share this part about yourself?”
Her eyes dropped to the floor again. When she finally looked back up, they were filled with tears. “I thought I would lose you like I lost everything else in my life,” she whispered, sniffling. “I’m sorry.”
A painful ache twisted through me at the fear in her voice.
Without thinking, I slid off the couch and knelt in front of her.
“I love you,” I said, cupping her face gently in my hands.
Her lips parted in surprise, and her eyes widened.
“I’ve been in love with you for a while now,” I continued. “I’ve been miserable for the past couple of days knowing that I hurt you and caused you pain, even though I promised myself that I would never do that. I want you more than I want air to breathe. I—”
Her lips brushed against mine before I could finish speaking.
The contact was soft and fleeting at first, like the delicate touch of butterfly wings, just long enough for me to inhale the heat of her breath.
Then the kiss intensified.
The space between us disappeared as the moment grew more intense, the warmth of her mouth against mine turning the kiss into something deeper and more intimate. Our breaths mingled. Our movements slowed. And the world dissolved around us.
I had no doubt whatsoever that I wanted her. Even after hearing everything about her past, not a single ounce of hesitation remained inside me. If anything, my feelings had only grown stronger. Multiplied.
I knew that if I could not have her, I would not want anyone else.
My love for her had turned into devotion.
I surrendered myself completely to the moment as our kiss grew more urgent, our bodies drawing closer together while the rhythm between us became impossible to ignore.
She had become something essential in my life.
Something I could not imagine living without.
She had stormed into my life and into my heart.
A soft sound escaped her lips as my hands moved from her face to her waist, pulling her gently closer.
I lifted her into my arms and carried her toward my bedroom, unable to break the connection between us.
Our breathing grew heavier as the distance between our bodies disappeared.
My fingers traced the curves of her body while her hands gripped my shirt with growing urgency.
Every movement between us carried the weight of everything we had just confessed.
Our bodies pressed together as the moment consumed us completely.
And as we finally surrendered to each other, every barrier that had once stood between us fell away, like walls collapsing after a long siege.