64. Noah
NOAH
Nothing. And I mean nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming feeling that would wrap around my chest when she said those words.
I’ve dreamed of the day I’d have her back in my arms and get to hear her tell me she loved me.
I laid everything out, and she feels the same…
Well, almost everything. There’s still one more thing we have to deal with before she can be truly free.
As I stand next to her, ankle deep in the freshly fallen snow, I know there’s no other place I’d rather be.
She ripped apart some old towels from the house and made her own Molotov cocktails out of the bottles of rum and tequila.
She’s standing with the collection next to her in the snow waiting for just the right moment to set the house ablaze.
We grabbed a few things she wanted to keep.
The photos and her music box. The albums of pressed flowers.
There were a few pieces of jewelry from her mom that she also wanted.
All of it is safely packed in the truck, which, thanks to Jeremy, is now clean.
Apparently, it looked like a crime scene in the back of my truck after they brought me to the hospital.
“Are you ready to leave this all behind?” I ask.
She nods, but I can see some uncertainty in her eyes. Before I can ask what’s wrong, she picks up the bottle of tequila and holds the edge of the towel out to me. My lighter clicks a few times before finally sparking to life. I light it and watch her whip the bottle through the kitchen window.
The sound of glass shattering is followed shortly by the symphony of mini explosions as more bottles of alcohol and compressed cleaning products erupt in flames.
The oranges and reds of the fire shimmer off her eyes causing them to look like a forest on fire. She’s so fucking beautiful. I stand in awe and watch as she holds a bottle of Bacardi out for me to light before launching it up through a window to the upstairs rooms.
The flames have begun to spread through the house with zero consideration for its path of destruction.
She picks up the remaining bottles and walks through the snow to the front of the house. I follow like a puppy in love. I’ll follow this woman anywhere.
Her leggings are soaked up to her knees now. Damn it. I should have grabbed her a change of clothes from inside.
She lights the last few and launches them one after another. Her eyes are lit up, but her mouth isn’t smiling. She chews on her bottom lip as she watches her childhood home go up in flames.
“What is it?” I ask as I pull her in front of me and wrap my arms around her.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever truly be free,” she says quietly.
“Why?”
I can feel her body shiver against mine. Possibly from the cold, or it could be from something more.
“He’s still out there somewhere. He’s why I became a lawyer. I want to make sure pieces of shit like him don’t go free.”
I can hear her soft sniffle before she wipes her eyes and turns to press her face into my chest.
“One day you’ll be free, Little Rabbit. I swear to you, I’ll make sure of it.”
It’s been a long day and now an even longer night.
A loud pop followed by the sounds of wood cracking is the only warning before one side of the house caves in on itself. I swear you can see the tension leave her body.
“Let’s get you home, Little Rabbit. You’re freezing.”
A siren can be heard off in the distance. Someone must have seen the smoke and called it in. Good thing my family name still carries weight around here.
“Can we stay just a bit longer?” she asks as she turns and places her back against my chest to continue watching the flames consume the house.
“Of course. Whatever you need, Willow.”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“There’s no need to thank me. I’d do anything for you.”
We sit in silence until the sounds of sirens fill the air around us. My body tenses thinking of the last time I heard this many sirens here. It was the beginning of my search for her, and this moment marks the end.
I have her back in my life. In my arms.
My Willow.
My soulmate.
My little rabbit.