Chapter Fifty-Six #2
He looks embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be. I just don’t want you to get rid of the money because you think it’s blood money. It isn’t. She never even knew about it.”
“I know. It’s going to take us some time to learn to trust one another again.
I’m a different person now. I don’t take shit lying down, and I’m not afraid to voice my opinions and stand up when something is wrong.
I will never be put in a situation like the one I’ve come from again.
You’re my dad, and I love you, but it’s important you know that this is your only chance. ” My voice catches.
“I love you, too, Pumpkin.”
“We’re going to go. We need to take the dog for a walk, and we have plans this evening.”
“You have a dog?”
“Yeah, his name is Ted. He’s my best boy.” Bones glares at me. “Slow your roll there, Champ. No need to get jealous.” My dad chuckles in the background.
“It’s good to see you happy. I’m glad you’ve found a man that loves you the way you deserve and will keep you safe.”
“I can keep myself safe now, Dad. But I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. If he hadn’t stumbled across me on a bridge ready to end my life, this conversation wouldn’t be happening.”
“Understood.” I stand to give him a hug, promising him I’ll visit again soon and that he can come for dinner and meet the gang.
We get to the car, and Bones looks at me. “You doing okay, Little Magpie?”
“You know what, I actually am. Let’s go home.”
We head home to pick up Ted and some bits for our date night. Apparently I just have to bring myself because he’s planned it all. I find surprises a little more tolerable now, but now we have a whole competition to see who can outdo the other.
I’m so engrossed in my Kindle that when the car rolls to a stop, it takes a few minutes for me to even realise. I look over at him, and he’s there with that signature smirk on his face because he knows what’s coming and I have no fucking idea. I take in my surroundings. “The lake?”
He nods. “Yes, baby. Right next to the fields we used to run through when we were kids stealing kisses and pretending the world was ours to conquer.”
“I thought we’d missed it for this year.”
“We missed the bluebells, but you were kinda occupied, so I’ll forgive you for making me miss it.” I swat at his arm with my Kindle. “Hey! That cost me a lot of money, Little Magpie.” I pause for a second.
“Good job you have more where that came from then, isn’t it?! Come on, Ted.” I get out of the car as quickly as I can, which isn't very fast at the moment. My trusty stick in hand as he chases behind me, knowing I don’t have a chance in hell of getting away from him.
Ted runs off towards the water, and I can’t help but look up at the bridge.
It was less than a year ago that I was on top of that bridge with no future in sight and no one who saw me.
On the other side of the lake is the cemetery Bones spotted me from.
The very one my mother’s empty casket now lies in.
Her body is buried in an unmarked grave in that same cemetery, because she didn’t deserve somewhere for people to grieve.
“So, are you purposely trying to trigger me? Or is this some kind of fucked-up foreplay? You got bored of freezing my squirt juices into ice cubes and decided to take things up a level and romanticise my suicidal ideation?”
He laughs. “As if I would ever…”
“You totally would, just for the LOLs.”
“Guilty.” He holds his hand up in surrender. “But not this time. I came here because this is where we started. Before that night, before your mother, before all of it. This was where we began. Sand angels in the afternoons, and the sneaky swims no one would know about.”
“I still can’t believe that after all of that, we found each other again.” He pulls me over to the rock we used to hide behind when we wanted our little kisses. Right by the tree we used to sit under as he would read to me, as Ted comes back with his ball after chasing the birds.
He helps me to the floor, throwing Ted’s ball towards the water, and I lean against the tree. He lies on his back looking up at me, and I hand him my Kindle. “Read to me.”
“Always.” We spend the next hour under that tree, waiting for the sky to turn to dusk, playing with Ted and reminiscing about our memories while he reads to me. His voice is soothing. He calms me beyond measure. When he finishes his current chapter, he puts the Kindle down next to him.
“Tell me your favourite memory of us,” he asks me.
“All of them,” I reply.
“No,” he says. “That’s cheating.”
“As adults or as kids?” I ask as I run my fingers through his hair.
“As adults.”
“The night you found me on the bridge, and we went to the cafe. That night. I’d never been seen before.
I’d never had someone look at me and so clearly see what was hidden away inside of me.
It never made sense how a complete stranger could do that.
But now I know you weren’t a complete stranger; it all makes perfect sense. You?”
“Our first kiss. My favourite ‘fuck it’ moment of all time, both fictional and non-fictional.”
I smile as I lean my head back against the tree. I feel him move and whistle for Ted, who comes trotting back over obediently and sits right by my side.
“Ted has a gift for you.” I look over at them both, confused. But as I look down at Ted, I see he has a bandana wrapped around his neck that says, ‘Will you marry my dad so you can be my mum forever?”
I’m lost for words. He wants to marry me? Is he fucking crazy?
“Is this a joke?” He shakes his head and manoeuvres his body until he’s balancing on one knee, ring box in hand, and he pulls it open.
“I knew it the moment I laid my eyes on you, the moment I saw you in the school playground. I knew it the moment you held my hand as we read under the tree and you let me chase you through the bluebells. I knew it when I found you on that bridge about to jump into oblivion. But most of all, I knew it the moment he met you and claimed you as his.” He tilts his head towards Ted, and I’m crying.
“So, Quinn Marie Burrows, will you fucking marry me?”
I squeal like the actual girl I am. “Yes, Harley Thomas Valentine, yes, I’ll fucking marry you.
” I throw myself at him, and we roll back into the sand.
I kiss his face over and over before he flips us and pins me into the sand.
He pulls back and looks me directly in the eye.
“Quinn ‘Little Magpie’ Valentine. I like the sound of that.” He swoops in for a kiss, and Ted runs around us barking his head off in celebration.
I look down at the ring; it’s perfect for me.
Understated, with small diamonds down either side and a bigger one on top.
He turns the ring over and shows me the inside.
An inscription reads Little Magpie. I swoon as he slides it onto my finger and kisses me again.
“Come on, fiancée. Let’s get you home so I can ravage the body of my future wife.”
I follow him to the car as he whoops and hollers, punching the air and screaming into the void. “I’m getting fucking married. SHE SAID YES!”
I stop for a second as I walk past the bridge and look at it in awe. A magpie flies past me, dipping over Harley’s head with another one not far behind. He watches them fly away and turns to look at me. Tears fill his eyes as he shouts, “They approve!”
He holds out his hand for me to take. “Come on, I think it’s time I finally introduced you to them in person. Flying around above us must be exhausting.”
I laugh. “I fucking love you, you know that?” I tell him.
“Never doubted it for a second, Little Magpie.” He stoops down to kiss me. The warmth spreading through me from the tingling on my lips has become one of my favourite feelings. I moan as he pulls away and slings his arm over my shoulders, leading me towards the entrance to the cemetery.
“Fancy seeing your mother while we’re here, Little Magpie?”
“Absolutely fucking not, you sadistic fuck.” We both laugh together. The darkness in our humour is perfectly intertwined. I never have to worry that I’ve overstepped the mark, or offended him. We are just the other half of each other’s soul.
Meeting Harley on that bridge was serendipity.
Fate. Like a collision of both of our worlds determined to blend us into one and save us from ourselves.
Like a line from a book that’s written into history forever.
I know now that nothing could have separated us.
We were destined to be, no matter what got in our way in the meantime.
Love. I used to think it was just an illusion. Something only the chosen few got to experience. Turns out I was one of the chosen ones.