Chapter Thirty-Nine
Mark
I rolled out of bed, almost hitting the ground as I went. I hadn’t totally woken up yet to be honest, I was still half asleep, but after the busy day that we had the previous day, emotionally and physically, it was going to take a while to recover. But at least I had Olivia in the bed next to me; that was so much better. I smiled down at her, feeling so freaking happy that I had finally worked up the courage to be honest about my feelings. It was better to just be truthful about being in love because now we were properly together.
I padded out the room quietly and made my way into the living room. Justine was still spread out on the couch, snoring as she slept. She was so tired yesterday that she didn’t even make it to bed after eating some takeout food so I grabbed a blanket and covered her up. I thought at some point during the night she might have gone to her room, but no. She had slept right through and didn’t look any nearer to waking up any time soon.
Oh well; it didn’t matter to me. I felt content now, really satisfied with what I had. I was more than happy to sit around all day while she rested or did whatever she needed to do. We were supposed to leave to go home today, but since we had a private plane, we could go at whatever time we wanted. There was no rush.
I switched the coffee machine on, and I leaned against the counter, smiling to myself. If that hadn’t happened yesterday, if I didn’t now know for sure that Olivia loved me I would have been dreading going home for fear of what was going to happen between us, but now I felt like we were just going to be together and happy.
“Morning, Daddy,” Justine grumbled as she must have heard me. “Why am I here?”
I let out a laugh. “Because you fell asleep there and I couldn’t move you, that’s why.”
“Oh, okay.” She rubbed her eyes before speaking again. “But Olivia is still here, isn’t she?”
“You’re really worried that she’s going to leave, aren’t you?” I mused. “You don’t have to be concerned about that anymore. She has promised that she’s going to stay with us forever. It’ll be fine.”
“It’s just because everyone I love goes, that’s all.” Justine shrugged. “I love Olivia, and I want her to stay.”
Those words shattered my heart. Immediately, I made my way over to the couch to hug her. “I’m always here for you now,” I reassured her while she leaned into me. “And Olivia is as well, honestly.”
“Shall we go and wake Olivia up? See if there’s anything that she wants to do before we go home.”
“Aw no.” Justine pouted playfully. “I don’t want to go home… oh, but I do want to print out my pictures.”
“Well, there you go then.” I offered her a one-shouldered shrug. “There are still things to look forward to at home. You get your report all sorted and take it into school. School is good now, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah.” Justine bounced beside me. “And you can talk to me about Mommy too.”
That still made everything inside of me go tight, but it wasn’t about me. I would tell Justine whatever she wanted to know. She deserved know everything that she wanted about her mother; she needed to know where she came from. And with Olivia by my side, nothing would feel quite so scary as it once did. Even if I got really upset about it, she would be there to support me. I needed her so damn much.
“I will. I’ll get the photo albums out as soon as we get back. It’ll be nice. We should get some pictures out of Grandma too. Maybe we can buy some frames and have some new pictures up around the house.”
“That sounds great.” Justine snuggled into me tighter. “Thank you, Daddy.”
As the coffee machine made a sound indicating that it was done, I stood up to pour Olivia and I a drink. With Justine not too far behind me, I went back into the bedroom where Olivia lay, her eyes still fluttering as she dreamed. I wished that I could climb into her brain and see what was going on.
“Olivia?” I said quietly, but she didn’t even stir. “Olivia, you awake yet?” Nothing. So, I took the drink over to her and wafted it under her nose. “You don’t want to wake up even for a drink?”
“Urngh,” she grumbled while writhing under the sheets. Her hair flipped over her shoulder as she moved her head out of the sheets just a little bit, the coffee smell luring her to a more awake state. “Coffee?”
Justine laughed loudly, clearly amused by Olivia’s need for caffeine. That was something that she would have to get used to. I loved knowing that Olivia needed coffee to get herself going in the morning. The little details connected us and made our little bond even stronger. I wanted to know it all.
“Yes, sweetheart, I have a coffee for you. Do you want it?”
Olivia finally sat herself up and she snatched the coffee from me. She sucked it back rapidly, completely ignoring the heat of it as she got her fix. Justine climbed onto the edge of the bed and she slid herself along to get nearer to Olivia. I could tell that she wanted to feel Olivia, to check that she was still there. It was touching; I just hoped that she soon got used to the idea that Oliva was going nowhere so she didn’t need to worry. It would take some time, especially after what she told me with regards to everyone she loved leaving her, but that would come about. I was confident that things with Justine would continue to go up and up,
“Thank you for the drink,” she gasped once she was done. “Can I have another?”
“Of course you can,” I laughed. “I would have brought in two if I knew how desperate you were.”
I went straight into the kitchen to get Olivia another coffee, smirking to myself the whole time. There was definitely going to be a change in the dynamic between Olivia and me once we got home. It would be more of a balanced relationship when we got back, but that was okay, I didn’t mind that. Everything was going to change in the business too, with Hudson getting married and me needing even more time at home, but we had a great set of managers to take the helm for us. It would be different, but okay. My whole life was going to be a million times better because of all these changes, so I couldn’t wait for them to happen.
I tried to picture it all for just a moment, but it was overwhelming. Once upon a time, so many changes all at once would’ve sent me over the edge, but now I was chilled out and ready to take them all in stride.
“Hey, Daddy!” Justine called out as soon as I reached the bedroom. “We have an idea for today.”
“You do?” I handed Olivia the mug, which she took eagerly and drank down rapidly again. It seemed that she was still just as tired from the previous day as I was. “Okay, so what’s the idea?”
“We want to go in a helicopter and do a tour of the island. Olivia said they do that.”
“She did, hey?” I chuckled. “I don’t see why not. Does it cost a fortune?”
“It doesn’t matter, Daddy. You have lots of money, remember? You’re rich.”
I threw my head back in mirth, unable to believe what I was hearing. “I am rich, but I thought you didn’t like that.”
Justine shrugged. “I don’t mind. It can be fun when we do cool stuff with it like a helicopter ride.”
Well, that was fair enough; I could deal with that. If it meant that she was happy, that was all I cared about. I chuckled and grabbed my cell phone, ready to make the booking for them both. “Right, I’ll sort it. If you want a helicopter ride around the island, then that’s what I’ll get you. I shall book it immediately. Then we should all get dressed. How does that sound? Unless you want to go in your pajamas?”
“No, no, no!”
Justine bounded from the bedroom, immediately going to get herself dressed and as soon as she was gone, I climbed across the bed to kiss Olivia again. I cupped her cheeks in my hands and pressed my mouth to hers.
“I really do love you, you know.” I couldn’t seem to stop saying it. Now that I had finally freed my emotions, I wanted to let her know it over and over again. “So, so much.”
“Even now?” She teased while pinching my side. “After all this time?”
“Yep, even now.” I kissed her again. “Now and forever. You know that.”
This time as she rolled her hips into me, I really felt like she really did know it. There was security between us now, a belief that we both knew that we were in it forever. It was wonderful.
“I love you too,” Olivia whispered. “Oh, and I’m sorry about the whole helicopter thing. That was supposed to be a little joke, but Justine just ran with the idea. She wants to see the island from above.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. It actually sounds a whole lot of fun. If I’d known we could do that I would have suggested it myself. I can’t imagine any better way to end our little trip to Hawaii; can you?”
I went to pull back from Olivia, to find my clothes and get dressed, but she grabbed onto my arm and kept me fixed in place for just a little while longer. “About us going back… I think we need to talk about that.”
“We… do?” I wasn’t sure where she was going with this. There was a lot in her eyes that I wasn’t totally sure of. It had nerves darting all over me. Weren’t we done with all the talking now? “Okay…”
“Yeah, I mean, I can’t keep working for you, can I? Not if we’re together, it’s weird.”
I supposed she was right about that one; it would be a little unethical to keep paying her if we were sleeping together. I could just imagine the unpleasant things that other people would say, and that was the last thing that we needed. “Okay then.” I kissed her again as an idea popped into my brain. “You’re fired.”
“Oh wow…” She shoved me off of her. “That was a bit quick, wasn’t it? You’re firing me?”
“Of course I am, but it’s all in the name of love. Don’t worry; I still expect you to do the work, you just won’t be my official employee anymore.” She cocked an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. “Alright, alright, we’ll sort out our schedule when we get home; it won’t all be on you. I’m only teasing.”
She wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and kissed me hard. “Alright, well I’ll try not to be insulted then.” She pushed herself out of the bed. “Or I’ll just get dressed and take advantage of you and enjoy this helicopter ride while I’m still on the payroll. Surely, it still counts until we get back home, right?”
Olivia winked at me and shimmied towards her room to get some clothes, leaving me in fits of laughter. If this is how it was going to be for the rest of our lives, then we were in for a treat…