Epilogue

 

 

Elliot and I were both very different people. He would lash out verbally when he was confronted. I would curl into a ball and distance myself. Our coping mechanisms were poles apart. 

The court case against Sarah Mallory pushed our relationship to the brink.

He would storm around the house and slam cabinets. I would retreat into myself as the residual fear from Gilly's abuse gripped my mind.

We both had to relearn how to cope.

We had therapy. Together and alone. I knew that he was it for me from the second we had laid eyes on each other. People told me it was too soon but we were determined to work through our issues together. Slowly and surely.

After the stabbing, Elliot had become so protective of me that I almost couldn’t cope with the attention.

He sold his house on Goldryn Row and we moved into one of the Antebellum homes on the edge of the Bayou. We lived next to the sheriff, in the small gated community. There was a tire swing out the front and we talked about getting a dog. One of our favourite games to play was suggesting outrageous names for the metaphorical pooch and then shooting them down.

Sarah Mallory had been put away for a long time. Over fifteen years for attempted murder. Coupled with second-degree sexual assault, as well as breaking and entering.

Walter Mallory had tried everything to stop his only daughter from being put away. He offered rehab. He even tried to bribe me to change my testimony. Elliot and I stayed firm. We stuck together and it paid off when the jury declared her 'guilty' in front of the court.

The raised scar tissue an inch above my belly button was a reminder of what she did to me. Tried to do to Elliot. I was grateful she was behind bars.

“What are you thinking about?” Elliot asked, he handed me a coffee and I thanked him with a smile.

Sat on the patio, around the back of our home, I caught a glimpse of morning dew on the grass.

“We should call our dog Jellybean.” I mused with a smile.

Elliot cocked a brow. “That so? Does that mean Lava Cake is off the table?”

I hummed as I took a sip from my coffee. He made it just the way I liked it.

Without warning, Elliot Gold gripped my coffee mug and placed it gently on the side. When he turned back to me, his lips claimed mine. My hands gripped his hair as I held him towards me. His kiss pulled me out of the chair and into his arms.

My chest heaved. Our foreheads rested against each other.

“What was that for?” My voice was husky. Wanton.

Elliot smiled. A secretive smile that told me he was up to something.

“What?” I asked, poking him in the shoulder.

“Nothing.” He was smug.

I narrowed my eyes but slid back into my chair. I reached over for my coffee, keeping an eye on him as I took a sip.

Without a word, Elliot sat down by my side and we sat together. Content with each other’s company.

I wished I had my camera. So I could take a picture of the pink sunrise as it coloured the sky in front of us. Instead we watched in silence.

My photography business was going well. Gwen Bell had outsourced most of her event photography for me, and I was finally able to quit the Pink Sleeve.

The FBI had connected me regarding my biological parents. They’d informed me that Kimberley and Gerald Norde ran a charity in NYC for kidnapped children. They'd never stopped searching for me.

Strange as it was, Elliot had connections to their charity and gave money to it. He knew the Nordes from various galas they had held. His prior meetings with them were one of the reasons I hadn’t freaked out and dismissed them entirely.

I now had a birth certificate and a social security number. Once upon a time, I had been Alice Norde, one of the most high-profile child kidnapping cases in the US.

Still, I kept the name with which I grew up. It was easier that way.

When I had met my biological parents, there had been a media storm and it still hadn’t been long enough for it to tide over. The Nordes had bought a house on Goldryn Row so they could get to know me better. My biological mother, Kim, was an overwhelming woman but I couldn’t blame her.

It was hard to decide how to feel about it all.

Gilly Thompson had managed to find a donor. An estranged sister who I’d never met. After surgery, Gilly had been woken from her coma only to find that she was going to prison for a long time for child abduction.

I had wanted an explanation. An apology.

I got neither from her. Not even when she stared down at me from the stand in court.

I think that was why my Pop killed himself. He knew what she’d done when she took me, and he couldn’t live with the guilt. Gilly was sterile. I found that out in court too.

“I have a surprise for you.” Elliot said once I’d finished my coffee. “Please don't think I need my head checked.” He added with a mutter.

“What was that?” I laughed.

“Nothing.”

He took my hand and we walked to the driveway. In the place where Elliot’s silver Porsche normally sat, was Gilly's dilapidated trailer.

I stood there in confusion. “I was expecting flowers. Maybe candy. Not my old home.” I laughed. My laugh sounded like a dying hyena but for some reason it always made Elliot smile. Really wide. The kind that lights up the eyes and shows off the dimples.

God, I loved that man.

Without a word, Elliot picked up a sledgehammer from where it was lying on the porch. He handed it to me with a mischievous smile.

“You said you wanted to burn it to the ground. Bit risky. It would almost certainly end in arrest. I thought the next best thing would be a sledgehammer.”

Tears beaded at the corner of my eyes. I bit my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. I lowered the heavy tool to the ground and once my hands were free, I threw my arms around Elliot’s shoulders.

He gripped my waist. “I love you.”

“You weird and infuriating man!” I laughed through happy tears as he eased me back to the ground. I shook my head, battling laughter.

“I'm gonna destroy that trailer...” I said with an evil glint in my eye. I bent down to pick up the sledgehammer, careful to balance the heavyweight. I noticed that Elliot wasn’t standing anymore as I straightened my spine.

He was on one knee.

With a ring.

“Harry,” He said my name on a breath. Like I was the beginning and the end. The moon and the stars. When he spoke, his accent was thick like molasses. Breaking through as emotion overtook him. “You have me. My heart is yours. I wanna grow old and gray with you. I wanna raise kids with you and watch them on that tire swing over there. I want your face to be the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at night. I've loved you since the moment I saw you. Your whisky eyes. Your good heart. You’re my soulmate, Harriet Thompson. Will you marry me?”

I started to cry.

Elliot didn’t falter. He didn’t wait for my response. He took the ring from its case and slipped it on my finger.

“You aren’t going to wait for my answer?” I asked. Hiccupping as my chest heaved with happy tears.

Elliot’s lips twitched into a smirk. “As if I’d let you say no.”

 

❤

 

The series continues with Nate and Gwen's story;

 'Good as Gold'

To be released fall 2018

 

(And find out more about Harry and Elliot’s happily ever after too)

 

❤

 

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Thank you!

-        Michaela Haze