by Frankie Love
And, even though I am done, I don’t want to pull out quite yet. Because I am not ready to admit that this is over. I am not ready to admit that we are done here. I need this woman – I need her close to me. Even though I know that she only has a few days in this place, I am determined to prove to her that she has no reason to leave.
Chapter Ten
Harper
My eyes flutter open, and I smile as soon as I hear Cliff in the kitchen. He is singing to himself, some song that I don’t recognize, but, in his deep voice, it sounds like home.
I’m not sure how late the two of us stayed up together last night – talking, holding each other, fooling around, getting to know every inch of one another’s bodies the best way we know how. But one thing that I am clear on, one thing I know for sure, is that I am happy, right here, in his bed. The sunlight pouring through the window beside me, lighting everything up, making everything feel as though it has come straight from a fairytale.
"Don’t go anywhere," he calls to me from the kitchen, as though he can sense that I am already awake – how does he know? I smile, lean back against the pillows.
"I’m going to make you breakfast," he continues, and I close my eyes. I never want this to end.
But I know that I am going to have to go back to my life in Cherry Falls soon enough. My father needs me. And besides – Cliff has been out here on his own for so long now. Does he really want some woman in his life after all this time? I want to ask him, but I don’t know how to put it into words. Not without making it sound profoundly needy and strange, that’s for sure.
But I do feel needy for him. I can’t deny that. When I look at him, there is this sense of stillness around me, even amongst the waves that are my normal life. He grounds me in a way that I have been searching for.
I have no idea how I am meant to navigate those feelings. Is this just what happens the first time that you have sex with someone? Maybe he’s going to think I’m crazy. Or maybe the softness in his eyes, the way that he looks at me, maybe that means that he feels the same way I do. Maybe...
I can still hear him moving in the kitchen, and I decide that I am going to join him and help out – it’s only fair that I pull my weight around here, isn’t it? I don’t want him to think that I am taking any of his kindness for granted...
But just as I am about to head out of the bedroom, I hear a knock on the door, and I hold back. I don’t want anyone else to know that I am here – who knows what they might say if they find out that Cliff is hooking up with one of the guests? I bite my lip to keep in a little giggle at the thought, and wait for him to deal with whoever is waiting there.
I listen to the door open, and then, a moment later, Cliff greeting whoever is on the other side. Okay, all normal, nothing to worry about–
And then, the person who has come to find him replies. And my stomach drops.
I recognize that voice – I know who that is.
It’s my father.
Chapter Eleven
Cliff
"Sorry to bother you so early," the man remarks. "I’m looking for the manager, and one of the other campers out here said that you were the best person to talk to."
"Yes, of course," I reply, running my hand through my hair and hoping that I don’t look too rattled at being disturbed first thing. I can’t stop thinking about Harper, naked, in bed, waiting for me. I want to get my hands on her, but I’ll deal with this first.
"I’m Harrison Higgins," the man explains, extending his hand out to me. "I’m the preacher doing the ceremony later this afternoon...?”
I stare at him for a moment. Wait. Wait a second. Harrison... Higgins? A preacher? That can only mean...
I step outside of the cabin and close the door behind me, hoping that Harper hasn’t heard what’s going on out here. My mind races. So, he’s part of the group we were organizing for earlier in the week? Shit. He’s here. I have thought about meeting Harper’s family, of course I have, but this is a little sooner than I imagined it would be...
"So sorry to bother you, but I wasn’t sure what covered area was reserved for us," he says as I walk him back towards the main office.
“Of course I can help you with that. It’s the one up the main road, to the right. Area number four. I thought you were coming in a few hours or I’d have been there.”
“Early bird gets the worm, you know?” he jokes, but then he stops in his tracks. My stomach clenches with panic. Has he sensed it? Guessed that I have been with his daughter?
He stares straight ahead, and I follow his gaze towards a car parked just behind the office.
"That’s my daughter’s car," he mutters, and he strides off towards it before I can stop him.
"What’s she doing here?" he remarks as I hurry to catch up.
"Are you sure?" I ask. "Seems like a coincidence, maybe–"
"Yes, I’m sure of it," he replies, and he points to a decal on the back window. "See? It says here. Preacher’s daughter. I got that for her last Christmas..."
"Oh, well, uh," I blurt out. I need to come up with something, and fast. I need to make sure that I don’t let him figure out just how well I’ve gotten to know his daughter since she has been here.
"Harper Higgins," he tells me. He speaks her name like she’s the most precious thing in the world to him – I have to admit, it’s pretty sweet.
"Oh, yeah, I think we had someone stop by with that name," I reply.
"You must have," he agrees. "What cabin is she staying in? I’d like to pop by and say hello."
"I think it’s that one," I reply, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Harper’s place. "But she was out for a hike first thing this morning. Don’t know if you’ll get to see her."
"Oh, good for her," he remarks, perking up. "I suppose I can catch up with her when she’s back. She said she was going away for a few days, but I thought she’d be booking a place down at Kissme Bay or – well, I suppose you don’t need to hear all this.”
"No worries," I say, and then turn to stride quickly back to the cabin where I have left Harper.
I pray that she hasn’t realized that her father is here, but as soon as I open the door, I see her, wide-eyed, a look of full-blown panic all over her face.
And I know that she is perfectly clear on the fact that her father has turned up and that she is probably not going to be able to sneak out of here without being spotted by at least one person who knows exactly who she is.
And who isn’t afraid to go reporting back to daddy the first chance that they get.
Chapter Twelve
Harper
"Oh my gosh!" I moan as soon as Cliff is through the door. "Was that...?”
"Your father?" He nods. "Yeah, it was. He’s here with a church group, I think. I didn’t know that they were the ones coming up here this weekend..."
"Oh, no," I groan, and I sink down onto the couch and put my head in my hands. "This is... this is awful!”
"Why?” he replies. "He doesn’t have to know that you’re here."
"He’ll find out," I shoot back. "And when he does..."
"And when he does, he’s going to have to remember that you’re a grown-ass woman of your own, right?”
"You don’t understand," I murmur. "My father is so protective. And I don’t want to let him down."
I don’t even know how to put this into words. The thought of my father catching on to a singular inch of the truth of what has been happening here feels crazy to me. How on earth am I going to be able to look him in the eye? Or the rest of the congregation, for that matter? They’re going to be judging the heck out of me, that’s for sure...
"You get to make your own decisions now, you told me that," he reminds me, kneeling down in front of me and grasping my arms.
His touch is enough to ground me, if only for a moment, and I look up at him, trying to catch my breath, trying to bring myself down to this moment, to this instant.
"I know that, but I’m not sure that he does," I admit. "It’
s just... I’ve never been with anyone before. He’s never had to do the whole dad thing of dealing with that. And if he does, I don’t know how he’s going to react."
"Well, that’s not something that you have to worry about," Cliff tells me. "You deal with it however you’d like, and that’s just how it goes, okay? He doesn’t get to tell you what to do, or who to spend your time with."
I look at him, really look at the man in front of me, the man who is doing his stone-cold level best to make sure that I know that he is here for me. And I feel a pang in my heart, because I know that it isn’t going to be long before I have to go back to reality – to the world that exists without him, even though the thought of it is enough to make my chest ache.
"You don’t understand," I whisper, and he catches my face in his hand, tilts it so that I have no choice but to look at him as he speaks.
"What don’t I understand?" he asks. "You’ve given so much of your time and your energy and your effort to taking care of that man. Don’t you deserve something that’s just yours?"
"I don’t know," I admit, and I mean it. I wanted to be a little selfish when I came out here, but I hadn’t imagined that that selfishness would lead me to the bed of a man like Cliff. To a man who made everything in my life feel a little more clear, a little more open.
I can still remember the way that he held me down in the cave, held me close as though I am the most precious thing that has ever come into his life, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to forget that.
Maybe this is less about the fact that my father is here, and more about the reminder that I have a life back in Cherry Falls – a life that Cliff isn’t a part of.
"What’s really wrong?” Cliff asks, and I look up at him. He can tell that there is something that I am not being honest about, and it makes my heart melt a little to realize that he understands me as deeply as that.
"I don’t want this to be over," I confess, finally. "I don’t – I don’t want to go back to my life in Cherry Falls. Not without you. And I know that this was only meant to be a fling, a short-term thing, but I – I think there’s something here between us, Cliff. I don’t know if you can feel it too, but I can, and I don’t think I can walk away from it that easily."
He lets out a sigh, as though I have touched on something deep inside of him that he had been hoping to keep to himself. I scan his face, looking for answers – looking for an explanation as to what is going on in his head right now. I need to know. Every word, every detail. I want to. I want to get to know every part of him that he will let me and I know that I will not be able to rest until I have.
"You really thought this was just a one-time thing?” he asks as he smooths his thumb over my cheek, his touch gentle, so tender and careful that it makes my heart sing. "I don’t do one-time things," he says in his perfectly gruff voice. “I hope you know that."
"What do you mean?” I ask him, though I can tell from the catch at the back of my throat that I understand what he is saying perfectly. I might not be able to accept it yet, but I can hear the words that he is trying to speak, even if he hasn’t said them yet.
Because the two of us – we're on the same wavelength. We work on the same frequency. From the first moment that I laid eyes on him, I have known that we understand each other, and I have felt that sureness ever since.
But now, I know that he is about to speak it into being, and I am ready to hear it.
"I mean," he murmurs, and he takes my hand in his, kneeling before me. "That I want you to marry me, Harper Higgins."
My heart feels as though it explodes as soon as I hear those words come out of his mouth. I can’t keep the smile off my face.
Marry him?
When I first saw him, the very last thing on my mind was marriage. But now, as we sit here, in the soft morning light in his cabin, I know that I will not be able to return to Cherry Falls without him there beside me.
"I want to marry you, too," I tell him right back, and I feel an explosion of joy coursing through my body. I clap my hand over my mouth, feeling the rush of glee as it hits me, and he pulls me off the couch and into his arms as the tears start to stream down my face.
And we have nothing more to say to one another, at least, not yet. We have other things to think about right now. Like the fact that he has just asked me to spend his life with him – and that I have said yes, without a second thought.
Because I know it’s right. I know he is the one. And I know I want nothing more than to pass the rest of my days by his side.
Epilogue 1
Harper
Two months later…
Juniper appears in the doorway, in the pink-printed maid of honor dress that I picked out for her – she looks lovely, even picked out a frame for her glasses that matches the pink of her dress.
"Are you ready?" she asks.
I bite my lip, steal one last glance at myself in the mirror, and then nod. "I think so," I reply, and she grabs my hand and tugs me towards the door.
I can hardly believe this is happening. The last two months have been the craziest of my entire life – putting together a wedding from scratch. But Juniper helped me figure out the colors, Cliff weighed in on the cake, and of course, when it came to the question of the church, there was only one answer – my father is going to marry us in his beautiful parish, the midday light picking out the glimmers of gold strewn around the pews as everyone waits for me to arrive.
My father still believes that Cliff and I have been chaste until marriage; no need for him to find out that the very first time he met his future son-in-law, I was naked in his cabin, hoping that I wasn’t going to get busted.
All that matters to me is that my father seems to love him as much as I do, that Cliff fits in so beautifully with the world in Cherry Falls – even if I intend to live up in his cabin with him, to get a little space and figure out just who I am outside of the expectations down here.
But for now, I intend to indulge all of those expectations, and give everyone a wedding to remember. I know that this is fast, but it’s right – Cliff and I have no reason to wait to share our love with the world, and I do not intend to go another day without being able to call him my husband.
Goldie, my other bridesmaid, is waiting for us at the entrance to the chapel – she beams when she sees me.
"You look beautiful," she tells me, and I steal one last glance at my dress. I really do love it. White and lacy at the top, with gorgeous pink flowers – like the wild roses on the mountain trail leading to where I gave my virginity to the man of my dreams – stitched all the way down the skirt, it’s perfect. I can’t wait till Cliff sees me in it...
And, a moment later, as the door opens, he does.
Gosh, he looks so handsome in his suit. He and the groomsmen are wearing pink ties to match the theme; not that I expect to be able to convince Cliff to get into pink much in the future, but that’s fine by me. My burly mountain man, all wrapped up in his beautiful suit and his pink tie.
The ceremony, as we requested from my father, is quick and to-the-point – Cliff holds my hand the moment I join him on the altar, and he can’t take his eyes off me for a moment even as my father speaks. I know how he feels. Hard to believe that this is real. That we really found each other.
When my father gives the order to kiss the bride, Cliff catches me around the waist and pulls me in close. I know that he has plenty of intentions for me tonight, and I smile into the kiss, letting him hold me. I have one last surprise for him today – one last thing to share before the day is over. Though I am going to wait till the two of us are alone for that.
The reception is a whirl of people offering their congratulations, telling us what a beautiful couple we are, and I can tell from the look on Cliff’s face that he wants to get out of here and get me alone as soon as he can. We haven’t bothered to pick a honeymoon destination – we're just going to his cabin to spend the next few days unbothered by anyone. He’s all the vacation I need.
He drives me back up there, one hand on my thigh the whole time, the first chance he gets, and he carries me over the doorstep and into the living room, his strong arms wrapped around me.
"I have something to show you," I giggle, as he plants me back on my feet.
"Oh, yeah?”
I reach into my purse, and hand him the small plastic strip that I have been carrying in there since yesterday – I am not sure how I have been able to hide the news for so long, but now, I don’t have to worry about that for another second.
"What’s...?” he begins, but as he looks down at it, something clicks in his head. It’s a positive pregnancy test – an announcement that our family begins here.
Slowly, he lifts his gaze to meet mine again, his lips parted in shock. I slip my arms around his shoulders and snuggle against him.
"Ready to be a husband and a father?” I ask him, and he plants a kiss on the corner of my mouth.
"As long as you’re there to help me through it," he murmurs, and he picks me up again, carries me to the bedroom. And I know that the two of us can take anything that comes at us next. Like he said – just as long as we have each other.
Epilogue 2
Cliff
One year later…
We named her Rose.
She is one, in every sense of the word. Beautiful and delicate just like her mama. A little wild, like her papa.
And God, how I love my girls. Grandpa Higgins just left. He stopped by the cabin with some casseroles the ladies at church made for us. Never mind that Rose is already three months old – they keep doting on us every chance they get.
To be completely honest, I like it. I didn’t have much in the way of family before Harper. So having her father’s entire congregation looking out for us feels pretty damn good.