by Chevoque
She shook her head, “Nevermind all that. What I would like to know is…were you really there?” She pointed at the portrait. He assumed she meant the warehouse caught in the reflection, so he nodded. “Madeline didn’t tell me,” she said it more to herself, looked at the portrait again, and then at him. StereoKid sang over the speakers, and he caught Aaliyah smiling with ease. Her eyes met his. “Could we, possibly, just go back to where we were?”
Reaching out, he took hold of her hand, but instead she pulled closer and kissed him like it had been ages. And it was, because the softness of her lips with the cherry taste, the shape of her body and the heat from her skin, felt like it had been the first time when he had helped her remove her makeup.
Freedom.
Epilogue
Madeline
Madeline was dead on her feet. Helping to plan the wedding and being the maid of honour was far from a relaxing walk in the park. Though it was the best day of her life, she was glad to sit and watch as Aaliyah and her father danced to Halestorm’s “Dear Daughter.” The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens was likely the last place Madeline ever thought a wedding like this would work, but it was winter and the fairytale feeling was high.
A while later, she yawned. The rest of the guests littered the dance floor. Some stood in clusters to chat, and some were even doing their parts for the videographer. She spotted Aaliyah and Tristan in their “deeply in love” eye lock on the dance floor. This instigated the need for her to fish out her cell phone instead, because someone who wasn’t in love could only take that much sweetness before jealousy slowly swung by.
Aaliyah’s vows were at the top of Madeline’s handbag and the words were taunting the jealousy within her. You taught me how to smile, laugh, care and be careless. You showed me how to have fun, take chances, and love my life. But the best you brought into my life was yourself. So, Tristano Gerardo, I vow to support and love you with all I’m capable, for as long and even beyond that, as long we both may live.
Madeline sighed, maybe too animatedly than required, but searched deeper and finally found her cell phone at the bottom. She faced what she feared, nearly twenty missed calls from Rick. Fear gripped her throat. She’d been efficiently avoiding him. The bruises she still carried on her pale skin were close to healed and becoming distant memories.
As she deleted the missed calls, an unknown number with an area code from an area she could never guess also appeared only once, and then nothing more. She wondered for a moment to whom the number belonged and then…the phone rang.
Set to change her life forever.
BEFORE YOU GO…
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Acknowledgements
Obviously, to Jessica DeFrancesco, without whom I would have had a few awkward leaps if facts didn’t quite check out, and an even bigger thanks to her for not killing me—at least not physically—for asking for advice and help about Pittsburgh as I went about writing the book. You are an awesome author buddy, and I appreciate your presence in my life…even if it is just in the cyber sense.
Family and friends who are always helping, supporting, and loving; Thanks, I love you all and I appreciate your patience.
Everyone else who helped make this book happen, helped shaping it and contributed in any manner, I am forever grateful. My main beta readers, Jessica, Roslyn, and Babi, thanks for always taking the time, for your suggestions, and for encouraging me to take the next step.
Limitless Publishing, you are all so amazing and I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to work with you guys. Jessica, Dixie, and Lori, you lot have been patient through it all and it is the best thing ever to be part of the family.
To Laura Kemmerer from Laura Cat Copyediting, I am super grateful to have had you edit my baby as you understood and helped me through one of the rougher parts of getting a book out into the world. Thanks for the patience.
To Kim from Deranged Doctor Design, for creating the perfect cover with Aaliyah forever captured in gold. You're amazing!
Readers, reviewers, and other distributers, I’m glad to have been working with you all and I appreciate all the hard work and time that has been put in to help me along with my dream. Kisses to you all.
Final Note:
I am aware that some of the dishes mentioned within this book are endangered species and therefore I used them with the hope that they are rather farmed than wild caught fish. But I also want to add that if you do enjoy fish, please always try to only consume green/sustainable (SASSI and/or other lists) species, so we won’t lose any more species due to exploitation and bycatch.
About the Author
Chevoque was born as Rochelle de Beer on 15 May 1992 in Klerksdorp, South Africa, and as an only child, the world seemed like a lonely place, until she set her mind free and got lost in the worlds she created for herself. Her writing began at a young age and with numerous stories still waiting to be released from her mind, only time now seems to hold her back. She also has a degree in BSc. Environmental and Biological Sciences, because she's a tree hugging animal lover, who hopes to never use her degree to cause cruelty.
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