Never say forever (Never series Book 1)

by Taylor, Courtney A.

  “Don’t worry baby, I got you. You won’t fall. I will be holding you as you’re walking so you won’t trip. It’ll only be a few minutes,” he reassures my fears.

  We are walking. I have no idea where but I can feel grass hitting my toes through the sandals. He was right though, he is beside me the whole time. He is there every step and makes sure I don’t fall. We come to a sudden stop and I can hear him moving. I can feel his face right at the side of my face as he whispers in my ear.

  “I love you, my beautiful Violet.”

  Goose bumps ran down my back as the feel of his breath on me and the sound of his voice hit me. Those goose bumps travelled to my heart and made me crash harder in the love that is Aiden.

  I felt him move away. I can feel the distance between us now. I don’t want this to end. I need my closeness, I need him here.

  “You can take the blindfold off now.”

  I slide off the blindfold and Aiden is in front of me on one knee with a ring held out. I put my hand to my mouth in shock.

  “My sweet Violet, I have come to love you more and more as the days go by. I love this baby more than I ever thought I could love someone who isn’t here yet. I know we are very young and I’m not asking you to marry me today. We don’t have to rush anything. You are my other half, my better half and I can’t picture my life without you. I love everything about you, the way you smell, the way your hair naturally curls and even the lavender scent. Most importantly I love the way that you love me unconditionally. Will you do me honor and be my bride, not today but whenever we’re ready?”

  I can’t even function. Did this just really happen? I can’t even find the words to tell him yes. Tears are running down my face as I hold my hands to my face and start wiping them away. I’m so overwhelmed with joy, he has left me speechless. I can’t simply form the words so I nod my head as a hiccup escapes.

  He places the ring on my finger, which is the most gorgeous ring I’ve ever seen. There was a pink diamond heart surrounded by a bunch of small white diamonds. Once he put it on my finger, I felt even more connected to him.

  He stood up and embraced me. I could hear the small sobs of happiness escaping him as he holds me tight. It takes a few minutes to realize my surroundings. We are in a backyard. This isn’t Aiden’s house, so where are we? Are we in a random backyard? I question in my head as I start looking around. I let go of Aiden and turn around and I stop dead in my tracks.

  There right in front of me is a miniature replica of the waterfalls we are used to. There is a pretty good sized pond with a constant flow of water at the peak of the waterfall. My eyes must be playing tricks on me.

  “Aiden, what is this? Where are we? Whose house is this?” I start rambling questions because I’m not sure what to think.

  “This is our home. Part of the project I was working on was this. I remember the first time we went to the waterfalls and you told me that you would love to have this in your backyard.”

  I could hear his voice behind me. He remembered what I told him. He granted something I didn’t even wish, I just hoped for and he made that come true. Something as simple as a waterfall, he put all that time and effort into making me happy. I turn around with glistening wet eyes from the happiness and realization that my prince charming is standing in front of me. He would do anything for me. The one things that sticks in my mind is the fact that he has no job. How the heck do we have a house?

  “How is this even possible? People don’t grow houses Aiden. You don’t have a job.”

  I know I may be sounding ungrateful right now but this seems too good to be true and I don’t want to see all this and have it wiped away.

  “I will tell you all the details later. I have to show you around the house. I promise I will tell you everything later.”

  I follow him into the house and I instantly fall in love. The house is fully furnished. The kitchen has granite countertops, the fridge looks brand new. The fridge has an ice maker, too. I start walking around the house taking in all the pleasantness of it. I enter the living room and there is a TV in place with dark grey couches and dark grey coffee table. There is a picture of me and Aiden that we took the first time at the waterfalls hanging in a frame above the TV. Tears threaten to escape when I see the picture.

  I walk to one of the bedrooms and I see a king size bed. The comforter is black with a red border. I see pictures hanging around the bedroom of me and Aiden, even some of Larissa, Ben and Abby. But what really catches my attention is the picture beside the bed, which is the sonogram picture of the ultrasound last week. I walk out of the room before I start bawling my eyes out.

  I walk into another bedroom and this by far has me crying. I am now at the point of ugly crying. This feels too good to be true. I walk in and look around. There is a crib completely furnished with pink bedding with butterflies on it. There is a dresser, changing table and a picture of me and Aiden taken recently with my small baby bump.

  I can feel his presence behind me. I turn around. “You did all this?”

  “With the help of Ben and my Dad. Yes I did. I did this for us. Happy Birthday, sweetheart.”

  I don’t even let him finish what he’s saying. I literally pounce on him. I am kissing him like a madwoman. He picks me up, which I don’t see how. I feel like a cow, and places me on the bed. He leans down and kisses my neck.

  “Now I get to feel what it’s like to make love to my future wife.”

  I never knew words alone can turn you on. He kisses my neck and lingers there just slowly making love to every inch of my body.

  He moves down and kisses me all over before he makes himself comfortable on top and enters me slowly. We both move at a slow pace, body to body, face to face, eyes to eyes. His blue eyes to my violet eyes locked on each other as we move to our own beat. This has been the first time that we made love that I actually felt connected in a way that’s indescribable. We both finish at the same time and he rolls off me and pulls me close to his chest. I lie there on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as we fall asleep in each other arms for the first time since the waterfalls.

  ***

  Aiden

  I woke up suddenly, not realizing the time. I feel like I slept all night. After making love, Serena and I passed out in our new bed. I mentally freak out though because we haven’t officially moved in and I don’t want her mother freaking out if she never shows up at home. I frantically look for my phone so I know what time it is. I look at the clock and it’s about 10 P.M. Not as bad as I thought.

  I walk back over to the humungous bed I bought. I know I didn’t have to overdo it but I want the best for us. This is our chance to make a life of our own. I kneeled down by the bed and started lightly shaking her. She starts groggily waking up. I can get used to this. She opens her eyes and I see the big smile formed on her face. I can definitely get used to that too.

  “Hey, I didn’t want to alarm you but its 10 P.M. You might want to call your mom and tell her you’re alright since she doesn’t know about the house yet,” I tell her softly.

  “Yeah. Good idea. I don’t want to go home yet until I get full details from you on how you made this possible.”

  She gets up and walks out the room to call her mom. I have no issue telling her what happened. It is pretty emotional for me but if I have plans to be with her forever, she deserves to know everything. I start thinking about that day that my dad gave me that envelope.

  When I was in my room and gathered the courage to open the letter, it wasn’t what I thought. I almost didn’t open it because I knew it would contain something that could possibly break my heart. I opened it anyways because I need to. I don’t know what it is but my father gave it to me so it must be something important.

  The envelope contained two items. The first item was a handwritten letter from my mother. Tears began to form before I even read the first sentence.

  Dear Aiden (my baby boy),

  I know you don’t like me to call you that because you’re ol
der but you will forever be my baby boy. If you are reading this, I’m so sorry! Writing this hurts so much, and I hope you never see this letter. You have always been my pride and joy. I made sure to make it to your football games because I am so proud of you and I support everything you do. I have been the most blessed mother anyone could be to have a son like you. If you are reading this, please know that I wish with all my being that I was standing here in front of you rather than you reading a letter from someone who’s no longer here. I know you will do great, I am sure of it. To help out there will be something else with this letter that will help you in any way you need. I hope your dreams come true and you find your perfect girl. Whomever she is will be the luckiest girl to snag such a handsome young man as you. Follow your dreams, baby boy!

  Until we meet again,

  Forever in my heart,

  I will never stop loving you.

  Even in my grave.

  I love you.

  Love Mom.

  By the time I was done reading, tears were streaming down my face. Reading that letter hurt my heart because all I could think about was her and everything we missed together since she was gone. This letter made me miss her even more, if that’s even possible. This letter brought back painful memories. It took me half an hour to even look at the other item in the envelope. I was too emotional from crying, and I couldn’t see. My vision was blurry because the tears never stopped. I know I’m a guy and shouldn’t be bawling his eyes out like this, but at this point I don’t care. This is my mother and she’s gone. Nothing about that should make me happy.

  Once I finally calmed down, I took out the other item which was a statement from the bank stating that I have an account in my name with $500,000 in it.

  I almost did a double take. I was shocked beyond belief. Where the heck did she get this kind of money? This is most definitely not what I was expecting.

  I open the door and to my surprise my dad is waiting at the door. He took one look at me and knew from my bloodshot eyes that I opened the envelope. He grabbed hold of me and hugged me. He knew my emotions were out of whack. He must know to some extent what this letter contained.

  “You knew?” I ask him.

  “I knew about the money, yes. I have no idea what she wrote you. That was for your eyes only. I got a letter too,” he confides.

  I let go of him and look him in the eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about the money?”

  “I didn’t want to tell you yet because you’re young. I have instructions to give this to you when you turn eighteen. I was going to give this to you when you graduated high school, but since you’re having a baby now, I figured now would be a better time. Get your shoes on, I have something else to show you,” he started walking away.

  I know he said earlier that when I read that to see him because he has something to show me but now I am puzzled. What could he possibly have to show me? I hope it isn’t anything that is going to make me emotional again. My heart has handled enough already today. I don’t think I can handle more.

  I put my shoes on and met my dad out in the car. I get in the car and he starts talking right away.

  “Your mother was a firm believer in life insurance. She had a policy on herself for a million dollars. I told her that was too much but she insisted. She said that she had to make sure we were taken care of if something were to happen. Your mother was always overly cautious, but I don’t need to tell you that. You already know.”

  I don’t even say anything back. I can’t. I’m at an absolute loss for words. What can I say? Today I got to read a letter my mother wrote to me while she was alive and I found out she left me money. Today is definitely a day that I never thought would happen. A day that has overwhelmed me. I just sit in the front seat looking out the window playing the “what if” game. What if my mother was still here? What would she say when she found out I was having a baby? What if she found out I was back in football after that killed her? What if I fail and she can see everything I do? Would I be a disappointment? What if I never played football, would she still be here? I’m going out of my mind asking these what if questions that can never be answered.

  We finally pull up to a house. I look at my dad with question. Please don’t tell me I have a brother or sister I never knew about. The possibilities of what lies behind that door could be anything and that’s what scares me the most.

  We walk out the car and my dad walks to the door and unlocks it with his key. What is going on here? I’m almost afraid to walk in, but I do anyways. I follow my dad who stops in the middle of an empty room.

  He turns to me, “This is yours.”

  Whoa! What?!

  “What do you mean this is mine?”

  “I also got $500,000 from your mother’s life insurance plan. I didn’t need that much since I am working and I got money from selling the last house so I bought a house and I was going to give this to you as your graduation gift. I only needed half that money. I want you to be set when you go to college. I don’t want you to struggle. Knowing that you have a house that’s paid for and money from your mother, I know you can succeed at anything you do, and I’ll know that you won’t be on the street trying to make it through college. I wasn’t going to give this to you until graduation but you need a home for your family.”

  Wow, again I’m at a loss for words.

  My mother and father were perfect for each other. They were two great role models for any child. I would like to think that I got my good manners from them. I know how to treat my girl because I learned from the best. My heart is literally floating around a sea of happiness because of the love that I have clearly seen from my parents today.

  I walk up to my dad and hug him. I hug him hard as the tears flow again. I don’t contain them though because I’m not ashamed. I’m not ashamed to feel the way I do because of the love I have received. My dad hugs me back and I can feel tears coming from his eyes as well. This is definitely a father son bonding moment that I will never forget.

  My dad pulls away. “We still need to get some work done. I have been touching up here and there, obviously you need furniture too, so that check will come in handy.”

  “Yeah, I can’t believe this. Please don’t tell anyone. I want to get this whole house ready and surprise Serena with it. She has no clue what’s going on and I want to keep it that way. I hope to have this done by her birthday so I can give her this as a present,” I tell him.

  “Your secret is safe with me. I’ll help with whatever you need me to. Actually, when I am at home, I’ll start building a crib for the baby.”

  I am so happy that he decided to do that. I know he will make the best crib. Better than any other company can make. My baby will have a crib built with love, and that’s more than I can ask for.

  “That would be great. Thanks so much, Dad, for everything. This all means the world to me.”

  “No problem, Son. That’s what I’m here for.”

  I sure hope I am as good of a dad to my daughter as my dad is to me.

  Serena comes back in the room and I tell her everything. I don’t skip a beat. The only thing I haven’t told her was that I carry that letter from my mother around in my wallet everywhere I go. I feel as if she is always with me when I carry it, and its good feeling knowing she’s there with me. By the time my story ends, she is in tears.

  “I’m sorry to be crying like this. I’m kind of jealous of you. You had these awesome parents and I had a father who cheated on my mother and left without a goodbye and my mother barely shows affection. I would die to have parents like yours. I am so sorry about your mother. She sounds pretty amazing and I wish I could meet her.”

  She is still crying, probably because of the hormones making her cry more than she should but to me she looks angelic. I love looking at her no matter what’s going on.

  “It’s okay Baby Girl. We have a place to call our home. Oh and by the way, my father built the crib.”

  I smile widely because I am so proud.

/>   “Get the hell out of here! Really? Oh my gosh, that has to be the best crib. I thought it was a designer crib, it looked so amazing. Wow, that’s wonderful.”

  Here come the tears again.

  “I know sweetie. This was his present to us for the baby, he insisted. I couldn’t turn him down because I know it would be the best crib in town.”

  I smile and kiss her on the lips. I have never really felt at home since my mother died, but here right now, I feel more at home than I’ve ever felt.

  “Did you tell your mom about the house?”

  “Yeah, I had a pretty lengthy conversation with her. At first she was trying to think of anything to keep me home but she sees that this is my home now. I think she’s more afraid of the fact that I’ll be out of the house and that reminds her of what happened to Cadence. I smoothed it over with her though and she’s really happy. She said she can’t wait to see the house. She knows you’re a good guy and she really knows now how happy I am with you.”