by Jordan Ford
Helena giggled behind him. “Now I know why it’s taken me so long to come. Our hearts have been waiting for each other to be here.”
Helena’s words warmed Tristan from his head to his feet. He grinned at Sylvie and she gave him a delighted smile in return. Then he looked back at Helena, still in awe of the fact that she was sitting right in front of him.
She’s real. I can touch her.
He took her hand and gently ran his thumb across her knuckles.
“I…” He didn’t know what to say. Perfect words didn’t exist inside this much-unexpected surprise.
“You’re a man now.” She grinned, tweaking his hair and smiling at him. “Even more handsome than you were before.”
He gave her a shy smile while reaching for her braid. “You cut your hair?”
She blushed. “Just to my shoulders. I needed to do something drastic. Mother was horrified, of course. And in the end I missed it, so I’ve been growing it out again.”
Tristan swallowed. “Your mother, is she…?”
“She’s at home with my grandparents. They’re looking after her for me.” Helena’s eyes dipped to the ground. “The truth is, I moved in with Aunt Sylvie’s family last year. It’s been difficult not to be plagued by guilt, but…I was suffocating. Grandpa and Nana have been very supportive, although it’s still hard.” She winced.
Tristan brushed his thumb over the frown lines on her forehead. “How’s she doing?”
Helena shrugged. “She has her good and bad days. She’s able to leave the house now but doesn’t like to walk too far away. She can handle going into the village as long as one of us is with her.” She licked her lips, a flash of guilt cresting over her face. “Me being this far away has been a slight setback, but hopefully not detrimental.”
“It won’t be,” Tristan mumbled, not wanting to taint their precious reunion with worry or guilt.
Helena’s eyebrows puckered before she slowly raised her eyes to look at his face again. Her gaze traveled from his eyes to his mouth, her lips twitching as she leaned forward and murmured, “My heart.” Gripping his shirt, she pulled him so close he could feel her breath on his lips. “I don’t care how hard I have to fight. I will not lose it again.”
Her lips were a soft caress at first but as his arms gripped her waist, the kiss became something more. It was so familiar yet new. Her tongue was still sweet and delicate but captured his own in a way it never had before. Running his hand up her back, he lightly gripped the back of her neck and reveled in the beauty of Helena exactly where she belonged.
He didn’t know what the future looked like anymore. And in that moment, it didn’t even matter. He’d found his girl again. His heart was safely home…and like Helena, he’d fight to keep it that way.
43
The Boy Who Came Home
The printer on his desk buzzed and clicked while Tristan tapped his finger on his arm and paced his small office. He was nervous. He couldn’t help it. He’d just finished his first-ever book and it was with a sick sense of dread and excitement that he was giving Helena the final chapter to read. She’d had input throughout most of the story, but he had wanted to keep the ending a surprise.
As much as she’d pestered him, he’d managed to stay strong…even on those nights when she laid beside him, whispering in his ear, her hot tongue trying to coax the story out of him. He hadn’t caved, because he’d wanted to surprise her with the truth.
His head was filled with enough stories to keep him going for years… everything from wild fantasies to international spy espionage to one heart-wrenching tale about a lost love never found.
But the first story he’d completed was his own.
The printer went still and Tristan bit his cheek, squeezing his arm before uncrossing them and reaching for the pages.
Walking out of his study, he brushed past the hanging paper cranes adorning the corridor and glanced out the window of his little English cottage. He stopped to smile as he watched Helena pick a ripe lemon off the tree in their narrow backyard and sniff the yellow skin. She closed her eyes and smiled as she breathed in the citrus scent. Tristan adored how she made even the simplest pleasures so beautiful and compelling.
He’d moved to England a year ago, as soon as he’d graduated from Vermont College. His father had come with him to meet Helena’s family and help the couple get set up in their new cottage. It was a gift from her family, paid for by an early inheritance. Her mother had moved in with Aunt Sylvie and her husband. They lived just down the road, which was both a blessing and a curse. Helena’s mother had reluctantly accepted Tristan into her daughter’s life but still popped over frequently to check in. Sylvie was working on their behalf to reduce the visits, and Tristan was applying every ounce of his patience to make sure they went as smoothly as possible.
At least she couldn’t accuse him of not looking after her daughter. He’d become an expert on Helena’s condition, and over the past year the couple had set up routines and systems that made their adjusted life as simple as it could be.
Thank God her family is away this weekend.
Tristan fought a grin as he headed out to the backyard. To help Tristan out, Sylvie had convinced her sister to head to Devon for a long-weekend break with their parents, and Tristan was taking full advantage of the uninterrupted time. His insides skittered with excitement as he thought about the evening ahead.
But first things first, man.
Clearing his throat, he stepped onto the porch, catching Helena’s attention when he closed the glass door.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned to look at him. “Is it done?”
“It’s done.”
She let out a gleeful chuckle and wheeled over the flat grass.
He winced as he handed her the pages, praying she’d like them.
“Oh, take that look off your face. I’m going to love it.” She winked, then started reading.
Tristan chewed his lip. Helena was currently studying literature at a university in Oxford, excelling in all her classes the way Tristan knew she would. It meant that her critique of his work was always brilliant, yet sometimes tempered by brutal honesty.
Sitting on the sofa they had moved outside so they could look at the stars at night, Tristan bobbed his knee while he waited for her to finish. It didn’t take her long; the last chapter was brief and to the point.
Her face was radiant as she read his final words, then hugged the pages to her chest. “I love it.”
“You love it?” He leaned forward, skimming his fingers through her hair. “Are you sure? You’re not just saying that?”
“Tristan.” She tipped her head and gave him an emphatic look. “It’s perfect. The world is going to fall in love with Author Tristan A. Parker.”
He cringed. “So you definitely think I should publish it, then?”
“I don’t just think it, I know it.” Her smile was kind as she met him halfway and kissed his lips. “You’ve come so far, my love. As have I. You’ve taught me to live in this world.”
“And you found me a home in it.”
Their eyes met and shone in unison for a moment. Tristan could have stayed locked there all night, drinking in her beautiful face as the day faded into dusk.
But Helena had more important things to do.
“I have a paper crane to write.” She went to move away, but Tristan grabbed her chair before she could. Putting on the brake, he scooped her into his arms and fell back against the sofa, capturing her smile with his lips before she could argue.
She giggled into his mouth as he mumbled, “The crane can wait.”
“Don’t let me forget,” she said between kisses.
He grinned. “Do I ever?”
She pressed her body against his before whispering, “No, but you always give me about three more before I can get to writing the one I intended.”
“That’s not a bad thing, baby.” He palmed her back and deepened their kiss, his heart swelling in his ch
est as he thought about the engagement ring waiting for her inside the paper crane beneath her pillow.
The final words of his book echoed in the back of his mind, as he picked up his future fiancée and carried her to their bedroom…
Once upon a time there was boy who was lost…until one day he met a girl who showed him how to dream, how to love, and how to find his way home.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading Paper Cranes. I really hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to support my work, please leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon. This validates the book and helps me reach new readers. Thanks for your support.
And if you’d like to find out what’s up next for Jordan Ford, keep reading…
Jordan Ford’s next project…
The Barlow Sisters Trilogy
Mystery and romance weave together in this set of fast-paced, sports romance novels.
Follow the Barlow sisters as they negotiate the perils of forbidden love while finding their place at a new school in the troubled town of Armitage.
CURVE BALL
Barlow Sisters #1
Maddie Barlow is used to being in control.
So when her father uproots their family to the small, troubled town of Armitage, just six months from her high school graduation, she’s struggling to cope. Worse yet, he insists the coach makes room for all of his daughters on the boys’ baseball team. The close-knit Armitage Pitbulls don’t want three girls messing up their season, and they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure the girls don’t make them look bad…especially Holden Carter—the smooth, good-looking captain of the team.
Maddie takes one look at him and knows he’s trouble. In spite of her instant attraction she’s determined to put the arrogant jock in his place, which is made doubly hard when her younger sister starts crushing on the guy. In an attempt to protect her sister from getting hurt, Maddie puts herself between them, only to face a curve ball she never saw coming.
Her attraction to Holden is not supposed to turn into more…and when it does she’s caught between hurting her sister and turning her back on the first guy she’s ever really fallen for.
But a forbidden romance is not the only curve ball Maddie and Holden have to dodge. Because things aren’t what they seem in the quaint town of Armitage…and they’re about to work out that discovering the truth can be way more dangerous than living a lie.
due for release September 2017.
If you’d like to keep up to date with the progress and be the first to read this trilogy, please sign up for her newsletter.
JORDAN FORD NEWSLETTER
Note from the Author
I’ve never really written anything like this before. I wanted Paper Cranes to have a very ethereal, fairytale quality to it, but still have realistic elements…like the reality of mental illness and how debilitating and heartbreaking it can be. And the impact divorce can have on children.
If I’m completely honest, the story started out very differently. In my original version, Helena died. You might wonder why I chose to take that path, but at first I thought Tristan’s story had to be told that way. He was lost, and he needed someone to show him the way. Helena did just that. She showed him so much beauty in the short time he knew her, and it changed his life.
I loved the idea that Tristan was carrying Helena’s heart with him. E. E. Cummings is pure genius. That poem is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever read. It’s actually printed on my wall, and was the inspiration for this book.
But it didn’t sit right with me that I was going to break readers’ hearts. Writing the original version broke mine, and after a long discussion with my editor, I decided that I needed to give you a happily-ever-after, because that’s what my books are about. I know life isn’t perfect, far from it, but that’s why we have fairytales and books…things to inspire us. If Helena can rewrite the ending of Romeo and Juliet, then I figured I could rewrite Tristan’s story too. He still got to carry Helena’s heart the way I wanted him to…but then he found her again…and that makes me very happy.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my first Fairytale Twists novel…and I hope you can find some of your own paper cranes to write.
Thank you so much to all the people who continue to bless my life—my readers, my editors, my cover designer, my proofreaders, my awesome Songbirds & Playmakers.
Thank you to my amazing family, who I am so incredibly grateful for.
And thank you to Jesus, who I carry in my heart—my daily inspiration and the constant love of my life.
xx
Jordan
Also by Jordan Ford
THE BIG PLAY NOVELS
The Playmaker
The Red Zone
The Handoff
Shoot The Gap
THE BROTHERHOOD TRILOGY
See No Evil
Speak No Evil
Hear No Evil
FAIRYTALE TWIST NOVELS
Paper Cranes
THE BARLOW SISTERS TRILOGY
Curve Ball (coming in Sept)
Strike Out (coming in Oct)
Foul Play (coming in Nov)
About the Author
Jordan Ford is a New Zealand author who has spent her life traveling with her family, attending international schools, and growing up in a variety of cultures. Although it was sometimes hard shifting between schools and lifestyles, she doesn’t regret it for a moment. Her experiences have enriched her life and given her amazing insights into the human race.
She believes that everyone has a back story…and that story is fundamental in how people cope and react to life around them. Telling stories that are filled with heartfelt emotion and realistic characters is an absolute passion of Jordan’s. Since her earliest memories, she has been making up tales to entertain herself. It wasn’t until she reached her teen years that she first considered writing one. A computer failure and lost files put a major glitch in her journey, and it took until she graduated university with a teaching degree before she took up the dream once more. Since then, she hasn’t been able to stop.
“Writing high school romances brings me the greatest joy. My heart bubbles, my insides zing, and I am at my happiest when immersed in a great scene with characters who have become real to me.”
Connect with the Author
Jordan Ford loves to hear from her readers. Please feel free to contact her through any of the following means:
Website:
http://www.jordanfordbooks.com
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https://www.facebook.com/jordanfordbooks/
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