If Only Forever

by Sophie Love

  “Of course,” Serena replied. Then the line went dead.

  Emily checked her cell for any messages from Daniel but there were still none. Whoever said “no news is good news”? What a load of junk. No news in this case was a painful stab through the heart.

  Just then the rest of the passengers on Emily’s flight reached the line and stood beside her. Emily became suddenly aware of the gentleman she’d been seated next to hovering over her left shoulder.

  “Hello again,” he said. “I couldn’t help overhearing what you said to the flight attendant about your fiancé. I’m so terribly sorry. He’ll be in my prayers.”

  “Thank you,” Emily replied, touched to know even complete strangers were supporting her during this trying moment.

  She finally passed through the baggage claim and ran full pelt out the main doors. Within a matter of seconds she’d thrown herself into the back of a cab and was whizzing away in the direction of the hospital.

  The hypnotic state that had gotten her through the flight suddenly dissolved in the back of the cab, and she broke down in tears. Transporting weeping women to the hospital must not have been an irregular occurrence for the cabby because he didn’t say a word about it.

  Emily’s cell phone buzzed. She looked down to see a text from Amy asking whether there was any news yet. She felt so grateful for her friend, especially since she’d stayed up until 5 a.m. just to stay in touch with her. Emily quickly replied that she was on her way to the hospital and would let her known ASAP.

  The cab pulled up outside the hospital entrance. Emily quickly paid the driver and hurried out, in through the double doors, and up to the reception desk.

  “Daniel Morey,” she blurted at the woman behind the counter. “I’m his fiancée.”

  Luckily, the nurse was nice and accommodating of her brusqueness. “I’ll just see what room he’s in.” She tapped into the computer then looked up at Emily from the screen. “Six-B. Over there on the left.”

  Emily thanked her and ran off down the corridor. When she reached Daniel’s door, she threw it open wide, not knowing what she would see on the other side. Daniel was lying in a large bed, propped up by white pillows, his eyes shut and breathing shallowly. His hair was a mess, and there was a large gash on his chin. The skin beneath had turned a whole range of purples.

  Emily felt her heart ache at the sight of him. She paced into the hospital room and sat heavily in the seat beside his bed. At least there were no heartbeat monitors, no tubes or ventilators. Whatever damaged he’d done to himself appeared to be superficial in nature.

  She reached out and smoothed down the tufts of hair. Just then, Daniel stirred. He opened an eye.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you,” Emily said, withdrawing her hand.

  “You came back,” Daniel slurred.

  Emily could tell from his voice he was drugged up on painkillers.

  “Of course I did,” she whispered. Her throat became thick with emotion. “What did you do to yourself?”

  Daniel used a slow-moving arm to pull back the cover, revealing that the other was in a cast. Across his torso there was a huge bruise, so dark it was nearly black.

  Emily winced.

  “I broke my arm,” Daniel said in his sleepy, drugged voice. “And a couple of ribs.” Other than that, he appeared completely fine and well.

  “And there was me thinking the worst,” Emily replied, only half joking. Of course she knew it could have been worse, but it was pretty bad, and the hours of silence hadn’t helped matters. “Why didn’t you reply to any of my messages?”

  “My phone got crushed,” Daniel said.

  “You could have borrowed someone else’s. The hospital’s, for example.”

  “I don’t know your number by heart.”

  “Then you could have told the inn and told them to get in touch!” She was letting the tears fall now. “Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to get a call from the cops saying your partner’s been in an accident then have no more news? They didn’t tell me anything! I spent the whole flight here thinking you might be dying.”

  “I’m sorry,” Daniel said, sounding more lucid than a few moments ago. “I’d just wrecked my bike. I wasn’t thinking straight.” He maneuvered himself to a more upright position, grimacing in pain as he did so. “I didn’t know the cops would call you. I guess when you cause an accident through reckless driving they drop you in hot water with your fiancée. They have to get their kicks somehow, I suppose.”

  Emily shook her head at Daniel’s misplaced attempt at humor. She wanted to stay mad at him but in reality she was completely relieved to know he was okay enough to be making jokes, no matter how unwelcome they were.

  Daniel’s use of the term fiancée had not gone unnoticed by Emily. It gave her the courage to reach out for his good hand and wrap it in hers. It felt so good to be touching him again.

  “I’m sorry for leaving the way I did,” she said.

  Daniel immediately grasped the olive branch she’d offered him. “Emily, no, I’m the one who should apologize. I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course Chantelle is best off at the inn, with you and me. I just freaked out over her behavior and I didn’t know what to do for the best and then suddenly I was saying all the wrong things.”

  Hearing those words was more than Emily could have hoped for. She found herself suddenly kissing his face, all over, again and again. Daniel pulled her into him, matching her kisses with ferocity.

  Finally they broke apart.

  “Daniel,” Emily said, “I think I’ve been pushing you too much about the wedding. If you want to ease up on the preparations I completely understand.”

  Daniel looked shocked. Almost offended. “I was going to suggest the opposite. Being in that crash made me realize that more than anything in the world, I want to be your husband. I want to walk you down the aisle and make you my wife. If anything, I want us to plan the wedding quicker!”

  Emily could hardly believe what she was hearing. Maybe Daniel had hit his head during his accident and gotten a concussion. Maybe once he’d recovered from it he’d return to the Daniel who dragged his heels. But then, maybe not. Maybe his brush with death had helped him see what really mattered in life.

  “Well, I can get behind that,” Emily replied, smiling for what felt like the first time in a long time.

  Daniel sunk back against the pillow and nodded. He looked fragile, but Emily swelled with the love she felt for him. She was beyond relieved that they were reunited. And while she wished it hadn’t taken a motorcycle crash for Daniel to realize what mattered in life, the important thing was that he’d finally come to his senses. They were together again, stronger than ever, and nothing would tear them apart again.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  Luckily, Daniel was allowed to leave hospital that afternoon. Emily drove him back to the inn, then called Yvonne to tell her she didn’t need to extend the playdate any longer.

  “Oh, thank God he’s all right,” Yvonne said on the other end of the line. “When Serena told me what had happened I was so worried.”

  “He gave us all a shock,” Emily replied. “Thanks for stepping in. I really appreciate it.”

  “Tell me to butt out if I’m being intrusive, but is everything okay with you two?”

  “Intrusive?” Emily laughed. “More like intuitive. We had a fight. How did you guess?”

  “Well, when I spoke to Serena she said you were in New York City with your friends but I thought a vacation would be the sort of thing you would have mentioned to me and figured you must have left in a hurry. What happened?”

  Emily didn’t much feel like recounting the events that had led up to her sudden trip away. “It doesn’t matter now.”

  “As long as you’re okay,” Yvonne replied. “I’m just heading out the door to pick up Bailey. Want me to pick Chantelle up too?”

  Emily hadn’t realized the time. She looked over at Daniel slumped on the sofa looking sorry for himself. Leaving
him didn’t seem like a good idea. “Actually, that would be a great help.”

  “Do you want me to explain to her what happened?”

  “That’s okay. It should come from me.”

  Emily hung up the phone and went to tend to Daniel, feeling her trepidation at telling Chantelle grow as the minutes passed. Then she heard the sound of slamming car doors and glanced out the window to see Yvonne’s car in the drive, her friend helping the children out.

  Emily left the living room, heading Chantelle off in the corridor.

  “Emily!” Chantelle cried, rushing forward and throwing her arms around her. “That was a quick trip!”

  Emily hugged her back tightly. “I missed you too much so I came straight back.” She looked at Yvonne. “Thank you so much for everything.”

  Yvonne nodded and led Bailey out, the little girls waving their goodbyes.

  Once alone, Emily crouched down so she was eye level with Chantelle and took both her hands. “Now before we go and see Daddy, I want you to know that he got a little bit hurt.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He just had a fall. It’s nothing too bad. But he has a cut here.” She pointed to her chin. “And a big bruise. He also hurt his arm.”

  “Poor Daddy,” Chantelle said. “Can I see him?”

  Emily nodded and led her into the living room. When Chantelle saw Daniel, bruised and bandaged, she gasped and ran to the couch, jumping up beside him. Daniel winced as Chantelle threw her arms tightly around his neck.

  “Daddy, what happened?” she cried.

  Daniel buried his face in her hair. “I fell off my bike.”

  “That was clumsy!” Chantelle said, making Daniel laugh.

  Emily came and sat beside them. Chantelle turned to face her.

  “I’ve decided that you two need to always be together,” she said. “Because bad things happen when you’re apart.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that, kiddo,” Daniel said. Then he reached out and took Emily’s hand in his. “Emily and I are planning on being together forever.”

  *

  Despite the bulky cast and sling constricting Daniel’s left arm, he used his good arm to keep Emily close as they walked along the sidewalk together. He was holding her so tightly Emily felt as if he never wanted to let her go.

  It was a cold, bright morning, with a thin sun attempting to struggle its way through the clouds. Chantelle skipped behind them along the sidewalk, becoming constantly distracted by bugs and leaves and all manner of things.

  Emily felt like things were back to how they were supposed to be, to how they had been before all the bickering and fallouts.

  They turned the corner and the wedding venue they’d made the appointment to see came into view.

  “You know, you don’t have to do this if you’re not ready,” Emily told Daniel for the hundredth time.

  “Of course I want to,” Daniel replied with a laugh. “I was the one who made the appointment!”

  It was true. The transformation in Daniel since the accident was astounding to Emily. Now he was the one pushing it, wanting to get the wheels turning, acting like they couldn’t get married soon enough.

  Conversely for Emily, Daniel’s accident had resulted in the opposite feelings for her. She almost wanted to slow things down, to enjoy the moments they had together without any kind of goal in mind. Still, she was resigned to go with him because it made him so excited and lifted his spirits, which had been noticeably lower since the accident.

  They went inside the large town hall venue and were greeted by a woman called Adrianna, who would be showing them around. She was a beautiful Puerto Rican woman with dark, silky hair and nearly black eyes.

  “Please, let’s sit,” Adrianna said, gesturing to a desk.

  As they sat at the desk Adrianna handed them a brochure. They began flicking through the pages, looking at the items on offer, which included catering, table dressings, and flowers. All the prices were printed neatly beside them and Emily swallowed at quite how expensive it all was. This was by far the priciest venue they’d visited, as well as the largest. Daniel’s desires had changed since the accident!

  Bored by all the wedding talk, Chantelle got her coloring pens out of her backpack and started to decorate Daniel’s cast with stars and flowers.

  “What happened there?” Adrianna asked, looking at Daniel’s arm. “If you don’t mind me asking?”

  Daniel blushed deeply. “I crashed my bike.”

  “He was expressing his anger through action rather than words,” Chantelle said knowingly, clearly repeating something Gail the counselor had told her. She didn’t even look up from her coloring.

  “I’m so sorry to hear that,” Adrianna said. “Does that mean you won’t be working for a while?”

  Emily didn’t think Adrianna had meant to ask such a loaded question, but she suddenly went cold. It hadn’t yet occurred to her that Daniel’s injury would mean he’d have to stop working. Had he even called Jack to break the news? What would the setback mean for the adoption proceedings? For the wedding?

  “Daniel, we can’t afford this,” Emily stated suddenly.

  Daniel’s blush intensified. He whispered out of the corner of his mouth. “It’s fine.”

  “No,” Emily said, shaking her head. “It’s really not.” She addressed Adrianna. “I’m so sorry, this is completely out of our budget.”

  “We can find the money,” Daniel insisted. “We always come through in the end.”

  Emily shook her head. “I don’t want us to. There’s no point stretching things to the breaking point. We have to live within our means.”

  Daniel looked deflated. Emily hadn’t wanted to hurt his feelings but he would have to adjust to his new reality and sometimes that involved a case of tough love.

  Adrianna remained polite but Emily could tell she was beyond frustrated, that she was annoyed to have had her time wasted. Emily was as well. They should never have rushed back into all this wedding stuff. Daniel needed to recuperate. They needed to slow down.

  “I’m sorry to have wasted your time,” Daniel finally said, his voice meek and downtrodden.

  He handed Adrianna back the brochure and they hurried out of the venue.

  *

  Once they’d returned home, Emily decided she needed a bit of space, so she went to check in with Trevor. He was looking a little perkier today, sitting in his greenhouse with his fruit trees as he’d recently taken to doing. Emily made them tea, as she always did, and they settled down for a chat. But of course, it was she who ended up divulging her woes, pouring her heart out about finances, about things not going right, about how it had taken Daniel a life-threatening experience to realize how much he wanted to get married, except, ironically, the very same accident had taken away his ability to pay for it!

  “I’m sure there’s more money to be made with the inn,” Trevor said. “The evening meals are going splendidly, so why not introduce brunches?”

  “I think Parker would burst a blood vessel if I put any more work on his plate, excuse the pun.” Emily smiled.

  “Then why not make more of that speakeasy? I hear it’s quite popular with the locals but that you only have it open on Saturday evenings presently. Why not have it open all the time? The tourists would love it.”

  “I don’t want the noise disturbing you,” Emily said. “I like knowing who is coming and going. If it was open tourists all the cars and chattering could disturb you.”

  It wasn’t that long ago, Emily recalled, that Trevor was shouting at Chantelle for playing too loudly in the yard!

  “You ought not factor me in,” Trevor said. “I won’t be around much longer.”

  Emily shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted to be reminded of at this moment in time. She felt like there’d been so much upheaval recently, losing Trevor was one blow too many.

  “I’m going to miss you when you’re gone,” she said. Then she suddenly realized how tactless it was to s
ay aloud and held a hand up to her mouth.

  But Trevor took it with good humor. “And I you, my dear,” he said, patting her hand.

  They finished their tea. Emily cleared everything away and then helped Trevor inside the house, settling him into his armchair so he could watch some TV.

  “I’m sure everything with the wedding will sort itself out,” Trevor told her as she left. “The universe has a way of putting things straight.”

  Emily noticed the way he looked into the distance, as though searching for something just out of his reach, something he was more than ready to touch. She didn’t want to admit it but Trevor Mann was ready to let go of his mortal life. Soon, he would make the transition to the spirit world and once he was gone, Emily would lose the man who was the closest person she had to a father figure.

  She wondered whether her own father would ever step up and take back his rightful position, whether the universe really would put things straight for her and send back the man who should be there to walk her down the aisle.

  Which gave her a sudden thought. She paused in the doorway and looked back at Trevor. Before she gave her mind time to talk her out of it, she blurted out, “If I was getting married tomorrow, would you walk me down the aisle?”

  Trevor turned his wizened eyes up to hers. “But you’re not, are you?”

  “Hypothetically?” Emily asked cheekily.

  Trevor sighed, knowing she’d caught him out. “Hypothetically, of course. I’d be most honored to. But you and I both know you’re not.”

  Emily shrugged and gave him a cheeky wink. “You never know,” she said.

  Then she skipped out of the house, hoping she’d given Trevor enough reason to keep fighting.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  Emily was busy working behind the desk of the B&B as numerous couples milled in and out of the dining room, living room, bar, and grounds. Emily had seen an influx of couples booking the B&B for the weeks either side of Valentine’s Day—probably thanks to Colin describing it as a “perfect romantic getaway” in his piece in the travel magazine—and it was now fully booked. The speakeasy was a huge hit, Matthew’s new brunch menu was going down a storm, and Tracey’s yoga sessions (rebranded Gentle Yoga for the Loving Couple) were proving incredibly popular as well. Emily couldn’t have been happier with the increased traffic since she was the sole breadwinner during Daniel recuperation.