by Heidi Lowe
"If I hadn't woken up to use the bathroom, we might have slept right through it, and..." Nikki says, shaking her head, eyes wide with horror at the thought.
We all look disheveled and fatigued, sporting clothes and footwear loaned to us by a couple of our neighbors. But we're alive, that's the most important thing.
Emily has wandered off to play with the toys one of the nurses brought in for her.
I squeeze Nikki's hand. "Don't think about it. We're all here, and we're all safe." I can smell the smoke on her flesh as she rests her head on my shoulder. Her body trembles slightly against mine. This has shaken her up the most, it seems.
"I'm sorry," she says, and I feel her tears soak into my T-shirt. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"I know you didn't," I say soothingly. "I don't blame you. She's the only one responsible for this." It's true, I don't blame her. A few months back perhaps I would have, but I see this situation for what it is: A vengeful psychopath trying to destroy my family once more, any way she can. Even if Nikki hadn't cheated with her, she would have found a way to tear us apart. And who knows, maybe an earlier attempt on our lives might have been successful.
"I'm going to kill her," Nikki says in a low voice. She sounds determined.
"No, you're not," I say, despite my own desire to see that woman dead. "Going after her will only mean we lose you, and I don't want to lose you again."
She looks at me, sees the tears clinging to my lashes, threatening to fall, and apologizes again, before taking my head in her hands and kissing me.
"You'll never lose me again. I promise."
Just as our kiss ends, the door bursts open, and Sandra hurtles into the room.
"I came as soon as I got your message," she says. "How are you all?" She lifts Emily into her arms, kisses her on the forehead. "How's my little monster?"
"We're all fine. We were just waiting for you. They're going to need the room soon."
"I can't believe she actually went this far. That evil witch," she says, though it's obvious she wants to say the word that rhymes with witch. "Arson. Attempted murder. Hopefully they lock her up and throw away the key. Or we'll have to take matters into our own hands, Nikki..."
It isn't the time or place to laugh, but I find myself chuckling anyway. I feel as though I've just stepped into a Mafia movie, the way Nikki and Sandra are talking about seeking revenge. I'm sure they mean to come off more sinister than this, but it's comical. They don't seem to think so, however, and just give me a strange look. Maybe they think the smoke has cut off the oxygen to my brain.
Emily starts recounting the events of tonight to her godmother, speaking with animation and exaggeration in her innocent, childish way, making it sound like the Great Fire of London.
"How much damage was there?" Sandra asks us.
"The firefighters put it out before it spread upstairs," Nikki says. "We'll definitely need a new kitchen and living room, and to refurbish the hallway. Oh, and a new front door. She glued it shut so we couldn't get out. They had to break it down."
"Why didn't the alarms go off?"
"I think she disabled them," Nikki replies. "I don't know how she got in, though."
I feel the blood drain from my face as the realization hits me. "Nikki, oh God, I think it was me. I didn't lock the back door after I finished in the yard."
She puts her arms around me. "It's okay. She would have found a way in somehow."
To think my negligence could have cost us our lives, this will haunt me for a long time. Up till now, our neighborhood has been safe, and I used to frequently leave the back door unlocked. I'll never again take a risk like that with my family's life.
There's a knock at the door, and two police officers enter without being asked in. They introduce themselves, and ask to speak with a Mrs Nikki Thornton. At first I think they got her name wrong, but then it hits me that this is her new, married name. It hits me and it hurts. Nikki, too, looks agitated by the use of the name.
"It's Cox. What can I do for you?" she says impatiently.
"Are you the partner of Angelique Thornton?"
"Former. What is it?"
The two officers look at each other uneasily, neither of them seemingly wanting to speak. Then one finally volunteers the information. "We're sorry to inform you, but there was a crash tonight..."
I fall into a daze as they recount turning up at the crash site, finding the body of a blonde woman behind the wheel, and then paramedics being unable to pull her from the wreckage before the car went up in flames.
Nikki's hands go to her mouth. It's hard to know what she's really thinking.
But I know exactly what I'm thinking: Thank God!
EPILOGUE
I'm in that hazy halfway point between being awake and asleep, when I feel soft kisses on my stomach. My eyes are still closed, but I can sense the light of a new day.
I let out a sleepy little laugh, my hand drifting beneath the covers and landing on Nikki's head. "Should I even ask what you're doing down there?" I say, voice heavy with sleep.
When I open my eyes, she flicks the duvet back, pulls her head out from under my nightgown, and grins back at me. "You woke up before I got to the good part."
I pull her up to me and we kiss.
"Good morning, Mrs Cox-Everett," she says, peering down at me affectionately.
"Good morning to you, too, Mrs Cox-Everett," I laugh.
She intertwines her fingers with mine, and the sunlight hits our new wedding bands, making them sparkle. The rings have been there less than twenty-four hours, but it already feels as though they've been there a lifetime.
"We could have been living it up in Hawaii or somewhere exotic and hot right now," she says, kissing me all over my face, leaving no area unkissed. "A week away from all the cares in the world. Just you and me."
"We don't need any of that."
I don't really have to explain this to her, because foregoing the honeymoon, just as we forewent the wedding, was her idea in the first place. An idea I'd happily agreed to, opting for the no frills registry office, with Sandra and her boyfriend as witnesses. We had the big wedding and the exotic beach honeymoon the first time around. That type of fanfare is for newly weds, not for two people coming off a hiatus. Because that's what it was: A hiatus. And if anyone asks us how long we've been married, we'll tell them seven years, with a brief period of separation.
"You never stopped being my wife, not really," she says. "Not in my heart."
I stroke her face, then press my lips to hers. I'll never tire of kissing her. Of touching her. Of smelling her. And she's right: I never stopped being her wife. She never stopped being mine.
There is nowhere else I'd rather be than here, in our bedroom, in our bed.
"Pinch me," she says, and I immediately laugh. We haven't done this in nearly two years.
I pinch her, then whisper, "You're awake, baby."
Her eyes are filled with love and tears as she looks at me. "I'm the happiest woman alive, and I'm never going to forget that. I'm never going to give that up again; I'm never going to make you sad."
I know she means it. She's seen what the world looks like without me, and it's an ugly, lonely place.
As we're kissing, the door creaks open, and a sleepy Emily strolls in, dragging her favorite teddy with her.
"Hello, sleepy head," Nikki says, climbing off me, then helping our daughter and her teddy onto the bed. "Did you have a nice sleep?"
She nods, still in her non-talkative, groggy mood. It's adorable. I cuddle her close to me.
"What would you like for breakfast?" Nikki asks, jumping out of bed, brimming with energy.
"Pancakes," Emily responds, thumb in her mouth. At five, she's getting too big for that now. We'll need to wean her off it soon.
"Pancakes coming up!" Nikki slips her feet into her slippers, and struts from the room dramatically, making both me and Emily chuckle. Then, seconds later, as though she's forgotten something, she comes charging b
ack in, leaps onto the bed, and lays a huge, breathtaking kiss on my lips.
"I love you, Mrs Cox-Everett," she says.
THE END
BOOKS BY HEIDI LOWE
Series:
My Mother's Best Friend
Justified Affair
The Neighbor
Set Dreams
Le Coeur Island
Novellas:
Crave: Nikki's Story
Crave: Faye's Story
At Her Service
Novels:
My Beautiful Sin (Beautiful Sin Saga, Book 1)
Sinning Again (Beautiful Sin Saga, Book 2)
Sinning Forever (Beautiful Sin Saga, Book 3)
The Queen of Miami
Strummed
Her Lesson in Love
A Scarlet Kiss
Before You Were Mine
Mega Bundles:
Girl Love: 11-Book Lesbian Romance Mega Bundle
BLURB
When Faye Cox-Everett discovers that her wife of five years has been having an affair, her world slowly begins to crumble. She knows it will be a while before she can forgive her, but she's willing to try – for the sake of their marriage and their daughter.
However, it soon becomes clear that her wife, Nikki, isn't ready to give up her mistress just yet. What Faye initially thought was a fling, turns out to be more serious; more permanent.
Now she has to do the hardest thing she's ever had to do: Rebuild her life without the woman she loves.
Crave: Faye's Story is the second book in the Crave series, a 2-part lesbian drama.