by M Dauphin
“She what?” She sits back up and leans on her elbows to glare at me. “I told you not to press any—”
“Stop, Harper. She was running an illegal club. It had nothing to do with what she did to you…even though I could have her burned at the stake for it…” I trail off, remembering the rage I felt when I saw Kayla the final time. I wanted to murder her…and I’m not a violent person. If John hadn’t been there to hold me back from demolishing her pretty little face I would have. Now all I can hope is that her time in the women’s prison isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. When Harper sighs and lies back down and her arm goes around me I can finally relax. This…this is what I need. “She isn’t a good person. She’s paying for it now.”
We lay in silence for what feels like a lifetime. Our bodies wrapped together is the best feeling in the world. I can’t lose this again.
“I miss you.” The whisper falls from her lips so softly I almost miss it, but I definitely heard it.
“Me too,” I answer, not knowing what to do or say to make this right.
How did we get here? Two years apart but still just as mad for each other as the day we met?
“What do we do now?” She leans up on her elbow next to me and looks at me with the saddest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.
“We try.” I shrug. “What else can we do but try?”
“I think I’d like that.” She whispers again. Her eyes not leaving mine. She’s so beautiful.
I’m not going to fuck this up again.
Harper
Six months ago I agreed to try a relationship with Knox. A real one. Nothing based on lies or deceit. And you know what? It was the best decision I’ve ever made.
Turns out we live just about twenty minutes from each other. All the time we spent apart, we were really so close.
It’s been six months to the day since we started ‘trying’ to be what we both wanted us to be. Together. There’s still times I catch myself having to remember he’s not the same man I met and there have been times I’ve had to remind him that I’m not the same girl he met a few years back. He’s taken a liking to my paintings and his brewing company is having me help design the artistic flow of the new pub style eatery they are opening downtown next year.
Things are going great. Sure we fight like a normal couple, if we didn’t I’d be worried, but I think we may make it through this. Who knows what the future holds, but I know this…Knox Gregory has always been mine.
“Hey Harp can you answer that?” Knox calls from his office. He’s been on a conference call for an hour now and I’m sitting here applying for intern programs at some local art galleries. He said we were going out for dinner but we haven’t left yet and I’m about to eat everything in his kitchen.
His place is nice…manly. There’s dark blue walls. Dark grey trim. Dark wood floors. It’s dark, that’s for sure, but it’s not too dark. Splashes of white brighten and break up the darkness across the open floor plan condo. A painting of mine that I made for him last month hangs above the sofa. One of Delmar Street back in St. Louis, where we used to go out for drinks and eats all the time.
Sometimes I miss that neighborhood.
Walking to the door, I smile when I see the beer bottle cap collector he took from our apartment when he moved out.
He kept it. All this time, he kept it.
“Hey,” I answer, taking a package from the UPS man. “Thank you.”
He smiles and leaves me with the small brown box.
“Addressed to me?” I say out loud…for no other reason other than I’m thoroughly confused.
Turning and closing the door, I inspect the package. It’s sealed…it’s legit a UPS package…why the hell would it be addressed to me?
“Finally,” I hear Knox say from the kitchen. “Took them long enough.”
He’s grinning from ear to ear as he watches me walk towards him.
“What is this?”
“A package. For you.” He can’t wipe the smile off his face, but I’m hesitant.
“Why?”
“Open it.” He hands me a knife to cut through the tape and leans against the counter, crossing his arms and giving me that sideways grin he’s good for.
After sliding the knife through the tape and cutting the seams, I open it to a layer of bubble wrap. Smiling, I pull it out and see the top of something.
My nerves kick in and my hands start to shake.
“Knox,” I whisper, feeling the ball in my throat forming.
“Keep going.”
With trembling hands, I pull out of the package a wooden box…THE wooden box. The one my daddy gave me as a little girl.
“It…but it was shattered.”
“All shattered things can be fixed, Harper. With enough love and patience, broken things can be healed.”
“But…” I never asked what happened to the pieces of the box. The day I came home from work and the apartment was clean, I was over caring what happened to shit. It crossed my mind, but I never asked.
“You kept it?”
“I had it re-built for you using as much of the original pieces as we could.”
“When did you do this?”
“It was finished and in my bedroom when…well…at the end.” He clears his throat and walks closer to me. “I was planning on giving it to you that night after dinner.”
“You kept it all this time?” I whisper, admiring the carvings on the outside.
“I never gave up on us, Harp. I know we’re it for each other.” He lifts the box to inspect it, then turns it to face me. “Go on. Open it.”
I reach up and pull the lid up and the music immediately starts playing. I close my eyes and am taken back to my childhood. This song got me through some rough times. Opening my eyes, I watch the ballerina twirl around.
That’s when I notice the other thing inside the box.
“Harper Stills, our life has been nothing short of crazy, but I don’t want to live another day not waking up next to you. Will you please move in with me?”
I smile and laugh, pulling the key from the box.
Good lord I thought he was proposing.
Idiot, Harper.
“Yes, absolutely,” I say. “Right after my lease is up.”
He chuckles and sighs, setting the box down.
“Good, or that would have made this part incredibly awkward.”
Getting down on one knee, he pulls a small black box out of his pocket and smiles up at me.
“I know I don’t deserve you, and I know you deserve a hell of a lot better than me, but goddammit, Harp, we belong together. Forever. How about we stop ‘trying’ and start doing. Start living. Together.” He cracks the box open to reveal a brilliant rose gold ring with a ruby stone in the middle. “Will you be my wife, Harp?”
I can’t stop smiling down at him as he waits for an answer. This man…he’s… Gah! He’s so much and then some. I will never forget what we went through…but I forgave him a long time ago.
“Of course, you asshole,” I say, laughing as he slides it on my finger.
I never wanted a fairytale. He’s definitely not a prince charming.
But he’s more perfect than anything a storybook could have given me.
The End
About the Author
An avid, self proclaimed closet book worm by the age of nine, Dauphin didn’t take her love of fictional worlds public until she self published her first book almost 20 years later. She currently resides in Southern Illinois (born and raised) with her husband, two small ninjas, and a black fur-ball that drives her crazy but she loves anyway. Check her out at www.mdauphin.com to see what she has to offer!
Other works by M. Dauphin
The Complete FIGHT series
The Complete Broken Promises series
Just Go
Crazy
Works by M. Dauphin and H.Q. Frost
FOR3VER
BANG
Little Bird
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M. Dauphin, Dirty Desire