“Not that bad, hun. Don’t worry.”
Together, we all walk back toward the house. Charlie shimmies down my body and runs over to my mom, gripping her hand as they walk through the door. Cara follows suit, running into the house, excited to show us our surprise.
I reach for Declan’s hand and pause before stepping over the threshold. “Ready for part two? Reality is going to make it a lot more difficult to enjoy all the romance.”
“Reality can suck it!” He jokes, leaning in for a quick kiss. “We’ve got this covered, Mrs. Murphy, I have no doubt about it.”
That night, after everyone’s asleep, all the toys are back in their rightful places, the luggage is unpacked and a few loads of laundry have been done, I rush down to the studio. Shit, I’ve been dying to get down here and start working on the words that won’t stop swimming in my head. Forget my head, they’re swimming in my veins and they need to get out and become more than just some poem.
I start out by scribbling the random verses that played out during our time apart and continued to create themselves while we were rekindling our love in Newport. As a whole, yes, the song might bring back some memories we wish to forget, but as I’ve said over and over to Mia, all of this made us who we are today. And what I learned from Mia is that purging it helps heal the wounds.
I play around with a couple of chords for the verses and then pluck a tune that works really nicely for the chorus. It’s a little darker, more angsty then the stuff I usually write, but dark and angsty fit the bill for what these words express.
When I’m happy—more like fucking thrilled—with what I’ve come up with, I start to poke and prod at the recording equipment. I’ve worked with something like this before back when I used to mess around and record with a few of my band buddies, but damn, this shit really is state of the art. I finally get a handle on what does what and sit down with my Martin to record what I’m calling Back to You.
I kiss her neck, squeezing my arm underneath her warm, sleeping body. “Wake up, baby,” I whisper in her ear.
“Mmmm,” she groans groggily. “Why? Are the kids up?”
“No and shhhh, don’t wake them either. I have something I want to show you.”
She curls back onto her side, hugging her pillow. “A few more minutes. Please, what’s the rush?”
I hate waking her up, but I can’t wait a second longer to let her hear the song. “Fine. Stay in bed. I’ll bring it to you.”
“Good,” she yawns, pulling the covers up over her shoulders.
I tip toe down to the studio to grab the disc I recorded the song on last night. Shit, I hope I did this right. I’d hate to have woken her up for no reason.
When I return to the bedroom, I quietly shut the door behind me and head over to the tiny boom box by Mia’s little reading nook at the window.
Mia rustles in the bed and starts to stretch. “Okay, what’s this urgent business that requires me to be awake before my kids?”
I place the disc in the stereo and bring the remote with me over to the bed. “Just listen. You’ll be happy I woke you for this.”
She eyes me suspiciously, making herself comfortable against the headboard.
I hit play and watch Mia’s eyes light up as she listens to the first few chords of her song. “This is you, babe?”
“Shhhh, just listen…”
It’s easy to take for granted, let it all slip away
When you said, “Here’s my heart, it’s all up to you.”
It’s easy to be so tempted and forgetting all the things you said
When I think I won’t be caught or hurt you
Dreams remain, but we resent
Forevers change, with one regret
I’ll do what I have to do
To find my way back to you
Fleeting moments, promises broken
Can’t imagine how I made you feel
Shattering a soul, can turn an eye blind
Faded sparks, broken hearts, together we can make them heal
Without you I’m just a man, waiting to die
Pain remains, and we resent
Mistakes I made, I own regret
I’ll do what I have to do
To find my way back to you
Dreams remain, but we resent
We struggle just to keep it real
Forevers change with one regret
Hoping these wounds would heal
I’ll do what I have to do
To find my way back to you…
I’ll do all I have to do
To find my way back to you…
And I’ll do all I have to do
To find my way back to you.
(Purchase Link)
When the music ends, I get up to take the disc out of the player, but Mia’s hand on my shoulder stops me in place.
“Declan,” she says, tears streaming down her bright-morning face, “that was incredible. I—I have no words. I can’t believe that’s you.”
“You like it?”
“Baby, I love it! It’s the most amazing song I’ve ever heard. You need to do something with this.”
“I just did. I gave it to you,” I say, cupping her face.
“You know what I mean,” she sniffles, “people need to hear this, Dec. It’s simply beautiful.”
“And so are you.”
“Why are you so good to me?” she asks, nuzzling closer to me.
“I wasn’t always good to you, Mi.”
She pulls back and tilts her head. “‘Cause I was?”
I inch closer to her, stealing a kiss, and letting it take us away. “No more talk about mistakes, and hurts and things we should regret. There’s no reason to harp on the past when my future’s right here in my arms.”
“God, I love you,” she says as she dives in for another kiss. “And I love our song. I want to hear it again.”
I straddle my wife and pin her beneath me, kissing her plump pink lips, her soft delicious skin, admiring everything that’s mine for the keeping. As I let it sink in how lucky I am to have gotten this second chance, I hit the play button again, letting the song repeat.
We make love to our new favorite tune until we hear the pitter patter of our children’s feet. Something tells me this disc is going to be worn out pretty quick. Not a problem…
Just means I’ll have to spend more time in the studio creating a lifetime of music for my beautiful family.
Original lyrics and music to Back to You co-written and recorded by Walter Vincent and co-written by Faith Andrews. Purchase the single here!
Also, check out Walter’s website!
http://www.waltervincent.com/
I’ll keep this short and sweet because this book was just that. I have so many people to thank for their support, love, and friendship, but during the process of writing Declan and Mia’s “back to good” I kept thinking of all the wonderful readers who rooted for their marriage in Man of My Dreams. This novella, this continuation of their journey, would not have been possible without your emails, posts, messages, support groups, and reviews for Man of My Dreams. So to you Team Declan fans out there, I thank you for your encouragement. I struggled with getting this right and staying true to Declan and Mia, but in the end… I couldn’t be happier.
To my friends and family for being the ultimate support system. Life has taken quite a turn in the last year, but the ride has been quite fun, bumps included. I love you all and couldn’t have done any of this without you in my corner; especially my husband of almost ten years, Jon (aka Declan) and my two rambunctious firecrackers Julia (aka Cara) and Leah (aka Charlie). I love you!
To my beta bitches! You are one fine bunch of incredible ladies. One of you in particular… the nameless goddess of all things beta… I owe it to you for getting me on the right track. Jen, Trish, Trisha, Christine, Stacia, and Tracey—you have no idea how much I value your opinions. You helped me make this exactly what it needed to be, without losing the original characters’ and the first
storyline’s integrity. Thank you for all your hard work and your quick eyes.
To my Indie Chicks Rock group—I love you ladies like I love the flesh and blood I’ve known my whole life. With you chicks in my corner, I feel like I can move the world! Thanks for always encouraging me to keep going and for making me laugh when all I want to do is cry! I love each and every one of you!
To the bloggers and authors who’ve pimped like there’s no tomorrow, especially Schmexy Girl Book Blog, True Story Book Blog, K&T Book Reviews, Totally Booked, Three Girls and a Book Obsession, Lives & Breathes Book Blog, A Book Whore’s Obsession, TheSUBCLUBbooks, Laurelin Paige, Mia Sheridan, RE Hunter, Elisabeth Grace, BA Wolfe, Livia Jamerlan, and Ruthie Henrick. I’ve made some incredible connections that have turned into spectacular friendships and I am grateful for your support every single day!
To the talented, enigmatic Walter Vincent for giving Declan a voice and creating a beautiful song for his story. Thank you for lending me your pipes.
To my team of awesomesauce, amazeballs, geniuses at work… Regina Wamba of Mae I Design and Photography for this outstanding cover (you did it again, girl)! Angela McLaurin of Fictional Formats for making it look gorgeous inside (I know I can always count on you). And last but not least to Jessica Collins and Nazarea Andrews from Inkslinger PR for putting together one hell of a cover reveal and release day blitz for Back to You. Thank you all for being the best at what you do!
This may be the end of Mia and Declan’s story, but I promise to (one day) get you Noah’s happily ever after—he deserves it, right? In the meantime, I encourage you all to leave a review online if you liked what you’ve just finished reading. Thanks again for reading and feel free to visit me on Facebook or the blog anytime.
Faith Andrews lives in New York where she is happily married to her high school sweetheart. They have two beautiful daughters and a furry Yorkie son, Rocco. If she isn’t listening to Mumford & Sons or busy being a Dance Mom, her nose is in a book or her laptop. She’s a sucker for a happily ever after and believes her characters are out there living one somewhere…
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Faith-Andrews/492043340867700
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessicafaith919
Blog: http://www.faithandrews.wordpress.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/EK9_v
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