Page 116 of Only Ever You

Deacon shakes his head. “No. I love Pippa more than anything, and I always did.” He takes my hand in his and squeezes. “I know I messed up, and I hurt Pippa when that’s the last thing I ever wanted. But?—”

“Can’t wait to hear this,” Dad says.

“Dad. When we were here at Christmas, I went out shopping with Lucas and we stopped at a cafe for lunch. Deacon’s mother showed up.”

Dad draws in a deep breath. Like everyone else in our family, he hates Elise. And if Lucas has only confided in Deacon, then he doesn’t even know the full history behind what happened.

“She started talking about my relationship with Deacon and I told her where to go. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but she had someone with her—a man maybe about my age. He must have taken photos because the night before the wedding, she turned up to see Deacon and showed him a photo of us at lunch. She told him that she was still seeing Lucas and that we were all friends.”

“What?” Mum gasps. “Lucas told us he hasn’t?—”

I shake my head. “He’s not, Mum. The day they got caught by Deacon and his dad was the last time. She’s so bitter over the way Deacon turned his back on her, she wanted to hurt him. At least, that’s what we think.”

Deacon gives my hand another squeeze. “All these years and I’m still messed up by it. The whole thing destroyed my dad’s life. I shouldn’t have let her get to me, and I should have stopped to talk it out with Pippa, but after Mum left I was a mess. There’s no excuse for what I did, and I will have regrets for the rest of my life over how I handled it.”

Dad uncrosses his arms and leans forward. “You love her?”

“With everything I have.” Deacon slides his arm around me and tugs me closer. “I’ll do my best to never hurt her again. I promise you that. I’ll be a good husband, and a father.”

I smell Mum’s familiar floral perfume before she sits on the couch beside me and grasps my forearm. “I think we should be supportive, Dale. We’re going to be grandparents.”

Dad huffs but slowly nods. “Are you happy, Pippa? That’s what matters to us.”

“I am.”

Mum wraps her arms around my neck and kisses my cheek. “You know I might never forgive you for sneaking off to get married.”

Tears well in my eyes and I laugh. “We’ll plan another ceremony now we’re home. We just wanted to make it official as quickly as possible.”

“But Las Vegas?” she asks, letting go.

“That was my idea.” Deacon grins. “We were going to spend a couple of days there on the way back from our honeymoon, and I wanted to try and make up for Pippa missing the Europe trip.”

My gaze meets his, and he wipes the tears that have fallen onto my cheeks.

“Which we’ll take together at another time, so Pippa can visit all those places she wanted to.”

Dad’s still a little grouchy, but Mum seems to have bounced back. “I’ll make some coffee and you can tell us all about the wedding.”

After reaching into my bag, I pull out a pouch of photos and hand them to Dad. “I’ve got these.”

He takes them, his expression softening as he takes out the first one. “You look so beautiful.”

“I’m sorry if you feel excluded, Dad. After everything that’s happened, we wanted something for ourselves.”

“I’ll cover any costs for the last wedding and our new ceremony,” Deacon says. “It’s the least I can do.”

A glimmer of a smile appears on Dad’s face, and I clamp my lips together to stop myself from laughing.

“He’ll be okay, love,” Mum says from the doorway. “Now you’re talking his language.”

I take Deacon’s hand in mine.

Everything will be fine.

Epilogue

Deacon

---