Page 32 of Broken Bonds

I think Lionel getting out of bed carefully is more for me than himself. I’m now an animal, ready to attack.

“Stay and find out, Stella,” he says quietly as he walks to where I’m standing. “Stay with me.”

I must have run a marathon, my chest heaves up and down like I just did. “For what, Lionel? So you can feed me more lies?”

“To earn your trust,” he says, raising his hands, putting them in front of his chest.

“Lionel, I loved you.” More than that, I gave him everything without taking anything in return because I felt free to do it, just to find out it was never reciprocated. I was only a fool who walked straight into a mirage.

Looking back, I don’t even know why I did it. Well, they say love is blind.

“If that’s true, then I think you should go back to Kentucky.” Those words are like a dagger that reopens the wound in my chest. “Unless you think I could win you back.”

He touches my face while considering the consequences of what he just said.

“I’m not a prize, so calm down your competitive instincts. I’m more than that.”

“And you think I don’t know that?” He stares into my eyes. Lionel isn’t hiding behind a curtain of rage as he used to do before. Now he speaks in a low, firm, and confident voice. “You think I don’t see your value as a woman? As my wife?”

“You’re asking for a lot.”

He’s asking me to jump into the void without a safety net.

“Take the risk with me,” he asks, almost pouting. Damn, such a cocky man.

“Lionel, I don’t want to spend my whole life asking for your permission.” There it goes, another truth as big as this house. “Nor do I want to live begging for forgiveness because I did something that wasn’t in your plans.”

Lionel closes his eyes. Now I understand why he does it, to stop himself from stuttering.

“I don’t want to clip your feathers,” he says. I look him in the eye and I only see honesty shining in them. “I want you to fly.”

It sounds too good to be true, but the words are blown away by the wind.

Out there the future is waiting for me. I don’t know what fate has in store for me, but I’ve learned from my past and a mountain of broken promises.

One day, I don’t know when, I will show the world what I’m capable of.

“What if I fall again…” Those words are full of meaning.

The Lionel of my past only broke down my barriers, but this Lionel can destroy me.

“We will fall together,” he says hopefully. “Take the chance on me, Stella.”

I’m out of breath, like a fighter after a few rounds.

“Give me one reason to. And don’t you dare say because we loved each other.”

“Do it because we both deserve to be happy.”

My mouth twists. He deserves nothing, neither my trust, nor my love. Nothing.

“Next.”

“Because we both need it. I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I let you go. There is something between us, and I want to find out what it is.”

“Of course, there is something between us, idiot. Why else would I marry you?”

A sad smile is drawn on his lips. “You’re proving me right. Take a chance for us, believe in me. Regret what you did and not what could have done.”

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