Page 36 of Never Forget You

What do I do now? Do I go to him? Take Ella with me? Wait for him to come to me? Freeze to the spot by my parents like an idiot? God, I don’t know. It just feels like the world is spinning like crazy around me and I can’t take it. Everything is coming together when it was just falling apart. It’s a good thing, but honestly, I’m too much of an emotional wreck to make any kind of decision either way. Luckily, he’s still coming to me which means I don’t need to make any kind of choice. He’s taking control. Thank God.

28

HARRY

Every step, every bit of agony, every time I nearly broke down and cried is worth it when I find Georgia hugging Ella. Of course, I have no idea what’s happened, but the fact that they are back together is enough. They have found her somewhere, somehow, and everyone looks fine. I could weep with happiness. But I’m trying to hold it together.

“Come over here, Harry!” Georgia finally calls me over, bringing a massive smile to my face. “Come here.”

I try to pick up the pace, but it’s hard because of the pain. Half the way there, Ella breaks free of her mom and races over to hug me. I’m overwhelmed with emotion as she holds me because I thought that out of everyone, Ella would hate me. After all, I’m the one who brought her into danger and let Ben take her. Well, I didn’t let him. I had the living shit kicked out of me, and there wasn’t anything that I could do about him taking her. I just couldn’t.

“Oh, Ella, I’m so glad that you are okay,” I say quietly to her. “I was so worried about you.”

“I’m okay. But you are hurt.” She pulls back to look at me. “Did the doctors look after you?”

“They did.” I let out a little laugh. “They sorted me out. I’m doing much better now. You don’t worry about me.”

As we talk for a little bit longer, I see Georgia having what appears to be a very serious conversation with her father. I’m sure that it’s probably about me, and it can’t be good, can it? Her father isn’t going to be pleased to see me. I don’t think that I was thinking of that enough on the walk. I was just thinking out the positive outcomes. I was just thinking about Ella and Georgia. About having them back together again. Having them happy once more.

“Come on. Mommy wants to see you.” When Ella says this, I can’t refuse. “We have to go and see her.”

It isn’t just Georgia that we’re going to see, though, is it? It’s her parents and I’m terrified. But since I’ve been stabbed today and I’ve managed to survive it, I can do this as well. Ican. I don’t have any choice.

Ella is much faster than me, but the fact that I can barely move just gives me that little bit longer to compose myself. I’m not a kid this time around. I’m an adult and a decent person. Maybe not good enough for their precious daughter, but a decent person, right? A decent man who can make their daughter happy… possibly. Well, I do think that I’ve been making Georgia happy so far, and the man that they did deem good enough is a nightmare. Ben was chosen by her father, and he turned out to be a kidnapping psychopath. So, I have to be better than that…

“Harry, come here.” Oh, God, this time it isn’t Georgia, but her father. “I want to talk to you.”

Georgia grabs me and wraps her arms around me the moment I am close enough. She even presses a kiss to my cheek in front of her parents, and they don’t flinch, which is much better than before.

“Good to meet you, Mr. Fredericks, Sir.” Okay, that made me sound a little weird. I might be that nervous seventeen-year-old after all. “I’m glad that everything is okay. Was it… erm, was it bad?”

“It’s fine, and a lot of that is down to you. You did a lot to protect my family, and for that reason I want to thank you. I need to say thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I dread to think what would have happened. I just wish you hadn't been beaten. Are you doing alright now, Harry? Because what Ben did to you is unacceptable.”

“I don’t think that I did anything good,” I admit anxiously. “I kinda feel like it all went wrong because of me.”

“Not at all.” Now, everyone is looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You protected everyone as much as you could. You shouldn’t put so much on yourself because you couldn’t do it all. You can’t expect to do it all. That just isn’t feasible, you know?” He pats me on the arm and smiles, which is an expression that I never thought I would get from this man. “But you did great, and clearly, you are making Georgia very happy. Now, I can’t regret that I separated you all those years ago because at seventeen years old, you were much too young.”

He might be right about that. In a way, if we had been together for a lot of years through all of that growing up, then maybe it wouldn’t have worked quite as well. Perhaps it could have. Maybe we’d have had a decade of love, but I’m not going to getall tied up in knots about it any longer. I can’t. I have to focus on the good. It’s the only way.

“But now… well, now, I can see that all of my interfering hasn’t worked out well. It hasn’t helped anyone. So, if you two want to be together and be happy, then you don’t need to worry about me getting in the way. Not that I can since you’re both adults, but I won’t.” This next smile seems a little awkward. “I want to be in your life.” He glances between me and Georgia. “That is, if you will let me. I know that I probably don’t deserve it at all…”

“That’s fine with me.” Georgia nods at me, and of course, I agree. “I would like that a lot. I’ve missed having you around and in my life. Ella does as well. She has missed having her grandparents around, so let’s change this.”

The moment is weirdly perfect. There is something so nice about it that it makes my heart hammer faster. There has been something that I’ve wanted for a very long time, but I haven’t gotten around to it just yet. The moment hasn’t been right. Probably because there has been so much standing in the way up until now. But now, there isn’t anything, is there? Ella must have worked things out by now, and her father seems happy…

“Georgia…” I step back and dive my hand into my pocket, but of course there isn’t anything there. I might have planned for this, but not for this exact moment, so I don’t have everything with me. But I’ve started now and I don’t know if it matters anyway. “I’ve loved you for a very long time. For over a decade.” I drop to one knee, causing gasps around me. I don’t even know where they are coming from, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t mind who’s watching. “I knew from the very first moment that I saw you, you were going to be the woman I marry. But I’ve never asked you, and there have been reasons for that.” I smile at Georgia, wondering if she’s understanding me. In all honesty, right now, Idon’t think that she has ever looked so shell-shocked in her life. “But now, the time feels right. Idohave a ring, but I don’t have it with me right now. I’ll get it for you in a moment, but I still want you to marry me.”

“You want me to marry you?” she gushes out with her hands on her mouth. “Really? You want to be my husband? Because that is the craziest thing to have happened today, and it has been one hell of a crazy day.”

We both laugh, and everyone seems to join in. It feels good to have a bit of lightheartedness in this terrible situation. It’s the best revenge on Ben for none of us to be affected by him. He’ll be locked up now, I assume, and unable to do anything, and we will all go on living our lives. Our amazing, incredible lives.

“Yes, I do want you to marry me. But I’m in a lot of pain right now and bending on one knee is painful, plus, waiting for an answer is a little too much for me, so what do you say, Georgia? Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will.” She tucks her hands underneath my armpits and pulls me up into a standing position. “I would love nothing more than to marry you. Oh, my God, Harry, this is the best thing to ever happen to me.”

We kiss, this time on the lips, which makes my heart lift with joy. Everyone cheers around us, including Georgia’s parents, which means that they are all really happy for us to get hitched. How awesome is that?

“I really do have a ring,” I insist as soon as we pull apart. “I bought one a long time ago. I’m not making that up.”

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