Page 31 of Forbidden Dark Vows

When I first saw him in the den with my dad, the image of him kissing the beautiful woman on TV came flooding back, making me feel queasy and broken inside. But then he told me that he’d flown from New York to Chicago to tell me there was nothing going on, and everything else seemed to evaporate like morning dew in the summer sun.

Even my mom.

She can’t tell me what to do. She can’t tell me what to do. She can’t!

It goes round and around inside my head like a mantra. I’m an adult. I have to find my own path even if it is a bit windy and hilly sometimes, and I know my dad needs me, but it isn’t like I’ve left for good. Is it?

Harry hails a cab and I climb into the back seat while he gives the driver directions. He stows his suitcase in the trunk and sits beside me, his fingers instinctively seeking mine.

“Are you sure about this, Ruby? We can turn around, go back and speak to your mom. I don’t want to be on bad terms with her from the outset.”

The bruises around his eyes and temples are still yellowy-green. His arm is still in a cast, the pouches under his eyes are puffy, but he is still the same Harry who tripped over me on the skating rink a few weeks ago. I don’t know anything about him, not really, but that first day on the ice added the prefix ‘my’ to his name without me even realizing.

MyHarry.

No fighting it. No turning back. No regrets.

I shake my head. “I’m sure about this.”

“If you change your mind?—”

“I won’t. No one has ever traveled across the country for me.”

No one has ever traveled anywhere for me, but I have the weirdest sensation that our journey has only just begun.

“Okay. I just want you to know that we’ll do whatever you want, Ruby.”

I can’t help laughing. “Next you’ll be telling me that I have three wishes.”

“Oh no.” Harry’s tone is serious. “You have far more than three wishes.” His eyes crinkle at the corners. “And you still have a promise to keep too.”

I barely register the city passing us by. For the first time in my life, it feels as if the world is a giant shell that is slowly opening to reveal the purest pearl inside. It doesn’t even matter where we’regoing, and I’m not surprised when the taxi slows to a halt at the airport drop-off point.

I’m not leaving Chicago behind.

I’m taking the first step over the side of a precipice, and I’m not the slightest bit afraid because I know that Harry is waiting there to catch me.

Inside the terminal, the airport is buzzing with excitement.

Harry squeezes my hand, his body communicating with mine. He checks out the departures screen, his eyes scanning the destinations and flight times.

Finally, he says, “Do you trust me?”

“It’s a bit late to ask me that now.”

Leaning closer, he kisses the tip of my nose and sends a whisper of anticipation down my spine. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

I’m starving, so I make my way to one of the airport cafés and order pepperoni pizza slices to go and a couple of sodas. When Harry finally returns waving tickets in front of my face, his eyes are glittering.

“I hope you packed your passport.”

I hand him a slice of pizza. “I packed it last night. I was going to give you twenty-four hours, and then I was coming for you, Harry Weiss.”

He blinks. A slow smile spreads across his face, lighting him up from the inside. He takes the pizza, his fingers stroking mine and sending sparks of electricity through me. “I wish you’d said, you’d have saved me a journey.”

He bites the end of the pizza slice as I punch him playfully on the arm.

Harry doesn’t tellme where we’re traveling to until we’re boarding the British Airways flight to Edinburgh.

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