Page 72 of An Enchanted Moment on Ever After Street
He lets out a shaky breath and his eyes close, as though the weight of my gaze on his face is too much. I’m holding my breath and have to drag in gasping lungfuls of air because I suddenly go light-headed.
I can’t stop the tears that spill over, mixing with the rain already cascading down my face. ‘You beautiful, beautiful idiot.’
‘Don’t say that.’
‘The idiot bit? It’s a term of endearment, honestly. And it’s true. You’re an idiot and you’re bloody beautiful.’
‘It’s dark.’
‘It’s notthatdark.’ I give him a stern look and squeeze his hand deliberately tighter. ‘No one is going to treat you differently because of this. Yeah, you’ve got scars, you’re going to have another one to add to them by the looks of that tree branch wound, but I promise you, you don’t look like any kind of monster. You look like a guy who’s been to hell and, most importantly, back. And that “back” is all that matters because you’re still here, and I can’t imagine a world without you in it.’
He chokes back a sob and then groans when it evidently jars the broken ribs, his eyes squeezed shut, and I rub his shoulder, my other hand still reaching across his chest to keep hold of his left hand.
I wait until he opens his eyes again, and I can’t help smiling when our eyes meet. ‘Can I touch you?’
His eyes squeeze shut again. ‘You’ve already seen the worst of me. Go ahead.’
‘The worst of you is not these scars.’ I’m shivering from the cold too, but I reach out and let my shaking fingers trace over the deepest dark lines that weave along the right side of his jaw. ‘It’s that you think anyone would reject you for having them.’
He lets me trail my fingers across the kink in the bridge of his nose and along the exaggerated curve of his right eyebrow. ‘Every one of these scars is a testament to what you’ve overcome. You survived something unsurvivable and came out the other side as someone who makes the world better just by existing, and from now on, I’m going to make sure you know that every single day.’
I press my knees harder into the mud underneath them to ensure my balance is good enough, disentangle my hand fromhis to use for stability and brace it against the earth beside his head, and lean over to press a kiss to his cheek.
His skin is like ice and he shivers when my frozen nose touches his face, but I’ve never needed to kiss someonethisdesperately before. It’s just a peck on the cheek, less intimate than the kiss we shared in the ballroom, but it’s the circumstances that make it so special. He’s hurt and vulnerable, and the easiest thing would be for him to retreat inside himself and push me away, but he’s chosen to let me be closer than anyone has been in many years.
‘That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever felt.’ Despite the truly dire situation, there’s a hazy smile on his face when I pull away and his light eyes are dazed-looking when he blinks them open.
‘I think you’re delirious with hypothermia,’ I say breezily, trying to cover the panic that he might actually be suffering from hypothermia, given how long he’s been out in this horrendous storm with only a thin shirt on. ‘And I hope you know I’d still love you even if you looked like a melted Womble.’
The laugh catches him by surprise and is quickly cut off with a noise of pain that turns into a groan of frustration. ‘It’s not that simple though, is it? I haven’t been honest – you know I haven’t. What Rick said about the complaint is tru—’
‘I know it is, and it doesn’t matter.’
‘It does matter. It’s not the only thing I’ve been dishonest about. Marnie… I did it because of the book. Because for the past few years, I’ve been trying to forget everything about that book. It was a reminder of the before times – times I didn’t want to remember, and then you moved into the shop next door to me, and it’s in your windowallthe time. I see people coming out of your shop with it in their hands. I wanted to burn every copy ever printed, and there you are, keeping it alive, and I’ve been this horrible, vicious little cauldron of resentment, bubbling with anger, and I wanted to punch a hole through your shopwindow and rip that damn book to shreds. Without ever having spoken to you, I hated you because you loved this thing that was such a huge part of the life I wanted to forget, and every way I turned, you had it on display for everyone to see.’
‘It’s okay,’ I say because he’s getting choked up and it doesn’t sound easy for him to get the words out.
‘No, let me finish. The least I owe you is an explanation. When I saw that Japanese knotweed in your garden, I saw it as my revenge, a way to spite you. I didn’t think through the consequences. I honestly had no idea that it would lead to the council threatening your place on Ever After Street, I thought you’d just get a slap on the wrist and an order to get it removed, and then I heard you crying…’
‘Like an elephant seal in labour,’ I interject to lighten the mood.
He smiles despite himself and then turns serious again. ‘And I realised it was because of me, because of what I’d done, and I felt like I’d become a real monster. And then I spoke to you and you were so nice. You made me feel so normal. You didn’t treat me like an outcast when you were the one person whoshouldhave, and I felt so damn guilty.’
‘Is that why you did all of it? Why you helped? Why you were so generous? Why you came tonight? Just out of guilt? Nothing more?’
‘I did it because you’ve had this weird pull on me. Since that first night, all I’ve wanted to do is spend time with you. I haven’t been able toresistspending time with you. And I fell in love with your shop. When I saw inside, it reminded me of everything I used to love, all the good things in the world that I no longer believed in. It’s such a little haven for people who believe in fairy tales, and somewhere along the way,Istarted believing in fairy tales again. I started believing in love and goodness and joy. When I bought that copy ofOnce Upon Another Time… I’dblocked it out for years, tried to forget every word that was in it, and you made me feel strong enough to read it again, as a reader, not as myself, and… I enjoyed it. It reminded me of the happiness I found in writing, before everything went wrong. I’ve hated that book for so many years. If I hadn’t been so caught up in book deals and word counts, would I have realised what my ex was about to do? Could I have prevented it? I blamed the book for everything, but I’d forgotten that I loved it once. I came tonight because I knew it would get people talking and you deserved that. You love that shop and youneedto be able to continue making people believe in magic, andIneed you too as well, because you’ve made me fall in love with reading again… and with something else too.’ His fingers curl around mine and he tugs my hand to his mouth and presses a kiss to the back of my fingers, and then his eyes flick to mine. ‘When did you know it was me? Because I know it wasn’t tonight…’
‘Somewhere between that book coming sailing back over my hedge and telling the guy in the emails how similar he was to my neighbour. You know that feeling when you come to the end of an amazing book and you wish you could go back and un-read it just so you could experience reading it again for the first time? You were so familiar because I’ve read your words so many times without realising it. Every time we’ve talked, I feel the same way I felt when I readOnce Upon Another Timefor the first time – like I’ve found someone who reallygetsme, a real-life version of my favourite book.’
Rain is sticking his hair to his forehead and I reach out to brush it back, carefully avoiding the still-bleeding wound, and his eyes drift closed. ‘You have no idea how desperately I want to kiss you, but I don’t want our first kiss to be marred by searing agony.’
‘We kissed earlier, and we can have another first kiss later.’
‘Not really how “first” wor—’
I cut him off with a kiss. Just a peck, while being careful not to touch anywhere that might be hurting. My face is frozen and his lips are like ice, but it feels like our bodies let out a sizzle when our lips touch, and I could keep kissing him forever, but—
‘The ambulance is here!’ A sodden-looking silhouette of Witt appears at the top of the bank. ‘Ali’s directing the rescue team through the woods.’
