Page 107 of Authentically, Izzy
The twinkle in Brodie’s eyes deepened and she couldn’t help butsmile back. He was genuinely excited to have her here, to see his home and his world.
“This is a seaside room, which is the only place for a proper library in this house, if you ask me.”
He pushed open one of the doors and flipped a switch on the wall. Light illuminated the large room from a dazzling chandelier that looked like tree branches spreading soft light to all corners. The ceiling rose at least ten feet, framed on two sides by white, paneled walls, which only waited for repairs, followed by some elegant bookshelves.
Had this been a ballroom? She shifted a few steps into the room as her gaze fastened on the opposite wall, where a massive, arched floor-to-ceiling window gave a remarkable view of an endless blue horizon. The scene pulled her forward, her mind re-creating the space into a well-stocked library. Teals and rich browns to celebrate sea and earth. Paintings on the walls. A fire in the stone fireplace with two high-back chairs poised for a pair of readers. She could almost picture a cat sitting on the window seat, basking in the afternoon sun.
She breathed out a sigh. “You’d never want to leave.”
“A perfect place for a respite from the world, isn’t it?” He offered her his hand and led her toward a door situated by the window. “And with this view.”
Izzy’s breath caught as they stepped out onto a stone balcony. At this level they rose above the surrounding trees, and the sea spread before them in miles and waves of gray tide and azure sky. A few rocky islands dotted the coastline that stretched in a crescent shape to her left, begging for a quiet stroll.
“Brodie, I... I don’t have words. It’s amazing. All of it.”
His smile spread and he leaned back against the stone railing, the wind tossing his hair in wild puffs. “I’m pleased you like it.”
“Like it?” Izzy’s gaze pulled back to the view. “It’s perfect.”
“Even all the broken and older parts?”
“The older parts create character.” She shrugged, running herhand along the stone railing with its tiny scratches and bumps from years gone by. “And maybe the broken parts too.”
“Indeed, and then there are the unexpected beauties, like the chandeliers that only wanted some polish and care to show their true character.”
She looked over at him, his words holding an undercurrent of meaning. Maybe? But he didn’t clarify, only propped his elbows against the railing and turned his face toward the sea. Gusts of wind tossed his golden hair in distracting disarray. Izzy breathed in the scent, the feel of this place and moment with Brodie. It didn’t seem real. But none of it had. Except the embarrassing parts. The rest felt like God had reached into her imagination with all its fictional convolutions and pulled out things she hadn’t even thought remotely possible. Why would He do that for her? Had she gotten Him wrong too? Had she failed to really believe His love and goodness included her too? That she... belonged?
She felt the continued rumbles of an epiphany, and she was in the best spot, wasn’t she? With Brodie.
“Our family would often holiday there, at Elrith Waite.” He pointed toward the beach line in the distance. “It’s a... cove, I think is the American description. And we’d take a boat from Elrith Waite to Cairn Mara.” He gestured toward one of the islands in the distance. “To explore and picnic. We’d stay here with my uncle, though he only lived in the lower part of the house, which is why the upper level requires more work. But I fell in love with the narrow halls and vast views. So when he asked if I would want it—”
“You had to say yes!” A lonely manor house perched away from the world? Of course!
“Exactly.” He covered her hand on the railing next to his. “I knew you’d understand.” He chuckled and dipped his chin, as if embarrassed. “I can’t really explain it, but I knew I wanted to live here. That this is where I belonged.”
The word reverberating through her.Belong.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” His gaze locked with hers. “It was the same feeling I had when I saw you in the airport the first time. I just knew.”
“You knew what?” The words barely made it out on a whisper.
He leaned close and tasted her lips again. Her eyes fluttered closed and she brushed a palm against his cheek.
“I wanted to be with you. That... well, we belonged together, wherever together might be.”
She inched back, her cheeks warming beneath his stare. “How can you be so certain about so many things, and I can’t even figure out what I want to do when I grow up?”
He chuckled and allowed her question to blend in with the sound of crashing surf and rustling trees, the moment suspended in time, soaking into Izzy’s uncertainty with a gentle touch. She replayed her earlier interaction with Brodie and subsequent conversation with Luke, and after a moment she leaned her head on Brodie's shoulder. His arm slipped around her waist, turning the simple movement into a hug. She buried her face into his neck, breathing him in, clinging to the sweetness of his company, his care. He made it so easy to believe in fairy tales. To... place a toehold on the faith that he really cared about her... as her. Maybe she was a whole lot like this house, standing alone in disrepair, and just needing the right person to see her potential. To care enough.
The hush of the distant waves and the twitter of birdsong lulled across the silence like a gentle serenade. His nearness, his comfort, ushered a sweet calm through her and she drew in a deep breath. Trusting him with parts of her heart she was just beginning to understand.
“I never realized that after my parents’ deaths, I doubted really belonging somewhere. Anywhere. Even with my cousins.”
He lowered his head to hers, his only response.
“It doesn’t make sense now, in hindsight. They loved me. I knewit, but I felt as if I’d stepped intotheirfamily. I never realized I’d spent my life trying to belong without really believing I did.”
